By the Bluest of Seas (Russian)

By the Bluest of Seas packs in so many wonderful emotions into a mere 70 minutes running time, that I am in complete awe of director Boris Barnet. The story of two friends working, living, and falling in love on an island is just so charming that it makes for a perfect romantic-comedy.

Yusuf (Lev Sverdlin) and Alyosha (Nikolai Kruychkov) are both quick to fall in love with Masha (Yelena Kuzmina) when they arrive at a "collective farm" to work after being shipwrecked in a storm on the Caspian Sea.  What follows is a series of mini-adventures, slapstick comedy, musical interludes, and romantic moments as the love triangle moves towards an unpredictable end.  

Similar to his film Outskirts, Boris Barnet has a way to make the audience uneasy by merging tragedy with comedy in the most unexpected of times and places. While By the Bluest of Seas is not as politically driven or serious a film as Outskirts, the trademark tragicomedy is ever-present from the very beginning when Yusuf, being rescued after the shipwreck, is more concerned about feeling ticklish than getting to safety. Such emotional highs and lows run throughout the film keeping the viewer engrossed along with being fascinated by the wonderful film making techniques used by the director during the early sound period.

By the Bluest of Seas manages to romanticize the beauty of the sea by depicting it in its many forms; from high thunderous waves to the calm serene waters reflecting the suns rays, the sea follows the moods of the characters. Once again, as in his other films, Boris Barnet also manages to capture the most basic of human emotions such as jealousy, excitement, disgust, and betrayal in his portrayal of love found and lost. 

By the Bluest of Seas is a charming little early sound period film that stays away from the state of the nation at the time and focuses more on the human aspects of love, friendship, and the joy of enjoying life for what it is. 

For being one of the earliest perfect date movies I've ever seen, By the Bluest of Seas gets a 5/5 star rating and a spot in my list of films that are essential viewings.

DVD Information:

DVD:                     Mr. Bongo Films

Title:                    By the Bluest of Seas

Release Date:       12^th November 2012

Certificate:          12

Running Time:       69 minutes

Outskirts (Russian)

A Russian classic by Boris Barnet, Outskirtsis a technically impressive film, from around the time sound in films just started, that tells the story of a small village town on the Russian-German border during World War I.

The film starts with normal everyday life of the town going into turmoil starting with a strike in the local shoe factory. Soon enough the war breaks out with a German attack and it is at this point that relationships between friends, factory workers, brothers, and family begin to strain. The film from then on follows the life of men from the town at the frontline and the life of the people they have left behind along with the German POWs who end up in the town after the war starts.

Outskirts is a film that has stark emotional highs and lows. There are moments of extreme comedy and just as in life these moments make the audience uneasy as they are almost always followed by tragic events that break the heart. These moments are heightened when news about men dying in war reaches the town just as German POWs are being given permission to move around amongst the residents to work and earn a living. A sense of despair is felt by the audience because of an expected tragedy on the onset of unexpected love between a German POW and a local girl; a love between two individuals who speak in languages that the other doesn't understand, and yet their attraction has the innocence of a first crush.

One of the scenes that depicts the emotional complexities of the period takes place inside the POW camp as the camera moves from one side of a room starting with two men playing cards, smiling, followed by a group of men gravely looking at a dying man in the next bed, followed by a man shaving his beard in an everyday fashion. The camera then moves back as the now dead man is removed, the men playing cards shift their game to a nearby bed as a mark of respect, and soon enough the empty space left by the dead man is taken by a new inmate. All this takes place in a rather subtle manner as if it is the normal way of life.

These dilemmas of emotions faced by the locals, the German POWs, and the men returning from the frontline are beautifully presented in the film and show a side of war that is often ignored.

Technically, the film presents numerous instances of marvel. From the moment in the beginning where a man looks at the audience and winks after just having picked-up a girl successfully to a later time in the film when the war has been going on for a few years and machines have taken over most of the work in factories, the camera work is simply spectacular as the film cuts from the shoe-making machines to soldiers dying in the trenches by machine guns. The sound effects of the film might seem sketchy at times, but the film proves to be a great comparison piece to see how sound has progressed over the years and also is a study into the intricacies of various sounds.        

Outskirts doesn't hide away from making a social commentary as a soldier at one point comments at the absurdity of war by saying, "We don't want to fight, they don't want to fight, but we're in the fourth year of war".

Outskirts is a film that signifies the power of people; the power to go on a strike and demand a better way of life, the power to fight for the country, the power to love the enemy, the power to defy your own father, the power to stand up against your own nation for what is right, and eventually the power of revolution.

Outskirts is classic cinema at its best.

Rating 5/5

DVD Information:

Release Date:       12 November 2012

Certificate: 12

Running Time:       99 minutes

  

Curse

Curse is a Singaporean horror film that although has a low-budget feel to it, manages to entertain with good enough characters and an interesting storyline.

Using the concept of Singapore's reserve army, six individuals from various aspects of life are grouped together and sent to an island, supposed to be cursed, to find three AWOL soldiers. Although the premise of the story gives ample opportunity for each character, ranging from a historian and a reflexologist to a socialite and a career soldier, to showcase individual personality traits, the film never really capitalizes on this keeping the story more about the cursed island and the evil spirits of a mother and daughter that are the cause of all the mayhem and murder.

There is though a sense of mystery to the entire story with the events being told in flashback by one survivor who isn't disclosed till the very end. Moreover, within the flashback story there are other mysterious and surprising elements thrown in for good measure. With the setting being a deserted island and the film being primarily filmed in wooded areas, there is a continuous feel of dread throughout and the makers use the settings well enough to incorporate a few jumps and scares for the audience.     

The most disappointing aspect of the film has to be the choppy acting and dialogue delivery. The spoken language is mainly English and at times it is clear that the actors are struggling with the pronunciations. Nevertheless, it isn't horrific acting, just not of the level that could and would have taken the film to the next level.

Curse makes for a fun watch with a descent story concept, but with a higher budget and a stronger cast, it could have achieved much more than it already has.

Rating 3/5

DVD Info:

Region:          2

Country:       Singapore

Language:     English & Malay

Subtitles:       English

Certificate:   15

Running Time:        91 minutes

  

Les Enfants Du Paradis (Children of Paradise)

WOW! I wish I could end my review of the film just there because Les Enfants Du Paradis is a film that simply must be seen. Voted "The best French film ever made" by the French Film Academy, it is probably one of the finest films ever to have captivated the audience with a storyline that evokes unparalleled emotions.

Les Enfants Du Paradis is the story about Garance, an always smiling "modern" woman who becomes the object of affection of four different men. The story is about her encounters with these men and how they are enraged, indifferent, and jealous, of the other men in Garance's life. The beauty of the film lies in how the story revolves around the theatrical world wherein the pantomime and theatrical performances form an integral part of the story.

The characters of the film compliment each other in such a fashion that each one of them comes across as an equally important aspect of the storyline, no matter the amount of time they spend on the screen. 

Garance/Claire (Arietty) - is a woman who lives by her own terms. She doesn't love one, but everyone equally, and believes that her happiness lies in pleasing the ones who make her happy. The object of desire, she never has any qualms about the decisions she has made in her life, at least not till much later.  

Baptiste (Jean-Luis Barrault) - A mime and a rising star in the theater world, he experiences love at first sight on seeing Garance. Love is depicted in its many forms through the people Garance encounters, and Baptiste epitomizes true love, one which is without lust. It is also this notion of love he has that leads to him losing out on Garance.

Frédérick (Pierre Brasseur) - An actor and a player he comes closest to Garance in terms of free love. His chance encounters with Garance leads to a romance which when ends leaves certain hollowness in Frédérick. It is his realization of this space that Garance has always occupied in his heart that forms his character arc.

Count Edouard de Montray (Louis Salou) - An aristocrat with the means to provide Garance with all her needs, he expresses his love to her with the offer of give her protection. His love is very diplomatic, almost business like and in stark contrast with the type of love Baptiste and Frédérick show towards Garance. While Garance, due to certain circumstances, takes up on the offer, the Count is never able to make her love him.

Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand) - A conniving criminal, he has the most volatile and indiscreet relationship with Garance. His love for her is that of control. He doesn't show that he needs her, but as we find out with the progression of the story, it is his love that is the most dangerous amongst all of Garance's suitors.     

Jéricho (Pierre Renoir)- Jéricho is a jack of all trades. He is the common thread between all the primary characters of the story. A "ragman" dealing in stolen goods, he has a different relationship with each one of the men fighting for Garance's affection and at times comes across as their conscience that these men have left behind in their quest for love.

Marcel Carné directs the film with gusto, which looks even more beautiful in the restored version. The streets of Paris and the depiction of life at the turn of the 19th century is a window into the theatrical world of France and the change in thinking that was taking place at the time. He captures the plays and the pantomimes within the film with such panache that they become individual acts culminating into something magnificent. It is these very theatrical performances, working well within the film, the sum of all parts, which make the film a true classic.

Watching the film with subtitles, I was in complete awe with the dialogues. French has long been considered the language of love and although some of that "love" might have been lost in translation, the film is one of the most beautifully spoken films I have ever come across.

Les Enfants Du Paradis plays havoc with the emotions of the audience. There is a hint of tragedy throughout the film, be it the pantomimes wherein Baptiste expresses his loss of love or even when the happy-go-lucky Garance, just for a moment, talks about being orphaned at 15 and growing up fast in the cruel world. While the film is over-laden with tragedy, there are short bursts of humor at every corner that leaves the audience uncertain about how they should feel.  

Les Enfants Du Paradis is a study of human nature at its basic, rawest form. Love, hatred, jealousy, revenge, possessiveness, need, lust, and passion are but some of the emotions that are tackled seamlessly in the film through its different characters. In the end, it becomes a battle of wits between the four men as they; once again, try to attract Garance's affection. The film ends where it really begins; in a room with Baptiste and Garance expressing their contrasting thoughts about love to each other. While the end is sure to leave the audience heartbroken, it is Frédérick, at an earlier occasion, who is able to put the gist of the story in a few words...

"Jealousy belongs to all if a woman belongs to none".   

Rating 5/5

DVD INFORMATION: The restored edition of Les Enfants Du Paradis is highly recommended not only for the quality of the film, which is brilliant, but also for the special features that talk about the story behind the film and also look at the process of the restoration.

Title: Les Enfant Du Paradis - The Restored Edition

Release Date:17th September 2012

Running Time:182 minutes

Cert.: PG

Language:French with English Subtitles

Special Features:

     Theater, Love, and War: Making Les Enfants Du Paradis

     Once Upon a Time...Les Enfants Du Paradis

     The Restoration

     Restoration - Before and After

WIN! A DVD and World Cinema Postcards

As promised here I am with my very first self funded (in a way) competition. Although I have followers from other countries, this competition is limited to participants from India only. It's a way for me to maybe gain more local followers and also it is cheaper considering the overseas postage charges.

So, just to start off, I am going to give away two prizes, yes I know I am very generous. They are somewhat unique and fun and not too expensive, yes I know I am very cheap.

First up is a DVD of the film DRAGON DYNASTY: Kingdom of the Fire Dragons. It's a bit of fantasy mixed with reality as a stone given to Marco Polo unleashes the gates to the dragon world releasing two dragons out to kill Marco. The film stars Federico Castelluccio, James Hong, and Stana Katic. The DVD is rated 15 for strong violence and is in Region 2 format.

The Second prize is a set of 6 HMV World Cinema Postcards. They make a great addition to your collection if you are a cinephile like me.

In order to win one of the above mentioned prizes you must guess the number of DVDs (and only DVDs) that I have in my collection? (Hint: If I wanted I could watch at least 1 movie each day for a year and a little bit more)

Once you have a number in your mind, you must also do only ONE of the following to be considered (if you already follow me, no need to do anything);

Follow my blog by clicking the FOLLOW button at the bottom right tab.

Follow TICKER on Facebook by clicking and liking HERE

Follow me on TWITTER by clicking HERE

Then simply EMAIL ME with your answer, SUBEJCT - Competition # 1, and which of the three Follows you have performed (Do let me know the ID you have used).

In case no one is able to guess the correct answer, I shall pick the closest number guessed. Also if more than one right answer is received, then I shall choose the two winners from those correct entries.

Now for some other T&Cs

This competition is valid in India only. The prizes will be delivered to an Indian address.

Incomplete entries will not be considered.

The final decision lies with the blog owner.

No cash alternatives will be given.

The prizes will be sent via post and we are not accountable for late/lost/damaged/stolen prizes.

The prizes cannot be substituted or refunded.

Only one entry per household will be considered.

The Competition ends on 6th August 2012 at 11:59 PM

Ticker Talks Film has the right to change/alter/cancel the above competition without notice.

The Winners will be contacted directly via email. 

The Host (Korean)

Another day, another Korean film. The smile on my face before it even starts might lead you to believe that I am now biased towards film from this region. To be honest, you are partially right.

The Host starts off as a typical B-grade monster movie with a chemically generated gigantic fish that can stay in water and on ground attacking the public. Our unwanted hero is a bumbling immature comical food stand owner who would rather drool on the food than actually sell it. When his daughter is taken by the monster, the film takes a turn and suddenly becomes a more intense and exciting "search" film. Joining him on his quest are his father, brother, and sister, each with his/her own quirks and individualistic characteristics. This makes for the Park family that over the remainder of the film discover something about themselves and each other as they search for their youngest family member.

The Host manages to withhold itself beautifully even though it tackles a number of genres. There is high drama between the characters, with each having their own side stories. It does begin as a monster film, but slowly it becomes much more than that. There are enough intense thrilling and borderline horror moments to make the filmgoer jump on his seat. The "special effects" are pretty good and don't seem all too fake most of the time. The acting, especially by the younger cast, is commendable. 

Although the story progresses towards it main goal, which is of the father desperately searching his daughter, there are enough diversions, or hurdles for the Park family if you may, that makes the film much stronger. There are also a number of twists along the way with a couple which I believe only Korean cinema is brave enough to explore.

The Host is an emotionally fueled film with acts that will make you laugh, cringe, cheer, and eventually make you appreciate the brilliance and variety of cinema originating from Korea. A solid 3.5 star rating out of 5.