Gulaal
Anurag Kashyap | India | 2009
141 min

Five years ago, director Anurag Kashyap tore through the press, public and Bollywood with his mighty sophomore feature, Black Friday, a riveting drama chronicling the Mumbai Bomb Blasts of ‘93. Its release was blocked by Indian courts due to the ’sensitivity’ of its themes, but a lot of international acclaim was generated for the quality filmmaking on display. Kashyap now gives us Gulaal, a movie about the Rajputs and their desire for an independent state. Equally controversial (for Indian courts) and equaling Black Friday’s greatness, Gulaal is another achievement for India’s Independent cinema, one that threatens to be lost in the melee of everyday Bollywood. continue reading »»

W.
Oliver Stone | US | 2008
129 min

Interweaving fact and supposition, Oliver Stone’s compelling, fascinating W. plays out like the Godfather in reverse. It is at once a biopic, an anti-war film and a time capsule of a tumultuous period. Like he did with his earlier presidential films, Nixon and JFK, Stone fuses historical truth with a subjective, highly opinionated point of view to create a believable, if skewered kaleidoscope of reality. No one knows what really happened during Bush’s presidency in the oval office, but the film turns the major events leading up to the Iraq war in 2003, dramatically edgy. continue reading »»