“Summer of Film #29 of 100”:http://www.devanshanu.com/things/2005/06/12/2005-summer-of-film/
Wonder Boys is a screenplay written to convince the writer that being a writer is actually a very cool thing. And while this is noble enough- the mistake it makes is in what it defines as coolness. I can the writer’s thought process now… Continue reading →

“Summer of Film #28 of 100”:http://www.devanshanu.com/things/2005/06/12/2005-summer-of-film/
But for the machismo, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull could be described as a ballet or an opera. It is a strange dance all men dance to a certain extent; one that we don’t like to talk about and would rather that it stay hidden behind the facade of who can grunt louder or spit farther or generally be more macho than his pears. Continue reading →

“Summer of Film #27 of 100”:http://www.devanshanu.com/things/2005/06/12/2005-summer-of-film/
Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories is the film equivalent of a mid-life crisis; I guess the appropriate description would be a mid-career crisis. However, instead of the flashy extravagance, Allen opts for moody introspection as a character not unlike himself- a director who is trying to look for deeper meaning in his career. Why does he make films? Why does it matter that he does? Will it matter more if he make serious ones? Continue reading →

“Summer of Film #26 of 100”:http://www.devanshanu.com/things/2005/06/12/2005-summer-of-film/
The Deer Hunter, starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage and John Cazale, uses “Russian roulete”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Roulette as an allegory for the war in Vietnam. While this is an engaging and harrowing ploy that makes for an engrossing second act, the crutches that it rests on- i.e. act one and three- do not provide adequate support. We do not know the characters well enough and when we do, their actions contradict what we would expect them to do. Considering the fact that it is a 3 hour film, this is a significant inadequacy. Continue reading →

“Summer of Film #25 of 100”:http://www.devanshanu.com/things/2005/06/12/2005-summer-of-film/
Before Night Falls reminds me of the “old Einstein line”:http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

“If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.”

The gay community all over the world have been subjected to the same brand of hypocrisy in modern times. In Before Night Falls, the Cuban poet “Reynaldo Arenas”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynaldo_Arenas (played by Javier Bardem) goes from a wide-eyed, young artist to a decaying middle-aged man before our eyes. We sense that but for a different sexual predilection he would have been a national hero. Continue reading →