"... human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy" - Richard Yates
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Alas for Bangalore!!!
As a Madras-Born, Chennai-bred, temporary Bangalorean, I have to confess this is not my favourite city. I haven't ever felt comfortable without my movies, my marina, my mozhi (language)! But, one thing I have always been grateful to Bangalore and its people is, that I've felt safe in this city, as I have never felt in my own. As a single woman living alone, I have taken comfort from the fact that B'lore leaves me be; lets me fulfill my days activities alone, without having to hide from predatory Indian men.
I have dined alone (upaharas to upmarket fine dining); shopped (only) alone; watched movies alone; hung out in malls alone; sat at ulsoor lake for long hours gazing at the water....you guessed it...alone! All of this...in a very satisfying solitude...no intrusions...no rubbing up...no groping...no staring. How sweet is that! I adored this city that never turned an eye whatever you wore...didnt think it odd for a single woman in her twenties (yes! yes! I'm still there!) to go for a movie and return home at 1 in the night.
All of this...till recently. First , I couldn't go to a pub without worrying who would walk in and assault (irrespective of my male friends - they cant beat up ppl). Then, I couldn't decide on what festivals I wanted to celebrate - Valentines day, which was abhorrent till now, now became a choice I didnt have! Then, I couldn't speak to men of a different religion! Now, it turns out I can't wear "Western" clothes anymore - so even what I wear is not my choice anymore.
Women are being assaulted (yes...means hit!) in broad daylight, in the middle of the city, even inside a car...for wearing "Western" clothes!! Not even "revealing" clothes - thats an old one - but trousers and a "kurta". Women have been told "you can't walk alone"!! The people of this city have stood around watching this violence. The government in this state can no longer guarantee the safety of half its earning, educated, tax-paying population.
Don't drink, don't show any skin, wear only saris/Indian clothes, don't go out alone, don't talk to men, don't step out of the house without male protection!!! Do I hear the word Taliban somewhere???? Actually not, I don't think Taliban - they don't want their women to work or earn their keep (they make them do housework ofcourse!). We are INDIAN see...so these women need to work, they need to manage the house...they need to be up for sex on demand (from man), they need to work easy times but earn more...but they need to be dumb, mute, submissive, all-accepting, BODIES. Equal rights????????? Indian constitution??? Whats that???
I have dined alone (upaharas to upmarket fine dining); shopped (only) alone; watched movies alone; hung out in malls alone; sat at ulsoor lake for long hours gazing at the water....you guessed it...alone! All of this...in a very satisfying solitude...no intrusions...no rubbing up...no groping...no staring. How sweet is that! I adored this city that never turned an eye whatever you wore...didnt think it odd for a single woman in her twenties (yes! yes! I'm still there!) to go for a movie and return home at 1 in the night.
All of this...till recently. First , I couldn't go to a pub without worrying who would walk in and assault (irrespective of my male friends - they cant beat up ppl). Then, I couldn't decide on what festivals I wanted to celebrate - Valentines day, which was abhorrent till now, now became a choice I didnt have! Then, I couldn't speak to men of a different religion! Now, it turns out I can't wear "Western" clothes anymore - so even what I wear is not my choice anymore.
Women are being assaulted (yes...means hit!) in broad daylight, in the middle of the city, even inside a car...for wearing "Western" clothes!! Not even "revealing" clothes - thats an old one - but trousers and a "kurta". Women have been told "you can't walk alone"!! The people of this city have stood around watching this violence. The government in this state can no longer guarantee the safety of half its earning, educated, tax-paying population.
Don't drink, don't show any skin, wear only saris/Indian clothes, don't go out alone, don't talk to men, don't step out of the house without male protection!!! Do I hear the word Taliban somewhere???? Actually not, I don't think Taliban - they don't want their women to work or earn their keep (they make them do housework ofcourse!). We are INDIAN see...so these women need to work, they need to manage the house...they need to be up for sex on demand (from man), they need to work easy times but earn more...but they need to be dumb, mute, submissive, all-accepting, BODIES. Equal rights????????? Indian constitution??? Whats that???
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Movies...Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon: Stg. Michael Sheen, Frank Langhella. Dir. Ron Howard
Richard Nixon, arguably America''s most controversial President, chose David Frost, a comic talk-show host with a breezy, light-hearted presence, for his first televised presence after resigning. Presumably, Nixon (and his advisers) thought Frost, not a hard-nosed journalist would do a soft, human-interest story that would bring back into focus Nixon's presidency and the good he had done to America rather than the last 6 months of Watergate.
Frost's interest in doing a Nixon story surprised many people including his closest friend and eventual producer John Birt. What they hadn't accounted for was his compulsive need to be in the spotlight, to be considered "successful". He had been to the US, had tasted sweet success, had used Sardi's as his "canteen", was part of the glamourous social circuit of New York. To have that taken away, and more importantly to contemplate never having it back was too much for Frost. So he gambles his entire savings, and borrows a lot more, to tempt Nixon.
The research team on the other hand, are committed to giving Nixon "the trial he never had". Played by Sam Rockwell and Richard Platt, this team puts their reputations and careers on hold to dig out every possible conversation Nixon might have had, every change in tone, every move his associates have made, so that Nixon can be ensnared.
Frost/Nixon is an adaptation of a successful Broadway play featuring the same cast. The transition from stage to film has been very well done, with Peter Morgan (The Queen, Last King...) doing the screenplay. The movie moves from the gloomily languorous pace of a deposed President's life to the frenetic commitment of Frost's research team. Frost, doing it for the eyeballs and the fame, he thinks it will bring him, is toyed with, by a crafty President determined to "head back East". Nixon, enjoys the game, a chance to be back in the spotlight, be vindicated. The lead up to the Watergate showdown, the sobering up of Frost with a prod from unexpected quarters to the climactic close-up of a president uncovered for the world to see, form this gripping tale.
Frank Langhella as Nixon is superb! Not very many actors can stand up to very close scrutiny on film. But Mr Langhella's face twitches, his eyes dart, his upper lip sweats (like Nixon) and he ages through the interview. Every inch the haughty president, when he says "if the president does it, it is not illegal"...you almost want to beleive it. In his eyes, you see the desperation and hunger of a deposed President. In his gait, you see confidence, a security in his place in the world, which is quickly demolished on TV. Micheal Sheen is good as well, as a Frost, who may have outreached himself with this interview. Used to adulation, he is thrown by Nixon's condescention, unnerved by the Prez's rambling. Mr Sheen is believably awkward, when Nixon casually insults him and downright afraid when he realises he "has to get to work".
Frost/Nixon is at a decent pace, with much of the action happening indoors. We don't feel claustrophobic, thanks to the screenplay and the acting. The supporting cast, including Kevin Bacon as a devoted Nixon CoS, are uniformly competent and provide some much needed moments of levity. Its a masterful piece of story-telling that shows the world the power of television anew...of all the more relevance in an age of reality shows and instant gratification.
Richard Nixon, arguably America''s most controversial President, chose David Frost, a comic talk-show host with a breezy, light-hearted presence, for his first televised presence after resigning. Presumably, Nixon (and his advisers) thought Frost, not a hard-nosed journalist would do a soft, human-interest story that would bring back into focus Nixon's presidency and the good he had done to America rather than the last 6 months of Watergate.
Frost's interest in doing a Nixon story surprised many people including his closest friend and eventual producer John Birt. What they hadn't accounted for was his compulsive need to be in the spotlight, to be considered "successful". He had been to the US, had tasted sweet success, had used Sardi's as his "canteen", was part of the glamourous social circuit of New York. To have that taken away, and more importantly to contemplate never having it back was too much for Frost. So he gambles his entire savings, and borrows a lot more, to tempt Nixon.
The research team on the other hand, are committed to giving Nixon "the trial he never had". Played by Sam Rockwell and Richard Platt, this team puts their reputations and careers on hold to dig out every possible conversation Nixon might have had, every change in tone, every move his associates have made, so that Nixon can be ensnared.
Frost/Nixon is an adaptation of a successful Broadway play featuring the same cast. The transition from stage to film has been very well done, with Peter Morgan (The Queen, Last King...) doing the screenplay. The movie moves from the gloomily languorous pace of a deposed President's life to the frenetic commitment of Frost's research team. Frost, doing it for the eyeballs and the fame, he thinks it will bring him, is toyed with, by a crafty President determined to "head back East". Nixon, enjoys the game, a chance to be back in the spotlight, be vindicated. The lead up to the Watergate showdown, the sobering up of Frost with a prod from unexpected quarters to the climactic close-up of a president uncovered for the world to see, form this gripping tale.
Frank Langhella as Nixon is superb! Not very many actors can stand up to very close scrutiny on film. But Mr Langhella's face twitches, his eyes dart, his upper lip sweats (like Nixon) and he ages through the interview. Every inch the haughty president, when he says "if the president does it, it is not illegal"...you almost want to beleive it. In his eyes, you see the desperation and hunger of a deposed President. In his gait, you see confidence, a security in his place in the world, which is quickly demolished on TV. Micheal Sheen is good as well, as a Frost, who may have outreached himself with this interview. Used to adulation, he is thrown by Nixon's condescention, unnerved by the Prez's rambling. Mr Sheen is believably awkward, when Nixon casually insults him and downright afraid when he realises he "has to get to work".
Frost/Nixon is at a decent pace, with much of the action happening indoors. We don't feel claustrophobic, thanks to the screenplay and the acting. The supporting cast, including Kevin Bacon as a devoted Nixon CoS, are uniformly competent and provide some much needed moments of levity. Its a masterful piece of story-telling that shows the world the power of television anew...of all the more relevance in an age of reality shows and instant gratification.
Movies...Revolutionary Road
I've been watching a fair number of movies the past couple of weeks. Have been thinking I should write something, NOT a review, about them. So here goes nothing...
Revolutionary Road : Cast - Kate Winslet; Leonardo DiCaprio
Adapted from a novel by Richard Yates, this Sam Mendes movie stars "Kate and Leo", as a sub-urban couple. Part of a conventional society, Kate, an aspiring-actress-turned-suburban-mom, feels stifled and longs to break out and chase a dream. The problem - Leo, who it turns out, no longer wants to run with her. Thats putting it simplistically...actually he does agree to give it all up and move to Paris, and they spend couple of months in pleasurable anticipation. Leo enjoys shocking the neighbourhood but not his colleagues ribbing him about being a "kept" man. Kate, thrills at the prospect of being unconventional, booking tickets with enthusiasm, learning French, planning a secretarial job. Pregnancy, a promotion on the job, put the brakes on this plan, forcing the couple to assess their motivations, resulting in tragic consequences.
Kate Winslet is superb, as the young girl, who got lost in the wife and mother. We realise early on, she doesn't have the talent, but she doesn't ask herself this question - perhaps the answer is too obvious to bear. She struggles to assuage the guilt he heaps on her - "You are a mother, how can you think of abortion?". Hunted down by conventions, strangled by routine, smacked in the face by life's surprises, she fights and struggles and kicks, only to hurt herself.
Leo DiCaprio is effortlessly good, as the husband, who sees his wife, his love, going off the deep end, destroying herself and them, and is helpless to arrest it. He can't understand her struggle, he doesn't want to! He asks the question so many men have asked their vagrant wives, "Why can't you be happy, like the rest of us?". They have a house, kids, money, sex- what more would a woman want?! He fights the distance she puts between them, only to lose and find comfort with another.
This is one movie where the fights are real, screaming, gut-wrenching! Sam Mendes shows what many of us have seen, a marriage unravelling. Lovers turn strangers, children turn burdens and society turns into a millstone. Kate Winslet pleads with her husband "Please...Please ...tell me we can have this child in Paris", even as she knows he can't/won't. The only person who seems to make "sense" of this situation, is the psychologically ill, returned-from-san neighbour. Perhaps that pushes her over the brink - insanity seems to be her only living refuge.
Revolutionary Road : Cast - Kate Winslet; Leonardo DiCaprio
Adapted from a novel by Richard Yates, this Sam Mendes movie stars "Kate and Leo", as a sub-urban couple. Part of a conventional society, Kate, an aspiring-actress-turned-suburban-mom, feels stifled and longs to break out and chase a dream. The problem - Leo, who it turns out, no longer wants to run with her. Thats putting it simplistically...actually he does agree to give it all up and move to Paris, and they spend couple of months in pleasurable anticipation. Leo enjoys shocking the neighbourhood but not his colleagues ribbing him about being a "kept" man. Kate, thrills at the prospect of being unconventional, booking tickets with enthusiasm, learning French, planning a secretarial job. Pregnancy, a promotion on the job, put the brakes on this plan, forcing the couple to assess their motivations, resulting in tragic consequences.
Kate Winslet is superb, as the young girl, who got lost in the wife and mother. We realise early on, she doesn't have the talent, but she doesn't ask herself this question - perhaps the answer is too obvious to bear. She struggles to assuage the guilt he heaps on her - "You are a mother, how can you think of abortion?". Hunted down by conventions, strangled by routine, smacked in the face by life's surprises, she fights and struggles and kicks, only to hurt herself.
Leo DiCaprio is effortlessly good, as the husband, who sees his wife, his love, going off the deep end, destroying herself and them, and is helpless to arrest it. He can't understand her struggle, he doesn't want to! He asks the question so many men have asked their vagrant wives, "Why can't you be happy, like the rest of us?". They have a house, kids, money, sex- what more would a woman want?! He fights the distance she puts between them, only to lose and find comfort with another.
This is one movie where the fights are real, screaming, gut-wrenching! Sam Mendes shows what many of us have seen, a marriage unravelling. Lovers turn strangers, children turn burdens and society turns into a millstone. Kate Winslet pleads with her husband "Please...Please ...tell me we can have this child in Paris", even as she knows he can't/won't. The only person who seems to make "sense" of this situation, is the psychologically ill, returned-from-san neighbour. Perhaps that pushes her over the brink - insanity seems to be her only living refuge.
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