Some Recent Additions -- Part 2

Part 1 here.

A Tale of Two Sisters (Korean): Directed by Kim ji Woon, this has got to be the best horror movie I have seen. There is hardly anything scary in the movie. No shock effects, no sudden appearances of ghosts from under the carpet and no instances of deformed, gelatinous blobs hell bent on revenge. What makes this movie a brilliant watch is an exceptionally awesome story, a spate of crazy twists crammed in the last half an hour, and an eerily executed, heartbreaking ending.

Since what attracted me first to this movie was its poster, let me post it here.



Dumplings (Cantonese): The extreme cinema movement has kept churning out one demented movie after the other, especially in the psychological horror category. Fruit Chan, in a subtly humorous vein, delivers a big bad punch on all the refined sensibilities that modern civilisation takes for granted in this brilliant movie about lust, foetuses and borderline cannibalism.

Highly, highly recommended!

Deconstructing Harry (English): Woody Allen is, and has been for quite a while, a genius - pure and sublime. Blending cerebral humour, philosophy, drama and romance in equal measure, his films have never failed to delight me.

There is all that is awesome in a Woody Allen movie in Deconstructing Harry and more. Brilliantly witty one liners (see sample below), the neurotic Woody Allen character as the famous writer Harry Block, failed romances, ensemble cast and the usual twisted humour on philosophically heavy subjects should make his legions of fans worldwide fairly satisfied.

However, what also pervades this film are open sentiments of self hatred, deep pessimism and borderline misanthropy. It is interesting to note how despite every scene being very funny, all his characters are so damn wretched. This seems easily the most dark, funny, witty and merciless indictment of the self obsessed Woody Allen by himself in any of his movies.

Sample:

Tradition is the illusion of permanence.

Sister to Harry: You have no values. Your whole life, it's nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm and orgasm.
Harry to Sister: Y'know, in France I could run on that slogan and win.

The woman murmurs wistfully about having the freedom to be together,
Man (Harry Block): Mmm, sounds great. Now open wide.

The Isle (Korean): This has got to be probably the most intensely brilliant love story I've seen. To say that it is a rather unusual and non standard romance is pointless since Kim ki Duk dons the mantle of the Director. It contains very little dialogue, progresses at a laid back pace, has scenes of breathtaking cinematographical beauty, has random acts of animal cruelty and contains some not-very-gory but awesomely gruesome scenes -- all trademark Kim ki Duk features, to be found in nearly all his films.

What is best is that despite such incongruities, the overall mood of the film remains romantic and humorous. Kim ki Duk pulls off such contradicting extremes effortlessly and makes this film a must watch.

The Purple Rose of Cairo (English): It is not without reason that this film is in "All time 100 best films" list by Time magazine. About a character in a film within a film who manages to escape to the real world during the Great Economic Depression in America, it is more a tribute to cinema than anything else. Jeff Daniels and Mia Farrow are brilliant in this funny, sad and nostalgic masterpiece by Woody Allen.

Instructions: Check out the Dev D trailer in the Featured Video, worship Anurag Kashyap five times a day and watch the movie as it comes out on 19th December '08.