Bokshi (2025) Rotterdam 2025

Influenced by a teacher in a school and one of the students, a young woman goes on a journey across India in the hope of finding clues as to what happened to her mother. She finds herself in the middle of a mystical group centered around the worship of the earth mother.

Women’s empowerment meets folk horror in a personal film from director Bhargav Saikia. It’s a film that feels lived and that is coming from a personal place. Its so personal that a couple of times I had the feeling that bits were being pulled from real life.

The one problem with the film is that I’m not certain there is enough here to sustain 166 minutes. While nothing here is bad the low key nature  of the film makes the film long in the second hour. It’s not fatal but I found I was less connected to the film.

My quibble aside, BOKSHI is worth a look for anyone who love folk horror films.

SANTOSH(2024)

When her husband dies, Santosh takes on his job as a police officer. She ends up stuck in a world of crime and questionable methods. She also ends up getting involved in the murder of a young girl.

This is a very good thriller that wants to say a great deal about how society views women and police. It's a film that has a lot going on but at the same time it also is a compelling thriller that keeps us watching because we genuinely want to know how this plays out. I stayed with it to the end even the pace slackened for a little bit because I had to know how it comes out.

The best way to describe this is as a kind of modern noir set in India/

While I would be very surprised if the film makes the final Oscar cut, I am happy it got into the Oscar mix so that it will get onto the radar of people who will fall in love with it.

Very recommended.

Collaborator (2024) Dances With Films New York

In the disputed Kashmir valley between India and Pakistan a young man is forced by Indian authorities to walk through the valley to collect the identity cards of the dead.  Wanting to be free of the task he tries to flee to Pakistan however  they think he is still in the employ of India. Upon returning to India they think he is working for Pakistan. Is there anyway that he can get out of the middle?

Based on the autobiographical novel from writer Mirza Waheed, this is a film is a moving look at how people get trapped between battling countries. It’s tense story that shows how officials don’t care about the truth only how things can be turned to their advantage.

I really liked this film a great deal. While not on my original Dances With Films dance card I jumped at the chance to see it.

While the film can be a little too talky at times, the cast and the tension of the situations presented make this more than worth your time.

Recommended

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (2024) at Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center starting Friday

I had finished watching ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT  and I was pondering it's considerable wonders when I looked at social media and found the press corps at Cannes (where it just won the Grand Prix) raving like crazy people about the film. I was horrified by this turn, not because the film is bad, not even remotely, but their words were promising a film bigger and louder than the small gem that is going to find a place in your heart and live there forever.

Because I do not want to over sell the film, honestly what I would rather do is get copies of the film and just press it into your hands while saying "Take this and watch it -- we'll discuss it later".

I can't stress it enough - don't read the gushing reviews- just buy a ticket and see it.

The film is a mix of documentary sequences with narrative. The documentary sequences are sequences in and around the location with voice over. They are hypnotic bits that grab us and pull us into the tale. It's a brilliant device that makes everything we see so much more real. The narrative is the story of three women in Mumbai. A nurse is thrown off when her estranged husband shows up with a gift. Her roommate is trying to find a place where she can be intimate with her boyfriend. The pair take a trip to the beach with a friend and try to sort it all out.

A quiet, gentle film with it's own rhythms, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT takes its time telling its story.  Never big and loud this film is something more akin to spending a few hours with the characters. It's a film that slowly works its way into your heart and head. What seems just okay at the start ends up being deeply moving at the end. A second trip through the film reveals it to be a much deeper film than you may think at the start and by the time we reach that final shot we are even more moved. (I was not going to see it a second time, but some time after I saw it it was growing bigger and stronger and I had to revisit it.)

This is a deeply moving film that works it's magic on a visceral level. It's a film whose charms should not be shouted about but rather experienced.

Is it one of the best films to play Cannes this year? Without a doubt, but this quiet film about the human heart needs to be seen for what it is and not over sold as something it is not.

Go see this film. Go see it and be moved.

All We Imagine as Light (2024) NYFF 2024

I had finished watching ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT  and I was pondering it's considerable wonders when I looked at social media and found the press corps at Cannes (where it just won the Grand Prix) raving like crazy people about the film. I was horrified by this turn, not because the film is bad, not even remotely, but their words were promising a film bigger and louder than the small gem that is going to find a place in your heart and live there forever.

Because I do not want to over sell the film, honestly what I would rather do is get copies of the film and just press it into your hands while saying "Take this and watch it -- we'll discuss it later".

I can't stress it enough - don't read the gushing reviews- just buy a ticket and see it.

The film is a mix of documentary sequences with narrative. The documentary sequences are sequences in and around the location with voice over. They are hypnotic bits that grab us and pull us into the tale. It's a brilliant device that makes everything we see so much more real. The narrative is the story of three women in Mumbai. A nurse is thrown off when her estranged husband shows up with a gift. Her roommate is trying to find a place where she can be intimate with her boyfriend. The pair take a trip to the beach with a friend and try to sort it all out.

A quiet, gentle film with it's own rhythms, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT takes its time telling its story.  Never big and loud this film is something more akin to spending a few hours with the characters. It's a film that slowly works its way into your heart and head. What seems just okay at the start ends up being deeply moving at the end. A second trip through the film reveals it to be a much deeper film than you may think at the start and by the time we reach that final shot we are even more moved. (I was not going to see it a second time, but some time after I saw it it was growing bigger and stronger and I had to revisit it.)

This is a deeply moving film that works it's magic on a visceral level. It's a film whose charms should not be shouted about but rather experienced.

Is it one of the best films to play Cannes (and NYFF) this year? Without a doubt, but this quiet film about the human heart needs to be seen for what it is and not over sold as something it is not.

Go see this film. Go see it and be moved.

DEAD DEAD FULL DEAD (2024) Fantasia 2024

 

World premiering at Fantasia DEAD DEAD FULL DEAD is crazy film. It's an incredibly broad comedy that sends up murder mysteries, romance and supernatural thrillers.

The film focuses on pair of police detectives who are also a couple. Sent to investigate the murder of an astrologer things go side ways as the suspects pile up and things go in unexpected directions.

A love it or loath it film, you are either going to click with it's deadpan silliness or you won't. At times this is a very great film and at other times it's painful. It's incredibly clever but the jokes don't always land, with the result it's a tough film to truly love.

I liked it, but at the same time I wish I was in a sillier mood when I saw it so more of the jokes landed.

KILL (2023) Tribeca 2024

Largely plotless film has a special forces commando and his buddy traveling on a train so he can be with the woman he loves. Things go sideways when bandits attempt to rob the passengers en route and an endless battle up and down the train cars results.

Brutal, ugly and lacking completely in any suspense outside of whether our hero will be alive at the end, this film is pretty much a 90 minute fight scene.  It's full of blood and gore and gruesome kills.  There are no characters only fodder to be carved up. The result is a tale where I was never invested.

Yes the violence is nonstop andt there are some kills that make you react, but outside of that there isn't anything to keep our interest.

It doesn't help that the film takes the action film trope that the hero can't get hurt that bad to a ridiculous level as he's stabbed, slashed, knocked unconscious and beaten almost to death over and over again- more than any other action hero that I ever remember seeing - it never really affects him. Indeed some wounds, such as the slash to his hand as a knife blade  he was holding is pulled away are never referenced after they happen.

Yea it's kind of fun while it's on but mostly you're going to want something meatier and smarter when it's done.

A disappointment.

Jooyein (LICE) (2024) Tribeca 2024

Two school girls bond over shared secrets and lice.

This is a nice drama that really seems to understand the pain of being  a teen. It reveals how we say hurtful things and not understand how it has repercussions. I found it uncomfortable because it kicked up  feelings from when I was a kid so many years ago.

This is a beautifully made film and recommended.

Thoughts on ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (2024) Cannes 2024

I had finished watching ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT  and I was pondering it's considerable wonders when I looked at social media and found the press corps at Cannes (where it just won the Grand Prix) raving like crazy people about the film. I was horrified by this turn, not because the film is bad, not even remotely, but their words were promising a film bigger and louder than the small gem that is going to find a place in your heart and live there forever.

Because I do not want to over sell the film, honestly what I would rather do is get copies of the film and just press it into your hands while saying "Take this and watch it -- we'll discuss it later".

I can't stress it enough - don't read the gushing reviews- just buy a ticket and see it.

The film is a mix of documentary sequences with narrative. The documentary sequences are sequences in and around the location with voice over. They are hypnotic bits that grab us and pull us into the tale. It's a brilliant device that makes everything we see so much more real. The narrative is the story of three women in Mumbai. A nurse is thrown off when her estranged husband shows up with a gift. Her roommate is trying to find a place where she can be intimate with her boyfriend. The pair take a trip to the beach with a friend and try to sort it all out.

A quiet, gentle film with it's own rhythms, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT takes its time telling its story.  Never big and loud this film is something more akin to spending a few hours with the characters. It's a film that slowly works its way into your heart and head. What seems just okay at the start ends up being deeply moving at the end. A second trip through the film reveals it to be a much deeper film than you may think at the start and by the time we reach that final shot we are even more moved. (I was not going to see it a second time, but some time after I saw it it was growing bigger and stronger and I had to revisit it.)

This is a deeply moving film that works it's magic on a visceral level. It's a film whose charms should not be shouted about but rather experienced.

Is it one of the best films to play Cannes this year? Without a doubt, but this quiet film about the human heart needs to be seen for what it is and not over sold as something it is not.

Go see this film. Go see it and be moved.

Marching In The Dark (2024) Hot Docs 2024

Sanjivani, is a widow struggling to raise her family and run her family farm. Not long before her husband committed suicide because of the crushing debt and the inability to make a go of the farm. Turning to the numerous women in the same situation as herself she begins to organize and create a community that can begin to allow the women to make a living and get ahead.

The plight of the countless farmers in India is terrible. They are being crushed by a system stacked against them, the buyers of the goods find any and every excuse to pay the famers as little as possible, and every other part of their lives is set up to take their money and keep them in poverty. It is a life I would wish on no one. The fact that there is an epidemic of suicides is not surprising. That the wives of the men are left behind to raise their children and try and turn it around financially is sad.

This is a bittersweet film. While we watch, and are happy  Sanjivani as she begins to move toward a better life and forms a community, we are still left hurt knowing that there is still along way to go.

Not to put too fine a point on this film kicked my ass. I was left broken by it. The final image of the film has haunted me for the last three weeks since I saw the film. The haunting image of sad resolve has appeared before my eyes numerous times each and every day, despite seeing numerous other films.

I honestly don’t know what to say except that Kinshu Surjan has made a truly great film. Not only is it a great portrait of a woman doing what she has to survive, but it sheds light on a terrible situation I’m certain 99% of the world knows nothing about. If we are lucky this film will get tractions and find the eyes and hearts of the people who can change this terrible situation.

Highly recommended, MARCHING IN THE DARK is a must see.

Monkey Man (2024)

Dev Patel 's MONKEY MAN has been the subject of a large amount of hype since it played at SXSW. Hailed by many as the next big thing, the people attending the screening last night were all waiting to be knocked over by what Patel was going to be putting before us. The reaction to the film was much more subdued then I thought it was going to be.

Nominally a revenge story, the film follows Patel's "Bobby" who fights in unsanctioned bare fist fights with a monkey mask. Usually he gets his ass handed to him. It's okay since it gets him the money he needs to live... and to track down the people responsible for the death of his mother.

I'm going to leave it there because ultimately the story makes only the barest amount of sense. Patel may have given us some fantastic sequences, and showed himself to be a directing talent that, with a better script, is destined for great things, but unfortunately, he has made a film where the narrative is as clear as mud.

MONKEY MAN's script is, to put it mildly, a real mess. For at least two thirds of the film nothing is really clear - or makes any real sense. We are not told a great deal, even to the point that we don't really know what he's doing, it looks like a robbery at first, but it's not, until we get a lot of little pieces that we know that he's after the bad cop who killed his mother. How this ties into everything else is tenuous at best.... until it's not and Patel decides to suddenly spell it all out before the final fight. However, by that time we've worked it all out for ourselves and his taking the time to tell us just stops the movie.

It  doesn't help that there are no real characters but cardboard cut outs. It's clear that Patel has everyone in his head, but what he gives us on screen are one note characters we barely know. Everyone has one or two looks rather than real developed characters. We have to do all the work and fill in everyone's back story. When I say that I mean everyone including Patel, who proves himself a truly great actor by taking the nothing of a character his writer side has come up with and turned it into a moving and affecting performance.

The structure of the film is such that its almost two separate films. There is Patel's initial attempt to take out the bad cop, and then there is what happens after his rescue as he prepares himself to try again to take out the powerful guru who is really behind it all. If that sounds out of left field, it is. The whole social commentary that blankets the tale about how the rich and powerful crushing the poor never works and is too threadbare to actually mean anything, if for no other reason than it suddenly is pushed forward in the final third. The guru is barely in the film and his motivations are never made clear until the end and even so, we know nothing other than he's rich and powerful.

Honestly, I would love to discuss the plot's problems in greater detail, but the narrative is so broken that my attempts at trying to explain it made it sound so incredibly stupid that I had to chop them out of this review.

For the most part the way Patel shoots the film is stunning. While I do think he over directs much of the film (it's as if his life depends upon showing us what he can do), he still manages to create a lot of truly stunning sequences, and I mean that beyond the action. Watch the sequences in the exclusive club and they are put together as if they are a grand ballet. The camera tells us way more than the script.  While I am certain Patel will win an Oscar or two, I would be hard pressed to know if it will be for his acting or directing.

As for the action sequences, they all bone crushing bloody affairs. People die horribly. While some of what happens doesn't make sense (biting the knife) we are still carried along by the motion on the screen. To be certain Patel probably should have not used as much handheld shots and framed things to be a bit clearer (the POV/not POV stairway sequence is dreadful), however over all the action is wonderful. We must applaud the fight choreography because several times the audience audibly reacted to the nastiness on screen.

Is MONKEY MAN a bad film?  No. It's a solid, if dramatically messy action film that heralds the arrival of a new director. While it may not reinvent the wheel or be the next big thing, what Patel does next just might be.

Caught Out Crime Corruption and Cricket (2023)

A look at the cheating scandal that rocked Indian and world Cricket circles when it was discovered that bookies were paying players and whole teams to alter the outcome of matches.

I don’t really understand Cricket. I have a vague understanding, but not enough that I can watch it and fully understand what is happening in a match. I’ve been told that if I had been raised watching the game I would have caught the disease  that would have turned it into an obsession. In India and many other parts of the world it is an obsession.

Caught Out Crime Corruption and Cricket  is the story of the betrayal of that obsession. It’s the story of how bookies gave players lots of money, not always throwing matches but to manipulate the point spreads so that things came out favorably to the bookies. How bad was it? One person is heard to testify that he could find out any match was going to turn out well in advance of it being played. It’s a heart breaker that will make you think that the sport was being run by the folks at professional wrestling.

The film follows several journalists as they stumble on the story and try to report it. At first it’s a small scale story that rattle some cages before disappearing, and then it came roaring back with a vengeance and engulfed the whole sport.

While the film could have  given us a bit more detail on some of the bad guys, I was still enthralled. This was a look into a world I knew nothing about. It was also a look into the bad things that some people will do to make a buck. I kept wondering if this sort of thing is happening at all in any of the American sports leagues, especially now that that sports betting is now an okay thing.

Recommended.

Adipurush(2023)

ADIPRUSH was supposed to play Tribeca but was pulled for supposedly because they were afraid of it being bootlegged before it was released. It's an odd thing because I've never ever seen any cameras at Tribeca except during the Q&A.(And since it was supposed to play in 3D any image would have been unwatchable).  There was also a story saying that the reason it was pulled so everyone could see it. 

When the film actually opened in theaters the talk on my Twitter feed was it was pulled because the film wasn't good and they wanted to get it into theaters before word leaked out. Twitter was also aflame with people condemning the film the film for changing history and the story it is telling. Some people were saying the film was sacrilegious in what it did. 

Not being at all familiar with the story I can not speak to what the film's accuracy in telling it's story, however I can speak to how the film hit a guy who just wandered in off the street and watched it on Netflix and that is this is a pretty wild action adventure. It moves like the wind, probably a little too fast, but at the same time it just goes.

You will forgive me if I don't go into details. I wasn't taking notes I was just being carried along by the motion and the images. I had a grand time. I had such a good time that I wish I had seen it in a theater and 3D.

Is this the best film in the world? No but it is a lot of fun. It's a three hour rollercoaster.

Recommended

SUBURBAN TALE (2023) ( aka Tamso) Fantastic Fest 2023

Prodigal daughter returns home for a family wedding only to discover they are hiding the fact that one of their members is possessed by a demon, and unless he is kept fed he spews a gas that causes one to hallucinate. As things begin to take a turn for the worse people find their thoughts trapped in the bad old days.

Low key and creepy horror film will keep you on the edge of your seat. Brilliantly blending full on horror with the unpleasantness of dealing with your family  SUBURBAN TALE hits us in the gut with a double whammy. What do you do when you have to work with people you don’t really like? By the time the film explodes into violence we’ve been put through the wringer.

Beautifully made on every level, with a cast who sells the darkness this is the best type of horror film, one where everyone is invested in scaring the proverbial crap out of you.

This is the sort of film that makes me want to go to film festivals, namely under the radar gems that are you would never find otherwise.  

Track this film down and just go with it.

While We Watched (2022) plays tonight on PBS's POV

WHILE WE WATCHED follows Indian broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he tries to remain above the fray in a country where truth is under attack and disinformation is being spewed by government officials and the various political parties.  As the attacks from the right in crease Kumar’s station, a bastion of truth is more and more under attack, driving  his station into financial free fall and putting any notion of a free press on the brink of extinction.

While this is an India set film, it is a story that echoes even here in America. You can see the divisions not only in the news industry where Fox News OAN, Newsmax and the other Far Right mouth pieces attempt our world view. The result are deep divisions in country that will take decades to heal if ever. While we may not be as close to the brink its clear that if we don’t stop the slide America will be just as crazy as India.

This is a really good film. Its’s a vital and important warning about what is going on in the world as the various politicians and rich media people try to control how we think in order to consolidate power. Watching the film we really get a sense of the battles being fought on a daily basis by news organizations trying to give us an unbiased view.

If there is any problem with the film it is that we are dropped into the fray from the get go. We are not given any sort of introduction to what we are seeing and who all of the people are. It takes a while to sort out who  is who, and what the politics are.

Quibbles aside this is an important warning and as such it is recommended 

THE UNDERBUG (2023) Slamdance 2023

The Underbug is a moody thriller about two men on either side of sectarian violence in India stumbling into a strange house. The house is deserted, or seems to be, except for the men who are soon faced with problems greater than themselves.

This is a great looking tense “horror” film about the things that go bump in the night and the evil that lurks in men’s hearts. It’s a film that you must see as big as possible and with as fee distractions as you can manage (a darkened theater would be perfect.) I really loved much of this film. This is perfectly made thriller with some genuine chills in it. Actually it has more chills in it’s 68 minutes than most Hollywood thrillers that run twice it’s length.

The only flaw in the film is the politics. While there is nothing wrong  with the inclusion of the references on the face of it, some of it seems to be tad heavy handed. No, the references aren’t constant, it’s more that a number of the references seem to be there to remind us that more is going on than scares.

That said, this is one of the moodiest horror films that I’ve seen in years. Every frame from the first to the last has chilling beauty to it.

A must see for horror films, especially anyone who wants one that isn’t your typical one.

Last Film Show (2021) hits digital today

 

THE LAST FILM SHOW is one of the greatest love letters to the movies and the power of cinema that you will ever see.  It is one of the best films of 2021 and of the Tribeca Film Festival as well

The film follows a young boy whose family makes a rare trip to the movies. Falling under the spell of the flickering image he begins to return to the cinema almost daily, bribing the projectionist with the lunches his mother prepares for him. Things are going swimmingly until the switch to digital is coming and he is forced to figure out how he can make one more trip into the darkness.

Magical and wondrous beyond words, this is a film that is going to have any true lover of the movies squealing with delight or sobbing with the beauty of the image and story.

While the film echoes films such as CINEMA PARADISO, it is entirely it’s own beast. Yes it openly riffs dozens of films, but it’s all perfectly done and perfectly acceptable since it is never gratuitous or showy, rather it is perfectly placed. And lest you argue that a truly great film wouldn’t lift from other films I will say you are wrong. This is a film that is about the collective dream that we have. It is a film about how films invade our lives and become part of them. Of course there are riffs because over time we see life in terms of the movies.

I was moved to tears and then some.

I am so jealous of the people who got to see this on a big screen with an audience of like minded film fans.

This is a masterpiece.

I fully expect this to be in the running for the Oscars, not just the best foreign language  category, but for others as well.

Forgive me for not saying more but this is a film you need to see and experience. It is a film you need to have live in your heart and make you fall in love with the movies all over again.

Highly recommended.

AATANK (19??) Thanksgiving Turkey

 

AATANK is a legendary Bollywood film that recently played Fantastic Fest in a restored version. While I’m all for restoring films, this is one I’m not sure this was a wise one that to spend money on.

This mess of a film is started filming in the 1980’s and then was eventually finished a decade plus later. Never mind that the actors aged we just had to go with it. The plot has something to do with gangsters in a small fishing village and it all comes down to a wild final fifteen or so minutes where the hero battles a killer shark who is threatening the livelihood of the village. The battle with the shark really has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but they bend the plot so it kind of does.

You won’t remember anything about the film except those final minutes which are so out in left field that that they are in another dimension. Bouncing between bad models and bad human performances these minutes are some of the most hysterical ever committed to celluloid. I have watched people get hurt from either laughing so hard they cramp up or fall out of their chairs and bang their heads.

I really dislike this film a great deal, and tend to only see the film’s final minutes every now and again when a discussion of truly bad films comes up. Being a masochist I decided to watch the film again for the Fantastic Fest screening and came close to plucking my eyes out of my head. Thankfully I had a cheese grater handy do I just shaved my legs with that to get my mind off the visual pain.

I can’t recommended this film except for the wacky ending.

Bad model work away

WHile We Watched (2022) TIFF 2022

WHILE WE WATCHED follows Indian broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he tries to remain above the fray in a country where truth is under attack and disinformation is being spewed by government officials and the various political parties.  As the attacks from the right in crease Kumar’s station, a bastion of truth is more and more under attack, driving  his station into financial free fall and putting any notion of a free press on the brink of extinction.

While this is an India set film, it is a story that echoes even here in America. You can see the divisions not only in the news industry where Fox News OAN, Newsmax and the other Far Right mouth pieces attempt our world view. The result are deep divisions in country that will take decades to heal if ever. While we may not be as close to the brink its clear that if we don’t stop the slide America will be just as crazy as India.

This is a really good film. Its’s a vital and important warning about what is going on in the world as the various politicians and rich media people try to control how we think in order to consolidate power. Watching the film we really get a sense of the battles being fought on a daily basis by news organizations trying to give us an unbiased view.

If there is any problem with the film it is that we are dropped into the fray from the get go. We are not given any sort of introduction to what we are seeing and who all of the people are. It takes a while to sort out who  is who, and what the politics are.

Quibbles aside this is an important warning and as such it is recommended 

Bengali (2021) begins its theatrical run Friday

 

Fatima Shaik is an African American writer with ties to New Orleans going back four generations. Her Great Grandfather  came from India and made a home in the city. Feeling the need to connect with him and her heritage she take a trip to India in order to find out more about her family.

Kavery Kaul's wonderful film is one part family history, one part celebration of New Orleans and one part eye popping travelogue  to India. This is a film that two minutes in had me wondering why the hell I wasn’t seeing it at an in person screening. I say that because the film’s sense of place, both in New Orleans and India is amazing. You get a real sense of being there in person. Not in a travelogue sort of way, but a genuine you are there sort of way. I can only imagine how much stronger the feeling is in a theater.

I absolutely love this film. Beyond the images, I love how the film blends the various elements of trying to connect to the past and to a culture we know little about. Shaik’s connection to India was a blended one before she made the trip. After going and seeing and experiencing it became something else. This is a film that clearly shows how the stories we tell shape us and our world view.

This is great stuff.  Twenty four hours after seeing it I was still thinking about. I was also talking to various people about the film just because unlike most other films it felt alive and wondrous.

This film is highly recommended when it opens Friday.