The Movie Mystic

Of the numerous movies I have had the pleasure of viewing, the most spiritually enriched are the ones directed by Majid Majidi.  The Iranian auteur has a flair for making such movies, though at no point they appear preachy. Simple narratives that celebrate the human spirit, no matter what the circumstances that form the basis of the plot, are the painterly filmmaker’s forte. Whether it’s the backdrop of a busy construction site (as in Baran ) or the struggles of a pair of siblings from a lower middleclass family in suburban Tehran (as in Children of Heaven ), Majidi’s stories are always uplifting and replete with mystical undertones. Like Sufi poetry, his films always enchant the soul and take the viewer to a different level of ecstasy. Majidi’s most spiritually elevating movie is The Color of Paradise.  The story of Muhammad, a blind boy, whose mystical vision, understanding of nature and compassionate character make a viewing of this movie an amazing experien...

Here is a film with child protagonists, but it is not a children’s film. It’s a horror flick to some extent, but is unlike any other of the genre. Let the Right One In , Swedish director Tomas Alfredson’s 2008 production, is a cross-genre masterpiece.  Based on a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist , who also wrote the screenplay, the movie a t its core is about the innocence of first love, though it has elements of Gothicism, mythology, horror, psychology and Shakespearean tragedy with some sexual undertones. Spoilers ahead!!! Oskar, a lonely 12-year-old always bullied by his schoolmates, befriends Eli, a girl his age, who has just moved in next door in suburban Stockholm in the 1980s.  However, Eli is an enigmatic girl and appears too matured for her age -- she comes out of home only at night, doesn’t need warm clothes even in the harsh Swedish winter, smells ‘funny’ when she’s hungry, can effortlessly solve Rubik’s Cube, cannot stomach candies or things like t...

If revenge is a dish best served cold, none serves it better than Tarantino. The first time I saw Quentin Tarantino’s postmodern masterpiece Kill Bill (both volumes), I was left awestruck for days together. It was such a unique experience - I had never seen anything like that before or since. More than a decade after its release, the film (considering volume I & II as parts of one movie) remains a cult favourite among viewers and still generates a lot of buzz on social media through its countless fans. So what makes Kill Bill such an awesome piece of work? Well, a definition from the Urban Dictionary sums it up all -- Kill Bill is a n excellent movie that, in order to understand fully, requires some key things:   Intelligence; an appreciation and knowledge of movies; the ability to tolerate some violence in a movie; and a sense of humor. We couldn’t agree more. Aestheticization of violence, weird yet memorable characters, simple plot yet great narration,...