Over the years, we’ve watched countless Bollywood, Tamil, Hollywood and other foreign language movies.

Here are some of the movies we loved:

Amirtham (Tamil) 
Anniyan (Tamil)
Aradhana (Hindi)
Blame it on Fidel (French)
Black (Hindi)
Bobby (Hindi)
Bourne Ultimatum
Brokeback Mountain
Casablanca - Oh, how we loved Ingrid & Bogie here
Cautiva (Spanish)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Hindi)
Eastern Promises
El Bola (Spanish)
Fanaa  (Hindi)
Godfather
Hum Aapke Hain Koun (Hindi)
Kaakha Kaakha (Tamil)
Kannathil Muthamittal (Tamil)
Koi Mil Gaya (Hindi)
Last King of Scotland
On the Waterfront - Our All Time Favorite
Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish)
Run Lola Run (German)
Sathum Podaathay (Tamil)
Sholay (Hindi)
Sicko
Sunset Boulevard
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Taare Zameen Par (Hindi)
Namesake
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Third Man
Water (Hindi)
Yaadon Ki Baaraat (Hindi)

Movie: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen (of Borat fame)
Director: Tim Burton
Music: Stephen Sondheim
Release Date: Dec. 21, 2007 in the U.S.
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By God, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a bloody gorgeous movie.

Very bloody and supremely gorgeous, at the same time.

Outstandingly executed by director Tim Burton and a must watch film in any season, Sweeney Todd is the bloodcurdling tale of vengeance of a barber unjustly sent to prison on false charges because a scoundrel judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) lusted after, and coveted, his beautiful wife.

Set in gritty 19th century London and filmed mostly in dim lighting to splendid visual effect, this hauntingly horrifying story exercises a powerful grip on our attention that never let go.

If you are squeamish about blood, stay away from Sweeney Todd because there is plenty of blood whooshing out each time Johnny Depp picks up his glistening barber’s razor to shave some hapless victim.

The movie opens with the barber Benjamin Barker returning to London on a boat as the embittered and enraged Sweeney Todd after 15 years in prison in Australia.

He returns to his old apartment above a pie-shop run by Mrs.Lovett (played with great elan by the British actress Helena Bonham Carter).

Not the antiseptically clean London of today, Sweeney Todd’s London is a grimy place that has rats scurrying around and a slightly ominous feel.

Mrs.Lovett soon recognizes Sweeney Todd as Benjamin Barker and informs him that his wife was raped by judge Turpin and committed suicide by consuming arsenic. The barber also learns that his daughter Johanna is now the judge’s ward and the object of his lust.

Sweeney Todd’s sole mission in life now is to extract revenge and kill judge Turpin and his henchman Beadle (Timothy Spall).

The barber turns into a horrific demon, who first kills a rival barber and

Continue Reading…

After being traumatized recently by the hideously awful Tamil film Billa, we were desperately in need of some relief.

Fortunately, we stumbled upon a fine Argentine film Cautiva (2003) from our long neglected Netflix trove.

Set in Argentina of the early 1990s after the dirty deeds of the last military dictatorship were exposed, this Spanish film is the story of a teenage girl who one day discovers that her parents are not her biological parents after a court magistrate informs her about the circumstances of her birth and her real parents.

If Spanish is all Greek to you, have no fear because Cautiva comes with English sub-titles. 

As those who still retain the quaint habit of reading know, the military dictatorship of 1976-1983 marked a dark era in Argentina when tens of thousands of people “disappeared” never to be seen again. Most were tortured and killed by the military and buried in unmarked graves.

One of the fine books highlighting this dark watershed in Argentine history is Jacobo Timerman’s Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.

As Cautiva makes poignantly clear, sometimes the young babies of those who “disappeared” were passed on to childless couples close to the military regime.

Besides crisp direction by Gaston Birben (his first film as director) and the gripping narrative, Cautiva also delights us with an amazing performance by Barbara Lombardo as the young 15/16- year-old girl Cristina/Sofia abruptly taken from her Catholic convent school one day to live with a grandmother she’s never known before.

While it’s Barbara Lombardo who ably carries this movie on her young shoulders, she is well supported by Mercedes Funes, who plays Angelica (the girl who helps Cristina uncover the details behind her parents’ disappearance), the late Susana Campos (who plays Cristina’s grandmother Elisa) and others.

Cautiva is a message to pusillanimous Indian moviemakers that there is a world out there beyond love if only they cared to look.

Sadly, most Indian movies, whether Bollywood, Kollywood or Continue Reading…

For movie buffs living in the U.S.,  Netflix is an excellent source of both Bollywood and Hollywood movies.

You pick your movies online on the Netflix web site and the DVDs come to you via mail in a day or two. Postage both ways is included in the subscription.

Here are some interesting Netflix statistics: 

No of DVDs   - 55 million
DVDs Shipped Every Day - 1.6 million
No of Titles   - 90,000
No of Subscribers - 7 million
No of Subscription plans - 9
No of Shipping Points - 100 
No of Movie Ratings - 2 Billion

Besides a wide choice of Hindi movies, Netflix has some Tamil movies as well.

Blame it on Fidel
Director: Julie Gravas
Cast: Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi, Benjamin Feuillet
Playing at: Cinema Village, E.12th St, New York, NY (as of September 3, 2007)

Blame it on Fidel is a welcome antidote to the tsunami of trashy Bollywood movies that we’ve been drowning in this year.

Chak De India, Partner, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Shakalaka Boom Boom, Shootout at Lokhandwala - our patience has been sorely tried from watching all this garbage flowing out of the Bollywood sewers this year.

Just when we thought our long nightmare would never end, comes along an amazingly well-made French movie called Blame it on Fidel (La Faute à Fidel), a debut film from Julie Gravas.

Don’t worry if French is all Greek to you. Blame it on Fidel has English subtitles.

The highlight of Blame it on Fidel is an extraordinary performance from young girl Nina Kervel-Bey as the nine-year-old Anna caught up in the whirlwind of her parents’  leftist political activities.

As the feisty Parisian school girl, Nina Kervel-Bey turns in an astounding performance that should make our Bollywood bozos cringe with embarrassment.

Forget child actors in Bollywood - they are just plain awful in any case. Nina Kervel-Bey makes Bollywood veterans like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and the Aishwaryas, Kareenas and Priyankas look like rank amateurs.

Whether she is arguing angrily with her parents about being uprooted from their spacious home with a garden to a cramped apartment or displaying a shy smile on the rare occasion, Nina Kervel-Bey is a joy to behold on the screen.

Set in 1970-71, Blame it on Fidel is the fine story of the impact on Anna Continue Reading…