PM Review

 "My time in the trenches was cut short by a German bullet. I was wounded in the leg, and this had a great influence on me. I was destined to limp for the rest of my life. Paradoxically, I consider this an advantage. A person who limps does not see life in the same  way as someone who doesn't limp. But I directed films as much with my legs as with my head, and the result of that wound, which never healed, was four years ago, at the age of seventy five, I had to abandon a career which, to my mind, was only just beginning.                                        -An Actor Named Charlote On many aspects Renoir's The River (1951) is tremendously important for world cinema especially for Indian cinema as it's the firs movie (as far I know or if I am not missed something) where the world see the Indian diverse lives and cultures through an European film auteur under an American product...

  The first thing I have noticed in Renoir's first American production in Swamp Water (1941) is its simultaneous presence of the studio shooting ( the background sky when Ben was going to swamp for searching his dog and kissed Mabel), location shooting ( the real swamp area in Georgia) and the build-build-up areas (probably the police station and Juli's shambled house ). After watching Akira's shooting areas, this swamp gives a more American aura than European milieu. It's probably the first film where I have watched the wilderness based narrative . As usual Renoir cinemas held a humanistic and philosophical attention to reality. In Swamp Water it's about establishing the justice thru truth finding and a strong familial bonding to keep close to each other. Swamp Water (1941)  Jean Renoir English, USA

"You see, in this world, there is one awful thing, and that is that everyone has his reasons” - Octave as Jean Renoir As Renoir’s The Grand Illusion [1937] ends with the uncertainty of WWI, The Rules of the Game [1939] begins with the certainty of WWII. Like settings, the themes of class disintegration, tragic-romance, multilingual situations are very close to the prior one. The long and chaotic hunting scenes in the wood are the sure symbolic predictions of futile wars of the imperials is so prophetic in the film. I have seen the same stands of prophecy in Charlie Chaplin & Sergei Eisenstein films previously. Collage: Juliette Binoche [Left] & Nora Gregor [Right] One thing I have noticed which has given me a longstanding impression on my mind is that Christine’s knowledge and learning on colonial history of America and sculptural and artistic collection of Ch...

When I started to read French filmmaker Jean Renoir’s autobiography "My Life and My Films" [1974] and I was stuck at the line “In my view cinema is nothing but a new form of painting- another form of the total transformation of the world through knowledge” in the forward. I have fallen free in the nadir of nostalgia and recalled an incident. In my orientation class for cinematography certificate course in Pathshala South Asian Media Institute back in January 2015, my course instructor asked for all what is cinematography, broadly speaking, what the cinema is? I was astonished as well as confident that I knew what to say in response. I said boastfully cinema is a third eye; an eye to see the world what others don’t say.  I have also posted a statement in Bengali,  তৃতীয়   নয়নে   অন্য   জীবন   দেখার   শুভারম্ভ ...... [The beginning of seeing the other lives through the third eye] with three pictures of Gordon Wills, the cinematic collaborator of Woody Al...

  The assembly of multi ethnic & religious people in the tumultuous time of great wars; the difficulties of verbal communications in the midst of various languages; the adversity and hardship in the desertion and escapement attempts in the life as a POW; overall, the unilateral suffering and futile purposes of wars are the concerns I have been researching for the literary and artistic documents and references of the situations in the Mesopotamian campaign [1914-1918]. I have already listed some references but I haven’t thought I will come across one of the finest artistic representations that has been expressed well in Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion [1937] where I have found all of them in a single cinema. I am instantly enchanted by its pacifist and humanistic attitudes. Very few cinemas showed the unconventional friendship between  Boëldieu [French aviator] & Rauffenstein  [German aviator] like Frantz [German soldier] & Adrien [French soldier] in Frantz [2...

  I suppose Akira had written the screenplay of The Quiet Duel [1948] keeping two things mind. Seemingly, as for the sequel of Drunken Angel [1948]. On the basis of narrative structure and character psychology it is a good rendition and alter narrative of Drunken Angel.   As Akira commented in his Something Like Autobiography [1982]:   A sad truth in the film business is that when an actor succeeds in a particular role there is a tendency to keep casting him in similar roles. This stems, of course, from the convenience and advantage of those who use him, but for the actor himself there is no greater misfortune. Repeating the same role over and over, like a machine-stamped image, is unbearable. An actor who is not constantly given new roles and new subjects to tackle dries out and withers like a tree you plant in the garden and then fail to water.   Akira might have realized the above statement by giving Toshiro one of the most optimistic and angel-li...

  When I was reading Kurosawa’s autobiography [1982], I was so enthusiastic to know what he wrote about Mifune. When I came to know that how Akira along with Yama-san selected Toshiro for Toho studio, I was totally amazed that he opined:   “Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding. “   In 1948 he made Drunken Angel with Mifune as a gangster and when I started watching the movie, I was surprised to notice Takashi Shimura’a acting skills which had been lacking when I watched Rashomon & Seven Samurai. They acted like a magnificent duo in Japanese cinema.   The recurrent projections of damp swamp with Matsunaga ’s TB conditions and their link up with the destitution of women status in the movie reflected well the post-war dilapidations of social structure.   The dedication and sacrifice of Doctor Sanada [Takashi] for gan...

           I just can say one word on Dersu                         "UNFORGETABLE"                                     College :1 College:2 College:3 College:4 Dersu Uzala [1975]   Russian :  Дерсу Узала ,   Japanese :  デルス·ウザーラ Akira Kurosawa

"G o home to your mother and live a long-life eating gruel” -Sanjuro [Toshiro]   One of the best philosophical directions of human life; either live a long life peacefully or live a lavish short life, I have found in the Yojimbo [1961]. What man is quest for ultimately; especially in the realm of arts & cultures is always a big and unsolved question to me. There may not be an exact answer we can get, not in the past, present and not even in future. Since I have been watching Kurosawan films some contemplation appears in my mind that: literally I have observed that humans are not capable of seeing the complete sequences of lives of a person, a family or group at once. Reading can give a glimpse of them; but films make better because of its advantage of auditory, visual and common engagement with the form.   Yojimbo [1961] is one of the thrilling and aesthetically pure in the genre of political allegory I have seen as of today. I have found a sheer semblance wi...

  Sometimes, I watch some parts of a film in mute mode like the silent era; I do not read the titles. The reason behind these errands is very crucial to me; firstly, I want to catch the story line without external assistance then comes the point of finding the thrilling cinematic tempo and pace of the film themselves. If I can stand by the following sequences and enjoy the moments of watching the film, I come to the conclusion that this is a good film and can survive the taste of time and space beyond borders. This is one kind game for me as of today.   I was not informed about the inspiration of Throne of Blood [1957] and it is likely a Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth [1606]. But in the course of the watching, the film seemed to me a bit gray and monotonous in the tempo and mood. May be mostly because of its theatrical, gothic and formalist staging and acting. But Akira’s cinematic compositions, Toshiro Mifune’s spirited acting and Masaru Sato’s subtle musical sc...

                                                                    " This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves.                                     If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself "   When I heard Kambei Shimada ’ s dialogue , a  ronin , the leader of samurais  starred by  Takashi Shimura ; I just press the pause button instantly to hear it repeatedly and felt a great pleasure and thought that is the essence of human artistic prestige that drive us to surrender to art both spiritually and philosophically.   If Rashomon [1950] was about technically triangular compositions then Seven Samurai [1954] is about cinematically crowd compositions. I am amazed w...