"A Malaysian minister has called for suicide scenes to be cut from imported Indian films, amidst concerns that they are leading to copy-cat incidents."Reading this bit of news makes me want to kill myself.
The BBC article makes an interesting observation: "Suicides are said to be a common dramatic feature in Indian films, especially those made for Tamil audiences.
Those damn elitist Tamilians! Never satisfied with old-fashioned dramatic features like murder, rape and torture in their movies!
Don't be too hasty in dismissing "copycat incidents" though. This one time, after watching a lovely Ozu film, I did something horrible: I sat on the floor, sipped my tea and gazed at a closed window for a full four minutes. Then I stood up, walked over to the other side of the window and took a deep breath. Ha ha.
11 comments:
ozu! which one?!
i need to go back and see him again, it's been *way* too long.
lol at the ozu connection :))
Tokyo Story, Early Summer....two of my favorites, TR. (a person watching the latter with me actually asked me "why is he showing an empty chair and then an empty hallway for, like, forever?" :D)
yes, i love these two as well. have you seen a story of floating weeds? i think it's time i stopped savoring the experience and went and watched the damn thing.
My favorite Ozu film is, by a long stretch, "Good Morning". Seen it?
VB, I haven't seen that one. And if you pick it over Tokyo Story, then I am curious!
Yes, I would. Its the only Ozu film (last time I checked) outside of the trilogy released on the Criterion label by the way. See it, its very endearing.
vb and i have been known to differ on this :-) i'd characterize good morning as cute, not heart-wrenching.
TR, VB and anyone else reading this: what other Asian directors do you guys follow? (other than the usual suspects like WKW etc)
Well, not that many non-Indian ones. I like Tsai Ming Liang a lot. His "Goodbye Dragon Inn" would probably make my top 20 list. Also, Juzo Itami and Seijun Suzuki. I have seen two of Suzuki's films - "Branded To Kill" and "Tokyo Drifter" (both out on Criterion) - and was quite mesmerized by both of them. Sort of like Dali meets Melville in Japanese!
branded to kill was hilarious.
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