So far away from reality

Sabah (2005) directed by Ruba Nada

I saw this film at films de femmes International women's film festival at Créteil,a suburb of Paris in France in 2006 where it was the opening film. It pleased most of the viewers especially the French audiences were most impressed.For them it offered a nice opportunity to watch all the melodrama, songs and dances. However there are some serious, glaring defects in this film. First of all the portrayal of the lead character Sabah is so distant,aloof, cold and hardly convincing. Somehow one gets a feeling that she is not able to connect to others around her. This is also true of the actor who played her brother.In real life this chap is Canadian and he was asked to play the role of a Jordanian guy !! This is a gross casting error. How unusual. In "Sabah" the fun elements might please casual viewers but more serious viewers might feel that it is a kind of ruse adopted by the filmmaker in order to hide the scenario's drawbacks. If you have seen films by the master of modern English language Canadian cinema Atom Egoyan, you might be tempted to watch this film. The reason : he is the executive producer of this film.

Absolute blunder from Canadian maverick.

Love & Human Remains (1993) directed by Denys Arcand

Love and human remains directed by Denys Arcand is an abysmally pathetic film as it is completely different from the kind of films he has been making all through his career.Making a different film is not an objectionable matter,what is troublesome is the fact that if a film from a master is complete out of tune then it is a really bad event. The film begins on a good note as there is some suspense created. However as the film progresses what is shown is just a futile attempt at creating something meaningful as Arcand shows us half a dozen oddball,whimsical characters whose lives are intertwined with each other.Homosexuality and Lesbianism are not of any consequences here. What is even more bothersome is the feeling of guilt related to the characters who are rather in a fix regarding their feelings towards each other and sexuality.Such a film would be of interest to some who wants to see a different Denys Arcand film.All in all,there would surely not be many takers for this film.

James Dean, wheeled vehicles and physical intimacy : All rolled into a single

Crash (1996) directed by David Cronenberg

My first reaction regarding Crash is that a lot of unnecessary noises were made upon its release at the Cannes Film Festival.One close look at this film will prove that there was not even a single valid reason for censuring the entire depiction of human closeness, violence and vacuum in human society. Everybody know that what appeared torrid in 1995 is undoubtedly tepid by today's 2008) standards. The admirable quality of this film is Cronenberg's decision to film Ballard's book which has 3 most venerable elements known to human civilization:cars, closeness between a man and a woman and James Dean. No one will ever venture any inane guesswork that a film featuring the above elements can ever remain unnoticed. As human beings are always engage themselves in perpetual search for thrills in their hollow lives they end up doing things as portrayed in Crash. According to my understanding of this film, I reckon this is
the unofficial message which David Cronenberg wishes to give out to the whole world.