BLACK
This review would have started differently had it not been for a friend who saw the movie with me. He expounded that nothing great usually happens in a flash. First you get to good and then you get to great.Black is a step in the good direction. My take as to why it is not a great is in the comments to the blog. But my friend reminded of me what the Japanese call Kaizen thinking.
The first thing that hits you when you see black is the lack of clutter in the movie. Everything is neat. Its like the windshield of a new car - spotless.The best performance in the movie undoubtedly comes from Amitabh. Rani is excellent, make no mistake. But Amitabh, especially in the first half transcends ordinary acting and is finger-licking good.He manages to replicate his flair for humour (seen in several Hindi movies) in English, for the first time - atleast to my knowledge. This brings to mind something which isn't missable. Black is almost entirely in English and goes a long way towards making it easy for audiences outside India.
The kid actress, Ayesha Kapur, impresses with what must be a debut performance. The cinematography is fantastic & the movie is a must see if only to see a songless yet entertaining movie.
Labels: Movies
posted by D at
2/08/2005 02:17:00 AM
2 Comments:
The glue on the beard of aged Amitabh shows making it obvious and making the make up man look tacky.
I know for a fact that when makeup glue dries up on white hair, it appears yellowish brown.
The actors playing Rani's parents are hamming in the first half, especially in the opening reels.
This is my gut feel. Perhaps they are from theatre/TV which takes a slightly different kind of acting and
intensity of performance. They rather overplay.
The above 2 instances from the movie were jarring enough for my moview experience to judge Black as a non starter at the Oscars, much against popular experience. Please watch Frida, which is also a contextual movie like Black, but slicker.
Hasan, I wish you had left your contact details behind too. Anyways, I think Black is a little too much style over substance, or form over function. For ex, see No Man's Land as opposed to some numerous war movies to understand message delivery. There's no one way, but I guess simplicity usually triumphs, especially if it is in a foreign language. I agree that movies win due to presentation, but Bansali is too grandiose here for my liking
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