Richard Jewell, Produced and Directed by Clint Eastwood, Streaming on Amazon Prime

‘Jewel’ of a movie

There is so much to learn, from Richard Jewell

This May 31, 2020, Clint turned 90. Richard Jewell hit the cinemas in December 2019.

Mr. Eastwood, you are inspiration unlimited.

I saw, “The Mule”, last year,  you are certainly  getting physically older. Your back is not ramrod erect anymore.

So what, your brain is as young as a new born. However inappropriate it may sound, it is so virile and fertile that senility has no chance in hell to even considering approaching you.

Richard Jewell is timeless in many ways. I was left wondering, of how the same story could have snowballed in the age of social media.

The movie is also a mirage. As understated as it feels, it manages to suck the viewer into the proceedings, and unleashes a torrent of emotions.

I wish the movie makers in our country treat their audience with respect and elevate  their style of story telling.

An explosive story that quietly moves at a brisk pace.

I was just bowled by the almost complete absence of the background music. It has the propensity to bridge the physical distance between viewer and the actual place of action.

All of those characters were sculpted with a lot of heart. And the casting and acting was top class. I thought many of those scenes were crafted to perfection, except for a single contrived sequence, of a showdown at the newspaper office.

The showdown with the FBI in the climax is exemplary. The transformation from Defense to Offense is instructive and the concluding, Can you?, is something that we want to see over and over again, to learn so much about  the art of communicating. There is also the brilliance of non-verbal communication, Sam Rockwell’s amazing smile, says a thousand words, as he walks away from the Investigation room.

Subtlety spells class. It is a fine art that we could learn.

This is a mandatory watch for professionals at work and students of life.

After seeing Richard Jewell, I also thought it is worthwhile to borrow from my own article on Clint,  in Sept 2016, when I saw Sully

Extracts from the article on Clint East word written by me in September 2016 after seeing Sully

The onscreen magic was not only an object lesson in story telling but also was an insightful lesson in Leadership, Courage, Commitment, Responsibility and Empathy

While I stayed and swayed with the understated narrative punctuated by the brooding presence of Tom Hanks, the Director seem to be omnipresent.

At 74, Clint Eastwood, paid a tribute to Sidney Lumet, who was then 80, saying that he felt like a baby.

At 86, he produces and directs a film that is sure to be nominated for the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor.

I wonder how he has managed, to keep his faculties intact at this age.

Understand that he deliver his films on time and keeps them well under budget.

I first saw him in ‘Where Eagles Dare’ and still remember the thrilling moment of him using the pick axe in the nick of the time to get on to the building/fort out of a fast moving cable car.

With his wooden face, I never did take Eastwood seriously until ‘Unforgiven’.

I woke up with ‘Absolute Power’, but when I did see, ‘ The Bridges of the Madison County’, one of the most beautiful love stories I realized how little did I know of him.

I saw the second part of the ‘Flag of Fathers’, ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ for about 40 minutes and was rattled by the effort required to make that film. 

Making films are perhaps the most demanding exercises which involve leadership , creative artistry, technological grasp, detail orientation, drive, decisiveness, open mindedness, problem solving and most importantly get things done.

Mr. Eastwood has been in the business for the last 61 years.

He continues to enthrall us with his Production, Direction, Acting and composition of Music.

I am sure his best is yet to come.

Mr. Eastwood, Take a bow, Sir. You have raised the bar and perhaps given us inspiration enough, to possibly remove the word senile from dictionary.

Crossing Bridges, 2013, Streaming on Amazon Prime

Tonnes of Oxygen in the depressing COVID times

The first feature film in Shertukpen, which is an indigenous dialect native to the state Arunachal Pradesh in India.[

Experience the power of simplicity and the lack of clutter set in huge vacant spaces caressed by mountain ranges and unending horizons.

As the son arrives, the mother momentarily does not know really how to react and then walks slowly up to her son to give one of the warmest endearing hugs. 

In turn we get an opportunity to hug those huge vacant spaces punctuated by those crystal clear streams and those lovely  dead trunks of the tree that serves as bridges. We also get to savor the most lovely quietness which is disturbed by the birds that constantly chirp.

There is of course the reference of the Chinese incursions, but more interestingly the innocence of the children that seem to wonder Arunachal Pradesh's relative obscurity in the scheme of the Indian nation.

There are no achievements that beckon these gentle souls.

Gentle souls that savour the wind, water, fire and the snow !!!!.

A life of contentment , that probably holds the answer to the travails of the modern man.

If you are cinema lover, and have a bit of patience, you will be served to an unforgettable treat.

P.S:

Notes on Production from Wikipedia

Director Sange Dorjee's idea for the film started when he was considering the social and economic displacement of tribal peoples of India. He mentioned that "My generation has had to leave home to get better higher-education and employment outside as the north eastern region doesn’t have the required infrastructure. The huge cultural difference we faced outside was always a shock to many. Coming back home has always been a difficult proposition, as after years of adjusting to the life outside we suddenly feel like an outsider in our own culture."

Due to the film's microbudget, which was wholly funded by the director's father who "believed it was important for the community of Arunachal Pradesh", Dorjee decided to shoot the movie completely with a Canon 5D camera. He was surprised by the quality of such a standard personal use camera that he and cinematographer Pooja Gupte went ahead with it

incidentally the film was made on a budget of Rs. 35 lacs.