TRUTH-TELLERS AND MAVERICKS

cerebral writing on art, cinema and culture 2 Minutes

BROADWAY BY LIGHT(1958)


The razzle-dazzle of Times Square and the larger swathe of Broadway communicates the tale of New York City for what it is. It’s a tale scripted by modern man, the megalopolis rendering sky-high ambitions and dreamscapes for generation after generation with its litany of marquees & billboards, advertising its bottomless well of mainstream endeavours and seeking attention.

BROADWAY BY LIGHT, a ten minute documentary short directed by William Klein, captures that panoply as it illuminates the night skyline from an intimate perspective- capturing iconic brands such as Coca Cola, Budweiser et al that constitutes the nocturnal fabric of one of the greatest global juggernauts millions call home.

The ’50s timeline gives it a piquant  period feel and the appropriate lighting turns this particular show into something simultaneously garish and wondrous, from childlike illustrations alighted by multiple bulbs to the men who give it the requisite artistic touch, like eternally punctilious production designers conducting symphonies with their hands and outlook.

Further bolstered by iconic filmmaker Alain Resnais’ cinematographic credits and Maurice Le Roux’s jazzy musical score, these bright lights inject the big city with drama, vigour and an obvious ubiquity of images as they flow like liquid, blink over traffic signs and get reflected like rainbows on wet New York streets.

So as the day dawns and the plainness of the skyscrapers receive a yellow glow of the sun, the intimacy of these definitive lights linger with us.



          ***

POWER(2024)

Brute force, symptomatic of  authority, and the rise of modern conscience was at the poignant heart of Yance Ford’s unforgettable STRONG ISLAND.

In his latest documentary POWER, the vices of racism, government sanction and fiats of class denude our notions of first-world, American justice, showing policing for its historical grip on society’s marginalised and its unchecked “power” for cultural inequity.

Images of police officers shooting a young Black man in a car, a young girl terrified by an unit’s dastardly presence, a female protestor snapped to the ground, an elderly man pushed like bricks and then bleeding on the ground as officers march on heartlessly, another protester’s bicycle being shoved aside just like the person and a police car launching into a crowd of protestors paint horrifying pictures of the public being mishandled and treated less than animals by those meant to protect our integrity.




Here’s a short poem in recognition of Yance Ford’s POWER from yours truly.

BRUTES

You can come for me
with ten hands,
your primitive musculature,

drive yourself
ravingly
into the encampments.

Your batons,
like sabres
in the middle of the day,
will meet
the melting temperatures
and welding machines.

The head nerves
will spoil
their serenity
in your parochial presence
but
my name
will not
reach for its fowl-like
cries
to fear you.

Rest assured.
I will not cover
my head this time
with a fist
full of cowering mass.

      ***

All 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.

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