rajivramaratnam
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Movie Review: Manorama Six Feet Under (2007)
After more than 300 posts on this blog, I am now reviewing a Bollywood movie for the first time. “Manorama Six Feet Under,” directed and co-written by Navdeep Singh, is more a homage than an adaptation of Polanski’s classic neo-noir, “Chinatown.” That being said, the movie introduces enough changes to “Chinatown’s” plot to make it Read more
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Movie Review: Vinci Da (2019)
Vinci Da is a classic Bengali noir thriller by Arindam Sil, featuring Rudranil Ghosh, Ritwick Chakraborty, and Sohini Sarkar in the lead roles. It is a gripping tale of a prosthetic expert who becomes entangled in a twisted scheme by a psychopath to enforce vigilante justice on those who have escaped the law. The movie Read more
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Movie Review: Niagra (1953)
In this post, we will look at an early classic neo-noir and slow-burn thriller, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Marilyn Monroe in a deliciously wicked role. True to its name, it is set on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, where a couple on a delayed honeymoon meets a dysfunctional couple, turning their vacation into Read more
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The Best Slow-Burn Thrillers – I
In this post, we look at a special category of thrillers called slow-burn thrillers. Similar to the preparation of slow-cooked meals, slow-burn thrillers take their time to set the scene and develop the main characters. The character development in such movies is like a deep analysis of the individuals in the film, providing the viewer Read more
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Movie Review: Elippathayam (The Rat Trap) 1982
Today, we will look at a masterpiece from Malayalam cinema, an all-time classic art house film by acclaimed director Adoor Gopalakrishnan. It is a slow-moving tale of indifference and avoidance in a world that is rapidly evolving. The plot is set perhaps in the 60s, a decade or more after India gained her independence from Read more
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Movie Review: The Big Sleep (1978)
Here we are again with the second adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel featuring Robert Mitchum as the gumshoe detective, Philip Marlowe. This neo-noir movie, based on Chandler’s novel of the same name, was directed by Michael Winner, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. Sarah Miles, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, Oliver Reed, and the great Read more
