movies: Elizabeth review

I finally managed to watch Shekhar KAPUR's Elizabeth and Elizabeth - The Golden Age. KAPUR is a good director. But I find him rather myopic. He has a great eye for detail within a frame but he is not an epic director like Peter JACKSON or George LUCAS. As for the movies themselves, I watched these movies coz I had just watched The Other Boleyn Girl and wanted more. But, sigh ... Facts, epic proportions, gripping scenes, all these are missing. Making movie is one thing. Story telling within is another different art. You want good story telling without a story, just listen to Samuel L. JACKSON or Robert DOWNING Jr. or Don Lafontaine narrate. That's art.

I had seen KAPUR's Bandit Queen (and KAPUR in Delhi High Court for the same case as well) and found it relevant its stark projection. A docu-drama at best. The difference in direction between these two movies of different genres is the funding and production.

Movies: Mongol review

Let me begin with this. There is one word to describe Mongol. Beautiful. One that makes you wish it didn't end. A movie nearly made the old-fashioned way - not so much CGI, at least doesn't give that impression. The protagonist Tadanobu ASANO did a beautiful job. The transition from a soft lover and husband to a ruthless prisoner - the menacing mud-mask in prison is a must-see in itself. From a tightly savage evangelist to a compassionate leader of armed forces. His eyes speak well! All slit-eyes make marvellous villains. Totally inscrewtable.

But we don't really know what the Khan really was. A ruthless ruler or one controlled by a beautiful (if with a bad smile) woman?

I'm not saying that this is the best movie I have seen. I cannot help but compare it to movies like Troy and Alexander (300 is a class apart). These movies smacks of capitalism and marketing. This is something that is made with a film-maker's instinct. Not relying upon agents and publicists.

Sometimes, such movies take me to films made based on the wild west - of which I am somewhat a fan of, but every civilisation has its own wild west. I wish these did get the same treatment as the marketing and hype of the wild west has! What an era of history exposure we would've had!

The moral of this story? - Love and hate with equal passion, but always remember!