Nymphomaniac Vol. I & II
Nymphomaniac: When Desire Became a Battlefield of Cinema When Lars von Trier announced Nymphomaniac in 2011, cinephiles knew it wouldn’t be a conventional film. Here was a director infamous for Dogville, Antichrist, and Melancholia, promising a two-part opus about the life of a self-proclaimed sex addict. Before a single frame was released, the title alone […]
9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks: When Sexuality went Beyond the Cinema Adrian Lyne’s 9½ Weeks is 1986’s addition to the Theatrical world. It came in with a bang. It was alluring, it was controversial. While a certain section of the audience watched it as a movie with a deep story, a lot of this audience divided the movie […]
Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes Wide Shut: The Costly Dream Eyes Wide Shut (1999) by Stanley Kubrick is not merely a movie, but a complex web of appeals, anxieties, and obscured selves. Staying disconnected is virtually impossible, but viewing this film feels like living a mind-bending dream. The act of filming this movie, paradoxically, was an ordeal that was […]
Showgirls
Showgirls: From the cinematic flop to the fever dream of pop culture To some, the 1995 release of Showgirls was much more than a film. It was more like a spectacle, a scandal, and later on, a true pop culture phenomenon. It received devastatingly negative reviews and outright contempt from audiences, mockery from the viewers […]
Crash (1996)
Crash (1996): Desire on the Edge of Steel David Cronenberg’s Crash certainly isn’t the kind of movie that you’d go out and debate over with your friends. Based on J.G. Ballard’s controversial novel of the same name from 1973, the story analyzes a very odd form of a subculture in which people would eroticize car […]
The Old Guard
The Old Guard: Immortality, Betrayal, and the Stories Fans Refused to Let Go When The Old Guard dropped on Netflix in July 2020, it wasn’t just another comic book adaptation. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and based on Greg Rucka’s graphic novel, the film fused blockbuster action with a surprisingly emotional heart. Within hours of its […]
Dirty Games
When Influence Fiction Fiction Spill into Real Lives Some films are remembered for captivating plots. Others linger in the consciousness because of what was done to the people making the films. Dirty Games firmly belongs in the second category. Something that started as an exploration of lust and ambition was a gritty betrayal that redefined […]
Secretary
Secretary: A Love Story Wrapped in Restraints When Secretary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002, it immediately stirred curiosity and nervous laughter. A romance between a boss and his secretary was hardly new, but this was no typical office affair. Steven Shainberg’s film dove into themes of dominance, submission, shame, and acceptance — […]
Puri for Rent
A Story That Lingers Beyond Its Walls: The moment a city turns into a character To undertake a phenomenological study of “Puri for Rent” is to begin with the tellingly simple yet haunting premise of a slice-of-life drama: a family renting out part of their home to strangers in the bustling coastal town of Puri. […]
Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution: Desire, Betrayal, And The Burden Of Performance During the period of its release, the world of cinema anticipated scandals after watching the trailer for the movie Lust, Caution, which depicted some confidential issues, love, and infidelity filled with controversial speculations concerning the plot. Despite the movie’s very few emotional elements, the trailer seemed […]