The films of Louis Malle and India

Louis Malle is a wonderful filmmaker. Each of his films, that I have had an opportuinity to see, have been magnificent (Au Revoir Les Enfants, Lacombe Lucien, Le Souffle au Coeur, L'Inde Fantome, Calcutta) and I highly recommend them all. The last two in the list deserve special mention. L'Inde Fantome (Phantom India) and Calcutta are documentaries that were filmed in the late 70's in India, and they paint a startling, enchanting and at times disturbing portrait of India 40 years ago. If, like me, you have had a chance to see modern day India, these films might give you a new perspective on India's development in the past few years.

Les Carabiniers - The war movie that is not

If you are a fan of Jean-Luc Godard, like me you probably have your favorite Godard movie. Since I have only been able to watch three of his films to date ('Contempt', 'Breathless' and 'Les Carabiniers'), it may seem a little pointless to say that I am a fan of his work. Perhaps I can only truly say that I like what I have seen so far, but I suspect that what I like about his movies is his point of view. I think 'Les Carabiniers' is a perfect example. To me 'Les Carabiniers' is special because it is a war movie, that turns the whole genre on its head. Gone are the heroic battle scenes where the lead actor gives rousing speeches about saving the world. There is no attempt to glorify war. The 'heroes' of the movie are two bumbling fools, 'Ulysses' and 'Michelangelo', who respond to the kings invitation to set out to war with promises of untold riches. You might think that the movie is a bit slow in parts, you might think that its a load of nonsense at times, but I think that you will see something that you've rarely seen before. I think you'll see a man who manages to clearly get his point across. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but I will say that this is one of the best satires on war (second only to Dr. Strangelove) that I have ever seen.

Synechdoche, NY

I just watched the movie "Synechdoche, NY" written and directed by Charlie Kauffman. I was literally blown away. Roger Ebert compares the experience to the first time he watched "Last Year at Marienbad". I couldn't agree more. Both movies had plots that twisted and turned on themselves, almost to the point that I was ready to give up. But I could never really turn away, both movies had me glued to the screen ... both had an indescribable quality ... in the end I couldn't help feeling that I had just witnessed a masterpiece.

On a related note, I have recently begun to feel that the best way to get your point across is to do it subtly. Somehow screaming from the rooftops doesn't seem to be as effective. If you've see the music video to the song "Doesn't remind me", by Audioslave you'll know exactly what I mean. Everyone knows that war is horrible, that it leads to tremendous suffering... somehow the video says everything without saying it.