Ocean’s 13 is not Ocean’s 11 16 June 2007
Posted by bornonacusp in Dateline: Delhi, For Film Buffs, The Arts.comments closed
But of course. Moreso the second sequel: I remember Ocean’s 12 to have been such a disappointment, a sequel like most sequels which make you loathe the producers for attempting to replicate the impact of the original, but then end up ruining your entire experience. It was trashy, and the only reason why I could not walk out from the theatre that day over two years back was — or the reasons, were — George, Andy, Matt, Don, and Brad. Otherwise that movie was, simply, forgettable.
Yet there I was last night, watching the third installment in Hollywood’s hit heist film series, Ocean’s 13. Apparently the second one didn’t burn me that bad. And no regrets; it was a good ride.
Ocean’s 13 works because it’s fun. Without fail, the leads once again exhibit a chemistry that makes their ties believable, their scenes seamless. The film is well-edited, its basic feel that of a rough, un-sleek, no-gloss finish. I enjoyed the sassy repartee. And I did not at all find the running gags from Ocean’s 11 tiring — like the Chinese guy speaking only Mandarin but not finding it hard to communicate with everyone else, or that Pitt’s Rusty is always munching on some food, his lips and hands greasy. Clooney is cool, Pitt is hot, Cheadle is brilliant.
Sure, the script is pockmarked with holes, you could see through. And many times I wanted to wail — in my native tongue for sheer frustration — ‘Naman! Talaga?! (‘Come on, get real!’) Danny Ocean and his pack are either extremely lucky or utter geniuses that everything works for them. Overall, it is one of those movies which work mostly because of the pull of the cast; give the same material to a set of less talented, or less magnetic actors, then it just won’t work. But we don’t like that in movies, do we? We want movies to stand on their own, for the quality of the material itself as much as its execution, and not for the players’ superstardom.
But I forgive Ocean’s 13 for all of that. I forgive Clooney and Damon and Pitt for having so much fun making this movie with their buddies that they forgot most everything else. After all, I did not go to the theatre to be enlightened, nor to mull the complexities of life.
I went to see Ocean’s 13 properly armed with tricks best employed to enjoy its sort of movie: Forget logic, forget plausibility, suspend your disbelief and be entertained. You can whine about all the movie’s faults after watching it and having a laugh.
Assaulting art 17 May 2007
Posted by bornonacusp in Dateline: Delhi, The Arts.1 comment so far
“Don’t sing, write, laugh. Only live in fear.” – a placard reads in an artists’ protest for freedom of expression held in Mumbai on May 16
Events of the last week have been cause for outrage among India’s art community; and it’s not that they are reacting too quickly. In what would be the straw to break the camel’s back, a group of activists barged into, and vandalised, an exhibition of work by visual arts students at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in the northern state of Gujarat. The activists, members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad party, then manhandled 23-year-old student Chandra Mohan whose paintings of nude religious figures they particularly disliked.
The policemen present at the scene acted after the vandalism and arrested — not the VHP activists who created the ruckus — but the artist Mohan. The student spent five days in jail, obtaining temporary liberty after posting bail; he faces several years in prison if found guilty of obscenity. The Dean of Fine Arts refused to close down the exhibition on orders by the University’s vice-chancellor and was suspended. He has gone into hiding for fear of his safety.
The episode has prompted protests from artists in many parts of the country; the newspapers and broadcast news are filled with angry comments. At a rally outside the biggest art gallery in Bombay, film director Saeed Mirza was quoted to have said, “Something has gone wrong, so we stand up and protest.”
Why all the concern? Because in a country where freedoms of expression and speech are among the most tightly guarded constitutional rights, the Gujarat episode only served to reinforce what many observe is a rising intolerance over how artists express issues related to religion and sex.
An Indian sociologist interviewed by BBC News theorises that this divide may be attributed to the “internal dynamics” of the country’s progress: while one section of the country has moved ahead, another is lagging behind.
Long before the Gujarat incident, there have been pockets of protests against other works of art, books, and even Bollywood movies which might have dwelled on themes or provided images that were “offensive to Indian culture” — leaving in their wake workers of art who are left with no other choice but to obey. Perhaps the most missed is renowned Indian artist MF Husain, living in self-exile in London after he was accused of obscenity in various court cases and faced threats to his life. The 91-year-old painter’s sin? Depicting a nude woman in the shape of India.
To a foreigner like me, it is sad. Because you witness these things side-by-side with signs of progress, and it boggles the mind the way archaic thinking can still ram its way through.
And if there is anything that the Hindus that I know will always be proud of, it is that they are tolerant. And eroticism has always been a vital element of Hindu art. So why Husain, Gujarat, and the rest of it? As in many other things in this country, I am only beginning to work on an understanding.
‘The Namesake’ soars 15 May 2007
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The Namesake is a fantastic novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri, that tells stories of identity and belonging through the lives of an immigrant Indian family in America. It has been adapted into a film by Mira Nair, who is perhaps best known among us Pinoys for her international hit, Monsoon Wedding. An unexpected hit, the movie has been running for over a month now here in Delhi, alongside uber-hyped Hollywood blockbuster Spider-man 3.
To be sure, The Namesake seems far less sexy to cinema owners — in this city, it shows in only two theaters, with one daily screening; Spider-man 3 is in 15 halls, running three to five times a day. But The Namesake has built a following among those attracted to understated filmmaking that arouses one’s interest in the complexities of human life.
The movie succeeds in keeping the spirit of Lahiri’s novel. It is at once funny and poignant, and does not try too hard. For all its seriousness, it is never melodramatic.
The director Nair stretches some of the novel’s components in her film — such as providing more snippets of Calcutta, the roots of the Ganguli family (which is not a surprise, as Nair has said in interviews prior to her film’s release that The Namesake is also a tribute to “the world’s two greatest cities: New York and Calcutta.”) Still, Nair has carefully used her cinematic license to embellish the tale without derailing the audience too far.
In the end, The Namesake connects with and moves not only Indians, whether living here or abroad — but all those who may have, at one point in their lives, found themselves living in a place other than where they were born. We move around, tread paths different from those of our forebears, and craft our own lives. But even as our ways change — and who is to say if it is for the better or worse — we keep our roots where they are. We just happen to grow branches.
