If this doesn’t kill you...it might torture you!!!

Walking into the theater, holding those fragile 3D glasses mildly tight in my fists, controlling my anxiety to look back at the screen which has already begun the “age of extinction” saga, searching for my seat under the dim low-battery Smartphone screen-light; I finally settled in my seat with determinedly crossed fingers- not to fall as a bait for the disturbing ‘Micheal Bay’ian grand destructive celluloid franchise. Habitually all the beginning s of Bay’s stories are very effective, so is this one but I missed the transformers tittle on screen which bothered me a bit. Leaving those petty unhappy things aside I was engrossed in to the story world which begins in the suburbs of Texas. Story unfolds gradually, letting the audience realize that Auto-bots which were always the personification of humanity and altruism were actually put on a hunt to make them extinct from the planet earth by the pseudo-patriotic corporate minds. Fancy cars as in NFS-most wanted, race here and there with the laudable camera angles hunting down the human-friendly Auto-bots, holding their hands with other malignant alien troops.

                                            Mark Wahlberg (who plays Cade Yeager), a struggling scrap collector, a confidently wannabe investor, an over protective dad of a hot teenage daughter appears fighting every battle possible to make the ends meet and make his daughter’s university dream a mere reality. One interesting part about the characters in this movie is they appear fresh, fresh enough at least from the regular stuff that Bay had been showcasing past few years in this Robotic franchise. You don’t find a practical flirty dad, a crazy mom and the tiny Chihuahua who desperately tries to fuck every possible thing in this universe (lol). Bay has succeeded to an extent in cooking up the ‘Armegeddon’ic flavor in this attempt of his.

                                         After the mere introductions, the story begins when Mark finds a scrapped truck which is later realized to be a transformer, precisely Optimus Prime. The whole family which is now chased for fostering an anti-nationalist, a no longer wanted hero (Optimus prime) by the sycophant CIA agents, slips away in all the directions possible to evade the deadly hunt. Best thing that one would admire in this installment was that the director’s vision was clear; graphics were crisp and neat (when compared to the haze ones in the “dark of the moon” at least). Micheal Bay seems to realize that too much of the unnecessary extravagant graphics can spoil the beauty, content and the flavor of the film. He now uses the CG in a clever manner, particularly speaking about a scene when a car transforms to a robot he doesn’t concentrate on its transformation, rather he jumps into another scene quickly with transforming BGM playing behind which reveals deliberately that the car is not a car anymore.

                                               So the Autobots are now fighting for their existence from humans and the other alien counterparts -“creators”. Apart from the regular alien combats director has taken an unusual sci-fi turn introducing the hilarious Stanley Tucci (as Joshuva), who played an alter ego of Steve Jobs, with the similar physique and posters all around his office showcasing the neo-revolutionary metal instead of an ipod or an iphone. The luxuriously complicated idea of cloning the transformers, programming, transforming metal seems odd but it opens new gates for the plot to traverse in intrigued directions. On a whole the story races further when the Galvatron, a new age cloned transformer from Joshua’s company KSI, goes wrong and retains the character of the badass Megatron. So humans, creators (aliens) and megatron on the darker side where as Autobots and the Yeager family on the brighter end deliberately fighting for the existence of humanity, forms the crux of the story which sequentially leads to the destructively choreographed solid 1 hr climax set in the streets of Hong Kong. One thing I would really appreciate Micheal Bay is that he restricted himself from making a purely insensible destructive climax; he rather tries to make it fairly a digestible one with more human involvement. Previous installment “Dark of the moon” tends to fall on the darker side because of it’s over usage of graphics and unwanted catastrophes which would be a pain in the eyes and something else too while watching. As the saying goes “too much of anything is bad”, Bay tends to trim every unnecessary CG work in this film.

In the course of trimming down the fancy yet trivial CG work, he greyed out on the human emotions, where the dad- daughter relations goes in haze and stands out unwanted in the never ending fiasco. The drama doesn’t drive well in the last hour of the movie which would probably excite kids and other action lovers. It certainly pricks every movie lover very deeply and remains to be one of the unapologetic mistakes often committed by Bay. Director cleverly leaves many open ends in the plot, making his work extremely comfortable in taking off with the next part in this critically humiliated franchise. Cinematographer has done a wonderful job in this film, which becomes a crucial part upon earning some respect from the viewers.

As the end credits rolled, popping the leftover tomato cheese popcorn into my mouth , I urged myself out of the theater with mixed feelings, one appreciating the director upon his learning from the previous mistakes whereas disappointed for making the fresh ones undeniably.

                                                On a whole Transformers stands out to be a mildly destructive, poor on drama,  rich in CG and relentlessly another pain in the ass installment of the franchise which would possibly never have an EXTINCTION.

Go if your kids force you or if you are this crazy fan of Robo-wrestling else stay back at home if you are a skinflint, Bay might rob you for sure.

*************** A generous 2 star (**) for this movie for making me happy for a while, "if this doesn’t kill you it might torture you" ****************

Highway....a roadway to my memories

              "what highway has offered me is a bunch of memories from the past that left me in a relentless excitement about the times yet to come"                         

                                     Imitiaz Ali…the screen name that articulates confusions, pain, obsessive Sufism, road travel, darker sides of love and absurdness that everyone shows at various points of their lives is now back again with a tricky, memorable and a less traveled ride on the “highway”. This piece of writing is not some random movie review; it’s my travel in my own fuzzy world for a couple of hours, where my senses were lost to the excitement of watching Imitiaz ali’s work on screen. Holding my helmet and the cinema tickets in the same hand, adjusting my hair with the other, I was lost in my thoughts. It took me back to my graduation days in Vishakhapatnam, the day when Love aaj kal released and myself getting settled in the theater completely clueless about the film maker whom I would admire in the coming future. I was dumbstruck for the first few minutes, the movie which was expected to be a regular rom-com was playing no background music; in fact silence was ruling all over; it was completely unconventional and unacceptable in the Bollywood cinema rule book. After a while, the movie started showcasing its titles, simultaneously presenting Saif Ali Khan from both the present and past times in a complete non- linear fashion with mohit chauhan’s “yeh dooriyan” melody playing in the back end. “Can this ever be a format of presenting a Bollywood love story?” was my unspoken frown on my bedazzled face. That’s it! That was my first encounter with Imitiaz, the unexpected director who inspired me a lot in building up my ideologies and thought process to a great extent. Does a movie maker inspire you? Yes they do, in my case.

                     Getting into the theater, I adjusted insatiably in my faulty seat with two people in the front measuring about 6 foot tall who partly covered my view from the screen. Movie began, the flavours of Imitiaz ali’s movie making rushed down the screen and filled the hall with zephyrs of picturesque locations he captured on the celluloid. Watching the locations on the first hand I was taken back to the partial road trip I traveled a couple of weeks ago. Places that I visited flashed in front of me, the excruciatingly unforgettable 14 hours of road travel in an ordinary bus from Manali to Amritsar, a peaceful morning at Harmandir sahib, famously called the golden temple, buzzing crowds of chandini chowk, aimlessly trekking a snow mountain in manali, bunch full of clouds overflowing our bodies on a smoky afternoon on the George’s Everest in Mussorie and our petty discussions with the local people showcasing our humble gestures while incorporating the language that we hardly used in our daily chores. I was pulled back into the theater by an unknown whistle on Alia bhatt’s unexpected entry (a typical Imitiaz’s style I would say).

The movie begins with an album of videos portraying various scenic locations in India; of course Rahman saab does his conventional job of elevating the scene with sedating music notes. This untraveled road movie caters Alia in the role of “Veera”, a rich kid who was about to marry a person from her kind. The story takes a “Highway” when the leading lady is abducted by a band of bandits in an unusual encounter. There after the movie carries away with how the little bird survives these so called wannabe- brutal people and how eventually she loves her petty uncozy stay in this unexpected journey of her life. Looking at the story its simple, probably a line or two would do the work in revealing the plot. What makes it special? It’s the treatment, the non-quirkiness of characters, the random confusions everyone would foresee in their lives, picturing the intentions of the director with a mere realistic approach. For a quick example to consider, when the director narrates some scenes that are of least importance with the emotional content of the movie, he simply uses a 16 mm crude video footage to do the needful very effectively. It showcases the brilliance of his unusual attempt. Imitiaz Ali repeatedly uses his usual approach of driving the emotional scenes without much use of BGM in many instances here. People who enacted this wonderful screenplay did a fabulous job on a whole. Casting director, please take a bow! Except for the leading pair (who were the only experienced actors on screen) everyone else did their debut in a promising way. Anil Mehta, person behind the camera shows his excellence in captivating 'the soul' of different locations that flawlessly drove people to the edges of their seats many a times. There were instances when people roared in surprise with beauty that has been showcased on the silver canvas. “Is India that beautiful?” This will be the common question everyone would pose to oneself in the midway through their journey on this adorable “Highway”. Songs were placed intelligently, without creating a ruckus with this neatly weaved screenplay. It becomes a part of it. A special mention should be addressed in favour of “phataka guddi” which begins in the post interval sequence arousing our spirits from the level zero to the zenith.

 Keeping my partly biased lines aside I would sincerely admit that on a whole this ride would be bumpy one if you expect a cliched love story or an obsolete rom-com that usually glitters in gold with pseudo aura in Bollywood. Make up your minds to face the bitter reality of life, brace yourself to enjoy some wonderful performances and be prepared to relish the scenic beauties of India on a panorama vision when you opt to spend time on this “Highway”. So better suit yourself and don’t blame me if you blindly empathize with what I felt regarding this one. Imitiaz ali fan’s would have a treat for sure.

Finally, what highway has offered me is a bunch of memories from the past that left me in excitement about the times yet to come.

Imitiaz ali you lived up to my expectations with this piece of work, keep working and do keep inspiring me every time. Kudos!!!

A languid bio-pic lost in translation

                                        

“Perhaps it is the first time I have started writing a review and ended up delivering an article instead; I tried keeping my regular tone away that I usually hold on to when I pen down a review. It is milka who made me do this finally. After reading an article from a famous author in one of the leading websites, it terribly instigated me to watch the story of milka which had stalwarts on its making end.”

                     Post watching bhag milka bhag I was drifted back to my past where I had my first encounter with Gujarathi thali in the summer of 2009. I still remember the scene when I excitingly dipped my roti into a bowl of yellow gram which I supposed it to be dal (by appearance) but unfortunately turned out to be a sweet. The struggle I had for a moment with my expectations toppled is never forgettable.  Though the sweet which was mistaken for dal was delicious, the pain in misinterpreting things haunts you for a suitable time. The same thoughts haunted me when the 1^st half of BMB was done and as I pushed myself out for a coffee to refresh. The problem with BMB is “misinterpretation”. Though the misinterpretation works quite often, it terribly backfires with over the top expectations. BMB which was directed by ROMP (short for Rakesh om prakash mehra) serves you a nice meal in an entirely different dish in which you never expect it to be delivered. It’s never a mistake of anyone when a film like BMB happens and fails to reach the “janata” to the fullest. Getting back to the genesis during the pre-release, when the movie got its promos out, people simply expected it to be an adrenaline rush bonanza where the hero would have terrible past and rises up with inspiration from a boasting coach with his emotional speeches and finally wins the medal. It’s as simple as that. This would be the story line framed in the brains of every person who settles himself into his seat ready to watch the so called inspirational biopic BMB. But if the movie concentrates on drama, milkha’s personal tragedies, his love, his failures and again a few failures of his for more than an hour and a half, audience would definitely get frowned as if I did when I have tasted the “sweetened” dal from the thali I mentioned above. My argument in the above line might discomfort some sect of people. People argue “what else do you expect from a biopic?” It’s just milkha’s travel through his life and it has to be like that. Yes I agree with the respectable citizens who have these questions pondering in their minds while they read this piece of wannabe review but accidently crafted article.

                  BMB when seen from a perspective has all the  ingredients to be a perfect and even a heart throbbing biopic but it fails with the imperfect narration choice opted by its team. When a movie has to be inspirational & emotionally taut it has to be portrayed in an ascending order with a plain narration that would make people empathize with the emotions of the characters where everything builds up eventually with time. Or at least it has to be the format chosen with a film like BMB which has rugged attire on a whole with lots of personal tragedies embodied and finally ending with the anticipated triumph of Milkha. But when a non linear narration breaks into a film like BMB, script gets broken into pieces where each part has its own drama, emotions and music artificially pushed into it. It looks like an anthology of stories bound together with Milka singh tag and some inspirational music playing behind. It fails to create an impact in the brains of people. In the end people would accept it with half nodding heads but very soon the flavour of the film vanishes as the end credits are done. But if the makers of the film have shown some other promos with lots of drama incorporated then people might have been prepared for the 3 hour long languid biopic. But such a promo could never be the USP of a film coming from the most talented cast and crew. The best part of the movie is the director never tries to leave the track he has chosen; a typical honest attempt is an understatement. This commitment amuses a few and irritates the others.

                   Keeping the problems apart the movie really shines at parts with a couple of inspirational songs, emotionally binding scenes and modestly written humorous snippets. Sonam kapoor who played a stronger part in the recent film ranjhaana, surprisingly gets her role restricted to a very limited episode, just more than a cameo which has very little to do with the life story of the “flying Sikh”. Keeping the misfit narration apart BMB is periodically inspirational, effective at parts and certainly worth a onetime watch.

     

            Giving it the bottom line I would not apprehend to say “The story unfolds rather slowly that gradually loses the grip on the people’s brain and wanders around in a non linear fashion that makes it an average fare on a whole.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REVIEW: MAN OF STEEL

                                                         

                Few films carry expectations mounted up to the sky, the kind of crew it carries, previous works done by the those film makers everything comes into count for the viewer. Sometimes it falls on the positive side by throttling the audience expectations about the film; sometimes it falls on the darker side when it fails to catch up to the levels set up in the petty brains of people watching them. Man of Steel comes into the second category I am speaking about. Though stalwarts like David.S.Goyer, Christopher Nolan, Zack Synder are on the making end of the movie, they couldn't create the necessary magic on the viewer’s mind from their most anticipated work on the superhero SUPER MAN: MAN OF STEEL. 

                The movie starts off with some unrealistic and uber sci-fi visuals that falls naive in developing the relevant emotions in the viewer’s mind, everything sets back to normal after the story shifts to the planet earth from the inconvenient planet to watch, named krypton. The makers terribly failed in creating the effective visuals that are amiable to the 3d version. Thanks to the musician Zimmer for his boisterous music for the first few minutes, even this drains off eventually with mere repetition.

                 Coming to the script, the story unveils with random non-linear fashion for the first few minutes, switching between present and past which reminds us of the typical Nolan’s writing. As the director slides back and forth in narration with umpteen flash back snippets, he somehow stays back in the subplots and loses his grip in the main plot which ultimately falls flat. You never find a character evolving in the entire story, not even superman. All of a sudden he appears with a suit, whose designer is never known (LOL). The only scenes that make some sense are in the subplots that reveal the child hood of superman. There are few scenes that generate some genuine laughs but it gets unnoticed on a whole. The story appears to be written with mere adrenaline rush rather than with passion and honesty to introduce the neo superman to the people who are quenching for the super hero genre in the recent times. Or it might be a strategic corporate attempt by DC and Warner to defend against the Marvel’s wave of fortune in making the recent super-hero blockbusters. Whatever may be the reasons in actual sense, the film suffers from poor treatment in all of its segments.

                  Sometimes you need not have a great story or a twisting, intriguing screenplay with you but still you can make a decent attempt that is worth appreciating by a grandeur presentation on the silver canvas. The example that articulates the above line is Cameron’s Avatar. Sadly Man of Steel falls negative even in this regard. The visuals are hazy, confusing and irritating in the 3d version. It gives a dozing sensation for our eyes watching such meaningless, noisy and high octane destruction. We seriously feel that the director suffers from the “Micheal Bay”-ian effect when it comes to destruction. No sooner we realize that the music keeps on repeating in the loop. Even Zimmer loses his usp in building effective BGM.

                 Coming to the actors, everything stands just normal. There is no character that we carry with us leaving the theater; instead we try to come out of the trauma of watching a terribly misfired action drama with the terrible 3D effect. Even the superman character that is played by Henry Cavil loses its charm with poor writing and dreadful depiction of the neo-version of the super hero. The cast might have had a cake walk in enacting the stuff as nothing exciting was written for their roles.

                 After all, the most awaited venture of the year “Man of Steel” fails to impress our hearts amidst huge expectations on its cast and crew. On a whole it’s just another Hollywood flick which is stuffed with excess action and a solidly uncooked script.

Verdict:

Two stars for the super annoying hero.

 Ps:

 Do go with a “STEEL” heart, else you might be disheartened terribly.

reviewed by  SRIHARSHA VELAMAKANNI

Ice-creams & Milkshakes

Do you like a sundae ice-cream or something like a milkshake with ice-cream and the favorite cherry on the top! I bet we all do love it. Did you ever observe that we all look at that cherry curiously, we are unknowingly anxious to check who grabs that cherry when a two or three share the same shake, we give our best to pop that little lonely cherry first but if some one outsmarts you in that cherry popping competition we just say OK to ourselves. A silly act of self-console will follow. 

                But do we ever see or experience the same tacit competition in completing the ice cream that gets silently settled down in the bottom of that colorful milk shake glass. No way! I have never seen such thing. All we fight is for the pompous, glossy and fruity little things. We prioritize a cherry even though we call it a milk shake as a whole. So next time when you order a milkshake, is it OK if the bar guy gives you a flamboyant cherry, unapologetically leaving out that glassful of milkshake  and then bills you 10 dollars? A big NO will be your answer. 

                My point is, we all look at those petty little moments in life like cherries in the milkshake and ignore the whole damn thing called life like the poor ice cream in the bottom. The above lines being the biggest and stupidest ever adjectival phrases used, baby I just want to say one thing! You are definitely not my cherry. You are my Milkshake. Love you a lot. I might not be fancy at the moment but my love towards you is as everlasting as that last spoonful of milkshake that everyone of us would undoubtedly rejoice. Love you till I die.

hell yeah “it could be your love story”!!!

                                                     hell yeah “it could be your love story”!!!

The first thing I noticed when I started getting into the immature, crisp and lovely conversations between Varun (Nani) and Nithya (Samantha) is the way the how it is pictured with lots of simplicity and reality in it. Rather than exaggerating with unnecessary hype and tollywood’s commercial and fanatic taking, the story goes smooth and little verbose. What we do in our life is nicely resembled on screen thus justifying its novel caption “it could be your love story”. The only difference is it had some tunes playing in the background which we don’t have usually in our own love stories. Except that everything else articulates to the real life that we live.

                           Coming to the story it had nothing much to tell as it is merely conversations between the lovely lead pair Varun (Nani) and Nithya (Samantha). The movie opens with a song which is vaguely choreographed it lets the expectations down for a while, this little duration will make us prepared on how the movie is going to be presented. It had the tinge of short films that have been very popular in the recent days. But the story doesn't confront abrupt or vulgar comedy to fill the space and win cheap applauds. It has the dignity all over in its characters and the conversations. It is the best part of Gautham Vasudev Menon as a script writer and director.

                            The conversations are tedious in parts; you feel the talking part is dragged over and over sometimes. Director has made the visuals natural without using BGM in certain parts. It plays when it needs to be there to convey the emotion. Unnecessary recording is strictly overdone in this film which makes the film more unique and to be what it is actually. It can be regarded as an honest attempt for this. Certain scenes are much elevated with the soothing BGM which takes you to the place just where the story happens and you feel the love and emotion all around you. Ilayaraja was splendid in re-recording. But people who hate drama genre will certainly hate parts of the movie and may get derailed from the screenplay. Then it is exactly when people start to hate it despite of its novel and pleasant attempt.

                            Songs were already a great hit and they were nicely shot on screen. Coming to the characters Nani plays a pivotal part and does a magnificent job in executing his role to the maximum. Samantha was pretty; especially as a school girl her looks were adorable. Krishnudu who portrays as the only friend of Nani was decent and engaging. His female partner was eye catchy with a typical dialogue delivery. Cinematography was cleverly handled. Most of the shots were moving rather than being steady ones which added a great force to the reality quotient of the film. Editing was clean and flawless.

Ilayaraja will be the man of the show after all. “Kammani ni prema lekhale” was neatly remixed and beautifully sung by the vocalist. It keeps the audience in high spirits. Other songs like yedhi yedhi, layi layi were beautifully placed in the movie. BGM of the movie was stupendous. It can’t be regarded in this piece of note; it has to be relished personally in the theaters  In a single statement gautham and Ilayaraja can be given an equal status in building up this film.

                            Rather than ending up the conversation in a facile way, the director discusses every point between varun and nithya in a detailed manner, so dialogues seems never ending and quite natural but never appeals to be over dramatizing the situation. It resembles like we are overhearing a discussion between two people around us in our lives. It’s that simple and pleasant to watch. Most of us can empathize with varun and nithya as “it could be your love story”. On an ending note if you are a drama lover then it will be a classy one else it seems to be cheesy and tedious.

Three cheers for this adorable and soothing movie with wonderful music.

life of Pi is all about Life

                                                         Life of pi is all about life

What is life? Is it the mere existence in the most mechanical and stereotyped way? Or is it a cluster of phases that knots love, hatred, fear, dare, anger, happiness, sadness, helplessness, peace, hard work, ignorance, family, satisfaction, ideas and never ending threads of hope in a living being? The topic begins with lots of questions that will remain unanswered due to the lack of philosophy behind life. If someone questions “what is this shit all about?” then yes this is the only shit that you have been living with and will thrive to live further in the so called journey of life. Watching the movie “life of pi” one shall definitely be thank full to the director for polishing the sensibilities of life, god and existence in the life of people. If one watches this as a movie then one will definitely relish its depiction that has lots of beautiful colours, reflections, ripples and camouflage. But apart from considering it as the movie, if one realizes the soul of it then it will surely wakes you up, keeps you on a side for a moment and discuses the laws of life that are ignored in actual sense. This movie remains typical and hard to understand unless you get yourselves on the board, unleashed from all the worries around and get connected as one of the characters in the movie. It’s a worthy lecture that remains visually stupendous and emotionally arresting.

The movie starts off with different animals beautifully grooming on screen, traditional Carnatic music playing and the titles getting camouflaged in the scenic backgrounds. Life of pi is the story of a boy “Piscine Molitor Patel” (gautham belur/ ayush tendon/Suraj Sharma/ Irfan Khan) who is named after the famous swimming pool in Paris. The name that sounds like “pissing” embarrasses the little one throughout his schooling. It actually forces this vegetarian, timid boy who lives in a zoo keeping family in Pondicherry to cut it short to “pi”. The story starts with a novelist who approaches pi in his late thirties and asks him about his life story to make it as a plot for his next book. The narration swaps back and forth unlacing the adventurous and meaningful journey that pi faces in his late teenage.

The story deals with lots of analysis about the things that everyone will certainly come across in daily routine. Rather than making its decisions and being judgmental  it makes us to think and allows us to flow with the things that comfy us. One can say it has the best path shown towards the approach of almighty, particularly the scene when pi thanks lord Krishna for introducing him to Jesus.  It opens up our thoughts and fills some meaning full stuff for a better living. The story doesn't stay on the lines of divinity either; it fairly supports the modern science with its engrossing and sensible dialogues.  The story has a perfectly cooked, unbiased touch to the rushing currents of life. It has the characters of pi’s parents played by Tabu and Adil hussain who evolve to build up the character of pi in a brighter way that helps him to survive his cast-away period. Though the roles of Tabu, adil Hussain and Sravanthi Sainath were very brief to portray they had lots of intentions and philosophy to speak about. The Bengal tiger which is accidentally named Richard Parker by some flawed records is literally engrossing. The scenes depicting his survival intentions are magnificently made. The cast-away period of pi remains the heart and soul of the film that teaches the sensitivity and philosophy behind living. The best part of the movie is one can easily correlate every intention behind a scene to one’s life. So it remains to be the part of the game throughout its duration with pi’s instance as an example. Coming to the technicalities it is just marvelous  The sets, cinematography, editing, visual effects are so good that any positive adjective will be a step behind in comparing them.

Audience go speechless in the scenes of jelly fishes floating all around, the sequence of floating islands and the mighty blue whale magnanimously flying over the little boat goes on par with the standards of James Cameron’s magnum opus Avatar.  They were visually stunning. Director Ang lee has no special mention in this little piece of review as it is not a sufficient credit to his superficial view in crafting the cinema. A piece of writing isn't sufficient to appreciate him perhaps a standing ovation is worthy of it. The very little flaw that one easily ignores in this movie is pi arguing with his father at an instance and slips out suddenly that “Columbus discovered India”. Sorry I am afraid it’s the Cape of Good Hope after all where he landed.

But on a whole the movie gives you a life time experience and sincerely speaking it’s just not a movie but it’s all about life. 

Four stars for this deeply engrossing tale.

Ps:

Uncountable cheers to Ang lee, the director who redefined the status of life and cinema.