Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980)

There are two kinds of directors: those who have the public in mind when they conceive and make their films and those who don't consider the public at all. For the former, cinema is an art of spectacle; for the latter, it is an individual adventure. There is nothing intrinsically better about one or the other; it's simply a matter of different approaches. For Hitchcock, films are meant for the public. He made movies for the public.

Alfred Hitchcock, often dubbed as the master of suspense, is a remarkably intelligent director. Right from the start of his career in England, he had formed the habit of predicting each aspect of his films. All his life he has worked to make his own tastes coincide with the public's, emphasizing humor in his English period and suspense in his American period. This dosage of humor and suspense has made Hitchcock one of the most commercial directors in the world. It is the strict demands he makes on himself and on his art that have made him a great director. 

Let me first start with two quotes that hopefully capture Hitchcock's motives behind his style of filmmaking:

• On the length of movies: "The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder"

• On his mission in life:
"to simply scare the hell out of people."

Hitchcock, as many of us are aware of, started his career in England and then took American citizenship and started his illustrative career in the Hollywood. His filmography is given below:

The Silent Years

1925            The Pleasure Garden

1927            The Mountain Eagle

1927            The Lodger

1927            Downhill

1927            Easy Virtue

1927            The Ring

1928            Champagne

1928            The Farmer's Wife

1929            The Manxman

The British Classics

1929            Blackmail

1930            Juno and the Paycock

1930            Murder!

1931            The Skin Game

1932            Number Seventeen

1932            Rich and Strange

1934            The Man Who Knew Too Much

1934            Waltzes From Vienna

1935            The 39 Steps

1936            Sabotage

1936            Secret Agent

1937            Young and Innocent

1938            The Lady Vanishes

1939            Jamaica Inn

1940            Foreign Correspondent

Vintage Hollywood

1940            Rebecca

1941            Mr. and Mrs. Smith

1941            Suspicion

1942            Saboteur

The War Years

1943            Shadow of a Doubt

1944            Lifeboat

1945            Spellbound

              

Perfecting the Art

1946            Notorious

1948            The Paradine Case

1948            Rope

1949            Under Capricorn

1950            Stage Fright

              

The Fourth Decade

1951            Strangers on a Train

1953            I Confess

1954            Dial "M" for Murder

1954            Rear Window

              

The Master of Suspense

1955            To Catch a Thief

1955            The Trouble with Harry

1956            The Man Who KnewToo Much (remake)

1956            The Wrong Man

1958            Vertigo

1959            North by Northwest

1960            Psycho

             

The Grand Old Man

1963            The Birds

1964            Marnie

1966            Torn Curtain

1969            Topaz

              

Coming Home

1972            Frenzy

1976            Family Plot

There are many widely distributed sources where one will come across Hitchcock's style of moviemaking. The following video summarizes some of these elements, even though it is far from being adequate:

In the following video, the master of suspense describes his  "Theory of Bomb" that lies at the heart of his filmmaking style. 

In yet another video, posted below, Hitchcock defines the idea of a McGuffin, a ploy by the director to sustain the suspense, first introduced by Hitchcock. 

The last video clip traces Hitchcock in all of his cameo appearances:

My Favorites (not necessarily in this order):

Frenzy (1972)
Overview: Hitchcock in full gear, telling story of London strangler and innocent man suspected of murder spree. All Hitchcock elements are here, including black humor and several astounding camera shots.

Strangers on a train (1951)
Overview: Walker gives his finest performance as psychopath involved with tennis star Granger in 'exchange murders'. First - class Hitchcock, based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith.

Dial M for murder (1954)
Overview: Frederick Knott's suspence play of man plotting wife's murder and subsequent police investigation; stagey at times but slick and entertaining.

Rear window (1954)
Overview: One of Hitchcocks most stylish thrillers has photographer Stewart confined to his wheelchair in his apartment, using binoculars to spy on the neighbors, and discovering a possible murder.

To catch a thief (1955)
Overview: The French Riviera serves as a picturesque backdrop for this entertaining Hitchcock with Grant as reformed cat burglar suspected in new wave of jewel robberies.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Overview: Hitchcock's remake of his 1934 film is disappointing. Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera" won the Best Song Oscar.

Vertigo (1958)
Overview: One of Hitchcock's most discussed films. Retired police detective who has fear of heights, is hired by old school friend to keep an eye on his wife, eventually falls in love with her and that's just the beginning. Haunting, dream - like thriller.

North by northwest North by Northwest (1959)
Overview: Quintessential Hitchcock comedy - thriller, with bewildering ad - man Grant chased cross country by spies (who think he is a double agent). One memorable scene after another.

Psycho (1960)
Overview: The master's most notorious film is still terrifying after all these years.

The birds (1963)
Overview: Hitchcock's classic about a woman and mass bird attacks that follow her around isolated California community.

Marnie (1964)
Overview: This story of a habitual thief whose employer is determined to understand her illness was considered a misfire in 1964 but there's more than meets the eye.

Topaz (1969)
Overview: French Intelligence agent works with American to dig out info on Russia's involvement in Cuba. Good but also not a great Hitchcock.

Rebecca Rebecca (1940)
Overview: Hitchcock's first American movie about a girl who marries British nobleman but lives shadow of his former wife. Academy Award winner for "Best picture" and "Cinematography".

Shadow of a doubt (1943)
Overview: Perceptive Americana intertwined with story of young girl who slowely comes to realize her beloved uncle is really the "merry widow murderer".

The man who knew Too Much (1934)
Overview: Young girl is kidnapped to prevent her parents from revealing what they've learned about assassination plot.

The 39 steps (1935)
Overview: Classic Hitchcock mystery with overtones of light comedy and romance, as innocent Donat is pulled into spy - ring activities.


Most common elements of a Hitchcockian film:

• Hitchcock used the theory of proximity, by "proper" placement of camera to plan out each scene. These varations are a way of controlling when the audience feels intensity, or relaxation. Hitchcock compared this to a composer writing a music score - except instead of playing instruments, he's playing the audience. 
• The camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious in a room. This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in uncovering the story. Scenes can often begin by panning a room showing close-ups of objects that explain plot elements. An example is here:

• Hitchcock said the following: "People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another," said Hitchcock, "a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs.” The focus of the scene should never be on what the characters are actually saying. Have something else going on. Resort to dialogue only when it’s impossible to do otherwise. In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house."
• Putting an idea into the mind of the character without explaining it in dialogue is done by using a point-of-view shot sequence. This is subjective cinema. You take the eyes of the characters and add something for them to look at. You can edit back and forth between the character and the subject as many times as you want to build tension. The audience won't get bored. This is the most powerful form of cinema, even more important than acting. This is what Hitchcock calls "pure cinema.
• Divide action into a series of close-ups (Montage editing) shown in succession. Don't avoid this basic technique. This is not the same as throwing together random shots into a fight sequence to create confusion. Instead, carfully chose a close-up of a hand, an arm, a face, a gun falling to the floor - tie them all together to tell a story. In this way you can portray an event by showing various pieces of it and having control over the timing. You can also hide parts of the event so that the mind of the audience is engaged.  Hitchcock said this was "transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience."  The famous shower scene in Psycho uses montage to hide the violence. You never see the knife hitting Janet Leigh. The impression of violence is done with quick editing, and the killing takes place inside the viewer's head rather than the screen. Also important is knowing when not to cut. Basic rule: anytime something important happens, show it in a close-up. Make sure the audience can see it. 
• Make all of your characters the exact opposite of what the audience expects in a movie. Turn dumb blondes into smart blondes, give the Cuban guy a French accent, and the criminals must be rich and successful. They should have unexpected personalities, making decisions on a whim rather than what previous buildup would suggest. These sort of ironic characters make them more realistic to the audience, and much more ripe for something to happen to them. Hitchcock criminals tend to be wealthy upper class citizens whom you’d never suspect, the policeman and politicians are usually the bumbling fools, the innocent are accused, and the villains get away with everything because nobody suspects them. They surprise you at every step of the plot. 
• "Information" is essential to Hitchcock suspense; showing the audience what the characters don’t see. If something is about to harm the characters, show it at beginning of the scene and let the scene play out as normal. Constant reminders of this looming danger will build suspense. But remember - the suspense is not in the mind of the character. They must be completely unaware of it. 
• Create situations of irony. While working on a screenplay Hitchcock would often ask, “Now wouldn’t this be a funny way to kill him off?” He built his stories around ironic situations. He liked to play practical jokes on the characters, putting them through the worst possible things that could go wrong. In the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "One More Mile to Go" (1957, directed by Hitchcock) a policeman has stopped a man because of a burnt out tail light on his car, completely unaware there is a dead body in the trunk. The more obsessed this policeman gets with fixing the light, the more uneasy the murderer gets. Hitchcock pushes this situation to the level of unbearable absurdity as the policeman continues worrying about the light, and gets closer and closer to noticing the body. North By Northwest (1959) places Cary Grant in an open field on a sunny day, where he is then chased by an airplane. “I like to take a lurid situation and counterpoint it with understatement,” explained Hitchcock.
• And many others...

Finally Truffaut said of Hitchcock the following: "Hitchcock has long been judged by the flowers he places in the vase. Now we have at least realized that the flowers are always the same, and that his efforts are directed at the shape of the vase and its beauty."

A Chronicle of Cannes 2012

Cannes 2012, like every other year, boats of some strong pieces of cinema crafted by eminent filmmakers around the world. 


In the Competition section, filmmakers like Michael Haneke (known for Cache, The Piano Teacher, The White Ribbon), David Cronenberg (known for Cosmopolis, A Histroy of Violence, Crash, The Fly, Eastern Promises), Cristian Mungiu (known for 4 Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days and Tales from the Golden Age), Wes Anderson (known for Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums), and Abbas Kiorastami (known for Taste of Cherry, Close Up, Certified Copy) are competing, among others. The full list of entries in this category is here.


In the Un Certain Regard section, filmmakers from India (Miss Lovely directed by Ashim Ahluwalia), Mexico (Desputes De Lucia directed by Michel Franco), and Belgium (A Perdre La Raison directed by Joachim Lafosse), among others, are there.The full list of entries in this category is here.


The winners in the Competition section are:

• Palme d'Or  AMOUR (LOVE) directed by Michael HANEKE
• Grand Prix  REALITY directed by Matteo GARRONE
• Award for Best Director  Carlos REYGADAS for POST TENEBRAS LUX
• Award for Best Screenplay  Cristian MUNGIU for DUPÃ DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS)
• Jury Prize THE ANGELS' SHARE directed by Ken LOACH

The winners in the Un Certain Regard section are:

• DESPUÉS DE LUCIA directed by Michel FRANCO

How to Critique a Film - A Few Thoughts

Watching movies is fun, but critiquing movies is a more complex endeavor. What film elements do professional critics actually analyze, and how can an amateur film buff get started critiquing contemporary cinema? This essay discusses some of the key characteristics of nontechnical film criticism: the thematic, dramatic (storytelling), and stylistic aspects of the movie, and how to analyze them. (Technical elements such as lighting, sound, and other camera or editing qualities are not discussed.)

The theme of a film can sometimes be discovered by asking "what was the central point the director was trying to make with this film?" What was the central goal of the film? Boggs and Petrie list several possible goals of a movie, including providing pure  entertainment, providing a character sketch of a fascinating personality, or increasing the viewer's awareness of a particular social problem. They ask, "what is the movie about in abstract terms?" and they make the following suggestion for determining the theme: Frequently, just describing the movie to someone who has not seen it will provide an important clue to the theme, because we tend to describe first the things that made the strongest impression on us.

There also may be additional supporting, or minor, themes found in the movie. If these are not substantive enough to be considered a full theme, they may be called motifs. A motif is an idea or symbol which is repeated throughout the movie but does not constitute a full theme of the movie. As an example, consider the movie Minority Report, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick and directed by Steven Spielberg [3]. The central question in this film seems to be "Is it morally acceptable for a government to save numerous lives and prevent crime using a new technology that has been shown to be occasionally fallible and presents violations of basic human rights?" The movie thus explores themes such as excessive government control of individuals, and conflicts between individual rights and group safety. Motifs seen throughout the movie include pervasive and personalized advertising, identity recognition and validation technologies, and various symbols (eyes, glasses) representing omniscient or all seeing beings.

Analyzing the story is often much easier than analyzing the theme of a film. A story is presented in film through the plot (simple, complex, timeless, believable), the characters (appearance, dialogue, interplay between characters, actions, names), and symbolic elements.

Usually the plot is one of the easiest things about a movie to describe. Rather than just rehashing a storyline, however, a critic will investigate specific elements of the plot and whether they work to make the movie better. Examples of such plot devices include the way time is handled in the movie (linear, nonlinear) or how the important scenes of climax and denouement (ending) are revealed. Another interesting aspect of plot is its sense of believability: does the plot tell a universal truth (the world as it is), an internal truth about human nature, or a fantastic version of truth "as it never will be"? No matter whether the story is a biography, or a heartwarming romantic comedy, or the latest film adaptation of a children's fantasy novel, the movie must be believable or at least allow the viewer to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the movie.

Consider the example film Minority Report, which is set in the near future, in Washington D.C. 2042. In this movie, there are numerous scenes including the physical landmarks of the city that a viewer will recognize (monuments, Metro rail, public spaces), as well as new physical features (vertical roads) that do not exist today. The movie also presents a "future vision" of contemporary social problems (crime, drugs) that have escalated over time. That crime has escalated and that new designer drugs are available in 2042 are not unbelievable to a present day viewer.

The way characters are presented in a movie is essential to the analysis of the story. A viewer learns about characters primarily through the appearance and dialogue of the character, and through character interactions in the movie. Clothing, hair, mannerisms,
accent, and speech patterns can be immediate cues to the audience for how a character is to be interpreted. Main characters can also be categorized into protagonists and antagonists; good guys and bad guys. Complex characterizations of "sympathetic bad guys" or "good guys who do bad things" are interesting and can make for more interesting viewing. Characters are often described in other dimensions, such as round (complex) or flat, mythic (underdogs,
messiahs), or in terms of their relationships to other characters ("the female love interest", "the buddy movie", etc). Other types of characters include the stock character and stereotype. Stock characters are those with very simple roles that do not require character development (taxi driver, bartender). Likewise, stereotypical characters can be relied upon to behave in an easily understood way, though they may have more dialogue than a stock character. Stereotypical characters move the plot along, without the writers having to spend a lot of time on character development. Critics are often unimpressed when a main character emerges as a stereotype.

In Minority Report, the main character Thomas A. Anderson is believable as a city police detective in the Department of PreCrime. It is his job to organize the arrests of people who were about to commit crimes. Because the character is made immediately likable, the viewer is initially made to sympathize with the mission of the department. As the plot reveals that the protagonist is much more complex than initially presented (i.e. the viewer is shown his depressing home life, his nightmarish memories of his young son's death, and his drug problem), the Department of PreCrime similarly becomes more nuanced and the issues surrounding the arrests more complex.

A film can use symbolism to reinforce its theme or to add depth to the story. Symbols can be repeated for emphasis or can be metaphoric, in such a way that their value in the story exceeds the value normally represented by that object. An object can also be given specific value by a character in order to increase its worth to the viewer. Critical acceptance of symbolism in film will often depend on whether the symbol is new and original or whether it is a cliché. Whether some film element has symbolic meaning can also be over analyzed by viewers, so care should be taken not to misconstrue everything into a symbol with deeper meaning.

In Minority Report, the theme of government control of individuals is reinforced by repeated reference to eyes. The viewer is treated to obvious and intrusive shots of eyeballs, eyesight, glasses, optical scanning, eye surgery and a mad eye doctor. One of the synonyms for unjustified government control in contemporary storytelling is the notion that"Big Brother is watching you" from George Orwell's novel 1984. The symbol of the eye can thus refer both to the character's own blindness about what is happening to him in the story and his own role in the downfall of the Department of PreCrime, as well as the more obvious metaphor of government control of individuals that the Department of PreCrime represents.

The genre of a film can be very important in a critical analysis of a film. If a movie is a "gangster movie" or a "western", that genre classification brings with it an immediate recognition of certain accepted truths about the movie. The genre film can be a success either by following these conventions or by breaking them. As with symbols and metaphors, a genre film that relies heavily on cliches and does not offer anything new will be unsatisfying to the critic. Some films can not be described as belonging solely to one particular genre. Many of the films in the science fiction genre, for instance, have major cinematic elements borrowed from other genres: the characters and tone of Blade Runner are heavily based on the 1940s film noir genre; Gattaca is a futuristic bio-thriller with a set reminiscent of a 1930s romance; Star Wars is a sort of sci-fi version of a classic western, complete with saloon scenes and space cowboys.

Minority Report is a science fiction film, because it is set in the future and deals with the ethics of a technological problem in society. As such, it also exhibits another aspect common to science fiction films: the ability to cause viewers to question and "catalogue our culture's major anxieties", which it does by presenting a society's blind (metaphor) acceptance of technology and resulting loss of human rights at the hand of government. Minority Report also inherits certain other aspects of the science fiction genre, including an expectation that the audience will suspend disbelief about the pace of technological change, and the intentional inclusion of "geewhiz" technologies specifically to get a reaction from the audience. The movie is successful in this genre because it presents a believable and scientific picture of life in 2042.

This essay presents three nontechnical elements of film that can be analyzed by a viewer new to movie criticism: theme, story, and genre. Themes describe the overarching goals or big picture questions that a movie attempts to answer. The story of a movie is comprised of dramatic elements such as plot, characters, and symbolism. The genre of a movie is a descriptor of how the movie relates to other movies like itself what does this movie have in common with other movies, and what does it take from other genres? The new critic will be able to use these descriptions and the example (Minority Report) to make careful critiques of other movies.

Luchino Visconti (1906–1976)

Luchino Visconti is a filmmaker from the tradition of Italian Neo-Realism. His film 1943’s Ossessione is sometimes considered the first film of Italian Neo-realism. Salvador Dali dismissed him as “a Communist who likes only luxury,” Death in Venice, Rocco and His Brothers, Bellissima, and The Leopard are some of his best works.

Roberto Rossellini (1906 - 1977)

Roberto Rossellini is considered as one of the architects of Italian Neo-realism. Of all the films that he made, Rome, Open City (1945), Paisà (1946), and Germany Year Zero (1948) are considered his masterpiece. Rome, Open City (1945) is about a city, Paisà (1946) is about all of Italy from the south to the north, and Germany Year Zero (1948) is about a great country that has been conquered and destroyed. François Truffaut (The Films In My Life, p. 276, 1978) wrote the following about Rossellini's  style: "Rossellini detest clever titles, especially with scenes preceding them, flashbacks, and everything in general that's included simply for decoration, everything that does not serve the film's intention or the character development." 

Ashes (II) (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2012)

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest short is an interpretation of memories: amalgamation of anarchist and tranquil images; cacophonous and lyrical sound bites. The film is 20 minutes long and can be watched free of cost here.  

Satyajit Ray and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg)

Celebrating his birth anniversary, which was on this May 2, many will remember Satyajit Ray's virtuosity as director, screenwriter, fiction writer, musician, publisher, illustrator, graphic designer and film critic but few people will talk about how one of S.Ray's creations was taken by Hollywood. There is a great deal of controversy over Steven Spielberg's blockbuster movie E.T. The Extra-terrestrial it is still alleged that it was in fact based on a script actually written by none other than Satyajit Ray himself which was originally titled “The Alien”! In 1962 S.Ray wrote a short Bengali science fiction story titled “Bankubabur Bandhu” which was published in the Ray family magazine, Sandesh. The story revolves around a spaceship that lands in a pond in some part of rural Bengal and the villagers begin worshiping it as a temple which they think had risen from the depth of the Earth. The alien, however, establishes contact with a young village lad named Haba through dreams and in the course of its short stay on the planet the alien also plays a number of harmless pranks on the village community. A few years later, during a meeting in London with the famous science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke, Ray casually depicted that storyline and in his own words shared “the germ of an idea I had for a sci-fi film”. Clarke, finding the plot fascinating talked to his friend and Sri Lanka based movie producer named Mike Wilson who took an avid interest and swiftly flew to Kolkata and accompanied S.Ray as the latter penned down the script of a potential blockbuster Hollywood hit. Ray and Co. went to Hollywood and by April, 1967 talks were on the table of studio giant Columbia Pictures co-producing the film which would star Peter Sellers as the lead and Marlon Brando as the second lead. It is important to mention here that by then the printed copy of S.Ray's script “The Alien” was available in studios of Hollywood.
But few things started troubling S Ray; for starters he was immensely disturbed to find out that not only Mike Wilson exclusively copyrighted the script that S.Ray had written in both their names but had also appropriated his script fee, all behind the back of the great director. Besides the nasty politics and scheming of movie business: the Hollywood culture was having its toll on S.Ray's motivation for directing his first Hollywood movie. In 1968 S.Ray decided to abandon “The Alien” project for the time being and returned to Kolkata and started to pursue his other directorial interest stationed within his native place; however, he remained optimistic about this particular Hollywood venture of his. It wasn't until 1982; the year Spielberg's E.T. the Extraterrestrial got released that resurfaced “The Alien” endeavour into S.Ray's mind with terrible dismay towards Hollywood, unfortunately, once again. When E.T. was released the similarity with “The Alien” seemed more than mere coincidence to Satyajit Ray and many had the same opinion as well. Arther C. Clarke witnessed the similarities in E.T. which he reffered as “striking parallels” to Ray's script that was made for Hollywood and telephoned Ray in January 1983 and suggested to Ray that he contact Spielberg and point out the resemblances. But Satyajit Ray, the great man that he was, did not show any interest in pursuing the matter any further even though he was firmly convinced that his dear project “The Alien” was a victim of plagiarism. In his own words he told the Indian press that Spielberg's E.T “would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies”. It must be mentioned here that E.T was co-produced by the same company (Columbia Pictures) that had contracted with Ray in 1967. Although S.Ray let the matter go and as for reason he explained, “Artists' have better things to do with their time.” Besides, he was very much aware of Spielberg's blatant denial on this particular regard. In 1982 when the issue was raised Spielberg told the press “I was in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood”. Let's put this claim to a test.
Spielberg graduated from Saratoga High School, California in 1965 which means that he was in fact already graduated from high school when S.Ray's script was circulating in Hollywood studios (1967) and by 1969 Spielberg was the youngest director ever to be signed up with a major Hollywood studio like Universal after the period when he began his career as a professional director after having a start as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department of the same studio in 1968. So these prove that Spielberg was in fact a graduate and regular Hollywood studios when S.Ray's script was available. The question remains then why Spielberg would falsify his position over the accusation like that if his creation (E.T.) was genuinely his very own?
According to experts the most remarkable factor that resembles Spielberg's E.T. with S.Ray's “The Alien” is the characterisation of the alien being. The Bengali maestro's portrayal of the alien being was of an intruder who according to S.Ray's own words, “the benign nature of the creature, and the fact that it is small and acceptable to children and possessed certain superhuman powers-not physical strength but other kinds of powers, particularly types of vision, and that it takes an interest in earthly things”. And this distinctive notion of alien was somewhat strikingly similar to that of E.T where Spielberg's alien being befriends little kids and involves in jovial naughtiness and means no harm to mankind during its stay. Aliens were never strangers in the world of Hollywood however their portrayal have always been somewhat as a violent species that come to earth with evil intentions and the end result is inevitable conflict between human race and the extra terrestrial beings. This always has been the case which still exists to day due to the genre's splendid illusory and guaranteed financial success. The question that many ask what would make Spielberg shift away from such customary path even when his close peers were making highly successful movies of these genre (Star Wars by George Lucas). Is it truly Spielberg's genius or the influence of a script written by S.Ray which sketched the alien and human contact in the likes that Hollywood have never seen before? Some also can't help but wonder why E.T. didn't enjoy a sequel like the other successful Spielberg projects namely Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. Here it is important to mention that Spielberg and his studio DreamWorks have been accused of plagiarism on several occasions which includes movies like Amistad, Chicken Run, Twister, What Lies Beneath and several others. E.T. is considered one of the best movies of all time and it is what made Steven Spielberg what he is today. Now, if E.T. is truly based on S.Ray's script “The Alien” (as it certainly appears to be) then the world needs to acknowledge this and surely a belated merit is in order to Satyajit Ray from the Hollywood community and especially from Steven Spielberg himself. In the following video, Mr. Satyajit Ray mentions the connection between his screenplay and the film E.T. 

Doing Things Differently

From now on, I am going to do things in a different way around here. I will not write reviews on films. Instead, I am going to further educate myself on films, which will happen slowly but steadily behind the screen, I mean in private. In front of the screen, I am going to don the hat of a film reporter and will write about film-centric events that are of interest to me. In doing so, I am going to follow only one strict rule, that is, I am going to talk about endeavors that treat cinema as an art form, more or less.