What inspired me into filmmaking, at different stages of my life, and made me realise the power and influence of the medium and the thought process behind it were two films - “The Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan” and “Stalker” by Andrei Tarkovsky.
I first saw The Dark Knight and it gave me a perspective. Before that it was mostly Bollywood and Hindi Melodramatic Films.
When I shifted to Mumbai, I saw the film "Stalker" which haunted me for days.
Needless to say I have seen most of Nolan's and Tarkovsky's films, and their body of work is aspirational for me.
Except Oppenheimer, the recent film of Nolan.
Consider the following criticism an ode from a Nolan fan who wants to watch more films by him.
Firstly, I am averse to the subject on which the film was made. When a real life figure is chosen, and that too someone who made many questionable decisions, it becomes hard for an auteur director to justify the character. A problem which I had with another similar story based on a real person - The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Throughout the film there was a considerable effort to justify Oppenheimer and his choices. The character of Oppenheimer’s wife played by Emily Blunt, looked promising at first but did not have any definition or arc. There were a lot of characters and subplots put into the film without any time given to anything to grow and take mind space.
The film, despite being engaging with great performances, left me dissatisfied and disappointed.
It made me question my own sanity as a filmmaker.