Arnab Chatterjee

Following its previous tradition, Peter and the Wolf is a brilliant creation. The story successfully portrays how Peter moves from rejecting nature to accepting the kind and nurturing nature in order to reconcile with the loss of his mother. It narrates a brilliant story with the most beautiful animation.

To be honest, Gulmohar is a family drama at the very outset. Within the intermingling of events, the Batra family are branching out from being a joint family to separate nuclear families. And in the crux of the moment, they came under a lot of circumstances which made them grew apart and then closer ever than before. I particularly liked the representation of LGBTQ community here and even beyond that this film is a staunch criticism against the class and caste diversity where the family is not formed out of blood relationships but with love and fraternity towards each members. The film is indeed an emotional journey to the very spectrum of Indian households and I would recommend everyone to watch it and see for themselves what it holds.

Vikram Vedha portrays the very dilemma of striving in the moralistic path and how there are two sides of the same coin. Except for the unrealistic actions, the movie is a total Blast of emotions and dexterity.

Except for the unrealistic action sequence, the film RRR portrays the core root of revolution in British India with unavoidable parallels.

The portrayal of the age of Enlightenment was apt!

Funny. Crazy. Brilliant. A total vortex of Adrenaline Rush. Monica, O My Darling revolves around the engagement of murder that flows in continuous loops. It is a story of connecting loose ends and creating even more confusion to the part of narrative. But amidst this confusion, there remains a plot with a gripping rollercoaster ride. The directors and writers did a massive job helping the audience relate to it more than ever. The character ACP Naidu played by Radhika Apte kept on mentioning how one should keep the story loose for a crime and not tightly placed and as in the plot of the movie, we can experience how loose the story remains till the very end connecting all the dots as well as playing with the audience's mind. A brilliant genius!

A genius endeavour by Square Enix. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy practically portrays the chaotic and humourful team Guardians are as we get to know them from the movies and comic books. With the subtlety of crisp dialogues with emotional and yet thrilling plot lines, the game extends it's greatness. From Quill's journal to how he is operating the disjunctured leader, the true essence of the game comes out to play. Though, I hoped for a free roam in the Galaxy or some side missions to earn credits and opportunities to spend them (except for the minimal activities available in Knowhere) nevertheless, I will keep my hopes high for a sequel or even prequel to what this game has given the experience of. Loved it!

Tony Kaye's "Detachment" is one of the most underrated film ever. Detachment perfectly portrays the Absurdism of Camus' writings that shifts to Kafkaesque and even Pinteresque to a certain degree. The film attempts to portray the surroundings of a burdened society through a classroom and people associated with it. Henry Barthes played by Adrien Brody travels through the centre with his traumas associated heavily with the colour red that trapped him down; colour red from his mother's hair, to his love interest's hair, to the colour of the chair of Meredith, all traps him down. The only form of solace he finds is Erica which he pushes off icing his passion. All the characters are trapped in a situation, almost like an Ouroboro that cannot escape and is to blame for their own ruined condition. Only the character of Meredith in the film is brave enough to take some action to escape this claustrophobic situation and the escape is the eternal rest. Except this plot construction, Detachment has the finest works of camera and the use of colours where the bright colours are threatening and the monochrome is not wholeheartedly accepted. Even the last scene with declining institution followed by the beginning lines from "The Fall of the House of the Usher" intensifies and cements the overarching burden that the characters will carry forward: do not want this situation, no life outside of this situation.

With a mature reflection upon the LGBTQ++, Heartstopper presents a wonderful story of coming out in a suppressive atmosphere. I loved the representation of each character with a fun and "drama" way along with their lively characteristics. Definitely worth watching.

Dog Day Afternoon is about a bank robbery going horribly wrong from the very beginning. The building tension though the outcome is inevitable makes this film worth watching. Here Pacino is at his best. The tension rising up from getting caught to homosexuality to trans-sexuality, this film addresses a lot of binaries. The late John Wojtowicz whose mad exploit on one afternoon in Brooklyn probably never dreamed his life would result in an awarded picture. But I suppose the Oscar that Frank Pierson won for Best Original Screenplay kind of verified his time on earth. Not to mention the five other Oscar categories Dog Day Afternoon was nominated in, Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Director for Sidney Lumet, Best Actor for Al Pacino and Best Supporting Actor for Chris Sarandon. It all happened to be sure on Avenue P in Brooklyn, the location that the film was shot on 10th Street was not where it happened, just the same borough. But the film sure comes close to graphically illustrating the bizarre carnival of events that happened in the summer of 1972. Al Pacino playing Sonny Wojcik is a gay man who has left his wife and kids and is now living with a man who has confessed to him he's a transgender individual and the doctors have recommended a sex change for him. The sexually confused Pacino and at that time he was hits on this mad move to rob a bank to get enough money for sexual reassignment. At that time the cost they're talking about is $2500.00 which now wouldn't pay for the scrub nurse. Then as now medical insurance companies won't cover it. So Pacino goes in with buddies John Cazale and Gary Springer and pulls a robbery at closing time at a Brooklyn bank. They're supposed to be in and out, but these guys aren't professional criminals. One thing leads to another and law enforcement has Pacino and Cazale trapped, Springer having opted out of the crime real early. Then the media freak show begins, at first with crowd actually on Pacino's side as he gives lip to the law. Then when they find out what is the underlying motive for the robbery, good old homophobia takes over. The cheers turn to jeers when Pacino comes out in the street for the police and the cameras. Dog Day Afternoon is a key film for the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community in the USA. It's one of the first that explores a gamut of issues like the closet, internalized homophobia, being forced into marriage for convention's sake, even same gender marriage. It's exploitive to be sure, but does have its tender moments as well. The highlight of the film for me is the phone conversation with Pacino and Sarandon who had no idea what Pacino had in mind. Sarandon gave one of the first performances of a transgender person in a major motion picture. John Wojtowicz, Sonny Wojcik for the film did a stretch in the federal pen for the bank robbery and after he was released I met him. By the time we met, both of us were comfortable in our sexuality, I was most closeted when this incident happened. When we met it was the late Eighties. If I was comfortable, John Wojtowicz was positively reveling in it.