On Short Films, Anthologies & Wild Tales
We live in a world where producers demand newbie directors to shoot a trailer or a set of scenes from the script to prove their worth. This is totally a valid case as it is the Producer’s money after all. But to gain entry to narrate a script to a producer or even to join as a Director’s assistant, short films seem to be the order of the day,In India at least! This again seems to be a justifiable expectation. What makes these grapes turn sour is the attempt to stretch these short films into laborious feature films where the short-film director lazily inserts songs, comedy sequences & fights to make the short into a passable feature. That is a strict No-No!
Why O Kadhal Kanmani is not a ‘Comeback’ film for Mani Ratnam
I would agree if you were to call O Kadhal Kanmani a comeback of sorts for Madras Talkies, the production house but I have my own reasons to argue against if one were to claim the film is a comeback for director Mani Ratnam.
Our Picks from Q1 2015 : Tamil Films
2015 kicked off with the Pongal releases & right in the middle of the mix was Shankar’s Vikram starrer ‘I’ – arguably, the most expected film of the year! GV Prakash’s litmus test as an actor came in the form of Darling & the maverick SJ Suryah got back after a hiatus through his Isai. Then came another heavyweight film in the form of Gautham’s comeback vehicle of sorts, Yennai Arindhaal followed right after by KV Anand’s Anegan.
Why only Five when there can be More
Every year, there is a recurrent debate on which film, actor, actress, supporting cast, original score etc. gets the Oscar (or perhaps any Global Award for that matter) among film buffs. In essence one can never generically say with confidence that one particular film or performance was THE BEST as tastes differ from one person to another. While one person would feel that an uncomplicated, In-Your-Face film like Whiplash should be honoured as the Best, another would feel that the poetically created world of The Grand Budapest Hotel should pip that to glory, and another would say a film should have multiple layers challenging us technically and thematically thereby christening Birdman as the Best of all, while another would look at the painstaking effort, commitment, vision of the people behind Boyhood as the Best ever. It is a thankless, himalayan and an almost impossible task to satisfy everyone.
12th Chennai International Film Festival 2014: A round-up
After covering the 11th edition of CIFF , we felt that facets like volunteering, visibility & organization needed minor tweaks to give the festival a better facelift and reach. Our hope was indeed translated into reality by the commendable efforts of ICAF and volunteers from DG Vaishnav college. Another plus to this installment of CIFF was Natty, a fictional character in Social media, to engage the present-day audience better.