Cannes Documentary On Cinema Evolution Cites Five Bollywood Films: Gangs of Wasseypur, PK, Ship of Theseus
Five Indian films, all made in Mumbai but disparate in spirit and substance, feature in Belfast-born, Edinburgh-based filmmaker and critic Mark Cousins' stimulating 160-minute documentary, The Story of Film
Five
Indian
films,
all
made
in
Mumbai
but
disparate
in
spirit
and
substance,
feature
in
Belfast-born,
Edinburgh-based
filmmaker
and
critic
Mark
Cousins'
stimulating
160-minute
documentary,
The
Story
of
Film:
A
New
Generation.
Made
during
the
pandemic
and
studded
with
memorable
movie
moments,
the
documentary
had
its
world
premiere
on
the
opening
day
of
the
74th
Cannes
Film
Festival
as
if
to
tell
the
world
that
cinema
is,
and
will
always
be,
alive,
no
matter
what
adversity
it
faces.
The
Story
of
Film:
A
New
Generation,
a
part
of
the
Cannes
Classics
section,
opens
with
a
shot
of
the
new
cinematheque
in
Madrid
–
a
symbol
of
hope
and
renewal
for
diehard
lovers
of
a
medium
that
is
nothing
if
not
dynamic.
A
New
Generation,
a
follow-up
to
Cousins'
15-hour
magnum
opus
The
Story
of
Film:
An
Odyssey"
(2011),
tracks
the
creative
innovations,
technological
advancements
and
new
ways
of
seeing
in
an
image-intensive,
attention-deficient
digital
age.
Besides
covering
the
last
decade
of
American
and
European
cinema,
it
focuses
extensively
on
Asian
and
Arab
films.
It
also
touches
upon
the
pandemic,
too,
and
ruminates
on
its
repercussions:
lockdowns,
face
masks
and
social
distancing.
The
riveting,
thought-provoking
overview
of
"the
new
millennium
of
movies" cites
Anurag
Kashyap's
five-hour
Gangs
of
Wasseypur,
Rajkumar
Hirani's
PK,
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali's
Goliyon
ki
Rasleela
Ram-Leela,
Anand
Gandhi’s
Ship
of
Theseus
and
Anand
Patwardhan’s
brilliant
documentary
Reason
among
the
most
important
films
of
the
current
era.
A
New
Generation
is
written,
photographed
and
narrated
by
Cousins.
It
covers
a
dizzying
array
of
films
and
probes
the
evolution
of
the
key
movie
genres,
the
extensions
of
film
language,
the
centrality
of
faces
in
cinema,
the
explosion
of
streaming
platforms
and
communication
devices,
and
the
advent
of
performance
capture
and
de-aging
tools.
Beginning
with
Joker
and
Frozen,
it
encompasses
a
diverse
range
of
films
–
from
Cemetery
of
Splendour,
Parasite
and
Shoplifters
to
Mad
Max:
Fury
Road,
Black
Panther
and
Midsommar,
and
from
Norte,
the
End
of
History,
Holy
Motors
and
An
Elephant
Sitting
Still
to
Hustlers,
Gravity
and
Baby
Driver
–
to
capture
the
methods
and
directions
of
21st
century
cinema.
Cousins
sees
Gangs
of
Wasseypur
as
“one
of
the
most
complex”
gangster
films
in
the
80
years
since
the
birth
of
the
genre.
A
“most
elaborately
choreographed
song”
from
Ram-Leela
featuring
Ranveer
Singh
figures
in
the
film.
The
documentarian,
whose
credits
include
Women
Make
Film
(2018)
and
The
Eyes
of
Orson
Welles,
also
notes
“the
colours…
and
musical
energy”
of
another
Bollywood
number,
this
one
from
PK,
with
Aamir
Khan
and
Sanjay
Dutt.
The
filmmaker
describes
a
“tonal
shift”
in
PK
as
“one
of
the
biggest…
in
contemporary
cinema”.
He
regards
Reason
as
one
of
the
most
significant
documentary
films
of
our
times
and
identifies
a
“moment”
in
Patwardhan’s
film
as
“one
of
the
bravest…
in
recent
cinema”.
Ship
of
Theseus,
with
its
theme
of
ailment,
healing
and
renewal,
is
held
up
as
a
cinematic
exemplar
of
the
transitions
that
mankind
is
witnessing
today
as
it
sits
on
the
cusp
of
a
process
that
could
change
it
beyond
recognition.
Cousins
makes
a
special
mention
of
films
that
point
a
finger
at
our
inhumanity
and
our
refusal
to
learn
the
lessons
of
history.
Cousins
has
another
film
in
Cannes
Classics
this
year
–
The
Storms
of
Jeremy
Thomas,
a
documentary
on
the
prolific
British
producer
who
has
over
the
past
five
decades
collaborated
with
a
few
of
the
world’s
greatest
filmmakers,
notably
Bernardo
Bertolucci,
Nagisa
Oshima,
Wim
Wenders,
Lars
von
Trier
and
David
Cronenberg.