Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
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The Bollywood director talks about making enriching cinema and surviving life’s ups and down in his book, co-written with screenwriter Abhijat Joshi
For over four decades now, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra has been an imposing figure in the world of Indian cinema. As director, screenwriter, producer and occasional actor, Chopra has been at the helm of classics such as
Parinda,
Munna Bhai series,
PK. He won the National Award for his debut film
Murder at Monkey Hill when he was 24 (and got into a tussle with then Minister L.K. Advani over the prize money), bagged an Oscar nomination for
Mank : How the Cinematography of David Fincher s Film Took Inspiration From Citizen Kane
NETFLIX
Gary Oldman, as Herman J. Mankiewicz, holds forth at a dinner party at William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon home, created at Los Angeles Center Studios. The room is dark and it’s made to look musty and cold, says cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt.
While legendary DP Gregg Toland and the indelible images he created for Orson Welles’ masterpiece inspired the new movie, the director and cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt aimed for a look that suggests an echo, not a copy.
Gregg Toland is one of the most influential cinematographers of all time, and his work on Orson Welles
The Last Picture Show) Bogdanovich s first film in eight years. Assembled on that fateful voyage were Hearst, his mistress Marion Davies, Hollywood s own little tramp (in more ways than one) Charlie Chaplin, and assorted film people, gossip columnists and Hearst minions – a recipe for raucous times, and in this case, an unexplained disappearance. Adapted by Steven Peros from his stage play,
The Cat s Meow embraces rather than betrays its origins. While it may be slow, it is lifted by the playwright s attention to atmosphere, the script and the obligatory charleston.
Supplied Evoking scenes and ideas from Shakespeare s
Othello, Peros and Bogdanovich manage to skilfully mix the building tension with the frivolity of 1920s Hollywood (including the worst table-tennis match ever committed to celluloid).
The best films to watch over the Christmas holidays (mulled wine in hand) Last Christmas
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This Christmas is set to be a rather lowkey affair – and after the year it’s been, we can’t say we’re complaining. If, like us, you’re counting down the days to the holidays, you’re probably already compiling your list of the best films to watch with a glass of mulled wine in hand, and a selection box in lap. But we thought we’d save you from all that scrolling (and the ensuing familial arguments) by rounding up some of the best films to watch over the Christmas break.
Citizen Kane.
ne of the most iconic moments in Orson Welles
Citizen Kane comes near the end, as the aging and once-powerful newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane, now at the lowest point in his life, shuffles down a corridor between mirrors on opposite walls. Dejected and deflated, his ghostly pallor is reflected infinite times, appearing to get smaller and smaller as he shrinks into the void. This is a fitting image, because
Kane is itself a hall of mirrors, one that unintentionally reflected the future downfall of its most boisterous creators. David Fincher s
Citizen
Kane origin story, detailing the real-life social and political turmoil that inspired the film s ripped-from-the-headlines themes. It also apes the arch tone and heightened style of 1940s cinema, down to the black-and-white cinematography, monaural sound mix and fake reel-changing cigarette burns in the corner of the screen. And like