I recently saw Following which Nolan made (his first) way back in ’98, and one could easily term it as the harbinger of some great quality work that would follow – the prestige, memento, the dark night, inception, et al.
I was then reading about the film on Wiki, and what the article states right in the start is something that reminded me of our one and only Tigre. It goes thus – “it was designed to be as inexpensive as possible to make; scenes were heavily rehearsed so that just one or two takes were needed, thus economising on 16 mm film stock, the production’s greatest expense, and for which Nolan was paying from his salary. Without expensive professional lighting equipment, Nolan mostly used available light. Apart from providing the script and direction, Nolan also did the photography, editing and production himself”
I all the more believe now that Tigre can achieve what he has set his eyes on! And more!!
In between I saw a lot of great stuff – 13 Assassins, Life During Wartime, Equus (if you could survive it), Five Minutes of Heaven, Udaan, Remains of the Day, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Road, Moon, Nueve Reinas, Tropa De Elite 2, Smile Pinki, and a lot more.
Limitless was slick and enjoyable, but one could not put it with the above.
Blade Runner, Ex Angel Exterminador and The Tree of Life, though quite celebrated titles, were really taxing on my limited capabilities, though i survived all of them out of my dogged determination to be some day counted somewhere at the lowermost rungs of the hierarchy of world cinema watchers, if i could say so; but frankly, i’d give them a miss if given a chance. I mean, i do watch a lot of cinema, but these (and The Killer of Sheep), they were a bit beyond me!
Am visiting Allahabad again, after about 10 months. It has worsened a bit, but the good part is i’ve brought Keshav (my son) with me. Today, i took him to my school St. Joseph’s College (est. 1884) (he was awestruck by the enormity of it, and the fact that the school has rabbits as pets, and a full blown tank showcased right in the middle of everything), and to the place where Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself with the last bullet he was left with while fighting British soldiers (the plaque said he was all of 25 years of age, which made me think what was i doing at 25!?!)
And, of course, it’s great to meet old friends. Plus, the entire house is treating me like royalty, preparing all things (under mom’s supervision) that i used to savor as a kid. This time, the treatment is all the more grand ‘coz i brought Keshav with me.
Its biting cold here, and the roads are all screwed up beyond redemption. But what the hell, its still Allahabad, and I love it here!!
dubelight 