Myshkin_Karamazov Reviews

The Unfaithful Wife (1969)

The Talented Monsieur Michel

[9/10 · 11 April 2009]

What Michel Bouquet does in his role as the husband to Stephane Audran's title character can only be described as an acting tour-De-force. MAGNIFICENT!

Audran is not bad herself, but a notch less than stellar. Or maybe her performance just pales in comparison to her co-star. As does pretty much everything else in the film. From a certain point onwards, it is Bouquet who becomes the co-auteur, as for as the viewer is concerned.

The film has a very remarkable score, which Chabrol uses effectively as if both checking, and challenging the Hitchcockian legacy of pronounced scores in the thriller realm.

With unmistakable, (still his kind of) nouvelle-vague elements, the film admirably reflects director's familiarity with the classic genre and its (then) modern subversion.

With unmistakable, (still his kind of) nouvelle-vague elements, the film admirably reflects the director's familiarity with the classic genre and its (then) modern subversion. The economy and brilliance of shots is such that viewer cannot take eyes off screen, not for one sec. The last shot alone informs a good lot more than an average novella. And demands a separate essay I am not gonna write. However, it becomes quite clear early on that this auteur, unlike some others, is not at all that keen on subversion for the very sake of it.

La Femme Infidele has all the bearings of a rebellion forgone, if you please. It definitely looks like the work of an auteur, but not just a rebel kind, but a mature mind, someone well on his way to become a real master of the medium: already he affords to be audacious, or flexible, every which way to fulfill demands posed by his art. This audacious flexibility in turn provides the auteur opportunity to comment, in his fashion, if not alter the rules of the genre that he is seen, here as well, rebelling against and compromising with.

Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Beautiful Beyond Measure

[8/10 · 16 July 2008]

Alexander Nevsky: Beautiful beyond measure. A "personal" film carved out of an epic. A true war-movie, it does not glorify war.

But, what's new about this old classic is that it does not pretend to have some weird anti-war agenda either. Now, this might appear in stark contrast to what many pop-gory x-ollywoodish trash of films do, times and again, nearly always to be loved by audiences and public alike!.

A simple film-lover like myself can only wonder how many film-makers have learned, and how much, from this and other handful of Eisenstein's classics.

10/10

The Idiot (1951)

Here Is To Full Recovery And Restoration!

[9/10 · 16 July 2008]

The Idiot:

To me, Dostovesky's book is the Greatest story ever told.

Akira Kurosawa adapted his beloved novel when he was at top of his creative prowess. Never fully-released, the film was to remain director's personal favorite for the rest of his life and his magnificent career.

Even this vehemently studio-slaughtered cut, which unfortunately is the only version at hand, has retained some of the power, beauty, and, of course, humanity of the Maestro's original vision.

Here is to its full recovery and restoration!

8/10

The Hole (1960)

Becker's Swan Song: Too Good To Be Just Another Prison Movie

[10/10 · 10 June 2008]

Jacques Becker's swan song is a real gem of a film. Le Trou has such an amazing kinetic rhythm to it that one both feels and forgets the claustrophobic environs. Based on a real story turned into a novel by one of the "escapees", the film has excellent casting, wonderful (candel-lit!) cinematography and crisp dialog among its other advantages.

The director was terminally ill during the shoot and was to die after making the final cut. Watching this classic now some four decades since auteur's death, one can only wonder what an artist it would take to demand and achieve such breathtaking perfection in art while combating death at the same time.

Do not let yourself be put off by "yet another prison-movie!" talk. It is too good to be just that. So much so that it could merit comparison with Bresson's "A Man Escaped". A very deserving 10 out of 10.

Rosetta (1999)

One feels momentarily lost for words.

[10/10 · 7 March 2008]

Watching her walking with cylinder-full of potentially deadly gas, I could not help but thinking of Christ carrying his Cross on his way to reunion with his holy Father. Only here we had this mother instead of father, and not that holy either.

However, as it happens, the holy ghost, in this case the bike boy friend, saves the day. He "raises" her up, clinging though she is with her "death", her despair. Her total loss of sense and life, even as she is alive and in motion.

Just look at the lifetime of suffering, anger and disillusionment etched on her face, so young a face: she returning with the "cross", and the "ghost" circling her: the otherwise talkative guy never utters a word in this miraculously simple and likewise effective scene. She too tries to send him away by throwing stones at him, another symbolic act.

One feels momentarily lost for words. As she is. Or he.

Tears mark her journey to hope, to life. Redemption, without Rita Hayworth or any other pinup in sight.

City of Glass (1998)

Fun to watch

[8/10 · 1 March 2008]

Now this is about as funny a movie as anyone like that can get. Do not ever mind the detractors. This here is real fun to watch. Not a "documentary" like some blame. Nor pretentious like others pretended to believe. It is a really fun movie to watch..I find no better way nor phrase to express it.

Every aspect of the film, be it tragic incidents, comic relief or just plain student-life-reality, has got such a kinetic energy to it that you never get bored. Even when subject matter delves into territory of cliché, movie's execution is so bloody brilliant that you somehow feel brazenly energetic. A movie for the young of heart.

Why Not? (1981)

Jazzing History

[9/10 · 16 February 2008]

With its shattered scattered narrative, gritty visual and witty music, EIJANAIKA seems to give the truer picture of a time in Japanese history than any typical period picture with standard parameters would have. However, to get this impression of this two-and-a-half hour long film, one needs patience, interest in Imamura's work (It helps if one has seen and liked either Eeel, Vengeance, Narayama, or all of them) and liking for Japanese cinema. The start is very gripping. And its chaotic, musical, darkly funny finale remains one of the more memorable scenes involving mayhem one would encounter in a film from any timezone. It reminded me of the angry-crowd-flying-into-the-air end sequence of Vittorio De Sica's "Miracle In Milan". Overall it's fun to watch Imamura and his crew ("Stop, you funny Showmen! Or I'll Shoot" the ensemble is threatened)lending a musical ear to history.

Camille Claudel (1988)

A Celebration Of A Mourning

[9/10 · 12 February 2008]

While and after seeing Camille Claudel, one wonders if one should celebrate the artist that could have been, or rather mourn the moronic hypocrites populating her world. A world whose Marquesean death was foretold.

Almost everyone played by the supporting cast displayed (or tried to hide) how acutely and incurably they were suffering with diseases, physical and mental. With the sole and occasional exception of her father, everyone else treated the artist in a less than human manner. Despot mother, Hypocrite brother, Deceitful love! What real treasures had this Genius woman of her times to cope with! To top it all she happened to be living in such a dysfunctional society which years later, a great filmmaker and artist of the same nation, Jean Renoir, was to label as "corrupt to the core". Amen to Renoir. This film like most any other film depicting the real dilemma of a society, makes one pay an additional salute to his Le Regle Du Ju.

Faces (I) (1968)

A Marvelous Movie

[9/10 · 12 January 2008]

This was a marvelous movie to watch. It is so intelligent and informed most of the time, it is hard to believe there were improvisations by Cassevetes and company.

Although themes such as those which the movie revolves around were already then considered Bergmanesque, the movie evokes the spirit of other great non-Hollywood directors of the era: Fellini and Antoninoni. Still it retains its integrity and is rather unique. I think that it is a very impressive film even today. Puts many to shame.

NSFC did the right thing in awarding the film with Screenplay and Supporting Actor honors. Oscars on the other hands were not so generous. It did not get a nod for best picture nor did Cassevetes for best directors. What a shame! Since Stanley KUbrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey was snubbed the same year, making it a double debacle.

Topper Returns (1941)

Gem of A Good Old Horror-Comedy

[8/10 · 22 December 2007]

This gem of an old movie is every bit worth watching.

Even without the unsurpassed Cary Grant and his unique charms, this follow-up has more comedy per frame than the original "Topper" film. Whereas the earlier benefits from Grant and his suave charisma, this sequel excels because it gets everyone and everything working just right for its comic tempo.

I think the main reason behind that is simple enough to grasp. The main character of the film and the series is "Topper", not the Cary Grant character. But as it happens, the character and the actor playing that main character took its time "developing", and in this movie it reached its zenith. Cary Grant character however needed no further development, being happily dead.

The same can be understood in another way: Young/Ghost took his time beating Grant/Ghost off: he was overshadowed, not just literally, by the younger, more charming and superior acting presence that Grant was.

Whereas to some, Young's acting in "Returns" might look like a mere bleak copy of Grant's acting in "Topper", I do not buy that for a mo. disagree.

An Affair to Remember (1957)

You Must Remember This

[8/10 · 24 July 2005]

"An Affair To Remember" is a film to remember.

It is beautiful and romantic. Its sky is lit with bright stars, its air filled with brilliant music. Very good cinematography, and even better score.

However the main characteristic of this film remains its being passionate to the extent of breaking the heart. Some would say a formula-one tear-jerker. It happens that "An Affair To Remember" has something more to offer than tears.

To borrow a sci-fi cliché, this one has the force with it. This film alone has star power far exceeding that of a planet-full of today's motion pictures.

No wonder it is considered one of the best romantic dramas of all times. When American film Institue made their "100 years, 100 Passions" list, "An Affair To Remember" was at a fifth place, with only "Casablanca", "Gone With The Wind", "West Side Story", and "Roman Hoiday" ahead.

Some of film's glorious moments leave indelible impression. Cary Grant waiting on th 102 nd. floor for Deborah Kerr to appear is one such scene.

This is part of the movie's charm that it has inspired generations of film-lovers. To the extent that some film-makers have actually used it as a super-plot. By inter-wining their own stories with this classic tale of love, by downloading some of its atmospheres in their stories, formula film-makers have tried lending some more depth and charm to their otherwise mundane plots.

One such movie, "Sleepless in Seattle" was considered so good , it ended up making the same AFI list.

Thus, it can be surmised that at least part of this movie transcended the boundary of the medium itself. Not a small feast.

No Man's Land (I) (2001)

Leaves No Stone Unturned. Except One.

[10/10 · 23 July 2005]

A film can be made for a number of reasons. And it can do a lot of things, ranging from entertainment to boredom. But this film is one of the few that make you ashamed.

No matter how much or how little you noticed the inhumanity in Bosnia, no matter how hard you try to remember it or forget it, you must realize this sense of shame deep inside you. Naturally, I am counting on your being human.

Why ashamed? Why us? Because what we did, what ever it was, was not enough. Help we offered was insufficient, measures we took were short of purpose, actions we took were in-consequent.

That, in fact, was confirmed last week when world leaders gathered to express their remorse, saying they were ashamed. I sincerely hope they were. They really need to be. We all do.

We had the experience of two big and many small wars, all ignited, inflamed and fueled by racism, that evil of evils, disguised in one hideous form or other. Yet, all this happened amidst us and we let it happen before our openly closed eyes.

Danis Tanovic who made this memorable film must be a genius. I wonder what such an extra-ordinarily talented young director could not achieve, given the right opportunities and proper grooming.

Back to No Man's Land. It must be understood why this film can be embarrassing for so many because of its honesty. It is not an easy film to watch. It asks you constantly which side you are on. Not a simple matter to decide under the omniscient presence of our devils--hypocrisies we are fed by "global" media, bigot-ism that characterizes our leadership, dysfunctionalaity that we have institutionalized.

This film shows us all. Both the despair and hope in a situation ready to explode any moment. Both sides of war-makers. And of peacemakers.

We see individuals unfold, show us the way they were, and what war has changed them into. A war imposed upon all of them by the greatest racist next to Adolf Hitler himself. Yet a war they themselves choose to fight, hardly trying to reconcile, to overcome hatred against and fear of one another. They kill each other in the end because they are afraid. Afraid to be human.

We observe media concerned to make their day. We see organizations at work, organizations led by aristocrats paid ludicorously large pentions merely to do nothing. They overdo their jobs, by even not letting other do any thing either. Kipling's verse about camels comes to mind. Strange coincidence.

The film catalogs all these efforts, sincere or otherwise. And it makes its point. It shows their inadequacy. How can you help when you do not understand? Or even worse, if you will not understand? Or the worst scenario, if you can not understand. Simply because you are unable to do so. Because you lack empathy. That, precisely, is what this movie makes you realise.

This is one meaningful film. And it tries its best to convey that to you. Though, this does not mean it will be catering much food for your thought or whetting your insatiable appetite for half-truths. No sir, it simply employs a near forgotten technique: it tells the simple and whole truth. It takes you inside the world of discourse, shows you around, challenges you what you would do if you were the man in the trench, in the jeep, in the office.

In order to make you ashamed "No Man's Land" leaves no stone unturned. Except the one whose firmity, that bosnian, the man in question has to rely upon.

Scenes from a Marriage (1973)

A Meaningful Film

[9/10 · 23 July 2005]

Enormous success it had with audiences of Swedish TV, where it was shown in six episodes paved way for its theatrical release. This however called for compromising almost half the original length of celluloid.

As one of more easily understandable Bergman films, "Scenes From A Marriage" met much enthusiasm on both sides of the Atlatic.

The film showcases great two of Ingmar Bergman's favorite actors. Both Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson give lively mature performances, lauded by critics.

Being a down-to-earth family drama with strong social commentary of great relevance, "Scenes From A Marriage" has something important to convey. It is a meaningful picture.

It reflects on the nature of relationship between man and woman. It invites us to ponder on this basic issue, a cornerstone of human society Although not quite in the same league with bona-fide Bergman classics like "The Seventh Seal" and "Persona", "Scenes From A Marriage" remains a powerful movie.

Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

A Tribute To Immigration

[10/10 · 22 July 2005]

Nearly 60 years old, Max Von Sydow gives a stupendous performance. He played memorable roles in Ingmar Bergman's classics of the 60s. Afterwards he fared well in horror movies like The Exorcist. He certainly left impression other times, if only upon the European audience. Yet, in my opinion, this is his best performance to date. He plays great failure to great success.

The film offers a deep insight into the life of immigrants from one country of Scandenavia to the other. Strange though it may seem today in the wake of current super-stardom of these countries in the arena of human development, the story remains true in nature, honest in details, dedicated to truth.

People, man, woman and child, have always been traveling around, looking for better things, better conditions to live and to die in. This immigration factor is a part of human nature. A ritual as old as life itself. People leave their place only to establish themselves another place. They do this out of necessity, for prosperity, in search for love, peace or health. They feel a pull towards their destination. Everything will be just fine there, they think. They keep on dreaming with their eyes half-open. Until they are made to open their eyes fully in the wake of reality. Lassefar keeps reminding himself he is not going to accept the first job offer, he is going to look for better terms, demand more. Still he is obliged to do exactly the opposite.

From that point onwards, destination achieved is no longer the "promised land", these weary immigrants had dreamed of. As it ceases to be their old dream, it turns into their new reality. Often so harsh that it makes difficult for them to decide whether they are better or worse off. Their great expectations unfulfilled, they begin to suffer and survive their new life. Miserable though they are, they are not ready to give up their dreams and reluctant to abandon their origins. But this, precisely, is what process of establishment demands. Otherwise, well, they can not count on the kindness of strangers.

So, they have to make their choices. They have to set their priorities right. If they want to exist and not merely be. Therefore, after a while or so, a compromise takes place. The newcomers silently and gradually accept the norms of their new world. They learn new rules, and practice to abide by them. At the same time, they begin to give their origins away, little by painful little. Some merely do not notice or pretend not to, others resist the current. But, all of them know.

Even then, they do not part with their beloved dreams. They sacrifice their past, useless for them anyway, for the future they think they have right to. They become even satisfied with their present. More at ease, if one dares say that. Lassefar's plans of second marriage exemplify this behavior.

Only thing needed to make the circle of immigrant life complete is the dream of a new and better world. Yet another promised land, only more fertile in riches, more extravagant in opportunities, more splendid in every imaginable detail.

They have sea awaiting at their doorsteps. Some day a ship will take them across it. To the other, far side of the world. To America.

Wild at Heart (1990)

Wildness -- One Ring To Rule Them All

[7/10 · 22 July 2005]

"Wild At Heart" remains true to its name. All the characters are driven by wildness. Wildness is the fine thread that runs through the course of the movie, binds the characters together, lurks behind the scenes, and tightens round events. Wildness is the one ring that rules them all.

While sometimes free to reveal this wildness and at other times conceal it, characters appear frequently on the edge. Although most performances are good or at least satisfactory, they still run the risk of being over-the-top.

There happen to be quiet a few villains in this film. But none of them reaches any way near Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth in Lynch's masterpiece "Blue Velvet". Booth's dominance, his nasty presence could be felt anywhere and everywhere in the picture. He alone can be compared with legendary modern villains like Anothany Hopkins' Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs".

There are just so many references to "The Wizard Of Oz", one may even consider this film to be a bizarre post-modern "remake" of the original musical classic. Very much in David Lynch's line. In his own creative fashion, he successfully employs the well-known allegory about Emerlad City to make his point. Brilliant.

Whether silhouetted against the void of the day or luminous opposite the dark of the night, the Wicked Witch evokes not only terror, but also understanding of the characters' situation.

Lynch has the good sense not to use Oz as a subplot however. It sort of hovers above the main feature like a "superplot". In the sense that it not only helps unfold the story so far, but also provides room for some wild guess at the direction it may take on the yellow brick road.

The only unconvincing import from the merry old land of Oz was the good witch. But then, I was never much impressed by the original one in the first place. She was, I used to tell myself, a necessary evil, like so many things in our real world. So unlike Oz.

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

Film that made Ingmar Bergman

[10/10 · 22 July 2005]

Bergman made many films, this one made him.

"Smiles Of A Summer Night" is a landmark in the Solemn Swede's carrier. Most recently it made the All-TIMES 100 list of best films compiled by renowned film critics Corliss and Schickel for Time Magasine.

As late as in an interview recorded in 2003, Ingmar Bergman agreed to call "Smiles Of A Summer Night" a watershed in his film career. "After its success", he recalled "I had my hands free... I was able to do whatever I wanted to do." Truly enough, he went on to make, in immediate succession, such great films like "The Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries".

And it was only the beginning of what best can be described as Bergmansk phenomenon. "The Virgin Spring", Through A Glass Darkly", "Persona", "Cries and Whispers", "Autumn Sonata", "Fanny and Alexander". One true classic after the other was bestowed upon us by this undisputed grandmaster of the world cinema during the course of his rich, fruitful career.

With superb acting, lively dialog and impeccable cinematography, "Smiles" leaves nothing to be desired. It seems to be a happy story, at least from the audience's point of view.

Still, the director recalls, in his published memoirs, how depressed he was being stuck with the script, how bad he felt during production, and how embarrassed he was to find out about film's great success at Cannes, where it won the Grand Prix. All this was unprecedented for the producers, the Svensk Filmindustri as they responded "like an old lady who never knew to waltz, now suddenly being asked by a variety of cavaliers", to quote Bergman.

Mediterraneo (1991)

With Fuzzy Logic At Its Core

[10/10 · 13 July 2005]

Mediterraneo is a treat to watch. A feast not limited to the eyes, it reminds me somehow of "Babette's Feast". The two movies have, in my opinion, much the same chemistry, though altogether different physics.

The movie is replete with life and beauty. It is blessed with the rhythm of an enthralling sea, the almost ripple-free life of a village like town, the heat of day and the quiet of night. And above all this is house-full of noises, noises made by people, young people, at war and in love.

What really touched me about this film was the fact that every body apparently gets what he had missed. The letter-writer does get a chance to escape. Cpatain busies himself in decorating the local church. Lorusso is happy with his extrovert style of life. And so is Farina, only he is introvert. Likewise, other men find ways to satisfy themselves. Last and probably the least, the followers of Saint Balthasar, make their own contribution towards fun, chaos and misery that other more self-important members of this no-mission task force are going through. It is fantastic to see how these tense woe-befallen war-laden become gradually satisfied with themselves and at ease with their surroundings. Whom, other than themselves were they ever at war with?

Again, it is wonderful to watch them both anxious and worried simultaneously, at the very prospect of retuning to "peace and quiet" of home, i.e., when the man in the helicopter brings the news of lost causes and changed times. A new world order awaits them on the other shore, to which they are later obliged to migrate, only to suffer ridicule, confusion and disillusionment.

Only one man stays behind. Antonio Farina, who with his humble beginnings and meager infatuations showed no promise at all in the outset, yet in the long run, emerges as the most powerful, most memorable character of them all. From Italy's point of view, he is a run-away. From island's point of view he is the one who stayed. Madly in love with the ex-prostitute of town, he hides himself in one of the barrels used for storing olives. For one spare moment, he resembles the Baron-in-the-trees, Italo Calvino's hero in the second part of his "Our Ancestors" trilogy.

All this happens during the course of this film. And yet there always is this almost magical aura of nothing happening at all, and a foreboding of what is going to happen, something wicked coming this way.

But there is more to this movie than what first meets the eye.

With its simplicity aimed at nothing in particular, "Mediterraneo" manages to achieve more than many films laden with heavy messages. The film raises difficult questions in an easy manner, more like a curious youth rather than an adult raging with anger. Like the see itself, it knows a deep lot which it lets us steal a glimpse of only to fathom at what wonders and monsters lie beneath surface.

The film becomes all the more effective in spite of and due to its fuzziness. "Mediterrraneo" blurs the boundaries of war and peace, plays with the concepts of comradeship and loyalty, blends "us" with "them", reveals "certains" to be mere perhaps, compares being to nothingness. This film has the magic to transcend space and time. It has fuzzy logic at the core of its magical wand.

Memorabilia:

Barbecue party, where they merrily eat their enemy: chicken shot to kill in one-sided combat.

Recitations of Greek poetry in the heat of the night.

Surprise! To discover behind curtain of white sheets, a whole town, alive and kicking. They find their Oz without ever going over rainbow.

The local whore files complaint for being out of job.

Wedding ceremony held in the local church, renovated by the invaders.

With utmost solemnity, Lorusso's "bodyguard" declares his eternal love for none other than Lorusso himself.

The Finale: Three ex-compatriots sitting around a table in Farina's hotel. Their peeling and cutting vegetables in harmony is reminiscent of their polishing and mending their guns together in an inglorious past, not so far away.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Only A Poem Could Be That Rich!

[10/10 · 13 July 2005]

To watch this film for the first time somehow reminds me of reading poetry of T.S. Eliot. Why? I wonder if I can explain.

Enough has been said about film's importance in the history of of French New Wave Cinema. To know how much, or how little, Resnais takes from earlier masters of the European or American Cinema is of certain significance also. Even with this and more information of the sorts, I'm afraid you will see nothing in Hiroshima. Well, then, what should one see in Hiroshima? To me, the question is not what, but how.

You can not see Hiroshima without not seeing it. You cannot simply find your way into the heart of darkness with mere open eyes. First you simply see and go on; then you stop in your lanes, think back, your ryes closed; so, back you go, and see again: no horse of different color, but somewhere, some time during this visual trip, you will learn to see Hiroshima. Gradually.

Only then the Hiroshima of film, the city fallen apart, will reveal its broken heart: a wasteland in n dimensions. Actors, otherwise merely doing their wooden jobs, would be seen performing rituals. Monotonous images will grab at your eyes, empty scenery will take away your breath, hollow moves will boggle your mind.

What strikes me most about Hiroshima the film is how it looks like Hiroshima the city. Both are full of contrasts, clearly out of focus. Eeach has got its rituals and its realities. Rituals and realities like love and death, companionship and desolation, achievement and deprivation, peace and war, desire and fear. The movie slowly moves into its subject matter, effortlessly merges with it, becomes it. Lopsided dialog thus finds way to gnaw at your heart, interminable soliloquies start searching your soul.

To see, in real time, that ritual and reality are its two sides, one needs the coin to be standing on edge, if only for a moment. Hiroshima the city was such a moment. Hiroshima the film is its realisation.

A film? But only a poem could be that rich.

Secrets & Lies (1996)

One Of Better British Movies

[10/10 · 12 July 2005]

One of better British movies I have watched these years, "Secrets & Lies", despite not garnering Oscars, is no loser at all.

In my opinion, this film had all the necessary ingredients to make a memorable film: good script, fine direction and a score of praiseworthy performances. But its real strength, and potential "weekness" were in the same spot: acting. There were one too many performances to ignore. Apparently, none of them, even those by Brenda Blethyn as the sturdy old good-for-nothing white mother or Mrianne Jean-Baptiste as the steady, young self-sufficient black daughter, managed to produce as thorough an effect as that of stand-alone performance by Frances McDormand in "Fargo".

A matter of fact: When I watched "Frgo", I appreciated McDormand's acting a lot, but I already knew about her having won an Oscar. When I watched "Secrets & Lies", I told myself about Blethyn's performance: this must be, at least, nominated for Oscar. And about the Baptist girl: this must be Oscar-nominated too. I did not knew they were, nor that they lost or to whom.

It is hard to compare "greatness" of these two films though. As regards the test of time, I think both films have (so far) come out with flying colors. If "Fargo" appears on AFI's list of 100 greatest American movies (at number 84), so does "Secrets & Lies" on BFI's similar list of British movies (at number 40).

Somehow, this movie reminded me of another good one: "Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner?". Guess why?