Plagiarism in Forthcoming Movies – 12 – The Rite

Once in a while, a poster reminds you of a bunch of things. You cannot put your finger on what. The poster of the Anthony Hopkins movie The Rite did that to me.

Art Inspired by other works of Art – 01 – Johannes Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window

Vermeer was one of the greatest Dutch masters of the 17th Century.  Like Caravaggio, the name Vermeer induces deep respect. What is to be remembered is that his works were “rediscovered” after critical re-assessments made him out to be the unsung genius.

His body of work numbers just 35 paintings and that in Canvas years is merely a handful. But the number of artists, writers, film-makers & composers who have been obsessed with him & his life in Delft is stunning.

Let us start with a famous Artist – Edward Hopper (Of Nighthawks & Automat Fame) :

Edward Hopper’s Morning in a City borrows its visual language from Vermeer’s A Girl reading a letter by an Open Window. The window in a corner is omnipresent in many of Vermeer’s works and is a device borrowed from Pieter de Hooch’s works

Tom Hunter, a British Photographer who creates vignettes based on famous paintings has captured the somber mood of Vermeer perfectly in his Woman reading a Possession Order. Tom Hunter’s own take on the photo.

Jonathan Janson is the author of the book “How to paint your own Vermeer” and is also a successful artist. His version of  the same painting has a “Young Woman reading Glamour” Magazine

More versions , courtesy Google Images

And finally, the Variants of the painting by none other than Vermeer himself!

Tamil Padam – Posters are very funny

You normally see a few jokes here and there in Tamil movies.
A reasonably intelligent movie like Chennai 600028 trips on Chandramukhi

Venkat Prabhu’s own Saroja trips on Chennai 28

Thalaivar Rajini’s Sivaji tripped on so many movies - Tamil & Telugu (a la Om Shanthi Om’s intelligent spoofs)

But, this movie, as described by the director is possibly Kollywood’s answer to Scary Movie, Hot Shots & Naked Gun.

QUOTE
Says Dhayanidhi, “Tamil Padam is the first ever full length spoof film in Tamil. The story is a humorous take on the predictable Tamil formula films.”

CS Amudham the director of the film says: “ In Hollywood the spoof is a popular genre and there has been films like ‘Scary Movie’ a spoof on horror films. Similarly we are spoofing the Tamil mass film. You will laugh your guts out. In short it’s celebration of Tamil cinema.”

UNQUOTE

Everything I have seen and heard so far is mega-spoofy. The director, C S Amudhan has an ad agency called Winds of Change which does Outdoor (Hoardings, Banners, etc). Pulli Raja, Prime Roaster and those atrocious Fitness One ads were all his creations… So, it figures.

Take the Soundtrack. The song “O Maha Zeeya” is one great spoof of all the nonsense which goes on in the name of lyrics in a lot of Harris Jeyaraj songs… The title refers to the gibberish heard at the start of “Uyirin Uyire” in Kaakka Kaakka

Spoofs in the O Maha zeeya song (or This)
Uyirin Uyire- Kaakka Kaakka
Hasili Fisili – Aadhavan
Randakka – Anniyan
Naakka Mukka – Kaadhalil Vizhundhen
Dailamo Dailamo – Dishum Dishum
Balailaka – Sivaji
Ohi lohi mahi lohi ya – Beema
Osaka Muraiya – Alli Arjuna (Rahman’s One 2 ka 4)
Shakalakka – Mudhalvan
Ullahi ullahi – Lesa Lesa

And the best one .. Laalaakku Dol Dappimma – Suriyan

Spoofs in the Trailer (or This )
Absurd Action packed Vijay Intro Sequences (Camera from Top in this case)
Dasavatharam (The US President and all)
Nayagan (Inime appadithaan with Nayagan theme in the background)
Boys (4 pairs of legs dangling from a wall)
Sivaji (2 hand signing)
Baadsha
Simbhu (Style)
Billa (cooling glass scene)
Run (subway sequence)
Kaaka Kaaka (aerial shot)
Thalapathy
And the coolest : The town is called Cinema Patti… How cool is that!!

Spoofs in Movie Stills

In addition to the movies mentioned above,

Roja (The couple inside the same sweater)
Annamalai (The brown suit and low camera angles)
Uyire (The mail poster)
Sathya (The hospital sequence)
Baba (trips on the Baba mudra)

Poster Spoofs
Ramki’s Dafli Song in Senthoora Poove (Image, Video) and the Poster (The exact frame appears exactly 60 seconds into the video)

Singaravelan’s Pudhu Cheri Kacheri (Image, Video) and the Poster (Note the tongue in cheek ad)

Enga Ooru Paattukaaran’s Senbagame (Image, Video) and the Poster . (Ramarajan is just awesome fun as he is trying to sing  when he is busy milking the cow (See this to believe it) . Shanthipriya coyly watches the sequence (Guffaw!)

Rajini’s Konji Konji from Veera and (Image, Video) and Poster

Thillana Mohanambal (Image 1,Image 2 ) and Poster with M.S Bhaskar playing Balaiyya’s Thavil Vidhvan’s role

Pre-Release Concept Posters

The first one which came out talked about the movie not being a “Different one”

One more poster of the movie takes Gap10′s trip by using the MS font Jokerman (LOL) and says a sorry before that by asking for the only word in tamil which Gap10 does not like

Another poster spoofs the typical rape scene in tamil movies by showing a male hand forcing a female hand in front of a painting showing a tiger slaying a deer

One is a preachy Gap10 kind of dialogue referencing Gandhiji, etc and at the same time referring to tons of Punch Dialogues

One features the 10 commandments of Tamil cinema (Commandment 9 is Thou Shall single-handedly take on & eradicate all the evil in the world and commandment 10 is Thou shall have a six-pack) … There are some really nice differences between the Tamil & English versions.

Enjoy all the posters at one place!

Inspired by “In Cold Blood”

One of the most Iconic Genre-defining Books of all time is Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. It heralded the arrival of the Non-fiction Novel.

The 1967 Movie Version of this book has a unique poster. The eyes in the movie poster are actually those of the real-life killers Dick Hickock & Perry Smith (and not of the actors).

The 2007 Film An American Crime is based on the real life murder of Gertrude Baniszewski, a housewife. So, aptly, the poster pays a tribute to In Cold Blood.

Poster Tributes / Homages – I

6 Quick Side By Side comparisons of Original Movie Poster and the Homage

Spoofs-I-My Big Fat Independent Movie

This movie was supposed to be a take-off on Indie movies on the lines of Scary Movie, etc. The movie failed miserably and I guess even the film’s crew refused to buy tickets.

The good part is that they came out with 8 Posters – each one spoofing a famous Indie movie Poster – My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Clerks, Secretary, Amelie, Memento, The Good Girl, Swingers and Reservoir Dogs.

Art and Movie Posters –IV–Michelangelo Buonarroti

1. Creation of Adam Vs E.T & Bruce Almighty

Some Trivia on the E.T poster:  This poster idea had been suggested by Steven Spielberg and who was inspired by Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. John Alvin, who can be called one of the Greatest Movie Poster Artists, used his daughter, Farah Alvin, as the human hand model.

You can also see a few other “inspired images”.

2. Moses Vs Ten Commandments

This is not so much of an “inspiration”… But, IMDB states

“Charlton Heston was chosen for the role of Moses by Cecil B. DeMille because he bore a resemblance to Michelangelo’s statue of Moses in Rome.”

I have seen some movie poster resembling La Pieta, but am not able to recollect it.

Art and Movie Posters – III – Andy Warhol

You either love him! Or absolutely hate him!

Whichever way, there is no denying that Warhol made the 60′s more memorable (or notorious if you please).

1. The Movie Poster for I Shot Andy Warhol is based on his Triple Elvis.

2. His Marilyn Silk-Screen prints have been repeated multiple times : For the Movies Kids (Rosario Dawson’s Big Screen debut), Tyler Perry’s Madeas Family Reunion and for 2 movies about him – Superstar & Factory Girl

Update : I had not noticed the album art of Sivaji The Boss. Hat Tip: Mensa & Badri

Art and Movie Posters – II – Grant Wood

Grant wood is one of the forces responsible for shaping many minds on what they imagined to be the rural Midwest. He is the equivalent of a One Hit Wonder in Pop – A creation so seminal that all his other works pale in front of it. If you don’t buy the argument, try thinking of the other Vanilla Ice number. Nuf said.

American Gothic is an Iconic American image.

Many have ripped off / paid homage to this image

1. The Movie Poster for American Gothic – A slasher flick

2. Mike Judge for one of his Beavis & Butthead DVD covers

3. The Tim Allen movie For Richer or Poorer

4. The Whoopi Goldberg movie Good Fences

5. Paris Hilton for The Simple Life (Season 1)

6. Paul Newman for the covers of Newman’s Own

7. The Pauly Shore movie Son In Law (Thanks Katrina for the heads up)

Art and Movie Posters – I – Dali

Movie Poster design has always been inspired by Art and this series is to try and explore the connection.

One can never cease to amaze at the Genius of Dali. His visionary masterpirces put him in the league of greats like Da Vinci & Michelangelo.

(WARNING – Some of the content one scroll down is  NSFW)

1. The Fall Vs Dali’s Face of Mae West Which May Be Used as an Apartment

2. The Haunting in Connecticut Vs Superman Returns Vs Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross

3. Silence of The Lambs Vs The Descent Vs Dali’s Female Bodies as a Skull painting Vs Dali-Halsman’s Salvador Dali In Voluptate Mors

I am quoting from From Posterwire (1,2) as it best explains the connections:

In the Silence of the Lambs image, the ambiguous skull on the moth is actually made up of seven naked female bodies. The image of the “skull orgy” originated in a portrait photograph by Philippe Halsman of Salvador Dali, entitled Salvador Dali In Voluptate Mors. (The photo itself was inspired by surrealist Dali’s gouache Female Bodies as a Skull painting. Dali later translated the same idea into his own live sculptures.) The Lambs one-sheet was created by the (now defunct) film ad agency Dazu, and the skull image idea was reportedly given to the agency by director Jonathan Demme specifically for use in the film’s poster artwork.

The Death Head Moth with skulls is used by Dali in his Collaboration with Luis Buñuel – Un chien andalou. The moth appears as a motif linking sex, death and sexual repression.

(Image Credits: IMP Awards, Posterwire and others)