| Editorial |
I have been eagerly awaiting for the first look at David Cronenberg's newest film A Dangerous Method (2011). With a subject like the professional interaction between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and boasting a cast as talented as Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassell and Keira Knightley - one can only imagine what Cronenberg would do. When the first trailer did ultimately come out, I was reasonably disappointed.
The anticipation for a film is integral to the film's final reputation. This is the reason why Batman fanboys are shooting through the roof at the first teaser of The Dark Knight Rises (2012) even though the film's release is over a year away and principal photography is only about 40% complete. The first trailer is what makes or breaks the film's final reputation. A Dangerous Method might just be a great film but the first trailer makes it look less than what it perhaps, really is. It is leisurely cut, almost as if the editor put incharge of cutting it hardly cares for the film. The track playing over the trailer is by the instrumental duo E S Posthumus, whose track "Nara" has been used and overused in many memorable trailers. This time however, it is a different track and doesn't add an atmosphere to the film. It makes the film feel like a Granada television soap opera from the early 1990s.
The Dark Knight Rises trailer on the other hand, does a brilliant job in generating more interest towards a film which is already being touted as the most anticipated film of next year. The trailer, apart from opening with shots from the first two films of the trilogy, provides glimpses from the footage already canned for the third film. Hans Zimmer's score provides a sinister atmospheric quality to the trailer, gives the eager fanboys a glimpse at the tone of the film. The trailer succeeds in creating a sense of aura around the film and is sure to snowball into a larger interest-generating phenomenon supported by an amply-funded viral marketing campaign over the internet.
Opening the issue is Srikanth Srinivasan's extensive interview with Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli. I had met the multi-National Award winning filmmaker last year at the International Film Festival of India and had him sign a photograph I had taken of his - the same one which is featured in the article. Our man Srikanth Srinivasan has been following Mr. Kasaravalli's work for a long time and was the obvious choice to do the interview.
Also in the issue is a 2-part article from Devdutt Trivedi on the heavier things pertaining to cinema followed by the 2nd part of Anuj Malhotra's look at Kryzstof Kieslowski's documentaries. Kaz Rahman presents another one of his shelved articles from the early part of the last decade - a close look at Mani Ratnam's bollywood hit Dil Se… (1998).
In closing, I'd like to take a moment to bring to light the passing of two great figures of Indian cinema - Mani Kaul and B.D. Garga. Their deaths, about a week apart, have left us at a loss. This issue is dedicated to their memory.
