Change Your Image
Mr Booth
Reviews
Zakhm (1998)
Absolutely stunning film
Zakhm is quite unlike any Bollywood film I have seen before, a far cry from the song and dance routines and conventional moralities that are typical of the ITV late night slot at least. It is shot like a black and white Hollywood drama, and filled with tension and quite piercing political and social issues.
The context is Mumbai torn apart by religious hatred and violence. Muslims and Hindus are killing each other en mass. This friction is mirrored by events in one man's life, as his family is split in two by religion just as his society is. Much of the film is told in flashback, filling in the history of the family's deeply buried secrets.
The performances throughout the film are gripping, with the cast giving very convincing portrayals of the grief and fear their characters go through - one wonders what director Mahesh Bhatt might have put his cast through to get such fantastic acting. Particularly impressive is child actor Kunaal Khemu, whose honest and intense emotions are infectious.
Zakhm raises many issues about how we treat other people, and what issues are ever worth resorting to violence over. It is beautifully filmed, and the script is both intelligent and original. Unforgettable.
Drive (1997)
Shows what people can achieve when they are doing what they love
Drive was made for a negligible budget, to a brutal schedule, yet the efforts of the cast & crew clearly show and the result is better than a thousand films that cost 10 times the price.
The action is clearly the star, with all parties expressing a clear love for Hong Kong cinema. They have produced an excellent homage containing obvious Jackie Chan and Jet Li influences all executed with grace by Mark Dacascos.
The script is pretty weak, though there is some good interplay between the characters, but as it is really used mainly as a framework from which to hang the action it does its job.
The UK DVD is a fantastic effort from Hong Kong Legends (abbreviated to HKL for this release), containing a wide array of extras such as interviews and out-takes, as well as restoring the original soundtrack and 16 minutes of footage. This important footage was inexplicably cut by the production company, and probably explains why they then decided to release straight to video.
Overall - film and disc are highly recommended.