Notes on Some 2025 Films

Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Like (almost) every other year, 2025 was an important year in film. “Important” is a loaded word and should not perhaps be thrown around loosely. In the context of this post, this word means one thing and one thing only – any work that I find appealing enough to think and write about. While the focus of this post is going to be films released this year, I am going to preface the discussion by recalling some films for which this year is a multiple-of-50 anniversary. What follows are personal reflections shaped as much by temperament and viewing circumstances as by the films themselves.

Leaves from My Japan Diary: Prologue

Before I begin my description of the tour, I must write the quite long story behind my journey. Believe me, it was full of what we may call suspense and drama.

I still remember the rainy September day (22nd September, Saturday) in 2007 when I was called to the office of our Vice-Principal. I was in IX then. Some other students were also there. Our Vice-Principal told us to sit down and began talking. He said that as a part of an international exchange programme between India and Japan, students from Japan were coming to India and vice-versa. Then he told us that if we wanted to be a part of this programme we should submit our names to him within two or three days. He said that we must treat the foreign students well and give them a taste of our Indian culture.

But there was one thing he almost didn’t tell us before we left the office. I thought we were supposed to welcome our foreign guests as I had been a part of many such exchange programmes. Naturally, I thought our part was to play the host. Suddenly he said, ‘Do you have a passport?’