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shagnificent
Reviews
L'image manquante (2013)
Marvelous depiction of unfortunate series of events
I watched this movie at a film festival in Doha back in 2016.
The movie is in French, there are no live actors in it, yet its one of the most beautifully told story on real events on Khmer Rouge. It is very hard to pull off a feat like this......This movie left me in tears!
The best part was that the Director Rithy Panh was also there for the Q&A in the end which probably amplified the impact of the movie.
The movie compelled me to visit Cambodia as I was truly touched and think its a must watch for us to learn about the atrocities of Khmer Rouge that was one of the biggest genocide of our time.
Joyland (2022)
Just what Pakistani cinema needs
There was much hue and cry about the movie citing it a movie about "LGBT's". Naturally I went expecting a movies centered around that but was pleasantly surprised with everything else the movie had to offer leaving the much talked about issue only secondary. It touched a lot of issues that are neither acknowledged or accepted in Pakistani society and hence no one addresses them.
The protagonist is basically a beta male; Haider living in a patriarchal household where his (alpha) brother is the main breadwinner but has been unable to father a son (despite having 4 daughters) to continue family lineage. There is a Haider in every house in Pakistan who is not allowed to make his life decisions for himself; whether the girl he marries, having the option to "allow" her to work, he cant even have privacy with his wife as his nieces are made to sleep with his wife. AND he is supposed to be the breadwinner and not his wife no matter what profession choices he has to resort it. It is therefore natural for him to fall for a strong willed trans he starts working for at the theatre. The theatre culture in Pakistan is beautifully depicted.
Some things that stood out for me; I really liked the scene where the family is having dinner and its decided that haider's wife will quit her job without her having a say in it. Everyone else getting excited about the baby boy to be born to carry the family name except the mother bearing the child; the inner turmoil of that mother resulting in drastic actions. The treatment of trans in public transport. The neighbor; an aged woman's having no right to make her life decisions. There are just so many relatable scenes in the movie bring so many shades of Pakistani culture to light that I can just keep going on and on about.....
In the end I would like to commend the brilliant acting of Alina Khan as biba, she literally stole the show. Haider's role wasn't easy to play as well so kudos to Ali Junejo as well.
I will be looking forward to more masterpieces by Saim Sadiq.
Zarrar (2022)
Watch it to learn how NOT to make a movie
As much as I like to and want to support the Pakistani cinema being a Pakistani myself, however I have also been a cinema goer and have been exposed to a lot of international work and cant help critically analyzing the direction, cinematography, script and acting in reference to the genre. I cannot begin to describe the feelings I went through while watching the cinema; it varied from being hopeful (for Shaan had some tall claims), excited (to see some seasoned actors; Nair, Nadeem, Shafqat Cheema), disappointed (poor Dubbing, poor acting, weak storyline and forced romance), ashamed (CGI sequences and editing; cant believe I'm watching something like that in 2022), shocked (English dialogues and No Urdu subtitles, F bombs, gore, noticeable stuntmen, female lead's choice of clothing to name a few), disinterested (who cares why the journalist is corrupt and its unnecessary justification), irritated (flash sequences in an attempt to look cool, another movie in Istanbul?)
The movie had all the elements, if treated right, to make it one of the most epic and interesting movies. However every aspect failed miserably.
My suggestion to Shaan- stick to acting!