Kalumaali - The triumphant feat in Sri Lankan English Theater

In my opinion, Kalumaali was the best thing that ever happened to Sri Lankan English language theater. I based this opinion on few factors. One of such factors is that how Ruwanthie D’Chickera shrewdly brought the theme to the reality by the innovative stage usage and brilliantly crafted script. Even she had the luxury of going through the manuscript they prepared with the help of 13 female dramatists in different social strata in her disposal, the language and the content which was inspired by the myriad of present day sociopolitical “dramas” going in Sri Lankan society  surely kept the audience intact and enlightened throughout the drama. Another aspect of Kalumaali which I liked is that it lacked the pretentious melodramatic elements which was amply visible in most of other contemporary English language theater productions in Colombo. It intentionally went away from common roots of fantasy, fables or comedy yet kept the aspects of all those to stress the protagonist’s dilemma of keeping her dreams and family-life alive and intact.

The performance of Lakmini Seneviratne who portrayed the protagonist mother (Dil) of the drama was highly commendable. She was prolific in her delivery, emotions and managed to keep the audience engaged in the plot. The character of the daughter as well as husband’s mother which was portrayed by seasoned Kaushalya Fernando came really well and completed the drama with their subtle satire and few thought-provoking instances. The husband’s role  which was portrayed by a different actor (because of the possible unavailability of the originally cast Peter D’ Almeida) became the only disappointment of the night due to the awkward pauses in his dialogue delivery on several occasions and slight rigidness in his acting. Lack of preparation and rehearsal time might have been the case. Apart from that all the other cast including the character of Dil’s mother; Film Achchi and even backstage crew managed to do the justice for the script in their level best. The background score also added the extra color to the drama on stage but it was downplayed a bit because of the spectators minds were glued to the amazing performance and the story.

If I dig deeper in to the core theme of the drama, as the writers of the drama saw it (which I think), it’s simply the loss of control and ambition among women due to the pressures of current masculine dominated sociopolitical structure of this country. But as a male member of this society, as a guilty party on this phenomenon (without a doubt consciously or subconsciously) I never seen a drama which stresses on the male point of view on this topic on Sri Lankan stage. All the dramas regarding this topic which I have seen in both English as well as Sinhala language (which are directed by mostly males) also depicted the story only from the women’s point of view. But in my theory most of us in these Asian region are raised by women, loved by women and our lives are entirely spent with some form of strong connection with women. So this phenomenon or this issue of feminism should be brought up within women themselves because they play a major part in reforming the entire society to the current state. Kalumaali achieved this for some extent with the help of characters such as Film Achchi, Gedara Achchi and Saki. But I would love to see a different approach or dialogue between male characters; Kalana and the stranger to see the male point of view on this topic rather than portrayal the stereotypical male behavior in the current society. Because of this reason I personally think that engagement of the male audiences with the core theme is somewhat weakened because they were more connected with satiric representation of their everyday role which is recurrent on Sri Lankan Theater

Anyway on an ending note, I would recommend Kalumaali as a thought-provoking novel theater experience specially for the English theater and if you are not seen it already, please grab a ticket when the next show is on because it’s much, much more than worth of the money and time you spend.

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New Era in Sri Lankan Cinema - A Dream or Reality?

Yesterday I was able to attend a lecture presented by veteran Sri Lankan filmmaker Ashoka Handagama titled “A New Era of Sri Lankan Cinema - More than a Dream”.  Handagama, not only a well known and controversial director but also a top figure at Central Bank of Sri Lanka working as Director of Communications. Although as a filmmaker, he’s known to focus on controversial issues and had attracted both praises and criticism from different ends, his lecture seem to distance him self from the rebellious character and focused on a detailed and a structured plan on revitalizing the Sri Lankan Cinema Industry.

Kadaunu Poronduwa (1947) considered to be the first Sri Lankan film to be produced 

Sri Lankan Cinema Industry, which flourished and reached its peak in the late 70s, came crashing down during the 80s and was lagging on its knees during the 90s and even now. The number of cinema halls and even the total cinema admissions have reduced drastically compared to the golden age of the 70s. Miscalculated government policies, television and also the communal and social unrest that prevailed during the early and late 80s crippled the once flourished Sri Lankan Film industry with little  hope for a revitalization. Mr.Handagama pointed out some attempts made during the 90s to revitalize the Sri Lankan Film industry, with appointment of a commission to look into the crisis headed by Professor Senaka Bandaranayake. Though the commission report published in 1996 identified several factors that needs to be improved in order to revitalize the industry, these were not properly implemented or practiced. After one and half decades later, Sri Lankan Film industry is at almost non-existent with only a handful of quality films being produced. Local film industry has lost its mass market appeal and few quality halls remaining are invaded withHollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, without much success to the local filmmakers.

An International Film Festival?

Proposal made by Handagama was to revitalize the whole industry by exposing the Sri Lankan Cinema to the International Markets, and vice versa through an extravagant mass scale film festival that would in turn entice enthusiasm about film, promote local productions and also benefit Sri Lankan tourism industry through entertainment tourism. The idea here was to make this film festival, termed “Colombo International Film Festival” which will bring in International films, directors and the film community to Colombo while also promoting selected locally made films during the festival. The event will provide opportunities to promote local productions and networking whilst promoting Sri Lanka as a destination for film locations.

International Film Festivals as a means of promoting and uplifting an industry has worked out well for many countries.  Apart from some of the major film festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, Los Angels there are other festivals such as Dubai, Busan, and Tokyo that have made a great impact in the region where it has helped the film industry of the host country immensely. One main example Handagama presented was the success story of the Busan Film Festival, in South Korea. In 1996 when it was first launched the Korean film industry was virtually unknown in the International arena, however, within few years, Korean films reached its golden era where many Korean film directors were able to make a name for themselves globally. It also helped the country to revitalize its industry and helped grow enthusiasm amongst the general public, where by now Korean Film Industry has become one of the top globally. This model has now become a favored strategic implmentation that has been picked up by many other countries as well, some of the examples are film festivals such as Hanoi, Indian.

The practical application of this model is yet to be taken up by relevant parties as this is just a proposed plan and suggestions. In the Sri Lankan context it may not be as easy as the Korean scenario and in terms of sustainability and profitability there may be questions. However, it’s great to see a new bold way of thinking has gone into this, where Mr.Handagama with his experience in the film industry and also as in his role as a banker had devised a fresh plan to uplift the film industry in the country. Of course this is just a first step in a long journey, however if this can be implemented correctly, this might very well be the spark that can reignite the Sri Lankan Film Industry back to its former glory.

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The Last Stand

Is it a comeback for Arnold or massive failure? In terms of a Schwarzenegger movie it's a roaring success. For the 65 year old actor he makes a very good comeback considering his limited acting abilities.

The film initially has two parts, one being a CIA operation in Los Angeles and the transport of a federal prisoner and the second is about a small town Sheriff (Arnold) and the town he lives in complete with an inept police department. Naturally the prisoner escapes custody and meanwhile strange characters show up in the small town.

From the opening scene itself the movie holds high promise and holds a certain amount of suspense that it manages to hold throughout the film. Credit should go here to the director (Jee-woon Kim), cinematographer (Ji-yong Kim)and the composer (MOWG) all of whom are Korean. The only area where this doesn't hold true are in the villain's scenes which continuously break the suspension of disbelief that is built up very well everywhere else in the movie.

Scenes in LA are very reminiscent of The Dark Knight robbery both in terms of the way it's shot and the musical score. But then again that film was heavily influenced by the film 'Heat'. Regardless this is the style used for these parts of the film.

There are plenty of car sequences in the movie, with the second by far being the best and if you ever wondered what a 'Need for Speed' movie would look like this scene would be a good indicator.

Latter car sequences look like they straight came from Bollywood in terms of their implausibility and are easily the worst parts of the film. Though there is one interesting game of cat and mouse. It's an all American Muscle affair which is not a bad thing. Sections where cars blaze down the road put the fifth entry of the Fast and the Furious series to shame.

Now on to Arnold. His performance is much as can be expected though its certainly better than in Expendables 2. He delivers one liners in spades. His action sequences are heavily toned down which is a good thing considering his age. Beyond that it's pretty much standard Arnie. He hasn't really gotten any better. Other actors with notable performances are Peter Stormare and Forest Whitaker who really help add credibility to the film.

The shootouts in the film are all well done with very believable tactics being used including and cover and suppression fire. There are also minute sniper on sniper battles which I haven't seen since since 'Enemy of the Gates'. In these shootout sequences everything is very plausible and all of the film's high points take place in the town.

There is also a steady supply of light hearted moments which convey the fact that the movie doesn't take itself too seriously. This is a good thing considering the lead actor.

The biggest weakness in the movie is easily the villain. It's a seemingly large blight on an otherwise very enjoyable film given the scale of his scenes in comparison to the movie. Still definitely worth a watch especially if you ever liked Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Why Mr. Anderson?

The Matrix Revolutions is the third part in the Matrix Trilogy. While both the second and third films lack in substance and are generally far inferior to the original movie, there are moments when you think 'oh... there is something good going on here'.

In Revolutions (spoilers ahead - but this is an old movie) everything leads up to one big final confrontation. During this scene we are treated to a superb monologue from Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). This is one of those scenes that actually make you pause and consider.

Walking in to this final battle Trinity ( I suppose you could call her Neo's soulmate) has already given her life so that Neo can complete his task. In the second film he asks the Oracle "What happens if I fail?" to which she replies "Then Zion will fall." Zion being the last human city on Earth.

Keeping all this in mind Neo enters the Matrix to fight Agent Smith in one major final confrontation. They fight and Neo takes more of a beating then Smith. He gets up, spits out blood before taking up a defiant fighting stance in what is a homage to the first film.

The fighting continues until finally... Neo is defeated.

This is the scene that immediately follows:

Many would say that Neo's reply is stupid, and it is what I initially thought, but when you keep everything that has happened in the two films in mind it makes sense. Smith states "Why keep fighting? You must be able to see it Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win... it's pointless to keep fighting." And that's where Neo's answer makes sense. Instead of choosing capitulation he chooses to keep fighting.

I believe that life is full of choices. At any given moment we always have a choice. Sometimes people say that they didn't have a choice. But here is a line from a different film that has been adapted from the original book:

"Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." Albus Dumbeldore - Goblet of Fire the film.

Shortly after this scene Neo dies. But so does Agent Smith.

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Expendables 2

Bigger, Badder and Better.

The first and most important thing to say is that this movie is vastly superior to the first. Everything is just plain better from the dialogue to the action scenes.

Actions scenes really have to be given a mention as the action sequences in the first film were severely underwhelming. In this film we have much more personal encounters that are well choreographed especially in one particular scene that takes place in a small town. This is where the action sequences really take off and hark back to the glory days of the 80's action flick.

There are also numerous scenes where the 'Good Guy's' just stand around guns blazing 24-7 with people falling front, left, right and centre. These are easily my least favourite sequences in the film. In the aforementioned town scene gun bursts are tight and controlled which makes for a far more interesting action sequence overall instead of non-stop guns blazing.

Jean Claude Van Damme really shines in his first scene as a villain who is quite naturally of Belgian/French ancestry which allows him to just act without being hindered by the way he talks. It's a smart move and his first scene shows that he can act in comparison to the other actors in the movie. Sadly he doesn't get nearly enough meaningful screentime and I felt that he was a bit underpowered as a villain despite showing off his trademark kick several times.

Liam Hemsworth also deserves a special mention as he is easily the best actor in the entire film and steals the show in several scenes. However even he can't save the film from plain bad writing in certain sections. Overall his segments are somewhat stronger than the rest.

Certain cameos are much better than others. The humour is also significantly better in certain segments especially the Chuck Norris joke which I laughed at once during the actual scene and again when I remembered it at the end. Some of the action sequences were also funny, some of which was intentional and some of which wasn't. The same could be said for Stallone's acting.

I have to say Arnold Schwarzenegger really didn't seem to have his heart in this film at all, or he just plain can't act. Not sure which it is. Bruce Willis is interesting but never really hits home. There was however *some* good dialogue between Willis and Arnold.

Overall I'd have to say the film is worth a watch just to get a kick.  It doesn't try to be Citizen Kane and doesn't pretend to be either. It certainly doesn't take itself seriously and has it's moments amidst some cringeworthy ones. If you ever liked or laughed at the long gone glory days of the 80's action flick, you should definitely check it out.

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It Figures

See this wonderful figure? It may appear to be a piece of plastic or a toy to most of you. To me it is more of an effigy than a toy and it embodies the essence of a character especially if it is well crafted. After all it is the end user that dictates how an inanimate object is used.

But sadly you cannot buy this figure even if you wanted to. Why not you ask? The reason is simple. It’s what’s known as a custom job. Due to the less than stellar performance of the film ‘Dredd’ in cinemas no official figures were produced or no plans were made to do so prior to the film’s release.

So what this enterprising individual has done is build a custom figure. This is achieved by purchasing different action figures and gutting them for parts which are then modified. That is why the attention to detail on it is quite frankly exemplary. Since only one is produced the craftsmen can apply lots of love and dedication to his final work. Most mass produced figures do not have such caring hands behind their creation as they are produced on a factory line in the thousands.

This figure is pretty impressive and like many of its size has many points of articulation that allows for great posing opportunities.

You can find the original thread about it here:
http://www.toyark.com/judge-dredd-karl-urban-4-inch-custom-112647/

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I am Legend.

Interpretation. It is key to how we perceive the world that we live in. A specific set of events can occur but two people can walk away with completely different conclusions.

Let me give you a real example. I recently dusted off my brothers copy of Richard Matheson's I am Legend. Having seen the film many years ago I decided that I would definitely read it. I dived in and was hooked pretty much from the start.

Meanwhile I listen to the radio occasionally when at work. I hear Julian Marley is going to have a concert covering his father's songs. I don't think much of it since my feeling is that I'm not that in to Bob Marley. But as I keep being bombarded with the constant radio adverts I start to think that the songs are actually known to me, just that I have yet to make a mental association with the artist. I'm thinking maybe I should actively go and listen to some Marley.

I continue to read I am Legend and find myself unable to put the book down especially as it gets to its exciting climax. The Marley concert passes and is over. I complete the book and notice how it has deviated heavily from what I remember in the film. So I decide to re-watch the film to glean new insight and perhaps have a more complete experience.

I get the film and begin to watch. Early on Will Smith is driving in his car listening to what seems to be a familiar song. Yep it's Bob Marley. In fact there are a total of four Bob Marley tracks featuring in the film and Smith's character sings his songs on more than one occasion. There is also one scene where Smith's character berates another's complete ignorance of Bob Marley and proceeds to play his music. He then goes on to explain the significance of the artist, his lifestyle and philosophy. One of his songs also plays in the end credits to top it all off.

Another scene involves Smith's character arguing with the female lead in the film. She believes that she came just in the nick of time to save Smith's characters life and that everything was happening for a reason. That it was all the will of God. Smith's reply simply is 'There is no God.'

Now this is just a coincidence right? Or is it? Considering that both events occurred in the span of the same two weeks. I leave that up to you to decide. As for me it doesn't really matter. Things happen, the reasons are unknown. Some people choose to believe it's all just coincidence whilst others choose to believe that a divine hand is at play.

Who knows. I'm just going to go listen to some Bob Marley.

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