Films recently watched & worthy of some discussion

[Arvind Srinivasan]

The speciality of the film Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogam is its urge to capture the motion of life, yet its not an art film as it does not carry long takes or observational elements but sticks mainstream. Even though it has few repetive narrative music, it uses this aspect to potray social realism. Several shots are taken under natural light with hand held camera to enveloppe the audience within.

Mysskin makes slow cinema, a sort of a film making style used by asian film makers - "The length of a shot, on which much of the debate revolves, is a quite abstract measure if divorced from what takes place within it." It's in this area Nalan re-defines the notion by adapting an screenplay that bends the genre, not being experimental but confidently showcasing something in a new way with respect to cinematic involvement. There lies its speciality. An immediate exemple is Idhayathai Thirudathey which is superrior in narrative during its period of release. Again, its not slow cinema, but a romance-musical bent to deliver as mainstream. Few film makers really like to play and spin out new dimensions, the recent one is Nalan.

While directing a play to the screen, there are 3 most important factors => dialogue, expression & reception/reaction. For exemple, in Thalapathi Mani Rathnam captures the reaction part. Here, mostly it is 2S shots where you see the dialogues delivered and received in the same frame which enhances various emotions. The decor is matching, while the silent shots carry an action with a meaning. Well there are a lot more about this movie, wish not make this post a gigantic one too by moving away from recomendation and turning it into an analyse. Watch the film, I am sure you will gasp much more from it. And the slowness reported is an experience and has nothing to do with the film making adapted by Nalan.

Good post there Mappi. I am yet to watch Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum. But since you touched upon the subject of long shots, I would like to give my two cents. I give a lot of credit to a man filming his movies through long shots. It for me shows the director's intent to show his visualisation to the audience. Cinema is all but an act of deceit, where the audience are led to believe that they dwell in the film's world. And long shots play an extensive role of transporting the audience to the world of the movie. A swashbuckling film made with innumerable cuts does just the opposite. It creates a chasm between the audience and the film. Of course this comes with a caveat. As a film maker it is important to understand the balance needed. You have Myshshkin for example. He does tend to over do it with the long shots. But it comes of to great effect in most scenes. A more recent contemporary example would be Uttama Villain. Have you ever wondered about the "slowness" employed in each scene showing Manoranjan? That looked like a deliberate attempt to distinguish real from reel which here is Manoranjan, the real vs Uttaman, the reel.