It’s a trick as old as Ancient Greek theater and if used effectively builds tension and empathy. It is used in both Oedipus and Disney's Beauty & the Beast and Sopranos and Mad Men. So, what is dramatic irony? Is it a tool or a way of telling the story, is it an end or a means to an end?

If I ask you, how would you categorize Guy Ritchie’s films? Are they humorous? Are they comical? Are they witty? They do certainly have that charm of British comedy but it is still difficult for me to categorize Guy Ritchie’s work as any of the three – humor, comical, or witty. But again, what I can’t do, Mark Twain certainly can.

One of the best movies that I saw last year was Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden based on the classic of the same name by Jack London. It was an Italian movie from start to finish. If you do not know that the movie is based on a classic written almost 115 yrs ago by an American, you will never realize that it has any hint of American-ness in it.

It was around 4 years back when I discovered Le Premier Homme, the unfinished auto-biographical novel by Albert Camus. It was the same time when I had to watch Gianni Amelio's movie based on the same text. Il Primo Uomo or Le Premier Homme or The First Man is a study of rhythm of editing, and length of framing and pacing in filmmaking.

I often see Raymond Carver and his works as hidden treasure. Despite being an ardent reader myself, I discovered him in 2012. I was introduced to him by this Indie movie called Everything Must Go. The movie itself is a hidden treasure which not many have seen.