The Weekend 2013

Old age is the best of times. The body may show wear and tear, but the mind is steadier, and the experience and learning of a lifetime can be relished and savored. There is little left to lose. As the population grays, it is natural that there are more and more movies about old folk. In this melancholy-sweet film, both are professors, married for thirty years, celebrating a brief expensive holiday. The film dissects the portrait of a particular marriage, thread baring the intimate details with some restraint. The woman is the dominant partner, and contempt vies with affection.. Steering skillfully through a sequence of non events, this melancholy picture of old age ends on a buoyant note, with the couple set on to confront life together. There is no such thing as getting to know a person, however many years one may have spent.

The Unknown Known

Errol Morris, 2014
A riveting documentary, worthy of its celebrated director. It is an interview with Rumsfeld,who was close to the helm of affairs from US side during the Middle East events in the first decade. Morris with great skill is able to snapshot from many angles the mental workings of this very intelligent decision maker, He is, of all things, a "dictionary addict", a person alive to the importance and power of words. We also learn the essential element of unpredictability of life, all calculation notwithstanding, which makes war, sport and even business, so endlessly fascinating. Another thing which appears is the absence of any significant ethical dimension in the thinking of even sophisticated intellectuals.

Citizen Kane****

This is my third or fourth view, and difficult as it may be to be objective about so lauded a movie, what came out clear was that it is a simple and enjoyable film, brimming with energy and the joy of life, it's tragi-comic and somewhat philosophical conclusion notwithstanding. 'Rosebud' is a mere ploy of narration, a prankish device of story telling by a young director. One may say it is the aspect of life, "if only I'd chosen a different path", a regret filled feeling as the curtain lowers. The film lunges through time with momentum and speed, managing to compress a dense biography within two hours. There is not a dull moment, starting from the obituarial newsreel which opens the movie.The film is visually poetic, not least the "no trespassing" which opens and closes the film, or the billows of sooty smoke which seem to symbolize the net worth of Kane. No less than the cinematic element, is the continuous verbal creativity of the script, and one could pullout any number of quotes. In essence, it is more funny than sad. It is unpretentious. Welles is too much the genius to draw conclusions.
Old Review

Taurus 2001***

Aleksandr Sokurov
The last days of Lenin (early 1920s), as he sinks into physical helplessness and mental decline. Lenin and his close family, living in the misty Soviet countryside, are evoked in poetically muted sounds and colors as the great man awaits the end. Stalin visits him twice and seems affable in a slimy way. He is crude in his behavior, as when he pinches the cheek of Lenin's wife in unwelcome familiarity, as if awaiting what is to follow. Lenin longs for death, the means for which have been removed, even as he implores his successor for poison. The portrayal of the decrepit and near imbecile Lenin is a fluent and convincing performance. If one were to draw a conclusion, even iron men have clay feet when confronted with their end. And Sokurov is eminent as a director.

Powder 1995***

Amateurish in direction and acting; lame in emoting; this film never the less touches the heart, and alongside a dose of paranormal gimmickry, intuits on larger issues of existence as few movies, if any, have done.