Madurey Review – Punnaku Pandi and the ‘Negro Problem’

There cannot be a pinch in death More sharp than this is. – Imogen in Cymbeline (Act 1, Scene 1) Who would have thought Vijay’s character in Madurey would succeed so grandly, so effortlessly and, Holy Christ, so quickly, where Martin Luther King, Lyndon Johnson, the marchers at Selma and countless other civil rights activists […]

Sivakasi Review – Punnaku Pandi & The Art of Nonsense

When Tamil film actor Vijay shuffles off his mortal coils, the coffin lowered, the last heap of soil flung on the decorated box and the tombstone erected, the epitaph will most likely read Punnaku Pandi – Failed Comedian. With a zany knack for picking films whose only qualification is that they must be bizarrely nonsensical […]

Can You Guess What Pi is Talking About?

It was very warm, but the smell was not strong. In size it was like a big ball of gulab jamun, but with none of the softness. In fact, it was as hard as a rock. Load a musket with it and you could have shot a rhino. I returned the ball to the cup […]

Darling Review – Garbage, Redux

Darling kadhu, Parama Daridram idhi (horrible nonsense). Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the stinking garbage torch has been passed in Tollywood to a new Telugu movie Darling,  conceived in Hyderabad, midwifed in Switzerland and killed aborted in Araku. (Thank you, JFK) Folks, there’s absolutely […]

Movies We’ve Watched Lately – The Square, Missing Person, Bad Company, Vettaikaran

We’ve watched a bunch of movies lately (three on TV and one in the theater). Here’s a short list with brief comments: * The Square (English) – My, my, how quickly and continuously things spiral out of control for its principal protagonist Ray (David Roberts) in this Australian film of infidelity and crime. Decent all-round acting […]

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