Skip to main content

Sidney Lumet

I do it because I like it and it's a wonderful way to spend your life.
Sidney Lumet gave this reply on why he made movies.
Indeed, Lumet lived a wonderful life and made movies that have inspired not just me but lots and lots of people around the world. Born on the 25th of June in the year 1924, little did anyone know that the child was about to make movies that would inspire generations of filmmakers. He had a long career in movies, making more than 40 movies beginning in black and white. He was said to an actor’s director and has been one of those rare filmmakers who happened to worked with a wide range of actors during a career that has spanned over five decades. Being a successful filmmaker does not make a man great. The reason why people always associate the word great with a filmmaker like Sidney is because of how human he has been to the people around him. He is said to the kindest and most civilized of humans around! Now that is a quality that deserves greatness.
Sidney’s urge to go beyond the level of entertainment with his films would be the reason why his films have become great, demanding thought and senses. In 1957, Lumet made his first feature film, 12 Angry Men and in 2007, his last, Before the Devil Know’s You’re Dead. In between, he made Dog Day Afternoon, one of my favourite films.
Sidney Lumet will never make movies again. He died.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nidra

I haven't seen the original version of the film, Nidra, which was directed by Bharathan. But the version his son, Sidharth Bharathan, made was lovable for the way it was made. Nidra is a neat film. It has a writing material well adapted by Sidharth and Santhosh. The dialogues from Santhosh Echikkanam are bang on! Loved the visuals of the film as well but it seemed to have an excess of blue all over it. I wonder if Sameer Thahir did that to cover up for the excess of white that he might have had to  accommodate while shooting on the Red camera. The music and background score of the film sounded well with the film. The editing and sound design were no less good. It did feel as though there where a couple of instances when the footages jumped creating a disturbance for a second or two. But, otherwise the editing by Bavan Sreekumar was just too good. I loved the editing on all those scenes that featured the redish look from Sameer and the scene at the dining table that featur...

Kaminey

Vishal Bharadwaj's Kaminey is a classic film targeted at the masses. Vishal Bharadwaj could be a genius. He has handled a movie that could turn out to be a total mess at some other guys hand with great brilliance. He has not only managed to execute the film in style but also taken care of the music, screenplay and dialogues of the film. The plot of Kaminey is simple. The construction of the plot is where Vishal and his team has made the magic. As in a Guy Ritchie film here we travel with one character and then at a point slide over to another. The action as in a Quentin Tarantino movie is gonna come hitting at you as hard as you have ever imagined a Bollywood cinema to be (and the better thing here is that you have very less blood compared to QT)! What makes Kaminey have the class is the the fact that it is truely cinematic. Kaminey is a true film and not a hindi film. Vishal Bharadwaj has been able to communicate with his film very universally with the brilliant dark visual t...

Knowing Stanley

Stanley Winston is popularly known as Stan Winston. He could be called a special effects and visual effects artist or even a creature creator! Stan, who was born on the 7th of April, 1946, died on June 15, 2008. I'm not sure how make people would have bothered to see the end credits roll with the name of Stan. But Stan has made visuals and effects that kept many (including me) at the edge of their seats. Winston had been a frequent collaborator with filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron. Stan wanted to be an actor. He became a painter, a sculptor and an artist. Everything to him was creating characters that tell stories in films. Stan Winston was a man adored by Steven Spielberg. How could Steven not adore a man who made dinosaurs that shuck the whole world. Stan was the creator of live action dinosaurs in the film, Jurassic Park . He was also the man behind the terrific makeover of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator series. Stanley has won four academy awards...