The Netflix film Mank (2020) directed by David Fincher is of particular interest to film buffs, since it revolves around the writing of the script of the 1941 classic Citizen Kane by Herman J. Mankiewicz. As much as the meaning of “rosebud” was a mystery — albeit a bit of a gimmick — that the reporter Jerry Thompson set out to unravel in that Orson Welles film, the question on the authorship of the screenplay for it too was turned into a mystery of sorts. Although Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles, jointly credited in the film — were conferred…

Looking back at the Indian art films one has seen in the past five years, Ananya Kasaravalli’s Kannada language film Harikatha Prasanga (2016) is among the few that stand out. This movie is relatively less known hence the need for looking at it in some detail. It is set in the backdrop of Yakshagana, the traditional theater form of the Indian state of Karnataka. In Yakshagana, stories from epics or ancient texts (puranas) are performed by a dance and dialogue group to the accompaniment of background music. …

Afghanistan is currently in focus now that US troops are on the process of withdrawal from there, ending the 18-year war. Pavel Lungin’s Russian film Leaving Afghanistan (2019) is a timely look at the way the Soviets freed itself from the Afghan quagmire in 1989. Lungin won the Best Director award at Cannes for his path breaking film, Taxi Blues (1990). Pyotr Mamonov, the Russian rock musician and songwriter, played the lead role in this film. Lungin is known for two more films which too had Mamonov as the lead: The Island (2006) was perhaps indicative of the resurgent religiosity…

The legendary Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky’s cinema may appear elusive even to those who have some exposure to world cinema. The following tribute to Tarkovsky by another master filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman, helps to understand what Tarkovsky attempted and points to Tarkovsky’s pre-eminence: “My discovery of Tarkovsky’s first film was like a miracle. Suddenly, I found myself standing at the door of a room the keys of which had until then, never been given to me. It was a room I had always wanted to enter and where he was moving freely and fully at ease. I felt encountered and stimulated…

Bong Joon-ho is known among film buffs for a couple of excellent films he made: Memories of Murder (2003) and Mother (2009). The film, Memories of Murder, was based on the true story of serial murders. It depicted police brutality and incompetence during the hunt for the mysterious killer. Mother (2009) was a disturbing film about a widow excessively protective of her son afflicted with intellectual disability. Parasite, Bong’s recent offering, has bagged a number of awards including the Cannes Palme d’Or and four Oscars — one of them, the Best Picture, given for the first time to a non-English…

The Azerbaijani director Ilgar Najaf’s Pomegranate Orchard (2017) was one of the best films at IFFI 2017, Goa and BIFFES 2018, Bengaluru. It was inspired by Anton Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard”. Najaf’s 2011 film Buta is more than just a charming film. Asif Rustamov’s Down the River (2014) is impressive for a film which hasn’t won any award in a film festival. A common theme emerges when these three films are seen together.

Buta (2011)

The first film of Ilgar Najaf, Buta, won the Best Children’s Film Award at Asia Pacific screen Awards. It opens with the shots of…

A Review of the HBO documentary by Alex Gibney, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019) on Elizabeth Holmes and her now defunct visionary startup, Theranos

There is an iconic image of Elizabeth Holmes that keeps recurring in The Inventor… Clad in black turtleneck she holds between her fingers the ‘nanotainer’, the small capsule-like container with just a few drops of blood. She stares at the camera reminiscent of the image of her idol Steve Jobs holding the iPhone. It eloquently conveys the myth of Theranos as the hottest startup founded by the next Steve Jobs.

A Review of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Turkish film ‘The Wild Pear Tree’ (2018)

For a typical youngster, returning to his hometown after graduation is the time when he faces the reality. He finds that his ambitions are not all that easy to achieve especially if it is of the creative kind. Unlike in a city, he doesn’t even have anybody to share his interest so he ends up a loner. The girl for whom he had a fancy in school may prefer to marry into wealth. There is also the conflict with his father who may influence him on his…