THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT ALL- THE BARD, MARTIN SCORSESE AND DISNEY

cerebral writing on art, cinema and culture, Feature Essay 6 Minutes

ITALIAN AMERICAN(1974)

On Saturday, I watched this absolutely enlightening interview conducted by prolific radio personality Zane Lowe. His interviewee was none other than Martin Scorsese.

During the course of the almost one hour conversation, we had them talk about the importance of using pre-existing music in his filmic oeuvre, Killers of The Flower Moon and Mr. Scorsese’s acting part in it as a radio producer, the evolution of music from the heady days of erstwhile bars and clubs right down to thoughts on his storied career and friendship with the likes of Robbie Robertson of The Band among others. It seemed like a whole history of the arts had been covered here without ever once resorting to cliches. Lowe was an excellent host and listener while Mr. Scorsese was a raconteur with his distinct cadence and candour, making this exchange invaluable, akin to a heart to heart among lifelong friends.



Immediately after watching it, popped up this forty nine minute short titled ‘ItalianAmerican’, a work discussed in the interview mentioned above. I watched it and was filled with immeasurable joy as this was a showcase for his parents to share with us his family history from turn of the century Italy into America, their tough living conditions, the sense of community that was always many steps ahead than material comfort and the evolution of New York.

The camera is focused on these two gregarious, confident, able raconteurs as they sit in their simple, unadorned apartment with their young son, filling the atmosphere with memories, anecdotes and laughter. Mama Scorsese( who was great in her cameo in THE KING OF COMEDY too as Robert De Niro’s mother ) is clearly the star of the show. She owns the screen here.

Watching ItalianAmerican, it’s clear where the legendary filmmaker inherited his gift for realism,  his eye for details, his storytelling prowess and pride in his antecedents. Doubling as an intimate study of family ties spanning generations and as a portrait of a partnership of decades, this 1974 short is priceless for all discerning cinephiles.






***

UN PUR ESPRIT(2004)

Before her feature films such as MAYA, ONE FINE MORNING and BERGMAN ISLAND brought her to international acclaim, French director Mia Hansen Love gave the world this first glimpse of her storytelling.

In UN PUR ESPRIT/ A PURE SPIRIT, we have the framing of a girl as the sole figure against a more communal camaraderie among men and even young boys. To me, the skewed gender ratio and the universality to this feeling of sociological abandonment for her plays out against the seemingly vast spaces of the park. There are no words. Only minimalistic sound design and sepia tones.

We are permitted to be at peace in a public space. But what if our interiority churns there, away from others? A  complex mortal dilemma is invited for discerning cinephiles in this three minute short.



***

KING LEAR(2018)

I’ve waited patiently for five years to have this screen adaptation of my favourite Shakespeare play reach me. Now that the Amazon Prime original is here in India on its host streaming platform, all discerning lovers of the Bard must seek it out.

The primal immediacy of the dialogues are intact, the performances up the ante while its dark, foreboding nature ultimately restores our fears about the fragile pecking order within family structures. To this cinephile and writer, King Lear is a visceral dissection of Ego, descent into madness, dotage and emotional overlaps with a jockeying for absolute power. Sir Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Emily Watson and Jim Broadbent are among the featured players here, in a play of passions and manipulations set in a militarised present England.

Andrew Scott and Florence Pugh are among the vulnerable scions whose humility comes with an accursed spell. Ultimately, a mad degeneration into the assignment of property and building allegiances around the same is universal. This screen adaptation stays faithful to the Bard’s gloriously grisly text. I would have it no other way.



For me, this obsession with land and its propriety spells doom. We can never go back to what came before. Human relationships, in all their morbid dysfunction, are found in King Lear. It’s a tale as old and as grisly as Time itself.



***

TO LESLIE(2022)

John Cassavetes’s A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, The Meg Ryan starrer WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN and Martin Scorsese’s ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE are references I drew while watching Michael Morris’ feature TO LESLIE. Even the central relationship shared between Tess Harper and Robert Duvall in TENDER MERCIES crossed my mind.

I was reminded of all these works as this particular depiction of abject descent into an emotional abyss for its lead protagonist is raw, gritty and starkly realistic. Set in Texas where the starkness of the landscape and a people humbled by history’s share in poverty and lack of resources is pronounced, it’s about a culture that eggs one to the brink of self-destruction, fuelled by vices of drugs and alcohol.

By making Leslie’s journey of middle-aged blues defined by homelessness and without spelling out the tragic details that led her to this particular place, her past reputation as the winner of a lottery is juxtaposed with a present where all the finances have dried up. Leslie, herself, is a bedgraggled mess. She is shunted out by her empathetic and long suffering son and then by her former friends who have turned hostile against her.

     ***



This screenplay is about her stumbling around her less than modest surroundings like a sheet of plastic flailing in the air. Maybe these surroundings and the toxicity of poverty, alcoholism and petty bonds in the culture around her led her to this grim point. Maybe, she had dreams of her own, for her son but had nobody to support her in any way. Such a blend of circumstantial apathy probably led her to branch out on her own without educational guidance and work experience. Andrea Riseborough’s committed, starkly empathetic turn launches those human concerns for us. Her empathetic turn is for her own individuality. So when she is shown hope and is given perhaps one last chance to mend herself, she takes it.

Every time she is vulnerable or happy, her face, like melting wax, catches all her emotions together with a childlike innocence that the world always denied her. Her body language makes her seem older than her actual years yet when she is in the company of others, not one part of her is combative, mean or with reserves of antipathy especially regarding the past. These wordless passages and then her delivery and speech patterns halt and start with the late-stage evolution that she brings for herself.

Finally tired of being miserable and sorry for herself, she stands up for something better. She is alive and she wants to survive further. Great success isn’t the calling card in TO LESLIE. It’s about emotionally reframing a life. Allison Janey, Owen Teague and Marc Maron dot this journey with complex emotional stakes. Riseborough and this unadorned ring of truth here are much sought after.

***

DISNEY’S ONCE UPON A STUDIO(2023)

Disney has been a universal synonym for wonder, childhood and a legacy spanning multiple generations. 2023 marks 100 years of its existence on terra firma as keeper of all things bright and beautiful.

The short film ONCE UPON A STUDIO is a charming communal celebration of the iconic anthropomorphic characters who have populated our screens for a century. Reveling in the premise of Mickey Mouse leading the charge for congregating all of these icons for a group photograph befitting this occassion, we find a legacy that has become more diverse, culturally rich over successive decades.

From Bambi, Frozen Princesses to  Coco, Moana, Encanto and Zootopia, we have hundreds of these personages cover an extensive filmography including the villains, Jessica Rabbit and of course Goofy bumbling it up as the photographer before magical powers set the mood just right.

Delightful to the core, ONCE UPON A STUDIO is a succinct tribute to a legacy that continues to flourish. This is great and will have us smiling throughout.





***

NOTE: all the clips are courtesy YouTube.

Published by anawadhboyspanorama

I launch myself, with a searing, soaring passion for all domains verging on the writerly and creative with a beginner's appetite here and that's how I believe in adding meaning to each day. A lucky mascot of literature, cinema and culture, I come riding on spirited wings from the emblematic city of Lucknow where all those reside and thrive. My breeding ground and my mindscape all are committed to these three life forces. Cinema. Culture. Literature. But the biggest and all consuming parent to these is life that breeds them . There is the discovery that comes from expressing yourself, clear eyed and even mystical, when you come from a city like this. I am here to expand my worldviews, share my earliest inspirations and evolutions and go with the flow through the most accessible outlet there is : writing. Conventionally, my biography is that of a degree holder in English literature encompassing Undergraduate, Postgraduate and M Phil years and every possible experience of learning finer points of knowledge . I have already taken the plunge of creating a solid base for my works by publishing my poems and articles on the renowned worldwide community/ writing sanctuary Wattpad since 2015, a platform which is a miracle for anyone pursuing so much as a flash of wordplay and thoughts to spare. It has redefined my life and allows me to go strong. You can read my works there under the username MadMenWearingFedora / Prithvijeet. That is the springboard that catapulted me to a confident vocational revival. So here I am. Both originality and novelty are the key words to define this eternal student of life. So with the tip of the pen blessing my head and a new vigor, I welcome you all to my realm. AN AWADH BOY'S PANORAMA beckons.

Published

Leave a comment