Great Movies
Features
How Bunty Aur Babli Updated the Legend of Bonnie and Clyde
A feature on the impact of the 2005 hit Bunty Aur Babli, and its connection to the Arthur Penn classic.
A feature on the impact of the 2005 hit Bunty Aur Babli, and its connection to the Arthur Penn classic.
• Chaz Ebert at Cannes
Dear Roger: "We were once indivisible from every atom in the cosmos," and that is how I feel when I am sitting in the Palais watching movies at Cannes with a screen spread out as wide as the galaxy, the audience circling around like protons and neutrons breathing as one in empathy.
Sometimes, I just want to stare at beautiful people, even if they spend most of the movie just staring at each other. I think it's in the eyes, especially when the eyes are smiling. Sometimes, I just want to sigh, watching them longing for each other. Ashutosh Gowariker's 2008 film, "Jodhaa Akbar" let me do so, for three hours.
This Indian film is an unabashed epic that targets that greatest of all Indian epics, K. Asif's 1960 film, "Mughal-e-Azam" ("The Greatest of Mughals"). It is a prequel of sorts: "Jodhaa Akbar" tells us the story of the Mughal Emperor Akbar and his wife Jodhaa; "Mughal-e-Azam" is about their son, Jehangir. Like any other man of withering virility and receded hairline, I like beautiful things and beautiful people, and "Jodhaa Akbar" is loaded with carved reddish palaces, golden decorations, and silk scarves of every color. And beautiful people.
Oh, Bollywood! The Indian film industry is definitely showing off its presence in Cannes. And why shouldn't it? After all, it is the largest entertainment industry in the world! Today I visited the Indian pavilion. A nice space but it is quite small and bare, not doing justice to the powerhouse that the Indian entertainment industry is. The pavilion does light up, however, with parties and receptions.
Left: The royal couple of Bollywood, Abhishek and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan.
Before attending the many scheduled events sponsored by the Bollywood fraternity, I began my day watching "A Proper Violence." The story of a husband and brother-in-law plotting to kill their wife and sister's rapist . I must say watching the film was like being on an emotional roller coaster, as you navigated through the suspenseful plot. I spoke with the director Chris Faulisi from Albany County, NY, who was just an intern at Cannes last year. It looks like Cannes opens up a lot of doors for youngsters who are interested in pursuing a career in cinema. I absolutely love it!
Crowded with festivalgoers, Cannes is full of noise and excitement. It is everything I expected it to be. I watch as diverse groups of people fill the streets and lobbies. I look into the kaleidoscope of cultures as the sounds of at least 100 different languages fill the air.
The ordinarily drab looking Palais des Festivals comes to life amid scantily dressed starlets and flashing paparazzi bulbs. However, in the midst of the glamour, some exhibit a down-to-business attitude that I had not expected.
TORONTO – At the halfway point of the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, one thing is clear: This is the best autumn movie season in memory. One film after another has been astonishingly good. Critics gathered in the hallways after the Varsity press screenings, talking in hushed tones as if witnesses to a miracle.
Updated: Monday, April 25: The seventh Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival got off to a thunderous start -- both inside the theater and outside -- in Urbana-Champaign Wednesday, April 20. Ebert himself received the University of Illinois Chancellor's medal from newly chosen U of I chancellor Richard Herman, and a restored 70mm print of Jacques Tati's 1967 "Playtime" was showcased at the Virginia Theatre, while the midwestern skies provided their own shadowplay and sound effects outside. The festival concluded Sunday, April 24, with a matinee screening of the Bollywood musical "Taal" starring Aishwarya Rai.
Q. I read your review of "Million Dollar Baby." As a huge Clint Eastwood fan, I thought to myself I might take my children, even though they are a little young. So I consulted another critic, Movie Mom, and was quite upset when the plot was revealed. I've been robbed! Tom Brandenburger, Madison State, S.D.
Q. The Motion Picture Academy has named the 12 finalists for the best documentary category. Two of the titles jumped off the list for me: "The Story of the Weeping Camel" and "Touching the Void." Since both of these films were fictionalized versions of their stories and employed actors to play many of the roles, how do they qualify as documentaries? Greg Nelson, Chicago
