Flickering Lights (Denmark, 2000)

As I said in my last post of this country-series, I tried to browse through the films from Denmark. As usual, I thought to go beyond the Lars von Trier (Nymphomaniac) and look for least talked or known film. Here, I found a film called Flickering Lights (Blinkende Lygter in Danish). This got listed as one of the greatest film in Denmark. It is a mix of comedy and crime. Directed by Anders Thomas Jenson (Writer of In China They Eat Dogs)

*Spoilers ahead*

A gang of four, who are friends for long time, indulge in small crimes. The gang is headed by Torkild, who just broke-up with his girlfriend. She criticizes him, as he doesn’t have a good permanent job. A big gangster, Carl, gives them a job to rob a suitcase from Greek embassy. Unknown of what is there in the case, Torkild and his group find lots of cash in it. Instead of returning it to the gangster, they try to keep it and move to Barcelona for a better life. On the way, they end-up in an abandoned restaurant in the woods. Torkild changes his mind to get settled there, but he wants to convince others and also keep it low as the gangster could find them. Did he succeed is the rest of the story. ?

We see the past stories of the four friends (Torkild, Arne, Stefan and Peter) on how they were abused by their parents and how did they meet-up. 

Since the plot is set in the first few minutes of the film, one can easily get into the story. I was hoping it will be a road movie, when they plan to go to Barcelona, so Torkild suggesting them to settle in the restaurant was unexpected. I was also taken aback in the past stories, were they get abused by their parents. If you haven’t seen a Scandinavian film, then this is the place to start.

Film Trailer

Earlier Posts - Afghanistan, Burma, Columbia
Country Series – This will feature countries from alphabetical order, A to Z. One film from a country will be written on a weekly basis. Next in the series will be from Egypt.

Bharath Stores (India, 2012)

இதை தமிழில் தான் எழுதவேண்டும். என்னென்றால் இது இந்தியப்படம், அதுவும் நம்ம பக்கத்து மாநிலம் கர்னாடகாவிலிருந்து வெளிவந்தப் படம். பொதுவாக சமகாலத்து நிகழ்வுகளை படமாக எடுக்கமாட்டார்கள். எதற்கு வேண்டாத தலைவலினு. இல்லனா ஒரு ஜனரஞ்சகமான படத்தை எடுத்து அதுல தொசை மேலத் தூவுன மொளகப்போடி போல ஒரு சமகாலத்துப் பிரச்சனையா பூசுனாப்புல சொல்லிட்டு போயிடுவாங்க. ஆனா Bharath Stores நேரடியா கதையோட மையப்புள்ளியில் டிராவல்லாகுது.

பெரிய shopping complex மற்றும் mall-கள் வந்துவிட்ட நிலையில் சிறிய மளிகை கடைகள் என்ன ஆகும் என்பதை ஒரு கதையோடு சொல்வதுதான் இந்தப் படம். (Written & Directed by Sheshadri)

பாரதியும் (Sudharani) அவள் கணவரும் (Gurudutt- கமலின் கலைஞன் படத்தில் வரும் வில்லன்) ஆமெரிகாவில் இருந்து பெங்களுருக்கு வருகிறார்கள். பாரதி கோவிந்த ஷெட்டியை (Dattareya) தேடி வருகின்றாள். பாரதியின் தந்தை கோவிந்த ஷெட்டியிடம் பட்டக் கடனை அடைக்க வருகின்றாள். கோவிந்த ஷெட்டி Bharath Stores என்ற மளிகை கடையின் முதலாளி. ”Bharath Stores bus stop”-பை கண்டுபிடிக்கிறாள், ஆனால் அங்கு Bharath Stores கடை இல்லை. அக்கம் பக்கம் விசாரித்தாலும் யாருக்கும் தெரியவில்லை. ஒருவழியாக கடையில் வேலை செய்த சந்துரு மற்றும் மஞ்சுநாத்தை (இந்தப் பெயர் இல்லாமல் கன்னடப்படமே இருக்காது!) சந்திக்கிறாள். அவர்கள் கோவிந்த ஷெட்டியிடம் வேலை செய்த அனுபவம், ஷெட்டியின் குடும்ப சர்ச்சை மற்றும் கடையில் எப்படி வியாபரம் படுத்தது என்று கூற, கதை கடந்த காலம், நிகழ் காலத்திற்க்கும் மாறி மாறி பயணிக்கிறது. ஷெட்டியை பாரதி சந்தித்து கடனை திருப்பிக் கொடுத்தாளா என்பது கதை.

காலப்போக்கில் மாற்றம் இன்றியமையாதது தான், அதை எற்க மறுத்தவன் அழிந்துப்போவன். ஆனால் அரசாங்கமோ பெருநிறுவனங்களோ மக்களின் மீது அவர்களுக்கு தெரியாமல் ஆசையை விதைப்பது அந்த மாற்றத்தை வேகமடைய செய்து மனிதர்களின் மனித்தன்மையை இழக்க செய்கிறது.

எல்லா சிறு மளிகைக்கடைகளும் பாதிப்பு அடைவதில்லை, ஆனால் மால்களின் காட்டாற்று வெள்ளத்தில் Bharath Stores போன்ற கடைகள் அடித்து செல்லப்பட்டிருப்பது உண்மை. 

Retail, wholesale, packed foods, IT மற்றும் பெருநிறுவனங்களில் குடுக்கப்படும் food & grocery coupon, விளம்பர உக்திகள், credit card, தேவையற்ற பொருள்களை வாங்குவது போன்ற எல்லாவிதமான நவீன கலாசரங்கள் பற்றியும் கதையோடு சொல்கிறது Bharath Stores.

Torrent-ல் இருக்குதா என்று தெரியவில்லை. எப்போயாவது DD National, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha அல்லது DD Bharathi போன்ற TV Channel-களில் பார்க்கலாம்.

YouTube Trailer

நிறமற்ற வானவில் - Sujatha

Read a Sujatha novel after a long time. நிறமற்ற வானவில். Before he starts the first chapter, Sujatha starts his silumizam.

The first chapter is named as “முதல் அத்தியாத்துக்கு முன்”!

I found it difficult to read (may be I’m still in the shadows of Ponniyin Selvan- Waiting for the 5th part book). Too much of sentences in English, those are in Tamil text. I had to spell it word by word. Some Tanglish words I could find or get the meaning. Ex. “லைஃப் இஸ் அப்ஸர்ட்”. அப்ஸர்ட்- I couldn’t translate in Tamil.

The story is about a middle-aged man named Moorthy. He is confronted with a personal loss in his life. How he gets himself out of the mess is the story.

Sujatha’s character can only extract dry and witty humor in unusual circumstances. As said before, when Moorthy is confronted with a personal loss, his brother-in-law speaks with him,

”மூர்த்தி ரொம்ப டீப்பா எடுத்துக்கறப்பா.. இதை”

“பின்ன விசில் அடிக்கச் சொல்றீங்களா, இல்லை தபலாவா? தாரை தப்பட்டையெல்லாம் கொட்டுவமா?”

Here is another, when Moorthy and his friend Vinod go to his secretary Guna (female) house. After meeting her Vinod to Moorthy,

“.. பேசாம அந்த குணாவைக் கல்யாணம் செய்துக்கோ! நல்லா டீ போடறா..”

The cliché part in the book is the Tamil slang by few characters. Is it mandatory that a Chennai city bus driver and the auto driver have to speak in Chennai-bashai ?

The 200-page novel is racy in parts, a little thriller at the end, sometimes it talks about death, but not philosophical. Ideal fictional read without much to think about.

The Strategy of the Snail ( Columbia, 1993)

The title (Original Spanish - La Estrategia del Caracol) starts with the drawings of moving a house (Yes, a building) from one place to another. Lovely pictures depicting the movement of the house. The building is kept dangling on a rope as it is moved by a pulley. Well, this will set the plot for the film, that someone is going to move something!.

Coming third in the Country-wise film series is from C for Columbia. Latin-American movies are always fascinating and this time we are in the land of the famous novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Of course, he has a hand in this film. Not much from his end, just a little bit of pat on the back for the makers (Director-Sergio Cabrera) to persuade in completing the film.

The movie starts with the eviction of a house (assume a 2-3 storey building) named La Pajarera by the authorities. The entire neighborhood is bought by the rich man (Dr. Holguin), who has plans of converting it into a hotel. The tenants resist and start shooting the authorities. The shoot-up ends with killing a boy. 

The next house to get evicted is Casa Uribe, prior notice is given and date is fixed. The tenants of Casa Uribe don’t want to go down like their neighbor’s in La Pajarera. So they decide to move the house. Not as described in the title drawings, but part by part. Headed by Don Jacinto (Fausto Cabrera), who uses the trick of lifting heavy weights using a pulley to transports the doors, windows, roof tiles, etc to a vacant house on the other end of the street. From there it is taken to a hilly side of the capital Bogota, where they have already bought a land. Casa Uribe tenants are represented by Romero (Frank Ramirez), who buys time from the authorities. 

Did Casa Uribe tenants succeed and on what state Dr. Holguin got the house is the rest of the story. ?

While looking at the film title, one can guess the strategy succeeded, so what will interest you to see in the film is how they achieved. How did Don Jacinto and Romero convince the other tenants to take part in the movement?. We can put this in the genre of black comedy or comedy. When finally a reporter asks a tenant, “Why did they do this?” he replies back “It’s all for dignity”.

The full film is available in YouTube with English subs.

Earlier Posts - Afghanistan, Burma

Country Series – This will feature countries from alphabetical order, A to Z. One film from a country will be written on a weekly basis. Next in the series will be from Denmark.

To Err is Human. Keep Calm & Accept it ?

This was a closely watched case, not only by common people, but also by most of the politicians, because they have their own similar cases against them. 

Given such a magnitude of this case, should the Karnataka Court could have be little careful. 

They messed up with Bhavani Singh. Supreme Court messed up more, by removing Singh. 

Acharaya was reappointed. He was asked to give a 50-page written argument (For such high profile case!!) and that too he was given just one day time. He just gave 18-pages of argument? He didn't go back to Supreme Court to ask for more time? 

And, finally, the judgement- Jayalalitha Vindicated, saying the parties (Jayalalitha & Others) had only 8.12% disproportionate asset while comparing to their income. Meaning, their income was Rs. 100, but they had Rs. 108.12. As per a previous Supreme Court judgement, the 8.12% is under the acceptable limits! The permissible limit is 10%.

Did the numbers were wrong or was it a typo?

Justice Kumaraswamy took the loan taken by the parties as their Income (Michael Cunha didn't take it as their Income). There is a noticeable mathematical error in the sum of the Total Loan.

Check the screenshot from the judgement (Page. No. 852), marked in red is the revised.

So the balance loan is Rs. 4,67,46,000/- and not Rs. 18,17,46,000/-

Taking this Rs. 4,67,46,000/-, when calculating the Total Income, we get Rs. 21,26,65,654. Check the screenshot from the judgement (Page. No. 913), marked in red is the revised.

Now, there is a small math which is calculated in the judgement (Page. No. 914) to get the ratio (8.12%). Check the below screenshot, marked in red is revised.

We get 75.76%. Which is way about the 10% permissible level.

Now could this be a typo, Did they fail to add an extra "0" in Ex.P1027. Let us check. Change the first loan amount as 15Cr from 1.5Cr. Bingo, we get the Total Loan amount as Rs.24, 17, 31,274. Which exactly matches Justice Kumaraswamy’ numbers. Check the screenshot (Again from Page. No. 852).

This is fine, after all this is a typo, to err is human. 1000 pages of document, full of numbers, 4 months deadline to complete the appeal. Now, let us go back to John Micheal Cunha judgement to see was it 15Cr or 1.5Cr? Screenshot from his judgement (Page No. 992)

It is 1.5Cr. I'm confused. I leave it to your discretion to decide which is correct and which is false.

Reference Judgements

John Cunha - http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/02136/Jayalalitha_Assets_2136932a.pdf

Karnataka High Court-  http://karnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in/noticeBoard/CRL-A-835-838-2014.pdf