A Pilgrimage to Cinema

The scenario illustrated in " The Big Short " (2015, USA) is practically a doomsday scenario. It may not be the kind in which zombies have overruled the planet or an incurable virus has decimated humanity or a massive natural calamity has wreaked havoc everywhere. Nevertheless, its aftermath had essentially left everyone in the bottomest pit of despair and destitution: the US financial crisis of 2007-2008, considered to be the worst crisis of such kind that had hit the country since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As a matter of fact, economists and analysts even labeled the contemporary crisis as the "Great Recession".  Yet, however serious and relevant it had become, does anyone of us actually remember the crisis? Or even care about it? I, for one, didn't give much of a hoot about it. Can't really blame us, for the technicalities and principles of the financial catastrophe are admittedly complex and convoluted to be fully understood in just one go. Besi...

I first became acquainted with William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth when I was still in highschool, but I was actually able to read the play when I was already in college. Unlike Shakespeare's other tragedies - Hamlet , King Lear , Othello , Julius Caesar - the central character in Macbeth appears to have no redeeming traits at all, someone who's being motivated by pure ambition, greed and worldly intentions. That's probably why Macbeth makes for such a fascinating character study, an epitome of what we call the "anti-hero". And film is a medium where Macbeth's complex character can be best explored (aside, of course, from the theater, for which it was primarily intended).  I was able to see 2 cinematic adaptations of the play: Akira Kurosawa's majestic " Throne of Blood " and Roman Polanski's visceral " Macbeth ". But it was the first time that I was able to see on the big screen itself one such adaptation, by way of ...

I love gangster films. There's always a perverse fascination in watching the workings, inside and out, of an organized crime syndicate. Those rise and fall stories, the allegiances and betrayals, the family and group dynamics, the psychology of the kingpin - without necessarily having to take on the role of an investigative journalist covering these things, we can only act as an outsider looking in. More than the "action" scenes in a gangster film, I'm interested in the pathology and sociology behind a criminal syndicate. That's why I'm glad that, at the start of the year, " Legend " (2015, UK/USA), the new film from " LA Confidential " writer Brian Helgeland, was shown in our theaters. However, the viewing experience isn't entirely a satisfying one.  Adapted by Helgeland from John Pearson's book The Profession of Violence , "Legend" is in fact far from what the title of the book might suggest - that is, grim and gritty. I...