Moving images in cinematic art
Film Appreciation
with K S Sivakumaran
I love the cinema mainly for two reasons: to enrich my appreciation
of literature and the theatre. And of course I like it for the
incorporation of the ‘pleasure principle’ that comes with the broader
understanding the medium of film as an entertaining device.
|
Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker and Jacqueline Sassard in Accident |
In other words I choose films that give me an aesthetic satisfaction
to express my appreciation as a film critic. But my tastes have gone
changes over the years from enjoying slapsticks, crime, horror and the
like which as teenagers we love to see to romance, musicals, historical
extravaganzas, colossal films and later to social and psychological and
serious or aesthetic cinema.
Why I am saying this is film appreciation depends on one’s
background, class, gender, outlook etcetera. What one person like and
reviews may be different to another one’s. However knowledgeable critics
that know the history and development of the film art and other
components that go into a film production and the film itself as a
composite entity agree on basics of film criticism. Critics may differ
on minor points but generally recognize a good film from a bad or
pretentiously claimed box office film. That is why all recognized
critics usually rate the best films without much conflict.
I used to see only Tamil films at the start until the1950s. By the
second half of the last century I accustomed myself to seeing Hindi,
Sinhala and English and also classic continental and American films.
Thanks to the film societies that existed and also to my acquaintance
with eminent critics and film reviewers who wrote to the English
language newspapers and noteworthy British and American academic
oriented film journals. Even in Lanka academics have contributed to the
cinema both as filmmakers and critics. Just to mention the names of a
few one could mention the late Regi Siriwardena, Dr Siri Gunasinghe and
Prof Wimal Disanaike. The latter teaches films among other disciplines
abroad and has written and co-authored books on different topics
pertaining to the cinema.
I shall also give brief notes in the coming weeks of some of the
great films I had seen at special screenings locally and as a student at
the Film Appreciation Course I followed 10 years ago at the Film and
Television Institute of India in Pune.
Let’s begin in an alphabetical order:
Accident
This 1967 British film directed by Joseph Losey was an adaptation
from a novel that I didn’t read. The novelist was Nicholas Mosley. The
famous Harold Pinter generally classed as an “Absurd theatre”
playwright, write the scenario. That interested me and rightly the film
was engrossing. Besides great actors both men and women were featured:
Dirk Bogarde, Michael York, and Pinter himself.
The story too was interesting and the characterization was
psychologically constructed. It’s a complex story of the ‘eternal
triangle of love’ drama set in the Oxford University. But then lifestyle
was yet to enter the ‘Open Society’ libertinism and therefore inhibition
pervades in the relationships among the characters. In that sense also
the film drew attention
This film may be available in either VHS or DVD format- I am not sure
of the availability in our country.
[email protected] |
