Monday 9 December 2013

Review : Director’s Cut : 50 Major Film Makers of the Modern Era



Name : Director’s Cut : 50 Major Film Makers of the Modern Era

Published by :  The HarperCollins

Price : Rs. 239

Number of Pages : 320

Author: M. K. Raghavendra

About the Author:
M. K. Raghavendra is a film critic, scholar and researcher.

His other books include Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema, 50 Indian Film Classics, and Bipolar Identity: Region, Nation and the Kannada Language Film.

Raghavendra was awarded the 1997 National Award for Best Film Critic. His articles and essays have been published across the globe. He is also the founding editor of a web journal by the name of Phalanx, which is an online platform for debate. He is also the founding editor of a film journal titled Deep Focus. The author enjoys French cinema, and is fond of David Cronenberg. Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema was listed as one of the best books on cinema by India Today. This book, along with Raghavendra’s 50 Indian Film Classics, was declared by Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique as two of the world’s best books on movies.

Summary Of The Book

Director's Cut: 50 Major Film-makers Of The Modern Era, published in 2013, is an analysis of the fifty best filmmakers in the last few decades. This book brings together essays that focus on a wide range of work by these directors. Since the 1950s, cinema has taken a completely new look. Though the changes in filmmaking have been radical, cinema criticism has not quite evolved over time. This book has been written to fill that gap. It analyses renowned filmmakers starting from the 1960s.

Director's Cut: 50 Major Film-makers Of The Modern Era discusses the work of the Mexican director, Luis Buñuel. Readers will also come across an essay about the Russian Andrei Tarkovsky. Further, this book concentrates on the French director Robert Bresson, who was known for his aesthetic and spiritual style of work. Those who are keen to know about the French New Wave movement will find this book very valuable. The author has also covered the famous Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr, as well as the internationally acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. An essay on the famous and popular Steven Spielberg has also been included in this guide. Five Indian directors are also a part of this book. Some of them are Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor, and Ritwik Ghatak.

The essays that make up Director's Cut: 50 Major Film-makers Of The Modern Era have been very well written. The book is sure to keep readers engaged with its coverage of numerous different directors from all across the globe.

General:
Director’s Cut is an easy lucid and simple to understand book. It gives precise and consise information say in 6-7 pages, about the life of 50 greatest film makes of all the time.  I loved and enjoyed reading about Raj Kapoor, Woody Allen, Ritwik Ghatak, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg.

Lastly,  would like to conclude that the Director's Cut make a  brilliant, informative, and entertaining read.

Friday 6 December 2013

Jamaican Passion & Party

It was a Jamaican Day. Yes, I am talking about the Kitty Party with Jamaican Theme.  All of us were in very colourful and vibrant clothes with vibrant colours like Black, Green Red and Yellow.  Most of us were in the blouse that is usually short sleeved and the skirt that is a quadrille like dress popular in the Caribbean islands called by as bandana skirt in Jamaica. To make it more authentic we had worn the red head tie draped in a particular Jamaican way.

The party started with Jamaican Dumplings, Jamaican Patties as Starters. And then came the main highlight of the party. The Breezers that come in a range of flavours like Cranberry, Orange, Blueberry, Blackberry and the Jamaican Passion. I chose to have Orange being my all time favorite. I was enjoying and suddenly noticed that my friend was scolding the person serving drinks.

“What happpend” I asked her.

“Within half an hour, the entire stock of Jamaican Passion is over. Can u believe?” She replied.

“Is that so?”.. This made me more curious about this Breezer. Even I joined my friend in firing the management.

Looking at out heated arguments, the Manager came and apologized. He then assured us the supply of Jamaican Passion within next half an hour. I was really looking forward to taste this now. When the drink arrived, everyone attacked the waiter. Even I joined the gang and immediately took one. When I had a sip of it, I was in the heaven. Such an amazing taste, I have never tasted before.

The taste of Jamaican passion was simply awesome. Each sip of it left a tingle. The aroma too was very sweet, and fruity with a hint of passion fruit. Its was a perfect tropical drink.

I understood why everyone was dying this now.

The party ended with Jamaican delicacies like Jamaican Soup, Jackfruit Salad, Jamaican Stew,  Jamaican Rice and ended with Soursoup Icecream. However, Jamaican Passion made this party a truly memorable for me.

This post is written for Indiblogger’s Catch the Flavour contest in association with “Breezer”.