It's risky, imperfect, expensive – and the stuff of a thousand classics. As Tacita Dean's tribute to celluloid opens, some noted movie-makers give thanks for film
Steven Spielberg Director
My favourite and preferred step between imagination and image is a strip of photochemistry that can be held, twisted, folded, looked at with the naked eye, or projected on to a surface for others to see. It has a scent and it is imperfect. If you get too close to the moving image, it's like impressionist art. And if you stand back, it can be utterly photorealistic. You can watch the grain, which I like to think of as the visible, erratic molecules of a new creative language. After all, this "stuff" of dreams is mankind's most original medium, and dates back to 1895. Today, its years are numbered, but I will remain loyal to this analogue artform until the last lab closes.
Steven Spielberg Director
My favourite and preferred step between imagination and image is a strip of photochemistry that can be held, twisted, folded, looked at with the naked eye, or projected on to a surface for others to see. It has a scent and it is imperfect. If you get too close to the moving image, it's like impressionist art. And if you stand back, it can be utterly photorealistic. You can watch the grain, which I like to think of as the visible, erratic molecules of a new creative language. After all, this "stuff" of dreams is mankind's most original medium, and dates back to 1895. Today, its years are numbered, but I will remain loyal to this analogue artform until the last lab closes.
- 10/11/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Masala is a Hindi word meaning a ''collection of hot spices of different colors.'' And, the ''hot spices'' in ''Mississippi Masala'' are the melanges of ethnic groups -- Indian, Blacks, Chinese, Whites -- which percolate together in the otherwise sleepy southern burg of Greenwood. This new Deep South mix is irreverently and affectionately served up by director Mira Nair (''Salaam Bombay'') and was a crowd-pleasing hit Saturday night.
In this new Mississipi melting pot, screenwriter Joe Blow focuses on a 24-year-old Hindu woman, Mina (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian from Uganda, who, along with her parents, has been expelled by Idi Amin's racist regime. While her father obsessively petitions the corrupt Ugandan courts for restitution of his property, her mother runs a liquor store near the tacky motel where the family temporarily resides, along with a clan of other Indian emigres who are trying to make it in the New World.
Mina cleans bathrooms to make ends meet: at 24, she's considered nearly-over-the-hill for marriage by her overly protective parents. Indeed, the bright and independent Mina can't find a ''suitable'' mate among the ultra-traditional Hindu menfolk; in part because she's darker skinned than most Indian women, a decided liability in that culture.
She literally does run into a promising young gentleman -- her driving skills are only fit for the demolition derby -- but, he's an American black named Demetrius (Denzel Washington), which sends horrors up the collective spine of her parents and fellow countrymen. No matter that he's self-reliant, intelligent, personable and has his own cleaning business, he's inappropriate. Besides, Demetrius is a bit of a Mystery Man himself, still pining away after a former girlfriend and bending over every which way not to offend the municipal powers that be. But neither can help it; they've fallen in love and their audacious romance sends off cross-cultural sparks way past the county line.
Teaming with irreverent comedy, this cross-cultural concotion is a wonderfully natural film. Through its coarsing chaos, it shows both the problems and the splendors of '90s melting pot America. Never weighted down with thematic preachings, ''Mississipia Masala'' is a captivatingly quirky love story which, through its combustive energy, probably conveys more about cultural assimilation than all the sociological treatistes in the Kingdom. Highest praise to director Nair for the jaunty and wise guidance and to the two lead performers, Washington and Choudhury, for their full-of-life portrayals.
Technical contributions are, fittingly hot and spicey, particularly production designer Mitch Epstein's grand potpourri of crazy cultural contrasts.
MISSISSIPPI MASALA
The Samuel Goldwyn Co.
Producer-director Mira Nair
Screenwriter Svoni Tararoeleva
Editor Roberto Silvi
Production designer Mitch Epstein
Director of photography Ed Lachman
Casting Judy Claman
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Demetrius Denzel Washington
Mina Sarita Choudhury
Tyrone Charles Dutton
Dexter Tico Wells
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
In this new Mississipi melting pot, screenwriter Joe Blow focuses on a 24-year-old Hindu woman, Mina (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian from Uganda, who, along with her parents, has been expelled by Idi Amin's racist regime. While her father obsessively petitions the corrupt Ugandan courts for restitution of his property, her mother runs a liquor store near the tacky motel where the family temporarily resides, along with a clan of other Indian emigres who are trying to make it in the New World.
Mina cleans bathrooms to make ends meet: at 24, she's considered nearly-over-the-hill for marriage by her overly protective parents. Indeed, the bright and independent Mina can't find a ''suitable'' mate among the ultra-traditional Hindu menfolk; in part because she's darker skinned than most Indian women, a decided liability in that culture.
She literally does run into a promising young gentleman -- her driving skills are only fit for the demolition derby -- but, he's an American black named Demetrius (Denzel Washington), which sends horrors up the collective spine of her parents and fellow countrymen. No matter that he's self-reliant, intelligent, personable and has his own cleaning business, he's inappropriate. Besides, Demetrius is a bit of a Mystery Man himself, still pining away after a former girlfriend and bending over every which way not to offend the municipal powers that be. But neither can help it; they've fallen in love and their audacious romance sends off cross-cultural sparks way past the county line.
Teaming with irreverent comedy, this cross-cultural concotion is a wonderfully natural film. Through its coarsing chaos, it shows both the problems and the splendors of '90s melting pot America. Never weighted down with thematic preachings, ''Mississipia Masala'' is a captivatingly quirky love story which, through its combustive energy, probably conveys more about cultural assimilation than all the sociological treatistes in the Kingdom. Highest praise to director Nair for the jaunty and wise guidance and to the two lead performers, Washington and Choudhury, for their full-of-life portrayals.
Technical contributions are, fittingly hot and spicey, particularly production designer Mitch Epstein's grand potpourri of crazy cultural contrasts.
MISSISSIPPI MASALA
The Samuel Goldwyn Co.
Producer-director Mira Nair
Screenwriter Svoni Tararoeleva
Editor Roberto Silvi
Production designer Mitch Epstein
Director of photography Ed Lachman
Casting Judy Claman
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Demetrius Denzel Washington
Mina Sarita Choudhury
Tyrone Charles Dutton
Dexter Tico Wells
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 11/18/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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