Antareen DVD Image Comparison (Max vs NFDC-Shemaroo)

At Un-kvlt Site, we do yet another image comparison, this time for two Indian release DVD's of Mrinal Sen's Antareen. For some reason this movie often has a bad rep, but I like it. Anyway, I'd got the Max DVD (retail price 349/-) some 3-4 years ago when the idea of NFDC actually getting off their asses and releasing some of their catalog was less than a pipe dream. At 199/- the NFDC-Shemaroo release is some 150 rupees cheaper, but that's not the point. Even with some overly bright segments and a questionable greenish tint, the image quality on the newer release blows the Max entry out of the water. So if you have any interest in the film at all the NFDC release is the one to own.

Screenshots (Left side Max - Right side NFDC), click on thumbnail to see original size:

Once Upon A Time in Anatolia [dir. Nuri Ceylan]

Very little in terms of conventional plot trappings happens in this Turkish film from 2011. A murder has occurred (which we do not see), and in the course of investigation, an all-male posse of law officials (policemen and a public prosecutor) with accessory members (a doctor, a photographer and two diggers) are escorting a pair of suspects in search of the crime site to recover the corpse. When the movie opens, it is night and a small convoy of cars carrying the above-referred individuals is threading its way through a narrow path carved out in isolated rural landscape.

From this point, the screenplay appears to move almost in real-time. Only one of the suspects, Kenan, appears sufficiently cognizant, but it is difficult to identify the location. Kenan has only a fuzzy recollection of the scene of the crime (He was drunk at the time, he claims)  and in the darkness that envelops them, one field or tree looks much like another. Everyone is tired, wishing they were in bed at home, or anywhere other than looking for a corpse on a cold windy night. We hear the banter between the men; these are believable conversations between normal people, not movie dialogue aiming to sound cute or clever. After a few failed attempts at finding the place, a frustrated police chief roughs up the suspect before he is calmed by the prosecutor. The prosecutor understands; the men are tired and hungry, they have been on this trail far too long. He suggests calling ahead and proceeding to a nearby village to eat and rest before continuing the search.

The visit to the village forms the second act. The village mayor lays out what meagre hospitality he can; in a place so remote, life is hard for everyone. He repeatedly requests the prosecutor to help the village get funds for a cemetery wall. The prosecutor tells the doctor a story about a beautiful woman that died on precisely the day she had predicted several months ago. At one point the power goes out, and by lamplight the mayor's young daughter serves out tea to the guests, including the prisoners. The men are struck by her beauty and innocence. They also know that in this forgotten village with its hard conditions, there will be no happy endings for her. Kenan, who so far has been burying his emotions, bursts into tears and makes a confession regarding the crime. This act is to me the emotional center of the film, it defines the lives of the characters. It is a beautifully understated moment, relying on observation rather than overt philosophizing.

In the third act, the posse continue their search for the corpse. By the light of morning, they finally find the location and with some difficulty bring the body back to the town where the autopsy and other proceedings will be carried out. The film would have been quite a satisfactory gem of observation and empathy even if it just concluded with the journey home. But there is an extension of the last act: a surprisingly heavy-handed revelation from the prosecutor and a small twist in the autopsy. Neither of these in my view modify the overall arc of the film and, although others might disagree, I would not miss their absence.

All things considered, Once Upon A Time in Anatolia is a very intriguing film, a minor masterpiece that shares common ground with the works of Tarkovski and Bergman in its exploration of human nature.

Om Dar Ba Dar DVD screens

Apart from deficiencies of the source, brightness/contrast issues, some instances of what looks like digital noise, the biggest issue is the presentation of a 16:10 aspect ratio in a stupid 4:3 window-box which would lead to an ~30% resolution loss in scanning. This is par for the course with other NFDC transfers of widescreen films but considering that the grain in the print already looks kinda clumpy (and in some parts suspiciously like noise), it's a downer. I personally think Om Dar Ba Dar looked better at the cinema, but then one has no other choice. If you're at all interested in seeing surreal trippy movies, this one stands tall.

Gulabi Gang [dir. Nishtha jain]

Don't confuse Gulabi Gang with the upcoming Madhuri Dixit - Juhi Chawla draamebaazi film, this is a documentary feature on the eponymous 'gulabi' (pink) saree wearing group, focusing on its founder Sampat Pal and other members. Directed by Nishtha Jain, GG starts with Pal looking into the death of a young bride that was possibly murdered by her husband's family: it covers her interactions with members of the girl's and boy's households and the local police, the general resistance she faces at all ends etc. Another thread deals with the group's efforts to overthrow an exploitative village chief. We also see the GG movement running a recruitment drive in villages to increase their membership and spread (Apparently 1.5 lakh women across several hundred villages are now GG members) and putting up several of its members as contestants in local elections. While following the course of these threads, we also get an insight into Sampat Pal's life and the formation of Gulabi Gang.

Jain's coverage is gratifyingly non-jingoistic, preferring to simply document the proceedings without telling the audience what to feel. She does not unnecessarily glorify the lead players or make heavy-handed statements. Their successes and setbacks are depicted with attention and objectivity. Later in the documentary she exposes the cracks in the organization, when members with differing social views have conflicts with the group and its hierarchy. In less than 100min a good amount of ground is covered, without confusion or a rushed feeling. The film is also visually strong; Jain has a great eye towards capturing the rhythms of rural life and the shots are edited together with admirable fluidity. On the whole this is a high caliber documentary film that should be seen by people interested in India beyond the metros.

Right now the film is being screened at select PVR cinemas at limited show times. If you're interested in the film, you owe it yourself to catch it before the coming weekend by which it is likely to be out of the running, probably in favor of the Bollywood version.

In The Mouth of Madness [dir. John Carpenter]

In The Mouth of Madness is the rare sort of film made by one true horror fan (or should in this age one say tr00?) for others. I would not care to discuss the plot elements in detail because sitting through this film without prior knowledge would be the best way to experience the dream-trip it is. The film has been described as (HP) Lovecraftian, and makes references to Elder Gods, but to my mind it is more of a Stephen King story (who could also be inspiration for the film's fictional mega-selling horror author Sutter Cane, although a character says at one point, "Forget Stephen King. Cane outsells them all.") A lot of the small town evil atmosphere recalls King's prose rather than Lovecraft. Admittedly both of them have mined this theme with grand success, but the difference is that ITMoM leans more towards the robust everyman-ness of King's characters, especially his leads, rather than the fragile, overly credulous protagonists of Lovecraft's stories.

The film mostly sails on Sam Neill's performance as the sleuth who thinks he is going to Sutter Cane's mythical town of Hobb's End to uncover a grand hoax, only to find himself sinking deeper into a nightmare world; in other words he can't find the zipper on the monster suit. Neill solidly holds center-stage making one think about how he would have been a great alternative to Jack Nicholson in The Shining (and perhaps a little more believable in the initial "sane" portions). Everyone else is a prop to further the events around him. Carpenter's direction is focused on generating unease by constantly confounding the hero's attempts to make sense of the world around him. If I make a small complaint, it is that there is a little too much foreshadowing, a few too many "boo" inserts, perhaps a fear that the audiences might be bored before the big scares come in. Apart from the theme itself, the absence of overt sexuality or even foul language makes the film more unique than its contemporaries (and may perhaps be regarded as a Lovecraftian touch?). On the whole definitely recommended as an interesting horror flick. If you watch it, as I did, in a slightly sleep-deprived fashion, you feel more jolted by the constant turn of events.

Interestingly enough, Carpenter returned once more to a similar theme in Masters of Horror's Cigarette Burns episode and that one is pretty fucking cool too.

A few notes on the blu-ray from Warner / New Line:

The blu-ray is an almost barebones affair, but the transfer is solid if not exemplary. The colors in the opening urban setting are muted to the point of being dowdy, but things pick up significantly once the characters enter small town Hobb's End. Detail is not eye-popping but the many darker scenes are quite satisfactorily handled and the film has a sturdy un-manipulated look. Sound is good, although dialog seems a little low in the mix, leading to instances where one has to adjust the volume control between conversation scenes and those with "more excitement" happening.

Valley of Flowers

The rest of the pictures were rubbish, of the slice-of-life variety, but one called Valley of Flowers held his attention. It was in black and white (as they all were), and captured a stream in rapid foam-flecked flow over stones while a smoky mist suffused the air, caressing the water surface and the rocks' contours. To the right was the profile of a hill, foliage-wreathed, a rough path cut into it at the edge. A man and his donkey could be seen from the back walking up the path towards a bend.

There was an almost transformative element in the picture. As one's eyes moved from left to right, from the mist shrouded stream to the shrubby hill and path, the texture of the image seemed to shift from charcoal drawing to actual photograph, with infinitesimal gradients in between. His mind could not imagine the scene being ever in color, not even in the real life it was taken from. He wondered, when man and animal reached the bend, what would happen?

Dedh Ishqiya [dir. Abhishek Chaubey]

There's a bit in Dedh Ishqiya (DI) where Madhuri Dixit's character is performing a kathak dance, and during its course we're treated to a rapid flashbacks that briefly outline her backstory. Alas, little else in the script reflects the economy and precision of that sequence. I don't know if its the need to have an epic running length (2.5 hours in this case) that makes a number of Hindi movies drag in a load of unnecessary and/or stagnant elements, or whether the unthinking concoction of the above culminates in them being groaningly long affairs. I haven't seen the first Ishqiya but this sequel is to my mind a confused messy affair.

While not original, the opening setup which (re)introduces the audience to the thieving uncle-nephew duo (Naseerudddin Shah and Arshad Warsi) is at least brisk. It is once their characters land in the startlingly anachronistic Mahmudabad that the plot descends from entertaining slapstick to purposeless whimsy. We are to believe that Begum Para (Madhuri), the widow of Mahmudabad's Nawab, will select her husband from entrants in a poetry competition. Para preens like a sheltered peacock (okay, hen), while her younger companion Muniya (Huma Qureshi) is the trademark cynical sexually liberated woman now fashionable in Bollywood's "hatke" cinema. What follows then is a tour of crumbling lamp-lit surroundings, a splash of hi-falutin poetry and Begum Akhtar ghazals on gramophone, some dance, a coy courtship with Uncle and Para contrasted by a rougher brush between Nephew and Muniya. I would welcome the change of pace if it added any real depth or thrust to the story. Alas, it seems mostly superficial. The poetry competition makes its presence felt only sporadically and becomes irrelevant just a little way in (for some reason the poets must also compete in skeet-shooting).

Once this premise is established, almost nothing of any consequence happens till more than half the running time, after which we have a yawningly predictable plot twist (which nullifies the purpose of several previous plot points), supplemented by such random chaos (the climax packs in almost every character in the film, for no justifiable cause) as to wonder why no one looked at the script and said "Yeh kya chutiyapa hai?". The only thing that remains striking about DI is the relationship between Para and Muniya. In an age where most of Bollywood continues to use homosexuality only in the vein of tasteless humor, we have here the most thinly veiled depiction of homo-erotic companionship featuring an A-list star (OK Madhuri's not a current gen star, but still).

I am not happy panning DI in this way. The cultured language used in the feudal setting and some stimulating vintage-style music gives it an uncommon flavor, while the low-contrast darkness shrouded visuals of the haveli interiors are a soothing change from the gaudy full-bright mainstream eyesores. But I can't in good conscience recommend this film as well-conceived or consistently entertaining.