 Hello, Mada. Hello, Fada. Oh. Perv. Hey, welcome back to our stupid directions before we're back. I'm Rick. Nick Fawcett. Hey, what are you doing, everyone? Not Twitter. Chew's sick. Gone. Dead. Haven't you been blocked over there yet? Not yet. Yeah. Everyone will be at some point. I hope so. Yeah. And thank you for sort of some Patreon. Follow us on Twitter account. Subscribe if you don't like button, because that helps the old sexy algorithm. Mmm. A like in a subscribe is like a titillating spanking. It's true. The buttocks of YouTube. Often in moments of intimacy, my favorite thing to hear whispered into my ear is algorithm. Yes. That's actually my climax of expression. It actually helps me to remember rhythm. Yes. Today we're doing a movie review of a film that is the official selection of India for the Oscars for them this year. And we finally were able to watch it, we've been wanting to watch it since it was announced that it was the pick and we had never heard about it. And so if I believe it on India in India, it's on Netflix. It is not here because obviously it's an award contention. So they, what they basically do is they take it off everything. Right. They take it off and then if it gets nominated, that gives distributors wide breadth of releasing comparatively if it doesn't get nominated. So it's not here. But we were able to get a copy of it. So that's fantastic. So if you haven't watched it, it's on Netflix. You can go watch it there and we will talk about it as a film as a whole. And then we will talk about what we think its chances would be as well. Yeah, we have to because that's part of the conversation. And this will be non-spoiler until we warn you. Yes. So Rick, your initial thoughts, please. My first thing I want to say is I've heard around, you know, the water cooler proverbially about this being, I don't want to say ripped off, but borrowed from Cinema Paradiso. Yeah. I think it's mainly the relationship. Yeah. It's this. No, just because it has it's like saying any movie that involves a shark was a borrowed from Jaws. No, I know Cinema Paradiso. I just watched it in the past month. It's an absolutely beautiful film. This film doesn't need to be talked about in conversation with that in terms of it having borrowed anything. It's a standalone film that deserves the respect it deserves for what it is. I love the movie. We'll talk about its chances for the Oscars. I think it has nothing but things that are meritorious to talk about. It's a really touching, very personal, obviously, film with solid performances that I am really happy I saw it. And I think it's one of the best films that I've seen in this calendar year. No. Yeah. I love the film too. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. We will talk about the Oscar chances at the end, I think, but I can tell you right now if it wasn't a Hollywood film, it would be nominated for Best Picture. There's a big difference, though, in Foreign Picture and Best Picture. But proverbial for the lack of a better word, the industry likes stroking itself off. Right when it started, I was like, okay, I see why they picked it. The industry just loves films about itself. I'll talk about the rest of that at the end. We're going to talk about the film right now, though. Yeah. I love this film. I got teary-eyed at the end. Yeah. I'll explain, because we're going to in a little bit. Wait a minute. Like a legitimate tear? My eyes welled up. Wow! But I'll tell you why in the end, though, because I don't know why. It's going to be the daddy thing. I guarantee it's going to be because you're a dad. Opens up new doorways of the soul. It's actually not the dad. No, no, no, but it's the fact that it's your daddy heart. So that's awesome. We'll talk about all that. But yeah, I think this film is absolutely fantastic. Yeah, it's a beautiful movie. It's an absolutely love letter to Indian cinema. Yes. Cinema as a whole, but it's particularly Indian cinema. And I'm glad we got to see it four years in, almost 300 movies in. All my stars. Yes. Because there's so many, obviously obvious shout-outs, but there's so many parallels to obviously the director, it's kind of, it's not a autobiographical about him, but it's semi-autobiographical about his influences and his love for cinema and growing up and that kind of stuff. And so that's, it's just wonderful. If you're a film lover, it's particularly an Indian film lover, I think you're going to love this film. And not just because of the story content, but because of the creative nature in which the whole film is made. Take away the subject matter of the fact that it's film-centric. The film is just a beautiful film, regardless if this could been any story, it would still be a really wonderful movie. Yeah, absolutely. And I think I'm sad, the only reason we heard about it was because it got submitted. And also, I don't know, like it came out in 2001, so I'm not really... You mean 2021? 2021. Yeah. Yeah. Not 2022. So I'm a little confused as also... It was the, there were, graces extended because of COVID. As far as academy... There were... Yeah. Okay. They had started filming before the pandemic and the pandemic screwed them up and they did post-prediction after the pandemic. Gotcha. And there was a grace period that the academy gave during the pandemic for films to qualify for certain years. Gotcha. Okay. But this film, it reminded me actually a lot of the lunchbox a little bit. Very much. In terms of like Western sensibilities in terms of like how they would appreciate this film. Even though I think an Indian or somebody that's been in love with Indian cinema for a long time can appreciate it way more just because there's so much love and admiration for Indian cinema in this. Just like if it was a Hollywood film, they'd show Hollywood films and that kind of stuff. But particularly if you're an Indian film lover, I think this, hold on, I was saying something and then... Lost track. Went off the rails. What was I saying? I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Oh, lunchbox. Yeah. It reminded me of like that style. I mean, maybe it was a lot of the food element because there was a big massive food element to this and the way they showed the cooking and how it's a deep rooted in the culture and how it kind of influences everything as well. But in a different way, obviously. Particularly the filmmaking style is very reminiscent of the lunchbox. It's 100% that if the go-to film for cinephiles I know who love film and want to see a great film from India, the lunchbox is my number one record. I always say watch the lunchbox because the writing, the acting, the directing is all... It's film. And this is right up there for the very same reasons, though the nature of the film and the subject matter is utterly completely different. The sense you have in the same way that I mentioned this film repeatedly, The Florida Project is a film, high caliber. The other thing about this film that I appreciate so much is I was thinking about parallels because it's such a similar love letter to movies that Cinema Paradiso has and that's really for me the only similarity. I mean, if you're going to talk about a kid who fell in love with movies and the guy's the projectionist, there's going to be a lot of stories like that around the world and you're going to have one projectionist working, other than that there's no similarities. And I wonder, because I'm not Italian and Cinema Paradiso is an Italian film, I don't know how much of what Cinema Paradiso conveyed had other metaphorical symbolic imagery beyond the filmmaking aspect that pointed to culture and politics within Italy. But being as familiar as we are with Indian cinema at this point, I appreciated not just the primary story, which is enough in and of itself. I appreciated things I saw that were visual representations of things and even scripted representations of things that were very, very subtle, but really, really powerful. And that's one of my favorite things about the film is that anybody who's familiar with Indian film and its history and its life is going to recognize the Indian-ness of this film. Yeah. And obviously it wasn't just India. It was primarily Indian influences, but there were Western influences. A lot of 2001 Space Odyssey elements. Well, there was a thank you to Stanley Kubrick in front of the film. I think even the, I don't want to give anything away, but particularly the end sequence as well. Yeah, which I want to talk about when we're talking about spoilers. But I just kind of want to get, everything about this film I think was high-class. Yeah. Everything. So if you haven't watched it, just go watch it. What, the young actor who played our lead, is that Bhavan Robari? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Most of these people were from villages. Well. They never acted before. Shout-out to the Satyajit Rai style of casting, because everybody was believable. And he was particularly, the whole film falls on his shoulders. And he does an exemplary job. Hats off to the director of being able to get that out of non-actors. But that happens all the time in India. It's quite impressive. Because I guess he just like, go do what you would normally do, please. I don't need you to act. I just need you to go. And the other kid. There's a lot of showing, not telling. Which is the best. Yeah. And so like a lot of this film, there's not a, and there's dialogue, but there's not a dialogue heavy film. No. It's really a fly on the wall and love for cinema film. And so please go watch this film. And love for life. It really is an appreciation for things that deeply, the things that matter most. Yeah. The things that matter most. We can get into spoilers and Oscar chances. Should we talk about Oscar chances first so that people who haven't seen it can hear what we think about Oscar chances? Yeah, sure. So if you haven't watched it, please go watch it. Please do. Come back. And then we'll get into spoilers in just a second. I think it could have a chance, right? Obviously the final cut-down comes out on the 21st, right? And so we'll see. The reason I would still pick RRR is because it not only would have not absolutely a thousand percent been nominated. It wouldn't have even been in a question. Correct. It could have won that category. Correct. Just because of how, right? Correct. I think any other year I would have been completely happy with this, right? And I'm not saying RRR is like a better film. Very different films. You really can't even compare the two, right? But if your job as the Film Federation is to make sure something gets nominated and possibly win, you had a shoe in. And so still, even though I think it could have a chance, and because it's about film and I see why they picked it, right? And I'll be rooting for it if it absolutely could be a thousand percent. Just because you had RRR this year and the effect that it's had on America, I just, you could have won the cat. You could have won your first Oscar ever. I mean, not that there's, there's tough category, there's a, there's tough competition this year. Yes. Particularly, what's the, the, the all quiet on the western front. Yes. Obviously that's, that's a big one. And that, that's probably the front runner. That is the front runner on everybody's list. But in terms of, and, and there's a couple of others. RRR might get nominated for best picture. Once again, if you haven't seen our video, you can go, go watch that about RRR's chances. So if it has a chance there, it, it could be, have a 50-50 shot with that and the other one at winning. Yeah. It's really interesting that RRR, I mean, how many people in India thought that the first Oscar that they would get is not going to be in the international film. It's going to be a standalone category of the Oscars, which is insane. So that, that is my only gripe is because you had a shoe in for RRR and it could have even won the category. And if you were a member of the Academy voting and let's say first of all, you were a member of the Film Federation in India making a choice between this and RRR. Just because it's chances. Right. Any other year, I'd be 1000% OK. And I'm still, once again, rooting for this film, nothing against this film. The only, it deserves its place. Yes. As a film that should be considered. It really does. The only reason I'm as it is because RRR came out and you could have won. Yeah. And you would, it being nominated wouldn't have been a question. Like it would have been the biggest, one of the biggest snubs ever. If this wasn't nominated, if RRR wouldn't have been nominated and submitted, right? Yeah. Also, another reason I'm hesitant and you can tell me after you're after I'm done here, what you think about its chances. Like I said, if it was a Hollywood film about Hollywood films, it would have 1000% been the best picture nomination. But the fact that it's an Indian film and if people aren't familiar with all with Indian films, they're not going to pick up on why showing Joda Akbar, showing Mother India, showing all these other things is so Shah Rukh Khan talking about Satya Jit Rai is so meaningful. Right. They're just going to be like, oh, I'm sure those people are important. Right. And so it's not going to hit as well to people that aren't familiar with Indian cinema. They're going to appreciate it because it's about film. Right. And there's many things universal truths about film that they're going to love, but that would be my one hesitation as well with them not being able to fully relate to this film. I agree. So, yeah, I agree about its chances. I think so what everybody's been writing. And when I say everybody, I'm talking about Indie wire, rotten tomatoes, Hollywood reporter, variety, you name it. Right. The people who talk about that here in the industry, it's not on anybody's top 10 list. It's in a top 15 list. Yes. I saw top 15. It's in the top 15. So it's not considered a shoe in, but it's also not considered a really far dark horse. It's one of those films that's really close. And if it got it, people would be really happy. But if it didn't, they wouldn't be surprised. Having not seen any of the other international films, that's a part of it where we don't have a viewpoint to really see if it deserves the nomination for chances with the all quiet on the Western front. Correct. That's a shoe in, but I want to see and will as availability becomes the other ones to see who's really deserving of their slots. In relationship to RRR, they're two completely different films. When you're talking about simply the chances and the way the politics of award season work, it was a no brainer. That's why everyone was confounded, dumbfounded, use whatever words you want to. It was absolute ridiculousness to not select RRR for that alone. Of the two, as much as this is a more high brow, high level, artistic, when it comes to the kind of film that's noticed, I still prefer RRR and my for a couple of reasons. First of all, I said this during the review for RRR. It's the greatest buddy movie I've ever seen. It's my favorite buddy film of all time. This is not my favorite film on the blank of all time. Anything. Yeah. It's still a great movie. Yeah. And not every film has to be the best, blah, blah, blah. But when you have, when it comes to the Oscars, I don't care whatever the category may be for me. Let's say you have two films that are equally deserving at every single level, right? Which you can't compare some of these levels. Visual effects in this don't exist compared to RRR. But when you, for me, the final arbiter for the Oscars is what of the two will be remembered 50 years from now? There's no question. Yeah. Nothing against the last film show. 50 years from now, no one will have forgotten RRR. Yeah. That's going to make Oscar history. It made Indian history. It is a historically important film in world cinema. This one is not. And that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with this film. But comparatively, I just the breadth of the directorial vision, the totality of the team's endeavor, the performances, the songs, the scope, when it comes to that comparatively, I still don't understand why you wouldn't select RRR. Yes. So that that's our thoughts on that. I'm a thousand percent rooting for this film. I will be thrilled. I'll be so happy if it gets nominated. It's so deserving of the love and attention that it's getting. And it's it's a shame that it happened to come out the same year as RRR because they're very different films. And there's probably millions of people who would say every day of the week, 24 hours a day, I would want last film show than RRR. That's fine. That's the beauty of moviemaking. Yeah. So that's our thoughts on that. Yeah, we were a thousand percent rooting for it. If it's nominated, we hope it's nominated. Really, obviously make me very happy. There's other caveats with RRR that will then you heard it. Yeah. Now, little spoilers to get back to the spoilers. All right, so now don't don't listen to this unless you've seen the movie, please go see it and then come back. So yeah, let's talk about the the end. So the part I teared up in was obviously when they were telling she was basically telling him that he could go. You wanted him to go and you wanted him to learn any because he didn't want to become like him. And he didn't want to be stuck anywhere. So that's that's beautiful, even though, you know, the dad's a dick, right? Well, God was the fact that the mom had 12 minutes of primarily running time to say goodbye to her seven year old and pack up his legs for him. So I can't tell you how many times me and my wife after this was done, we're looking to our children and be like, you will never leave on a train ever. I will never ever send you off on a train. You are stuck with me. Obviously, there's other things in the film that is like, it's beautiful that they let him do that because he wouldn't have a chance to be what he wanted there and all that stuff. Yeah. But I felt primarily bad for the mom. Of course, so sad for she was so sweet, so supportive throughout the entire thing. She had this dick of a dad and she just. But she she she knew that was what he was best for him to. But also, like, she'd be like, I don't know why you care so much about this tea stall. Let's go with our son. I know a tea stall there, you weirdo. Right, right. Like, that's what I don't like. I'm like, no, I'm going to go with my son. You can stay here. Right. That is a question of what's he staying there for? He just found out he doesn't even have his tea stall anymore. Yeah. So what's there for him to stay for anymore? It's very, but I do love, obviously. And so maybe it was that, maybe it was the fact that, obviously, they letting him being supportive of what he wants to do. And, you know, that's very relatable to any artist that, you know, wants to leave where they are and go somewhere else. Yeah, yeah. So that's wonderful. Right. And so I like that. I did like that. It was very symbolic. Maybe it was not intentional, but the fact that it ended with a train, him running after a train. It's astonishing how many Indian films climax at trains. I don't think it's a coincidence. It was done on purpose. Oh, yeah. As a shout out to how important trains, climactic moments on trains mean to Indians when it comes to watching. Yeah. And where they have felt deep connection in movies. Yeah. Is on. Absolutely. So I thought that was intentional. So I thought that was speaking of the train. It was it was almost almost a little heavy on the schmaltz. But I adored. I like adored the train pulling away and everybody happens to be there watching him go. The projection is his whirling dervish dance, his buddy with the little mirror in the light. I thought strains, credulity, a tad, but but I I love it. It was dripping with really just a shout out to more film. It was. And then big fish ending as well. I loved the shout outs at the end. And the fact that he could see in all of the bangles, the colors, and he knew by the color because he watched the films get melted down. And then the blend, probably my favorite part of the movie is the blend of him talking about the legends of Indian cinema as a boy. And then it's the adult voice talking about the American cinema that impacted him. And there's this interweaving while you're looking at the beautiful Indian women's bangles of which also goes back to the colors and prisms he's looking through on the train. It's just a lovely, beautiful, beautiful. In fact, the poster does a great job of hinting at the totality of the film with him on the train and the colors there kind of blending in, which are the colors of the glass he's looking through, the color of the celluloid melted in. And it ultimately too conveys it's so small, you could miss it. But the dad recognized he after the destruction of the of the 35 millimeter in the bringing in of digital that he lost, he no longer had hope about his dream anymore. He put up the thing about an ideal boy said, I'll go cut my hair. And his dad recognized he's going to become like me. He's going to have, he's going to live a hopeless life. And he's, if I'm not going to do it for me, I at least have to, I can't let hope die in my kid. That's it's again, the movie's beautiful. Leland, I will never ever send you off on a train. Until you're like 30. Anyways, but like, I also want to talk like how sad the destruction of all that film was. It was a heartbreak. So painful to watch. I was like, please tell me this doesn't actually happen. Like, does that happen? I did you look it up? I didn't look it up, but I promise when you know, which money you could probably I promise there are works of art that did not survive the transition from 35 millimeter to digital all over the world that were either small films that nobody cared about. And they were just tossed or they were films that people cared about, but no one had the care to preserve them. The way Scorsese has done and refurbished them. So, yeah, sadly, I'm confident that when we when we transitioned away from 35 millimeter to digital, most of them got tossed aside. That whole sequence was very 21, 2001, Space Odyssey. Esk without being like even though it didn't have the even though that was in this film, that was in the film. It felt very surreal almost what he was going through. Another thing that's a real shout out to the director. And I would love to ask if this was an intentional thing, because it feels and looks totally intentional. I noted that as his understanding of filmmaking improves, the quality of the film itself began to improve. You went from very basic standard shots at the beginning. No bells and whistles, pretty basic. And by the time you reach our climax point, which is when the cinema is losing the film and he has to go watch it, you get representational vision, you get sound. The score is incredible. The that moment where he's looking at the giant ocean of film and he dives into it and becomes immersed. And then you quickly go back and realize that's what he was thinking. Just I saw the film itself progresses technologically, just as the boy progresses with his understanding of films technology. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Everything about it. I mean, all the performances I thought were really good. Very, very. I love the projectionist. I thought he did a great job. Very good job. As did the dad, as did the mom. She might love the mom. Yeah, like her whole character was amazing. She did a good performance. She didn't say a lot, but she conveyed a lot. And it was all the food looked amazing. Yeah, I was so hungry watching this film. Another another really wonderful thing that could get lost on Western viewers, the majority. The probably the biggest change in dad. Was the cast cast system. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's a fricking huge change. And that was not done heavyhandedly and it wasn't done revelatory. It was just if you don't understand how important it is at the beginning of the film when he sang Brahmins would never make movies. And then he sends his kid off to go make movies. That's fricking ginormous. Yeah, absolutely. And the shit performances. No, we're going to say something I forgot. It wasn't about the performances. No, no, no, she was great. The food looked delicious. And there's something else that probably I'm sure was lost in us was that this is a while. This is a distinctly Indian film. I'm sure we probably miss some of the things that Gujarati's would appreciate. And it's our second or third. It's our second. So it's Hela Rao and this. Yeah, I still find it crazy. Hela Rao wasn't in. I know. But it it that's the other thing I love about this year. Is that Indian cinema is being recognized outside of the stereotypical Bollywood mindset. You know, we love all Indian film and that it has, you know, globally there's you can't say a word about the impact that Hindi cinema has made. But it's really beautiful to see R.R.R. and the last film show being in the conversation for everybody and hopefully everybody recognizing, although Netflix sure didn't when they dubbed R.R.R. That this this is Indian cinema is all the languages. It's a it's a land of many languages, of many peoples, of many cultures all living together as one, just like the food we marveled at where everything tastes different, but everything tastes Indian. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Great movie. Yeah, I should be very proud. We'll be rooting for it at the Oscars. I'll be so happy. So I think it is the 20 versus the for the cut down. Yeah, so it's this next week, right? Yeah, yeah. So hopefully it makes the final cut down. We're rooting for you, man. Yeah, we are. Shout out to Pan Nelan. I don't know if that's a correct pronunciation. Forgive me. Wrote and directed it and did a final. Cyril Moran, beautiful score. Beautiful score. Everything about it. And Swap Roll and your team did beautiful cinematography and the use of light, which was incredibly important in this film. Yeah, any other year, I would have probably been happy that this got nominated. Oh, yeah, it absolutely deserves it. It does. I'm still happy. Yeah, I explained all of that earlier. Yeah, we did. Anyway, let us know what you thought about the film down below.