2016 was a poor year for the film-buff in me. I watched very few great films. To compensate for that, I am running this new column called 'Back to Basics'. I will now regularly watch great movies, read about them and try to write about them briefly. This is how I had discovered cinema's best several years ago, and it is time to do that again.
More than ten years after discovering the best of cinema, I discover 'Don't Look Now' (1973)! After all these years of studying and teaching cinema and trying to make films. Perhaps it is regretful. Perhaps it is not. Perhaps I wouldn't have understood the importance of this film's unique form if I had watched it sooner.
Yes, it is a horror film. But it does not have the regular chills of one. It deals with grief and it deals with the potential as well as limitations of human perception. But the film supersedes its story, which may not satisfy a lot of viewers, with its use of color, image systems and brilliant, imaginative cutting. I wish I could watch it on a big screen one day.
About the Director: I had watched Nicolas Roeg's 'Walkabout' seven years ago and all I remember is that it was a unique film as well. Now of 88, Roeg is an independent British film-maker also known for 'Performance', 'Bad Timing' and 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'. His journey in the film-making world started with serving tea on the sets to being the clapper boy, to working as a cinematographer with the likes of Truffaut and David Lean and eventually making these unique, path-breaking films. From Soderbergh to Danny Boyle and Ridley Scott, several film-makers acknowledge Roeg's influence on their works.
Yes, it is a horror film. But it does not have the regular chills of one. It deals with grief and it deals with the potential as well as limitations of human perception. But the film supersedes its story, which may not satisfy a lot of viewers, with its use of color, image systems and brilliant, imaginative cutting. I wish I could watch it on a big screen one day.
About the Director: I had watched Nicolas Roeg's 'Walkabout' seven years ago and all I remember is that it was a unique film as well. Now of 88, Roeg is an independent British film-maker also known for 'Performance', 'Bad Timing' and 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'. His journey in the film-making world started with serving tea on the sets to being the clapper boy, to working as a cinematographer with the likes of Truffaut and David Lean and eventually making these unique, path-breaking films. From Soderbergh to Danny Boyle and Ridley Scott, several film-makers acknowledge Roeg's influence on their works.
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