AND I SAW YOUR SMILE...

Hiya folks! I believe that of all the things i had written before, this poem was the thing that gave me the maximum pleasure, and anything that gives a creator maximum pleasure is his best ever. On that note, I intend to introduce to you, a sequel to my previous poem THE SERAPH, which is called AND I SAW YOUR SMILE... Hope you all enjoy it. And this is not just any poem written with the model of a girl in mind, but one that comes straight out of the heart and one that has a secret in it - In Joel's words, it's not 'A normal secret: It's a secret secret' and those who wish to know what the secret secret is all about, can approach and ask me quite freely by EMAIL because secrets are not to be disclosed in as heavily-visited site as this is!!!

P.S: Don't go all mad at me putting a display picture of Bergman. Just asked for a beautiful smile in a search engine. It blessed me with her... :D
And one more thing: This phrase of I SAW YOUR SMILE is not new to me, but one thing that I had mentioned earlier and that could very well be a clue to my secret hunt...

AND I SAW YOUR SMILE...

She walked, she walked; down the boulevard,

The murky nocturne, never a retard,

The Star of David needs no directions, they say

And she shone like it too, illuminating her own way.

Packing dark voids with a piece of the sun,

Traipsed along did she, stunning everyone

As they stared; striking ‘em dumb was she,

With not her lantern but her charisma, dear me!

A mistake it is that I said, that her own light’s what she bestowed,

The fault is not mine: Obscurity is a screech-owl’s abode;

Closer she advanced: Now enough to make out her face;

To trace her nose, her lips and her passionate gaze.

Irony always plays a funny part, and this is where it came;

The boys beside saw none that I saw, but what’s ‘conspicuous’ in the dame.

Yes in the end I did indicate to them this,

To which one replied cheekily, “This dame’s not your sis!”

“Sure!” I divulged, amidst cackles, sniggers and a distinct cough,

And while doing this, seldom did I take my eyes off

Her, for my intention was to be looked at too and not just look,

And believe me folks; a second was all that it took,

For her vision-trail to flounce through me,

Searching for an exception, it’s choice immersing me in glee;

And then my fellows, I saw the vista of the day,

For in the lantern’s glow, I glimpsed her lips sway,

Curving upwards into a glorious smile,

A sight that delighted me; one that drove me a mile!

I saw your smile lady; and I enjoyed its bliss,

Which is better – Way better than an embrace or even a kiss…

P.S.S. Anyone reads this, (The concerned person) copy this to MS word, and start reading vertically down, only those letters which perfectly match, and about the font and the alignment, please ask me :)

THE SERAPH

This is my first attempt at writing something that's a bit (not romantic), but involving a girl all the same. It's rather crude and i know that, to describe a thing as looking at a girl using a piece of poetry, but I was rather convinced otherwise, for there doesn't exist a single adolescent who doesn't do it con temporarily.

The 'Malena' act is nothing alien to those who'd seen Giuseppe Tornatore's (Correct me if I'm wrong!) Malena, a movie starring a really stunning Monica Belluci as Malena, and the act is just the fascination of an adolescent boy, as he follows her everyday, and just keeps looking at her, which in turn makes him think of her. This poem's nothing but the very same adolescent experience of looking at a beautiful girl (Or woman) from afar. Not a personal experience, by the way!

THE SERAPH

Not Uncommon is the ‘Malena’ act
These days; Not much required, except for some tact,
To see without being seen seeing,
Or showing any allusion as to where you’re being.
Countability always comes with sample spaces,
And of all the sights you see, of all the gazes,
Some spend days of retinal stay,
Some spend weeks, and some months, they say
(Our beloved viddiers, in Kubrick’s words).
Seen a lone dove or a flock of such birds,
Atypical is a year-long stay,
‘Cause sight of another casts the old one away.
The rarest of the rare, always exist;
One in a million comes to break the gist,
By lingering in your mind’s eye, not budging,
Staying there for eternity and still nudging,
Deeper and Deeper inside, into your heart,
Where she resides indefinitely, with no penchant to part.
When there’s such beauty, we don’t call her a sight;
A seraph’s what I’d call her, an angel’s quite right
Too. This delirium of mine’s due to the sight of one,
Not in my reverie brothers, but right under the sun.
This rhyme’s meant to tell you what I saw,
To share my experience, my marvel and my awe…

‘DAZZLING LIFE EXPERIENCE’

MOVIE: TWENTY ONE (21)
DIRECTOR: ROBERT LUKETIC
CAST: KEVIN SPACEY, JIM STURGESS, KATE BOSWORTH, LAWRENCE FISHBOURNE
RATING: **1/2

Las Vegas and Casinos have been haunts that trigger the incredible out of even epic directors like Steven Soderbergh, who couldn’t resist creating a quake to ruin Al Pacino in his ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’. Perhaps Luketic didn’t go that techy, but he still went far enough, suggesting that MIT had a secret Blackjack club trained by their Math Professor Mickey Rosa (Spacey), to get very, very rich playing in the underground. They’d lost a member since a ‘Jim’ went on to join a job offered by Google, so they’re on the hunt for a new hand, who’s hopefully a genius.

Benjamin Campbell (Sturgess) is the one, as he diverts Mickey’s eyes onto himself, by answering a couple of questions in Math class, that’d already been addressed by a 15 year old in Mark Haddon’s ‘A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time’. 21 is from a book too, named ‘Bringing down the House’ by Ben Mezrich, so I guess it’s a question of originality; Or since the question is trivial enough to be solved by simple statistics, I think Luketic erred big time by using it as a tool to induce him into the Blackjack club, which is quite big, because it’s a Math Professor who needs to be impressed and not a no-brainer lass!

After practice sessions of quick card counting, code-words, signals and an exceptionally outrageous sequence of ‘Training under pressure’, Ben’s pronounced fit enough to make a move on to Vegas, with Mickey adding a word saying, “We’re not gambling, Ben. It’s just counting cards… You will not get out of control”. Well, the words might be touching if this were a sports movie, but you realize you’re wrong in misjudging them, for they make perfect sense in a later context, with a revelation in store.

Ben forays into Las Vegas and with their combined tricks, the ‘team’ romp home with victories getting them big money: Ben gets his share too, which he saves in a panel in his false-ceiling to pay for his Harvard Medical School fee. They ride on and on, inter-member rivalries and separations galore and trouble in form of a Bruiser Cole Williams (Fishburne), who punches rock-hard on anyone who dare ‘Count Cards’ in his Casino, with a rings on every finger. In the end, we observe that the narration is not only to us, but (Outrageously!) to the dumbstruck Harvard Medic Dean, to whom Ben quotes, “I won money and lost it two times. Isn’t that a dazzling enough experience?!”.

Incredulous though you feel, but the film is fun to a good value all the same, with some really good Buffoonery in form of Choi (Aaron Yoo), and Kianna (Liza Lapira), and a really naughty sequence led by Kevin Spacey. Sturgess impresses more by his looks than his performance, thanks to him being a photocopy of Robert De Niro in his primetime, probably without his trademark mole on his right cheek. The actor feels otherwise, as he through Ben, tells us that he'd been told he looks like Tom Cruise! Well whatever he's been told, he's more De Niro than Tom, and anyway, this is a compliment to him. The movie is remarkably colourful, with aerial shots of Vegas and its casinos, red carpet welcomes, Blackjack tables in blue, red, green and purple, good special effects in the card dealing, and some profligately toy-like coins. Some good club music by David Sardy, and lavish photography add to the Las Vegas flavour. Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne look too meek in their roles, probably as much wasted as Paul Giamatti was in BIG FAT LIAR, but Spacey managed to impress ultimately in the wacky climax sequence, rather than his stone-faced , ‘business-like’ performance throughout the film in which he says ruthlessly to a failed Ben, “I’m not your Father”.

The movie claims to be a true story: Something that makes you gasp with awe. Even if they were really capable of doing it, Ben lost the money totally anyway. So even if a trip to Vegas is a waste of time, a trip to the Cinema Hall is certainly not, for you’d be tutored the game of Blackjack along with Ben Campbell, something Martin Campbell could’ve added to his Bond-flick to make it even more enthralling, than the one with the most irksome middle-part ever…

WORDS OF THE DEVIL HIMSELF...

This is a second poem i manage to string together, and trust me, if this doesn't scare you, then Omega's a kiddy-plaything. And trust me, not many cities have kids playing with guns...

Before i take you through the poem, i must brief you about the context: It's narrated by the voice of the Devil himself, as he describes a task contestants ought to take, that essentially involves a duel, with one killing the other, and if a pair still survives, both'd be given a one way ticket to hell. My idea is to exaggerate on Tavernly duels (Like in Eastwood films) and what if they became so mundane, that they become like contests and even to the horrific extent of becoming a sport, like in the old gladiator days! People laugh at one killing the other, clapping hands, and that's my fantasy world it occurs in...

THE WORDS OF THE DEVIL

Lewds gathered, may you all snoop,
For now you’re part of my own boorish coupe;
One of a Dozen is what you’re given
To do what you want, what you’ve striven
For. Five’s all what you’ve got to natter,
No shelling in that, not even a clatter.
Vocal is what’s assigned to you
In that, and that’s what you ought to do,
For rules are meant for you to follow
Even if my call sounds a bit too hollow,
You got to do it, you have no choice;
Contempt’s condemned here, especially of my voice.
So you decide in the five, to live or to let live
As both is impracticable for me to give;
Neither, is a very coaxing choice for me;
And if you both fail, I shalt do it with glee.
So buck up, get your substance flowing,
‘Cause losers get my call, and winners get going…

How was the poem? And i kindly request those who read it to post a comment, for my blog's been visited, but rarely commented upon...

MAKE WAY FOR THE POET!

Being a poet is something that's always been considered impossible by me, 'cause it asks a lot, and by word, you need to rhyme! Dialogues come thick and fast for me, not rhymy lines, but i must tell you, this one just flew through my mind and I managed to pin it up as a word document, to be posted for public display.

Don't go hoping for Tolkien to show up folks: Be content with somewhere near a Dr.Seuss...
And for your information, this is an intro to a story waiting to be written and not a story in itself so all i can say is WATCH OUT!

SING-ALONG

What I say now, is taking place,
In a really really funny place;
So funny that you might not laugh at all,
From the rise of my tale to its fall.

Omega’s the funny city, with an even funny name
That signified it’s end, even before my story came
Around; Five bad people, that’s what it’s about
Opposed by a hundred bad eggs, out and out.

No one’s good, no one’s bad they say,
For everyone alive have their own way
Of living their lives good, or living it bad,
But this city had none whatsoever, and that’s so sad.

‘Cause a story always evokes cheers
To the ones who’re good, as opposed to their peers,
Who don’t live like they actually ‘should’
Wouldn’t they, if they actually could?!

The fact’s they can’t and that’s the truth
‘Cause life’s circumstantial, no one’s born uncouth
Which brings me back to our Five,
Who are always together, like bees in a hive,

Stinging anyone who dare touch
Getting their guns blazing, without worrying much
About circumstances, for they know what happens when
You kill one; You alert ninety-nine, then

You need to kill them all, need to stamp ‘em on their faces,
Ah the Five can do it, they can go places;
Knowing Omega every row, every column
Ladies and Gentleman, let me narrate to you, THE SAGA OF THE SOLEMN…

This is the ultimate storyteller of all time at your command,
Not even a dime, is what I demand;
Just your patience and your ears to listen
And your eyes too, for I can make them glisten…

(Not with this story though!)

INDYGENOUSLY ENTHRALLING!

MOVIE: INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
DIRECTOR: STEVEN SPIELBERG
CAST: HARRISON FORD, SHIA LABEOUF, CATE BLANCHETT, RAY WINSTONE
RATING: ***1/2

The man with the hat, is back again cracking his lash as energetically as he managed it the last time, when he was a couple of decedes younger. Mr.Ford announces that he belongs to a list of actors who fuss more to age, than to disclose it: Indy this time swings on ropes, rides a rocket, and most fascinating of all, conquers a nuclear explosion, with his theme music playing behind. You experience the explosion, you feel the heat, if not as much as it actually would be, you get desperate along with Mr.Jones, but you’re least-scared for you know perfectly well that nothing can happen to you as long as you’re with Indy. That’s the exact effect any Indiana Jones movie used to produce, which means this one’s no less that either of the three, though something tells you this series’ going through a gradual drop.

Ford’s back as the recklessly stylish hero in an introduction scene that looks more Indian than it’s Indiana – The hat shown first and then the man wearing it? Come on Mr.Spielberg: You’re capable of better bangs and so is your man! With a sidekick in ‘Mac’ McHale betraying early quoting “I’m a capitalist, Indy”, Dr.Jones II is not left alone for even five minutes, as he’s immediately joined by a motor-cycling, knife-brandishing, often hair-combing, school dropout youth in form of Mutt Williams (A worthy successor in Labeouf), who gives Indy a letter his Mom received from an old colleage of his, named Prof.Oxley, who’s been kidnapped and is possibly in danger. The letter’s written in “An extinct latin-american language” that only Prof.Ox is well-versed in and only Indy can decipher. Then on it’s riddles, wrong places, right places, treasure recovered-yet-stolen, snakes, man-eating ants repelled by the crystal skull, chases, sword-fighting on parallel vehicles on parallel roads in a jungle, exotic humans, waterfall plunges (Three times, this one!), and an underground court-room where the thirteenth crystal skull ought to be returned to cause something typically Spielberg to happen (Erm.. Did I just say too much?). This time around the treasure’s nothing material like Noah’s lost ark or the cup of Christ, but as Indy puts it, “It’s Knowledge that’s the treasure: Not gold”.

Indy’s rivals this time ain’t Germans but Russians, particularly a femme-fatale in Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett with a comical accent that’s actually meant to be serious and scary!) complete with violently-red lips, a pale face made paler still, and a frequent utterance of ‘Don’t you think so, Dr.Jones?’. Spalko is part of a swordfight with Mr.Williams who’s made to predispose that he knows fencing with remarkable subtlety. He’s dropped out of school because of that, a fact both hailed and condemned by Dr.Jones in different parts of the movie. Karen Allen’s back again as Indy’s girlfriend Marion Ravenwood, this time as more fun as she joins the reckless club headed by her ex with some rough-handling of trucks along cliffs, jungles, and even through waterfalls. John Hurt had to be an amnesiac for most of the film as the abducted Prof.Oxley, but shrewd yet, as he manages to construct riddles, explain them to both us and Indy in sequences, and when underground, finally say, “This will lead us to another dimension. Not another space, but a space between spaces”, that triggers a retort out of Indy as he says smugly, “I don’t think we wanna go that way”. Jim Broadbent stays in our mind as the Dean Stanforth with his strong British English, and his subdued humour. There’s always an opportunist to die in Indy flicks and this time it’s Winstone as ‘Mac’, whose love for gold takes him where there’s gonna be nothing of that sort!

An annoying aspect of this movie is the use of very ordinary sets as houses, streets and buildings, though the ruins and archaeological aspects are A-Ok. Probably Spielberg wanted that to be nostalgic as he adds a couple of more mentions of Dr. Henry Jones I (Connery), but coming from two men known for their exploit of contemporary technology to the maximum, this is a bit disappointing indeed. All the same, nothing’s wrong with Indy 4: There’re a lot of laughs, there’s a snide Harrison Ford, there’re some great stunts backed by fun music to pick you up, there’re a couple more to take it through, there’s an extended one to end it and last of all, there’s a really cinematic sequence in which Mr.Ford literally shouts out: “Hold your breath folks, I’m not done yet!”. This one’d be a treat for any person who’s even alien to the world of Indiana Jones; Talking about afficianados, this one’s a delicacy.

COMMERCIA ENTERTAINIA!

MOVIE: DISTURBIA (2007)
DIRECTOR: D.J.CARUSO
CAST: SHIA LABEOUF, SARAH ROEMER, DAVID MORSE, CARRIE ANNE-MOSS
RATING: ***

Disturbia is a blend of a teen movie and a murder mystery: A sort of Hitchcockian suspense thriller mixed disproportionately with stuff like ‘I Know what you did last Summer’. And though there’s not much of a mystery part, director D.J.Caruso tells us we ought to be content with the teenage voyeurism and the cheap thrills he manages to provide.

Kale Brecht (A refreshing Labeouf with a refreshing surname!), is a teen ‘disturbed’ by his father’s death right in front of his eyes, and gets sentenced to three months of house arrest as he punches his ignorant Spanish teacher right in his face at the slightest mention of his dad’s name. His mom (Anne-Moss) isn’t the least bit cared about the emotional turmoil of her son, nor is she perturbed by her husband’s death, for she unceremoniously cancels young Kale’s access to the TV and his X-Box, and is happy enough to date an apparently decent Mr.Turner (Morse). Though she grounds the boy, she doesn't care to leave behind a pair of powerful binoculars, a videocamera, and his iPod: Items of utility not only to Kale, but to the movie’s writers Chris Landon and Carl Ellsworth as well!

Jobless and on the verge of becoming a couch-potato sans a TV set, Kale discovers that the binoculars can be used to look at the world outside, particularly at his gorgeous new neighbour Ashley (Roemer), who appears to do nothing except capture his eye, through yoga, swimming and some substantial display of her perfect figure. Although Kale, with the company of his friend Ronald (Aaron Yoo), drools at Ashley most of the time, he still manages to spare some for his other neighbours, particularly an eerie old man in the form of Mr.Turner, who comes out for nothing except lawn-mowing. After some really funny sequences involving a couple of kids next-door and a cheap-thriller of a sequence involving the ‘vicious’ Mr.Turner, the story begins along with news reports about a series of kidnappings of brunette women. With the help of an informative news bulletin that describes a black Mustang with a dented front, Caruso, in the form of Kale, literally pins it upon Mr.Turner without any botheration to introduce secondary suspects, or add twists to the tale: A deed which tells you clearly that this is no murder 'mystery' you're watching. It's a teen-flick and nothing more. Nonetheless, a sequence of events with some delightful use of technology follows with the movie’s writers justifying the use of every object planted and predisposed in previous sequences by them, and the movie finishes off in a quite intense climax preceded by screams and tantrums.

Disturbia is a teen movie beyond doubt, and it poses to be no other thing except for its DVD covers and an interesting tagline. Looking through Kale’s binoculars tingle the voyeur in you, especially when your target lives in a house with see-through glass windows and spends most of her time in the pool or her roof – distinctly visible places. You're treated with nothing but teeny romance, and eventhough it is quite romantic as Kale narrates to an if-you’re-not-gonna-tell-me-your-iPod-is-history-along-with-60GB-of-your-life Ashley who’s already been instructed previously that the very next moment, she ought to kiss Labeouf in a one-minute sequence, after waiting for him to say what he saw of her. And Kale's a liar, because even a he looks mischievous enough for a moment to tell her that all that he saw was her red and blue bikinis and part of what lies beneath, he changes plans (apparently before quite some time!), as he drags along about how he deduced that she’s an inquisitive person who ogles at the mirror before she goes out everyday, which is not an "'I’m so sexy' look, but one that asks ‘Who am I?’”: A long monologue by Labeouf that provokes Ashley to tell him “That’s either the creepiest, or the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard…”. Calling all teens out there: Next time you get caught shooting a glance at your gorgeous neighbour, tell her that all you saw, was her trying to 'understand' the world around her. You'll be cleared of all peeping charges and plus, you'll get a good, long kiss. A dream no doubt!

Shia Labeouf pulls out a neat performance as the expressive Kale, and eventhough he hardly looks disturbed in the movie, he’s quite fun all the same. Aaron Yoo is quite fun too, and so is Sarah Roemer as the ever-bikini-clad Ashley. But serial killing isn’t meant to be a fun-ride that can be cracked by three fun-loving kids, with one of them getting the real necessity only in the last five minutes as his mom’s set to become a victim. Enid blyton never made killers part of her plot in her sleuth-stories: It was always thieves or kidnappers. Maybe something to learn for the writers of Disturbia. Carrie Anne-Moss has nothing to do except show-up in intervals of 15 minutes, with the last three minutes being the longest time she shows herself continuously. David Morse tries to exploit his Anthony Hopkins-like looks along with some skills borrowed from the man, as he eventually manages to scare you in a couple of sequences.

Whatever it may show to be, Disturbia is the usual Hollywood commercial sleuth-flick with good looking leads and goofy sidekicks. But Mr.Caruso ought to learn from ‘Zodiac’ that serial-killing ain’t fun-business...

MY TAKE ON A CLASSIC: AMADEUS (1984)

This is my little tribute to the man folks, as well as to the people who were good enough at heart to make a movie about the prodigy...

CLASSIC MOVIE

OPERATIC TO EPIC PROPORTIONS

MOVIE: AMADEUS (1984)
DIRECTOR: MILOS FORMAN (Based on a play by PETER SCHAFFER)
CAST: MURRAY.F.ABRAHAM, TOM HULCE, ELIZABETH BERRIDGE, JEFFREY JONES
RATING: ***** (GREAT MOVIE)

A Saul Zaentz production, AMADEUS directed by Milos Forman, has a tagline that speaks it all:

THE MAN...
THE MUSIC….
THE MADNESS...
THE MURDER...
THE MOTION PICTURE…

THE MAN: "'The Man' wrote his first concerto when he was four, his first symphony at seven, and a full-fledged opera at twelve!" exclaims a childishly-jealous Salieri. He plays his piano blindfolded, writes his notes without a single correction. "The music's here, inside my head. The rest is scribbling, bibbling and bibbling", says the man himself. He doesn't make copies of his notes, runs after his would-be wife in a public gathering, cuts across aristocrats' speeches, and says to his rival quite innocently, "How can you rewrite an opera that's already perfect?!". The character sketch clearly shows that this man's genius's incarnation...

THE MUSIC: Antonio Salieri (Abraham) unfolds AMADEUS as a masterful flashback-confession to a priest, housed in a madhouse. A rival of Mozart (Hulce), Salieri, whose music’s been made mediocre by that of Mozart, can’t help marveling at his music all the same. Salieri accepts grudgingly his mediocrity to the priest in a comic-sequence involving the enchanting Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Conductor John Strauss and Forman then provide a treat of Mozart’s unforgettable, including the bold Marriage of Figaro, self-exposing Don Giovanni, and an excitingly-rendered Magic Flute along other prominent compositions. The man’s ingenuity is near-Mozart’s when he strengthens an already heavy sequence of Mozart feverishly dictating notes from his sickbed to a persistent Salieri, for his own requiem, with the music playing in the background the same way as it builds inside the prodigy’s brain.

THE MADNESS: AMADEUS is madness: Mozart is chief of all as the uncouth, indecent and eccentric prodigy, as he cackles at his own jokes, farts while imitating Salieri’s music in front of him and points out daringly to Duke Joseph II “I’m a vulgar man, sire… But not my music”. Salieri is mad as he calls the miracle that made his life worth was his father’s death, and as he later contradicts by saying that the very reason god staged the miracle was to make him a representative of the mediocre. The Duke’s mad as he enjoys Mozart’s raving. The movie’s evolution in itself is a cumulative craze of Forman, Schaffer, Hulce and Abraham for the man: It’s pure fanfare and devotion that’s the movie’s fervour.

THE MURDER: Or rather the rivalry: Not between the two composers, but between Salieri and Jesus Christ, who is accused by the former for “Choosing the wrong man to sing his song”. Salieri not just wants him to win, but for Mozart to lose. The fever hits a high as Salieri chucks an idol of Christ into the fireplace as the evil creeps into his mind. The Thesaurus has no adjective to describe the murder: Cold-blooded is too mild a word. Salieri uses Mozart’s guilt of neglecting his father by his exploit of the former’s party-attire, commissioning Mozart to write his own Requiem mass. “Asking him to write the requiem was easy… The killing was the difficult part. How do you kill a man?” is what Salieri narrates to a petrified Priest. Mozart drinks, drains himself, and overworks to lead to his own death, which instills guilt in Salieri. “32 years of torture”, he says.

THE MOTION PICTURE: AMADEUS is a cinematic idol. It’s perfection in every sphere clogged into an opera for the screen: The cast enact the opera with absorbing performances from Berridge (As Stanzie, Mozart’s childish wife), and Jones (As the stone-facedly animated Duke), while the crew compose, conduct, and sing the chorus. The film swept the 1984 academy awards with 8 right-royal wins, including Director, Actor, Film, Sound Editing and of course, Music along with adapted screenplay and two others. The only combat might’ve been the inside one between the two leads: The sole victory for Salieri to cheer for…

CLASSIC MOVIE: KES (1969)

CLASSIC MOVIE
TRUE MEANING OF POIGNANCY
BEAUTIFULLY TRAGIC

MOVIE: KES (1969)
DIRECTOR: KENNETH LOACH (Based on a book by BARRY HINES)
CAST: David Bradley, Collin Welland, Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie
RATING: *****

Based on ‘A Kestrel for a Knave’, KES is about Billy Casper (David Bradley), a working-class’ teenager in the mining areas of Yorkshire. Bullied by a gambler brother and a selfishly-dating mom, Billy is carefree and lives to the present. The discovery of the dreamer in him comes in form of a Kestrel named, and a book on falconing, ‘borrowed’ from the town library. The catalysis is also undertaken by an English Teacher Mr.Farthing (Welland), which ultimately leads to a climax that’s a thorn in your conscience.

Self discovery is what KES’s all about, and it certainly is the best flick at that. Living lives in front of a mere 16mm camera, and imparting the soul to it from behind make this a dream of Wordsworth’s. Full credit to the cast, an unbelievably soulful musician in form of John Cameron, and a maverick director in Ken Loach. Freshness in camerawork makes you shiver in the cold, feel the wet black soil, and smell the pastures of Barnsley – DOP Chris Menges is truly a Mozart at that!

The heavy heart in you groans for a positive end to the movie even when your mind knows it's not going to happen. Not when you see through Loach’s eyes, where there’s a Stephen Spender type of agonizing reality in play. A reality where dreaminess is condemned: One that holds you firm to the ground without any unworldly hope. There’s celebration when Billy flies high with Kes; there’s happiness when you see him live his life as he wants it to be. But the final piece of reality is a crash-land indeed: A kind of victory you attribute to a Shakespearean tragedy…

Though hailed by critics, KES never got the laurels it needed to have got: BAFTAs for lead and supporting performances (Bradley and Welland), and something for Loach to show off thanks to a couple of film festivals. Probably the 16 mm camera used was a drawback and so was the meagre budget. But still its lack of records never made KES a movie lesser than a classic, and any movie admirer would love it at first sight.
Catch it on DVD folks! The subtitles may help you tide over some difficult Yorkshire english.