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How would you like to peak into everybody's bedroom and bathroom 24x7 and see their most intimate moments ? This movie explores that possibility. However, it is intertwined with murders that happen in a 'posh' building housed by upper class people.
I liked the movie because it has the feel and look of a old Hollywood movie. And Sharon Stone does a remarkable job of acting like those old heroines. However, she seems to have cornered the market of movies overloaded with sexual intimacy during that period and so the movie goes a lot further in showing intimate scenes than most movies.
Now you ask why I am paranoid ? It is because of movie like this one where you do not know whom to trust! There are woman being killed in the movie but we do not know why. And the killer/s seem to be all upper class people!
And if you tell me that it is just a movie, then I would like to know why some people, specially young ones, act and behave like movie stars and use language that closely resemble those of the movie stars? Haanh ?
By Ravindra Loomba There is a rumor that you have to be really smart to enter America but when we visit a citizenship training class for new immigrants at the local library we see people of all hues and colors with very limited knowledge of English, American history and culture. [I do not mean to insult any one group of immigrants but I do have to be factual, you see!]
This is the idea that this movie explores. A new female from India goes thru the trails and tribulations of being a new immigrant here in the USA. She cannot converse very well in English and gets upset when the lady at the coffee shop counter barks at her. Our heroine is from a well to do background in India and is not used to being treated so rudely. The rest of the movie is a mix of comedy and romance at the English As A Second Language (ESL) class she is forced to attend along with other immigrants!!
Sridevi, the lady who plays the role of the main character, was a very popular actress in India (Bollywood) once. She became popular with the movie Mr. INDIA because of her exceptional talent as shown in the song below. According to online media reports she passed away recently in Dubai.
There is a reason this movie was not made in India but neighboring Sri Lanka (Ceylon) !
I have been a fan of Steven Spielberg ever since I watched Jaws and Close Encounters in Mumbai. I have watched almost all of his movies since then including E.T., Poltergeist, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park etc etc.
His Indiana Jones series seems to be the most popular of the adventure genre and I like the fast paced action with Harrison Ford as the star. However, the Temple Of Doom movie for me is a little silly and comic book like. The Hindi mantras, the Kali Ma chants etc are mostly incorrect and meaningless. Where in India do you find temples like the one in the movie ? The temple seems to be a combination of a coal mine and crazy people who claim to be Kali worshipers.
Does not the scene of the strong men in the cave whipping little kids remind you of the various movies made on the Bible and Old Testament by Hollywood ? It seems Mr. Spielberg transferred scenes from these Hollywood movies to the Indian scenario except that the slaves being whipped in this case are kids. In one scene the main villain , Mr. Amrish Puri, says that all Christian and Hebrew gods will fall and then Kali will rule. I have never heard dialogues like these from Indians but have heard words in that tone from American Evangelists you see on TV ! Indians have many many Gods like Krishna,Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva etc and couple of extra ones will not matter to most Indians.
And many Indians are vegetarians, they don't eat monkey brains, snakes and other repulsive delicacies that Speilberg shows in the movie. There are non-vegetarians in India as well but the kind of meats shown in the movie seem to be popular in neighboring Asian countries like Korea, Taiwan, China etc per the many Travel shows you see on American TV but not in India. And making fun of Hindu Gods via a Hindu mantra [ as uttered by a 'hypnotized' Mr. Indy] used while worshiping Lord Rama and his spouse Sita does not (Jaya Rama, Siya Rama) suit a movie maker of the caliber of Mr. Spielberg. [ Though everyone does not agree about the affect these chants/mantras have on a person's mind either, so....]. And the main priest's headgear and the voodoo doll seem to be from some other place rather than India.
So it seems that Spielberg did not do much homework and relied on fast action and special effects to salvage the movie. This movie is more of a comic book than an invitation to India!
Note: I am familiar that Mother Kali is worshiped in the State Of Bengal in India where Swami Vivekananda was born and raised.
It was one of the TV shows that we watched regularly when we were new in America. 'Saved By The Bell' was not 'Cheers' but it helped us understand what life inside an American school might be like!! There were other shows we watched on Friday nights . We invited other friends from India or got invited to their residence to watch a movie or one of these shows. The period was around 1990 and we were on a visa in northeast USA!!
Elizabeth Berkeley was one of the stars of Saved By The Bell. We assumed at the time that she was a young and innocent and funny like rest of the cast. Then I heard of the movie 'Showgirls' . I felt a little shocked at the time! Is that what happens to young girls like Elizabeth here ? Is America that bad and hard ?
It seems so, from the daily tabloid news of stars from 'The Cosby Show', 'Different Strokes' and a few others! They seem so endearing when we watch them on TV but their real lives, as elaborated in the tabloid shows and magazines, seems to be quite the opposite. They are always in trouble or caught in illicit relationships or crimes ! It is hard to says if the tabloids are always right - they need fodder for printing and a tidbit of news can be turned to a few pages in print, with colorful pictures, to increase the sales!
But in the case of Elizabeth Berkeley there is nothing to hide if you happen to watch 'Showgirls' ! Absolutely nothing. Maybe she and the filmmaker are doing public service by showing the life of the ladies who are part of that trade and by satisfying our curiosity as well!!
This is another movie I watched around the same period as PATTON (see previous post). The air-conditioned theater was a welcome escape from the sultry summer heat of Mumbai.
I was mesmerized to see the scene where engine of the train slowly forces/plows its way along the snow covered tracks pointing straight at the audience. I had never seen or experienced snow. It never snows in three fourths of India. Only people who live in the northern part in the Himalayas like Simla and Kashmir experience snow.
David Lean seems to me to be the master of 'historic' cinema set in harsh locales (see Lawrence Of Arabia). Omar Sharif and the other actors in this movie seemed to be very talented with a touch of sophistication we do not see these days.
Disclaimer: At the time I did not understand all of the story because I am unfamiliar with the history of Russia and the revolution. Yet the movie held a visual appeal for me and was worth the few rupees it cost to get a seat.
