December Blind Spot: Tokyo Story

First and foremost, what makes this a Blind Spot movie? In other words, why is this film essential?
I have seen about 35 Japanese films. So if you go by number I have seen quite a few but let me did a little deeper. Of those, 17 are directed by Akira Kurosawa. 13 or so are under Studio Ghibli banner. When I saw Audition(1999) in 2011-12 and 13 Assassins(2010) soon after, those were first two Japanese films that did not fall in either of the two categories. Since then I have seen couple of non-Ghibli animes and features. I have been deep into filmographies of these two giants of Japanese cinema but what I dearly lack is any breadth in covering this industry. I could not think of any better way to dive headfirst into it than Yasujiro Ozu and Tokyo Story(1953).

So, what is the story about?
To tell you the truth, whole story of this film can be explained in one line - It is about an old couple visiting their children in Tokyo and it truly is just about that. Greatness of Ozu probably lies in the fact that he doesn't need to add any 'masala' to this plain, simple storyline. He has so much to say on this that this film is stripped of any extraneous detail and is still one of the most heartfelt experiences you'll ever get. Shukichi and Tomi Hirayama have two of their children, Koichi and Shige, in Tokyo along with widow of another son who disappeared in war eight years ago, Noriko. After their arrival, both their children find themselves so busy with their jobs that they can not find any time to spend with their parents. To make up for this, they send them to places they think parents will enjoy like Atami spa with hot springs. But what their children fail to comprehend is their parents are not really interested in materialistic pleasures. All they want to do is spend some quality time with their children and grandchildren and they will be more than satisfied. And time is only thing children can not find.

Now if the situation was like both Koichi and Shige were caught up with something that they can't get out of despite their best intentions, we could have understood them. But the fact is it is not like they can't, more like they don't want to. Otherwise Shige wouldn't kick them out just because they return earlier than planned from Atami and she needs her house for her beautician's meeting. Their parents are one of the sweetest, most innocuous old couple you will meet and were really looking forward to meet their family after a long time. However both their children seem to treat their parents as some sort of necessary evil they both have to weather for a while and be done with it. It's interesting that both their in-laws are much more welcoming and their spouses constantly keep them in check. Shige doesn't want her husband buying expensive rice cakes for them nor does Koichi think it's necessary to cook something special for them.

Speaking of in-laws, another person they meet in Tokyo is their second daughter-in-law Noriko. Noriko is married to their second son Shogi who has disappeared since WWII and hence is considered dead. Noriko is young and good looking but lives like she is still waiting for Shogi's return. Of all the Hirayamas in Tokyo, she is only person who treats the old couple with the amount of respect and attention they deserve. Despite her own busy schedule, she takes a day-off at the moments notice and takes them sight seeing around city. She also seems genuinely happy to bring them home after and treats them with best possible dinner she can afford. She even borrows from her neighbour just so her in-laws won't lack for anything. After spending few days with them, Shukichi and Tomi return back home but soon mother gets so sick that all their children have to rush back home to what could be last time they see their mother.  

What did I think of it? What did I like the most about it and what didn't I like?
First thing I have to say I like about Tokyo Story is it reminds me of Golden Age Bollywood films which were actually around at the same time. The type of acting we see in it, type of characters and their sensibilities, background music it uses; the whole setting of it in general is very much similar. Even though it is very first of my Ozu films, I know that he is a very trademark director. He has his own very distinct style and lot of tropes that appear through lot of his films. I was introduced to many of them here. First and foremost is the way he sets up his camera just a few feet above the ground. As Mark Harris says, it allows us to see the ceiling and gives more depth to the scene. For some reason I couldn't gauge how important it will be just by looking at one scene but when you have that for 130-something minutes, you certainly understand what it can do.

Again something Mark Harris says about Ozu is his films are never in a hurry to go anywhere. In most cases, this slowness would hamper the overall mood of the film. Here, it allows you to take everything in. He starts his scenes earlier than most would like before his parents arrive at Koichi's house, we see his wife and children waiting for them and preparing their house for them. He also lets his scenes play out longer than most. In the opening scene, we see Hirayamas packing their bags, talking about mundane things to their daughter, their neighbour and with each other. None of it has any real importance script-wise but it establishes them as quiet, peaceful couple which would prove important later. He goes further in his story than most would as well. I am sure many directors would want to stop with Hirayamas departing from Tokyo and in all fairness, I think even that would have been a great film. Just not this great! With more time we spend with this old couple and their selfish kids, more tragic this whole story becomes and probably that's the genius of Ozu. Giving us more than we bargained for and still leaving us wanting more.

After having seen it, do I agree with its 'essential' status? And why?
Not only do I have to agree with it, I can certainly see why Tokyo Story would be considered as one of the best films made ever. One simple fact is I don't think that anyone today would make such a simple film today. Whole plot of this film is in straight line. It doesn't take any turns, there are no twists in it. At no point will you be surprised by where story goes. But that's not to say it makes it any less compelling. On the contrary, it is so much more compelling than any twists and turns could make it and only reason is it deals with real humans in real-life situations dealing with real emotions. That's all it needs to keep you invested throughout.

Does it open few new doors for me? Does this inspire to watch any other movies?
As I said above, with this I intend to make it my gateway into other greats of Japanese cinema, especially Yasujiro Ozu. I always wanted to get into his films but after listening to Mark Harris going on at length about him in The Story of Film: An Odyssey(2011), I simply had to get to him as soon as possible. What I am really happy about is my very first endeavour into Ozuland was such a success. It should encourage me in future not only to return more often here but also to expedite my excursions into other unknown lands like Kenji Mizogichi.

Wrapping It Up: October

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. Did you see I have added one more tab in Menu bar at the top? Features! Even though I don't have any defined schedule for any of my features, I call them semi-regular for a reason, I have been slowly adding entries into them over the past year. I think it is time they get their own space now. I am thinking about starting another feature very soon as well and when I do, you'll be able to see it there too. Please take a look and let me know how it looks. With that, why don't we just get to the wrap up of this month?

October

Close-Up(1990): Like everyone else, I have been fascinated with Iranian cinema for a while, especially after Mark Cousins talking extensively about them but I finally got to them very recently. Actual premise of it was surely chief selling point of it but I loved the execution of it as well. Actual people re-enacting their own parts, him filming during the actual trial is all fascinating but what I love the most about it was Kiarostami's camera staying away from making any judgements. It is amazing to see those moments unadulterated.

Sunshine(2007): My favourite Danny Boyle so far and I have seen most of his acclaimed works. That sure means I like Sunshine a lot but it also means that I don't like some of his other 'revered' movies as much. I like the way it takes you right into the action immediately and never leaves from there. I am not sure about the math of those last 19 hours or about the motivation of the antagonist but I loved everything up to that point and I am going to give it a chance again before passing any judgement on the last third.

True Romance(1993): I haven't seen a whole lot of Tony Scott movies but from this has a much more Tarantino vibe to it than anything else. All the violence, swearing and even the overall style of the film definitely is from QT school of film making. I kind of guessed where this this movie will go and it did, right down to the tee but 'How' it reaches there was so much more interesting than 'where'. Just like any of his other films. And what a cast! What A Cast!! There are so many of great actors that pop up, do their part and die but ss good as Slater and Arquette are, they are the ones keeping this movie interesting.

Frankenstein(1931): This month's Halloween special blind spot. I don't think you can do much better than a classic iconic horror movie for Halloween. But after watching it, I also don't think you can do much better than Frankenstein. It is a classic that not only holds up really well but I think is even more relevant today than it was when they made it. And it holds up not only story-wise but even production wise. I was very pleasantly surprised to see how unlike any other film I have seen from that period it was.

State of Play(2009)(Re-watch): I won't go as far as calling this am underrated masterpiece or anything but I do think it is an underrated movie. Even back in 2009 when I first saw it, I felt like being thrown into thick of it from the very first shot. In first half hour, our plate is full with political conspiracies, human drama and multiple other issues is just glosses over and then it goes stagnant for quite some time.When it picks up, however, it does make it worth your time, especially the subtle twists in the last few minutes. Even though in general I do love political thrillers, those last 15-20 minutes reminded me of why I like this one.

Stray Dog(1949): Another one of gems from Kurosawa. This is 17th Kurosawa film I have seen and the more I watch, the more I believe that this guy never made a bad film. Most of his films early in his career that is pre-Rashomon(1950) are probably unknown to us but 5 films I saw from that period, including this one, are as good, if not better than many, as any of his post work. Except for the soldier with PTSD angle, the way Yusa's story unfolds reminds me of classic Bollywood and I mean it in the most admiring way because classic Bollywood produced a lot of meaningful cinema. This would still be one of the best though.






The Player(1992): Before going in, all I knew about it was it's filled with Hollywood inside jokes and off course, that glorious opening long shot. Even though that is absolutely true and I loved that, best part of it was it wasn't just content with being a farce on Hollywood. It had such an interesting and strong narrative of it's own that it easily could have done without all that. The end kind of rubbed me in the wrong way but I have to admit, watching who's who pop up out of nowhere was so much fun.

Stoker(2013): Did anyone else find it strange that her name is India? I mean, I wasn't bothered but it was just weird I Guess. It's a typical park film, dark and eerie with cold, whimsical characters. Kept reminding me of his own Thirst(2009) because I was even expecting him to reveal they are vampires at one point. Beautifully shot and sound editing really caught my ear. Wasikowska was great, Goode was very creepy. I was able to forecast quite a bit of it but it still kept me interested. I am not sure why would she go after Sheriff in the end though?

The Changeling(1980): I did not see many but this is one of the horror movies I saw for this month of Halloween. My pull for this movie was to watch George C. Scott in one of his post-Patton(1970) roles but I found more to like here than that. As Steve said in the comments of this post, I love the minimalistic approach of this movie. Not only Horror elements of it are still believable, I like how it takes its time developing the story and even making some sense of it away from them.

The White Ribbon(2009): In a typical Haneke fashion, I know that I have seen this movie now but I am not sure if I have understood it. The note on which it ends kind of left me with a feeling that few strange things did happen but what's the big deal? since (Possible Spoiler!) nobody ever knew what actually happened or who did it? It sort of feels like cheating but knowing Haneke, that might be the exact thing he was going for. You never know! It sure kept me into it for whole two and half hours though.

Winter Light(1962): Second of the Bergman's Silence Trilogy. I think you have to be in a certain mindset to sit down and watch his films. I wasn't but I still had a very typical Bergman reaction to it. In a way that I did like in parts but I don't think I have understood it enough or could relate to most of it enough to actually pass any definitive judgements about it. It is still a mystery to me. All I can say is it definitely isn't one of his more accessible films and I definitely like the first one, Through a Glass Darkly(1961), better.

All the King's Men(1949): There is absolutely nothing I can fault this film for actually. It had a decent script, Crawford, McCambridge and even Joanne Dru were really good in their roles and it held its banners high almost throughout. It's just that I've seen too many films that follow the same trajectory for any character to make me care for them any more and it followed that trajectory point by point. My only real disappointment was John Ireland who was so stoic, he reminded me of Tobey McGuire and that is never a good thing.

Bringing Up Baby(1938): I don't like slapsticks. I know this is not any slapstick but 'the' slapstick film but believe me, this is best I can do. Because of Katherine Hepburn, I was warming up to it a bit. I don't think it is coincidental that only two slapstick movies I can stand star her. If not for that police station sequence in the end, I might have rated it little higher but that brought me back to my usual reaction while watching them: repeating 'Why the hell are they doing this?' through my teeth while stomping my feet and clenching my fists. 

The Ice Storm(1997): After going through a bit of good streak, this is second Ang Lee movie in a row that has left me kind of underwhelmed. The adult drama and their issues of infidelity made quite sense and I think I would've liked it more if it was just about that. But I wasn't sold on any of the kid's storylines. I am not even sure about why was it set in 1973 as except for the couple of Nixon references, which it could have done without, I don't think there was anything specific to the time period. If there was, it went completely unnoticed by me.

A Man for All Seasons(1966): I have absolutely no idea what to say about this movie. This is my 64th Best Picture Winner of 86 so far and there certainly have been worse films than this one to win that award. There are a couple of good preformances and script mostly concentrates on the issue at hand but this film is so vapid that I am finding it difficult to accept this as the best of the year despite knowing very well that Oscar is far from being synonymous with best. You better get used to that because I have a feeling at least 12 of remaining 22 will also fall in line.

Mission: Impossible III(2006)(Re-watch): It is certainly not MI-1 or even 4 but it is not 2 either. What an epiphany, right? Well the thing is until I am watching one of first 3 MI movies, they all blend into each other for me. When I catch them somewhere, I remember them vividly enough. I can distinguish the fourth because it is latest and I still remember watching it in the theater. In the not-so-vivid moments, this is the one with Philip Seymour Hoffman in Vatican. That's it!

A Passage to India(1984): I feel bad about talking down the last film of one of the Great directors but this film probably commits the biggest crime any film can - it lacks any ambition. I heard someone describe David Lean's last film as a drawing on a vast canvas with tiny strokes and that might be the best way to describe it. In its setting, in scope it has potential to be that epic Lean knows how to deliver but it's story, characters and even it's execution continually fails it. I don't think there are many films I feel so apathetic about every character in it.

The Peacemakers(1997): Pretty standard, run of the mill political action thriller. It is so run-of-the-mill that I probably shouldn't even use the word thriller about it. What's so thrilling about the routine, right? It is so run-of the mill that it didn't need talented people like Nicole Kidman and George Clooney even though it was before they became George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. And the worst thing is they didn't even look at each other romantically. What's use of having two of the most beautiful and handsome people on earth in a film and doing nothing? That's a wastin'!

Snakes on a Plane(2006): The shit you watch on TV! But I will be perfectly honest here. It was way better than I expected. Off course, I expected it to be some kind of horror B-movie shitfest. So topping it wasn't that difficult but I have to give the credit, however little, where it is due. As ridiculous it sounds from outside, oh! it is ridiculous in many aspects, it had few genuine moments in it. What else do you want? It IS a B-grade thriller with Samuel Jackson after all.

Suspiria(1977): Every so often, you wait to watch certain classic for a log time and when you get to them, you never understand what it made it such a classic? Well, I certainly 'understand' what made Suspiria such a classic. I just don't think it is deserving of such a title. There are multiple problems with the story, acting is too loud, direction takes it on the path that I don't really care about. Sure it 'Looks' pretty and incessant soundtrack does something but I don't think that makes for a classic.

2 Fast 2 Furious(2003): Yup. Never seen it before. I might be rating it just 2 and 1/2 stars, which is actually quite low by my standards but I quite enjoyed it. Real trick, once again, is not expecting anything. I wasn't expecting story to make any sense or even to exist, for any characters to root for or developing some sort of structure or anything really. I knew it would dumb, fun, action movie and it was just that. What can I complain about then?

Total Count: 21. 19 First Time Watches and 2 Re-watches .

2013 YTD Count

Total Count: 218. 199 First Time Watches and 19 Re-watches.

It wasn't as happening month of Halloween as last year but I did manage to watch some horror films, including the Blind Spot entry. Apart from that, there is Diwali coming up next week and right after Diwali, I am starting a new job. I don't know if it will affect my blogging in any way yet. I don't think it will drastically, at least immediately, but I will keep you posted as even I just will have to wait and see.

So, how was your month? Did you see anything interesting? What do you think of the movies I saw? Any favorites?

Wrapping It Up: March

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. About 20 movies a month seems to be the pace that I have set for myself this year. It is slower than last year but right now, looking at my personal timetable, I am more than satisfied with it and thinking of keeping up with it at least for next few months. This was the month that I finally wrapped 2012 with lists like 15 Favourite movies of 2012 and Favourite Performances - Male and Female and finally made myself available for all the other movies I have been stalling for past few months. So, a bunch of classics, bunch of Foreign films as well this month. This was also the month that I went back to some of the masters of World Cinema like Bergman, Hitchcock and Kurosawa and once again, they successfully captivated me with their brilliance. Let us get to them, Shall we?

March

Bicycle Thieves(1948)(Re-watch): I think this is the only Neo-realistic movie from its period that I have seen. As much as I love this movie, it really breaks my heart by the end. Making myself watch it again for my favourites series, was a very tough decision I had to take. But the other option was Grave of the Fireflies(1988). So, I kinda had to choose the lesser of the two devils. I chose this one. You can read my post here.

Gentleman's Agreement(1947): Best part of this Best Picture winner movie on antisemitism is it covers a lot of aspects of the topic in one go and does it really well. Of all the BP winners, by now I have seen all those I had any real interest in. Most of whats remaining of the bunch either are the ones I have no idea about or have no particular interest in. If going through all them will mean coming across some more jewels like this, I think getting through with them will be much more interesting exercise, rather than something like homework. Hoping for few more surprises!

Farewell, My Concubine(1993): I had heard a lot of talk about it and was waiting to see this for some time. It took me some time to get into it, about an hour or so because of their loud acting, weird singing and some other odd the strange cultural elements which might be authentic but just stand out a little to outsiders like me. However, it had me by the end mainly due to two stunning performances by Leslie Cheung and Li Gong. I guess, I just needed a little warming up to it for it to take full effect on me.

After The Wedding(2006): This movie kept on surprising me, throughout its length. I loved that all the characters in it had so many shades. By the time you think you have formed an opinion about them, you are given another piece of information that makes you rethink your position completely. Its story and acting is so genuine that you can't help but feel for them. Sometimes, things just don't work out the way you want them to. If not for that continuously moving camera and excessive use of weird close-ups, I really wouldn't have anything bad to say about it.

Batman Begins(2005)(Re-watch): Many Thanks to Ryan McNeil @The Matinee who sent me the DVDs of Begins and The Dark Knight(2008). I put begins in because I have seen TDK too many times and to tell you the truth, as good as this first installment in Nolan's trilogy is, I loved the extras that came with the DVD way more. It has multiple clips of writers talking about how they wrote the story, Hans Zimmer talking about score, stunt coordinators talking about fights, production designer talking about sets and Batman's costume and his tumbler and so much more. I loved it!!

Marathon Man(1976): For some reason, I had it confused with Sleuth(1972) and was looking for that torture scene when I saw it last month. Off course, I didn't get it there but imagine my surprise when it popped up unexpectedly in this. I know it makes me sadistic but I was almost happy when it did, well, at least until Olivier started pulling Dustin Hoffman's teeth out. Also, another role of Roy Scheider besides Jaws(1975). I know I am not talking about the movie itself but everything has been already said. It's brilliant, off course.

Scandal(1950): When people talk about Kurosawa, I don't really think a movie like Scandal gets ever discussed. I mean, even look at me. I have seen about 12 movies he did and I still had no clue about this movie. I was under the impression that I have pretty much seen all the good or notable movies he did. But when it comes to him, it looks like higher or lower echelons seize to exist since movie like this, which should belong to the lower half in his own filmography, is still better than at least 70% of the movies I have seen. The stuff that legends are made of !!

Through a Glass Darkly(1961): First of Bergman's Faith trilogy was this month's Bling Spot entry. I had heard a lot of praise of this movie and Harriet Anderson in particular. I was glad to have seen it and found myself concurring with the assessment. It is one of Bergman's best but it is definitely the best of Harriet Anderson I have seen. You can read in detail about it here.

I Live in Fear(1955): Once again, I had not heard a word about it before but watched it just because it was available for free and subject looked interesting - an aging, industrialist Japanese man decides to move him and his family to Brazil due to the fear of nuclear war. Leave it to Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune to take it from there and I'll bet my life, if they miss a beat. It becomes even more devastating, if you consider it was made in 1955 when Japan must have still been recovering from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am just glad I did see this.

It Happened One Night(1934): One of the tree movies winning all the top 5 Oscars. Of all the Oscar winners, '30s is the decade I have seen least movies from. 1 - Gone with the Wind(1939) and hence I have been meaning knock few titles off from that decade. It Happened One Night is probably the best known film of them. Having already seen Hindi remake, it was like re-watching it, even though I am really seeing it for the first time. But it still not only kept me interested but quite entertained me. Either they have done good job of remaking it in Hindi or it is really a good film. Take your pick.

Snatch(2001): Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels(1998) is one of my favourite comedies. Since this is Guy Ritchie's follow-up to that and because of a lot of praise I have heard for this before, I was anticipating this for quite some time. In many ways, this is very similar to Lock, Stock. Off course, the director is same, many of the actors as well. Same look and feel, even similar storyline as well. However, Snatch never looked like a duplicate. It may not be better than Lock, Stock but it had enough originality in action, in jokes, in substance that I really had a great time and many laughs.

The Lady Eve(1941): In all fairness, only think I absolutely loved about this film is Barbara Stanwyck and the confidence and charisma that oozes out of her. She really was amazing. Other than that, I seem to have problem with screwball comedies in general. They just seem utterly unrealistic and just keep on getting more and more improbable as the story goes on. But I guess that is the point of them, so I aught not to fret about them and enjoy what I can. And I have to confess, barring that, it was quite enjoyable.

The Cider House Rules(1999): I still have no idea what was the big fuss about the cider house rules? I get their meaning but why name a movie after it? If there was some big statement made there, I missed it. All the actors made this movie for me. Michael Caine and Charlize Theron were excellent in their respective roles, even Paul Rudd and Delroy Lindo did good job in their small roles but someone really needs to teach Tobey McGuire to show some emotions. Throughout the movie, he had the same expression he had in all the Superman movies on his face. Didn't anyone tell him he is doing a different movie to him?

No Regrets of our Youth(1946): Due to Kurosawa's Birthday on 23rd March, Hulu made 24 of his movies on Criterion Free for that weekend. I wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity by watching some otherwise hard-to-find movies. I haven't seen any of Kurosawa's earlier films, specifically before Rashomon(1950) or some more of his non-Samurai period films. I saw three movies over that weekend and all the three movies fit this criterion. I might be wrong but I think this is the only Kurosawa with Female Lead, at least only Kurosawa film I have seen.

The Attacks of 26/11(2013)(Hindi): RGV did quite a decent job with the material but it really could have been much much better. It only worked in patches for me. Nana Patekar did a good job in the last scene but he was weird earlier, even the manner in which he was speaking was very distracting. I also understand that RGV chose to highlight only certain events of the whole attacks but he glossed over many details of the incidents he chose and including them would have made them better. And all the sound engineers of this movie should be fired, all of them and never hired again.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai(2011): Not to be confused with the original 1962 movie. This pretty such seems to be the remake of it but going by the ratings, old one seems to be the better of the two. I have seen many samurai epics and by now, am quite used to the cultural elements of it. So that wasn't a problem to me at all. It also wasn't a bad movie at all, very affecting, emotional and sad, just very slow and for the run-time of over two hours, the story seemed quite uneventful. If they would've limited it under 90 minutes or so, it might have worked much better.

Murder!(1930): Oldest Hitchcock I have seen. I had trouble getting into the film in first half an hour or so but mainly it was due to the technical aspects and being a 1930 film, I am ready to overlook them. I also had problem with its dubbing but even then can be my copy as well. To its credit, in his trademark style, Hitchcock made it interesting once it focused on Murder mystery part. My only real problem with this is, I am not sure the note Sir John gets in the end is enough to acquit Diana. Wasn't that the whole point of it?

Cul-de-sac(1966): On the merit of being a Polanski film, I went into this without knowing much about it. I will say that I actually liked the story and appreciate what he was planning to do with it. But I think it failed in the execution a bit. Most of the characters felt a little too weird for no apparent reasons and especially their acting was very off putting, in-your-face kind. I understand that he wanted most of the characters to be purposefully crazy but it was very ungraceful. BTW did you know the lead actress of this movie is Catherine Denevue's sister? The moment I saw her, I had a feeling I had seen her somewhere.

Chariots of Fire(1981): With this out of the way, I can set the bar for the earliest Best Picture winner I haven't seen all the way back to 1968. And that is about the most interesting thing I can say about this movie. For some reason, both the main characters completely failed to keep me interested. Their triumphs didn't exhilarate me, their failures didn't sadden me, their competition didn't excite me either. Watching this movie was like doing some chore you do because you have to, not because you want to.

Alien 3(1992): Last of David Fincher. I mean, I know it is his first feature film but I have seen all the others he has done. So now, I have seen all the movies he did. To tell you the truth, like a lot of people seem to, I did not hate this movie. I could easily get through it but that's about the best thing I can say about it. It was very predictable and it felt like there were a lot of wasted opportunities, too many avenues where he could have used them more effectively but he touches them only gingerly and doesn't really go anywhere. At least, I have seen all his movies.
 

The Fall(2006): I loved the visual imagery of this film. It looked absolutly fantastic and that girl playing Alexandria did a good job but beyond that I don't have anything nice to say. I hated the story, most of the characters were too loud and almost whole part of their story, really got under my skin. After a while, due to lack of any real interest in story or characters, even those visuals started seeming meaningless. To me, it was a clear case of 'style over substance' which, to tell you the truth, it had none. Sorry Tarsem Singh. In my books, you've failed this test.

Total Count: 21. 19 First Time Watches and 2 Re-watch .

2013 YTD Count

Total Count: 64. 60 First Time Watches and 4 Re-watches.

I started off this month with reading Sidney Lumet's brilliant book 'Making Movies', my first book about movies. Lumet being one of my favourite directors, I was excited to read what he has to say about making some of my favourite movies and he talks about many of them at length from all possible angels, giving each aspect of movie-making a chapter. His writing is poignant and very honest. At one point he admits to one of his own films being a failure and on top of that says that he knew it from the day he started working on it while at another point, he calls Cannes Film Festival 'nothing but, glorious Sales convention'. I followed that with George R.R. Martin's third book in A Song of Fire and Ice series, A Storm of Swords. Earlier, I was thinking off waiting to read this till the season 3 of Game of Thrones is over, since I read the second book before watching the series and didn't care much for the second season because of all the changes made to the story. But Lady Sati and others got me too excited for the book and I gave in. I am more than (3/4)th into the book and a lot has happened, a LOT. So much that now I feel like Martin is trying to stuff too much in too little time. I do think he should have given us, the readers, a little more breathing room to digest and some of these events would have had much more effect. I still have couple of hundred more pages to go. Let us see if that will still be my last impression and despite all that, I am still excited for the season premier today.

Last month, in this post, I said that I want to concentrate more on '1001 Movies' list this year and this month, I broke that promise. I hardly saw anything from the list this month. So to make-up, I am thinking of making April a '1001 Movie Month'. All the movies I shall watch in April shall belong to the list. I have good 600+ movie to choose from. So that shouldn't be big problem. Probably the only thing that will make we stir away from the list will be movies from my Netflix queue expiring. Otherwise, I hope to keep my promise. Let us see how that goes.

So, how was your month? Did you see anything interesting? What do you think of the movies I saw? Any favorites?