Movie Junction

I was introduced to Chuck Close’s work in a heartfelt documentary, “Herb & Dorothy,” which I reviewed here earlier. As savvy-art collectors, Herb & Dorothy collected works of emerging but talented artists in the two decades following the Sixties; their small apartment housed works of artists Lucio Pozzi, Chuck Close, Christo & Jeanne-Claude,Will Barnet, and Sol LeWitt. Later, these artists profoundly influenced the contemporary art scene, which was prevalent in New York in the Seventies and Eighties. With the passage of time, and through positive feedback and reviews from art-lovers and critics, Chuck Close was rightly associated with the elite group of modern expressionist artists that still exists today. Marion Cajori’s insightful new documentary, “Chuck Close,” explores Chuck Close’s unique portraiture style along with thoughts from fellow artists and critics. The documentary begins with Close undertaking an ambitious project of building his massive-scale portrait. Th...

There is no doubt that the prison-drama genre has its fair share of great flicks. From contemporary films like “Dead Man Walking” (1995) and “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) to early prison movies like Renoir’s “La Grande Illusion” (1937), Bresson’s “A Man Escaped” (1956), and Rosenberg’s “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), these movies have generated enough fanfare worldwide with their themes of friendship, captivity, isolation, and escape. Evidently, apart from the two TV shows “Oz” and “Prison Break,” the prison genre is gradually becoming a dying genre. So, when I saw Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” early this year in a theater, I was pleasantly surprised and entertained, though I didn’t warm to it upon my initial viewing. “A Prophet” was a winner of the Grand Jury (second-most prestigious award after the Palme d’Or) award at the 2009 Cannes Film festival. Additionally, it won nine Caesar Awards (French equivalent of Oscar Awards) along with an Academy Award and Golden Globe Nomination in the ...

“Who am I?” “I am Kick-Ass.” In the opening sequence, we hear the main protagonist speak these words in the form of a short introductory narration. Not only does the dialogue refresh our memory of the classic superhero Spider-Man, but it also presents us an ordinary human being who aspires to be a superhero someday. Irrespective of the medium, superheroes have always been active and omnipresent through comics, videogames, and movies. Of course, there is no dearth of superheroes: Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, the X-Men, the Watchmen, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic-Four, and many more, have forever ruled the hearts and minds of their fans, but “Kick-Ass” is a different tale altogether. None of the heroes in “Kick-Ass” have been part of accidental experiments, and they possess no superhuman qualities of their own like traditional superheroes. Being ordinary human beings, the heroes have an unwavering drive from within to fulfill their itch of being superheroes. Writer-director Mat...