jayantani

"Apur Sansar" is the greatest film ever made. Ray handles every aspect of storytelling on film with so much grace that it's impossible to resist his masterwork. Soumitra Chatterjee's performances is easily the greatest ever put on film. His work is heart-wrenching and haunting, going from a boyish innocence to a matured, cynical bitterness about life and the world. Ray's movie if full of loneliness and heartbreak. It makes you realize just how fragile human relationships are, how easily people die, grieve and yearn for love and redemption. The music is incredible. The combination of the movie's score and Ray's images is magical. You'll never forget it.

"Dirty Pretty Things" benefits from the best script, hands down, written for a movie released in 2003. Great performances by the whole cast; tight, resourceful direction from Frears, and an unexpectedly poignant message about the exploitation of the powerless that goes on among us all the time. The final moments, when the two leads have a shot at a future though not without some heartbreak, are worth sitting through a year's worth of mediocre movies to experience.

The movie slowly grabs you. One simple layer of action is coordinated with another simple layer. A third and a fourth join this constellation of action till we have so many layers weaving about each other that I lost count. The entrance of the delightful blonde stole the show for me, adding sexiness and a dash of mischief. Great fun!