Unquestionably, Kiarostami’s films are unlike any film ever seen, leave alone Iranian ones. But one film that is extreme and decidedly avant-garde even by Kiarostami’s standards – Five: Five long takes dedicated to Yasujiro Ozu (2003) – has turned out to be one of his finest works. Kiarostami quietly integrates the five elements of nature to create a film that is as warm as Ozu’s and as puzzling as his own, in a way, forming a singular connection between them. And that is why “Five” stands as a fitting tribute to one of cinema’s greatest humanists, by another…

If there’s something to be loved or admired about Woody Allen, his ability to make a tale sensible, inspiring, sexy, passionate – all at the same time – would arguably rank as the first, followed closely by his flair for infusing intellect, intelligence and conviction in a seemingly inane (or even sexual) subject matter. Of course, most of this review will be focused on elaborating on the aforementioned, but let me take the liberty to tell you one thing before you go any further. If you’re a conformist when it comes to relationships, love or passion …

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Three Monkeys bagged the best director prize at the Cannes and was Turkey’s submission to the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film. The film further went on to pip the much acclaimed Italian film Gomorra in the race and made it to the Academy’s shortlist for the foreign film category. A magnificent knockout by the Turkish auteur indeed! Mr. Bilge Ceylan is sometimes looked at as the Satyajit Ray of Turkey – incentive enough to give Mr. Bilge Ceylan’s work a shot? How about we find out..

We always have that “one foreign film” to top it all, don’t we? Continuing the tradition of extraordinary films like The Lives of Others (2006), 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), this year we have an Israeli flick Waltz with Bashir. Already a winner of the Golden Globe for the best foreign film of the year, the film is all set to make it big at the Academy Awards late next month. Director Folman dedicated the Golden Globe to all the babies that were born during the production of the film and desired that when they watched the film…

Sweden’s much-acclaimed, much-talked-about and much-shockingly-left-out-of-the-Best-Foreign-Film-Oscar-nominations – ‘Let The Right One In’ – has been genrefied as a “horror”. It has also been called a “vampire film”. But while it has its bloodcurdling and bloodsucking moments – all the more chilling because they creep up on you like a black cat at midnight – it is really neither of those things. What it is, is a story about two creatures of the dark – the dark being not the obvious kind that has things going bump in it…

Only very occasionally in over 40 years of active reading have I come across a book that immediately grasps and maintains my attention. Although I read this book over 10 years ago its vibrant prose and profundity of scope remains as a deep and joyful memory. A Suitable Boy is a behemoth of a book, my copy had over 1400 pages of densely spaced text and Wikipedia states it is one of the largest single novels printed in the English Language. The book covers the 1930s to 1950s is locally a social satire and globally a social history..

To a mad world, caught in a turmoil of terror, anything written in an Islamic language, seems to be a potential pamphlet for Zihad. We would like to invite this mad world in for a quiet cup of tea, iced perhaps, and open a page for them to read the following: Ladies and gentlemen, meet Saadat Hasan Manto (May 11, 1912 – January 18, 1955). The finest Urdu writer the world has even seen. Who like the rest of the great souls, was never afraid of putting humanity before religion. And was thoroughly punished for it.

As we move towards a more liberal society and towards modernization, we question established opinions, ideologies and beliefs on various subjects like the role of men and women in the society, the boundaries that interpersonal relationships must adhere to (especially between relatives and lovers), sexuality and love, distinction between the professional and personal, and the likes. As constructive a process as this is, it can be disruptive to an equal or greater degree as we also disturb a natural order that has been in place for years…

A British director with a British screenplay telling an Indian story based on a book by an Indian author, using predominantly an Indian crew of mixed nationalities - Sound like a global film?
There are certain films and filmmakers that become associated with the zeitgeist or ‘spirit of the times’. The release of Slumdog Millionaire [...]

Adapted from Vikas Swarup’s novel Q&A, and directed by Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire is a movie that is easy to rave about but difficult to avoid. With a fairy tale storyline concerning the triumph of an underdog against all odds, that viewers are bound to find inspirational, the movie is never didactic in its approach, and manages to pack a strong punch. What sets the movie truly apart is the searing and uncompromising honesty of the director. The movie is full of hope and life despite the graphic and unsettling physical poverty depicted on screen.