Of Epics and Awards

April 1, 2005

A Bollywood epic and a Hungarian award-winning film are among the films opening this weekend in limited release.

Dallas 362 - Reviews
Actor Scott Caan's directorial debut. He also wrote and stars in the film as the title character. The film tells the story of two men, Rusty and Dallas, whose lives diverge when the former decides to have a more meaningful life. The film opens tonight in Dayton, Ohio before spreading to other major cities in the coming weeks.

Dust to Glory - Reviews
A documentary on the Baja 1000. The racing footage is great, especially for fans of the sport, but for most people there's little else that has an emotional connection or appeal.

Girl Play - Reviews
A lesbian love story based on the lives of the two writers. Dom DeLuise's campy turn as a stage director is the best part of the movie, with most of the rest of the story falling flat.

Kontroll - Reviews
A love story set in the subway tunnels below Budapest also involving rival Ticket Checker gangs and a hooded figure pushing people in front of the subway. The film won numerous awards, and was the first Hungarian film to be in the Cannes Film Festival in 20 years.

Look at Me - Reviews
A French drama about a overweight woman who has trouble connecting with her father, a famous author. Matters are complicated when her singing instructor learns who her father is and she and her husband join his circle of friends. The best-reviewed release of the week, the film opens in half a dozen theaters in New York and Los Angeles tonight.

Mughal-e-Azam - No Reviews
A re-release of the colorized version of this movie, which was the most expensive film ever made by the Indian movie industry when it was originally released in 1960. The film is set in 16th century India and has everything an epic film needs: massive battles, a doomed love affair, and of course musical numbers. Speaking of musical numbers, one of the songs was re-written more than 100 times before the director finally approved it. That takes perfectionism to a whole new, and very dangerous, level. The film is released in a dozen theaters in major markets and could expand as the American market is becoming more receptive to Bollywood films.


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Filed under: Comme une image, Dust to Glory