Jas Personal Blog
Posts tagged Movie Critics
Amélie – One of the most beautiful movies made
Apr 1st
This is one movie I have always wanted to see and had kept it for a day when I would be really down in life. Reason? This movie is a lovely story that shall take away your heart with its creative direction, innovative sound usage and a very detailed view of unnoticed small things of life. It is a journey though an abstract direction where the director keeps you in awe with a smile if you are of a creative type. And yes, this movie could only be made with a soft touch of French. Amélie offers a poetic and escapist vision of everyday life; something which reflects very nature of my own.
Amélie Poulain is a young woman who has grown up isolated from other children and hence gets dissolved in the small exhilaration of life like peeling off the dried adhesive gum (like fevicol) from fingers, slurping away the last of liquid in a glass with straw, cupping your ears and removing to hear how sound changes, perfectly spinning a coin and putting strawberries on all fingers and then eating them quickly one after another. She loses her mother to a freak incident when a woman trying to commit suicide from Notre Dame Cathedral lands on her mother. This makes her more taciturn and she develops an unusually active imagination.
The movie is tied to the death of princess Diana, who died in Paris only, the news of which changes the track of movie as she hits on a fifty year old small box of mementos. She decides to return the box and in process realizes that she derives much happiness in doing good in the lives of others. Amélie becomes a secret matchmaker and guardian angel, executing complex but hidden schemes that impact the lives of those around her with subtle, arm’s-length manipulation, leading to several sub-plots and episodes. In one scene, she helps a blind man to cross a road and takes him along with a vivid narrative of the ambiance, “Step down. Here we go! The drum major’s widow! She’s worn his coat since the day he died. The horse’s head has lost an ear! That’s the florist laughing. He has crinkly eyes. In the bakery window – lollipops. Smell that! They’re giving out melon slices! Sugarplum, ice cream! We’re passing the park butcher. Ham, 79 francs. Spareribs, 45! Now the cheese shop. Picadors are 12.90. Cabecaus 23.50. A baby’s watching a dog… that’s watching the chickens. Now we’re at the kiosk by the metro. I’ll leave you here. Bye! ” and the camera supports the scene beautifully!
Amélie’s cinematography describes the way Amélie thinks within herself. Her mind is vivid, shy, full of excitement and artistic; it gives the audience a better look into how the world can be different in different colors of thoughts. She looks upon the world like it’s a game, and script follows just that.
The scene where Amélie meets her love interest, Quincampoix, is beautifully captured as she kisses him slowly on cheeks, neck and eye and then subtly gestures for him to return the favor. That he remembers to drag his nose on her cheek after kissing her neck is beautifully scripted! Each shot within the movie sequence is like a line within a poem.
Director could not have taken a better thespian for the lead role. Audrey Tautou exuberate a very soft feminism with charm and effervescent flair. The scene where she tries to phone Quincampoix from ad and reaches Porno Video Palace is so beautifully expressed by her with a shy awkwardness on questions being asked; something that fits the physical expressions of Audrey only. Probably the first movie of her which I saw was Hors de Prix (Priceless), which again is another smooth and lovely movie.
If you haven’t watched the movie, I would suggest you should at least put it on your wish-list, you would not be disappointed if you watch it at leisure!
Wake Up Sid is refreshing
Oct 10th
Its 2:30AM and am not sleeping, there are two reasons. One, its Friday night and who the hell sleeps on Friday night! Second, I went out to see the movie Wake Up Sid and have come back and cant wait to blog on that!
Cinemax, 10:45PM show and am still feeling as fresh as 5AM breeze in forest on banks of a river in mountains. Credit goes to Karan Johar, for a change. Wake Up Sid is as refreshing as a lemonade and as cool as a cucumber. The story is very well 21st century and urban without ever getting ‘sexy’ or ‘adult’ as Yash Raj’s films. I could not help to notice the similarities in performance and music style with Lakshya movie (whose first half is very very fresh and crisp and similar).
When at 8:30PM today my friend told me that he was going for a movie, I had no idea what was there in store, and movie came out to be ‘Wake up Sid’. We left by 9:20 as packed my stuff from Gym, throwing myself in his car with my backpack still on. We raced through the troughs and crests of Banjara Hills Road no.36 to hit Cinemax looking for food inside cafeteria there. A little good news after months and months of gloomy news had me perked up already for the night. Ladies in the eatery there looked finely dressed and two faces just caught my attention for such cute were they! Wearing IIM Indore shirt gifted to me by my friend I sat down with my friend once we got the pranthas we had ordered. Just then I hear a feminine voice address me asking if I was from Indore. I take a look and there stands one of those pretty faces; Boy! she was beautiful! As I clarified that I was from FMS Delhi and the shirt was from my friend only. the simple nods of the glowing face just made the day/night. Human, aren’t we!
The opening shot of the mobie looks so similar to our story, trying to read night out, trying till an hour or two, then hit for food/laptop/net etc and spend crucial 2 hours there, coming back to study at 3/4AM and deciding its better to sleep and study tomorrow. When the results would come, we would decide that next time onwards we will study on regular basis from very start, but then that day never does come and plans are made, scrapped and sublimed.
I really liked acting of Ranbir, it made the evident harsh truths so easy to come out. And the credit here goes to debutant director, Ayan Mukerji. There’s a subtlety with which he repairs the relationship between Sid and his mother (Supriya Pathak). The distance between the two is born out of the different cultures the two belong to. She is uneducated, he is westernised and the twain don’t meet. There’s a grave dimension to the Punjabi mother who tries to speak English with her son, even though it is pretty awful, hoping that it will make her a friend of him as his other friends whom he talk to in English. It’s grave because we know it’s so real, we see it all around us.
Even when Sid ruffles up Ayesha’s place and when she is upset for a reason, it does not get melodramatic, as she doesn’t intend to make him feel guilt from inside, as melodramatic women would do. Instead it is as smooth and plain as a chocolate bar. And Sid’s animated T shirts with perky colors pep the screen up.
Neatly lensed, the movie looks at Mumbai — with love and affection. The picturisation is very vivid and colorful. The painting of Ayesha’s home, the interiors of Mumbai magazine the leads are working for and the colorful paintings of areas around Ayesha’s home add an array of colors to the story. Amit Trivedi’s Iktara, a song filled with an unbearable lightness of being, keeps the promise made from songs of Dev D. Songs make the movie soar; they help us look inside the head and mood of Sid and Aisha and help carry the story forward.
Actually, Wake Up Sid is a slice of life film. It’s not merely real in concept, but has also been told most realistically, so much so that you can’t help but draw parallels with your own life or with someone you know. There are so many things I have done myself which Sid does, so once the movie ended there was a lightness in the mind and a big smile on the face. While we moved to go back from the cinema (it was already 1:30AM), I wondered if I will again find those Indore people! As my friend went to loo, I just stood near stairs lost in self. After some time I just turned around and saw the Pretty Face. As the I started walking slowly towards their group, the sweet music filled the mind inside me. Just when I was going to approach them, a voice says “Lets go”. It was my friend who had come back from loo, suddenly the music stops, and I look between the two and know what needs to be done. Still next moment I am stepping down the stairs, walking back to his car with mixed emotions. Still appreciating the freshness of the movie, we cozied ourselves in the car, as the speaker stared blurting out the appealing title song of Wake up Sid. It was time to wake up, go home and sleep.
Note: Some truths have been dramatized for intended hue.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jun 27th
Had tried to see the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind many times before but then every time it was at about 1AM in Friday or a Saturday night and I would leave the movie in very starting as it was too slow for that hour. All the while I have been hearing from people about how great the movie is, but never knew about the storyline or the theme for it. Surrealism has always attracted me, and am glad I watched this movie today!
Such a mentally gripping and vivid capture of surrealism can only come out of European mind, so it is no surprise to know the movie is directed by a French director Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction and neosurrealism to explore the nature of memory and romantic love.
Story
Emotionally withdrawn Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and the emotionally dysfunctional, Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) meet each other for the first time at a beach in Montauk, New York, and subsequently become romantically involved. However, they fall out of love with each other. Clementine discovers the services of Lacuna, Inc., a firm that is able to erase all specific memories from her mind (of Joel). Joel cames to know about this and himself opts to have his mind wiped of all memory of Clementine too.
During the process Joel realizes that his memories of Clementine are being erased in reverse order. As he experiences in his mind the earlier, happier times with her, he realizes that he wants to stop the procedure and keep the memories of Clementine. He begins to fight the mind wipe by trying to hide Clementine in the deeper memories of his mind but realizes that he is not able stop the mind wipe. Before his last memory of Clementine at the Montauk beach house, on the day they first met is erased, she tells him she loves him and says “meet me in Montauk.”
Joel wakes up the next day, decides to skip work, and goes to Montauk where he meets Clementine (who is now a stranger). Unaware of whom each other is, they quickly bond and begin to form a new relationship. After returning to the city, Joel drives Clementine to her home where Clementine finds her Lacuna file in the mail and plays the tape from it for her and Joel. Clementine travels to Joel’s apartment. She finds Joel with his own Lacuna tape and holding a drawing from their former relationship that was missed out when he handed over his possessions to Lacuna. They both become aware of their former relationship, and that it had flaws. The two recognize that their previous relationship may had problems based on their past relationships with other people, but decide not to let those failings prevent them from seeing each other… and trying again. The movie ends with them in a teasing snowball fight on the Montauk beach.
Personal Rant
We all have the memories that we will like to just forget; they say that it takes for wounds of hurt to heal and I would point that the yes the time would heal, but how much time is what we decide on our own and that is the main thing. Some people takes few days and others few years. We never forget our first love and for people from advanced culture – our first parents! Blessed are those who found spouses in their first love but others go through hell. Then there are people who have an embarrassing experience which they would just like to forget while others have trauma to be forgotten.
US researchers said in 2008 that they were able to selectively erase memories from mice in a laboratory, raising hopes human memory afflictions like post-traumatic stress syndrome can one day be cured. But then how many of us who would wish for these memories being deleted, be actually ready for deletion? These memories may be tough on heart but then they are lined with something we always cherish deep within. Yes, it is for the people who have suffered greater at the wrong hands, not for those who suffered at the right hands, for we the latter, shall keep and protect these memories deep within for ever.
Memoirs of a fool’s youth
Dec 7th
You know what is the difference between some bad incidents and bad memories? The incidents you may had forgotten but the latter one will be still haunting you. Shown more or less aptly in the psychological drama – Flashbacks of a Fool, Daniel Criag plays a fading star Joe Scott who burns his hollow life with coke, sex and drinks only to come back and face himself one day when he gets the news of death of his childhood best friend, Boots’ death. This takes the protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970′s Britain.
In his teenage Joe is seen enjoying his childhood with Boots. As a teenage boy he gets in a tentative relationship with a school-girl called Ruth. Although he loves Ruth from heart he takes the life on a casual note and ends up with a guilt from an unintended accident which leads to the death of a small girl. Unable to confront himself, he runs from away from England on the day of funeral and lands up in US.
Movie shifts to present and Joe decides to confront his fear and returns to England for a difficult meeting with Ruth, who had gone on to marry Boots and has been a left a poor widow now.
The characters have been played very distinctively and director makes sure each one justifies his/her presence. The initial dialogues of each character defines his/her individuality markedly. In the outset only the following dialogue vividly explains the character of Joe.
Ophelia (helper/secretary): Don’t you have any philosophies in life other than self indulgence?
Joe: I really do not like looking at myself from your eyes. Your happiness doesn’t interest me, mine does.
Also you cant help but appreciate how the backdrop has been chosen for all the shots. The fact that the director Baillie Walsh has earlier worked in music video direction does have a positive impact on the movie, as its visually and symphonically more appealing than average. And the song that has been his favourite in his teenage years have been using not only as the backdrop but also as the theme for the movie. “That song was a key to the writing of the script because the lyrics are so pertinent to the script.”, he adds. This song, “If there is something” of Roxy Music is first played when young Ruth brings Joe to her home and both dance on this song. Lyrics of the ending part of the song goes like:
Shake your hair girl with your ponytail,
Takes me right back when you were young.
Throw your precious gifts into the air,
Watch them fall down when you were young.
Lift up your feet and put them on the ground,
You used to walk upon when you were young.
Takes me right back when you were young.
Throw your precious gifts into the air,
Watch them fall down when you were young.
Lift up your feet and put them on the ground,
You used to walk upon when you were young.
Young Ruth dancing to “If there is something”
The expressions and dance movements have been done so elegantly that the viewer catches the song even deeper. You may not like the song in first minute, in case you download and hear, but the gripping saxophone and guitar mix comes from 1:30mins past start and then the late 70′s British glam era grabs you with force. I personally felt the song did justify to be the theme or the storyline did justify the song. Later on when Joe has to meet Ruth, which he never does, he leaves her few pounds and a letter with the lines, ”Shake your hair girl with your ponytail, Takes me right back when you were young.”, reading which she breaks out in tears marking end of the movie.
It is not a kind of movie that will appeal to everybody and thus has a limited viewership, but if you can connect with the plot, its surely worth the money for one time.
‘A Wednesday’ – Comeback of common man
Sep 20th
Two (non-profane) words that an average Indian adult would have heard the most about would be ‘Comman man’. The elected ministers talk how they are helping the common man, while the opposition holds rallies and press conference to tell how the common man is getting neglected. The economists roll out the schemes for this very ‘common man’, while critics oppose very same schemes saying they are against a common man. Yesterday I ran off from my hectic professional life to see the last show of the newly released movie – ‘Wednesday’ and yes, the theme revolved around ‘The common man’.
Bollywood has been rolling out the movies on a common man since big bang, where the image and issues faced by a common man has changed as portrayed in 60s by Balraj Sahni, 70′s by Raj Kapoor, 80′s by Amitabh Bachhan, 90′s by contemporary cinema and theaters, 2000′s by likes of Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher – essentially the artists who have come from theaters. (I may have not counted some prominent names, but essentially this kind of gives a picture to grasp what am referring to). But till date when a character associates him/herself with a common man, the public still clap, they still find that connect emotionally overwhelming. ‘Wednesday’ is no different.
The much so common day to day life setup of the movie without gloss, glamor, villains flying and rolling in air on hitting one jab has resulted in better connect. Leaving a few sound effects, the direction has been commendable, but what steals the show is the dialogue delivery and acting by the two protagonists – Anupam and Naseeruddin. Terrorism is one big topic these days thanks to the bomb blasts series that has started in India. And the aggression that is egressing in an average Indian against ‘cockroaches’ (as movie calls them) results in a gripping experience. One may wonder how an average ‘common man’ who looks like a clerk you may find in any public office, or a guy wiping his face on an average day in Mumbai’s local trains may decide one day to go against the very crowd he has been walking around with since childhood. A terrorist is no different than any other person, and so is a person who may be following any different religion- where people change is in belief.
We humans have a gift unlike other animals, we can think and when we think we have beliefs and point of views. Some people accept the fact that others can have different point of view while some cant. Then some of the latter want rest to go by what they themselves believe, which when not done makes them turn toxic to the very society they have been part of. We may be social animals, but the animal and social nature are contradictory. They need to be in balance as Yin and Yang of Chinese FengShui, whenever this balance internal to a human changes, we become either too social (whom many will find irritating personalities) or too animal.
You would have been through the people who ask for charity, for money towards social cause or even for some flood relief etc. Its your wish to give, you may not give as you may not feel like giving or you may question if the money will go in right hands. But then there are people who will stop you and pester you to pay. Reason is not that its for social cause, reason is the organizers firmly believe that they are doing a social cause; in plain English I would call it imposition. Similar is the case with religion, its like a kind of a philosophy kept there in open, who so ever wants it will subscribe to it.
But then that’s us, humans. We aren’t limited to ourselves, we long for what the web of social linkages gives us; so the drama shall go on; and so shall the lives even if that is of a common man whose life goes on to achieve the balance between the Yin (dark/negative) and Yang (bright/positive).
"The Education of Fairies" makes point
Feb 22nd
A day back I was watching a Spanish movie La Educación de las hadas (The Education of Fairies). Based on a french novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert it is a slow and absorbing story of the transformational power of a child-like imagination.
Toy inventor Nicolas (Darin) meets widowed ornithologist Ingrid (Irene Jacob) and her son Raul (Victor Valdivia) on a plane. Nicolas turns on the charm, and, soon, Nicolas and Ingrid are married and living an idyllic existence in a beautiful old house in the Catalan countryside.
Nicolas and Raul develop a sensitive relationship through conversations about the boy’s father, a soldier who died in Iraq. The imaginative Nicolas tells the boy stories about fairies who make the world a better place and takes him to an old hut in the woods where he hung out as a child. Once they are sitting for a picnic on the soldier’s grave, that Nicolas gives soldier a medal (a cola cap) for his being a great human; and the kid reacts by giving Nicolas a medal for being a great dad.
After a decade of beautiful relation, however, Ingrid surprises Nicolas suddenly one day by asking for a separation. She first says that he snores a lot and asks him to sleep in other room. The reactions of a steady relation are aptly showcased. Nicolas infact leaves a voice recorder on to argue with Ingrid so that he can be with her.
Meanwhile, Algerian checkout girl Sezar (singer Bebe, here making an effective debut) is being sexually harassed by her boss Matarredona (Jordi Bosch). One night, when Sezar is in a car with her boss, the car is attacked and Sezar is beaten up.
Nicolas picks her up and takes her back to his hut in the woods, where Raul mistakes her for a fairy. Here is a big irony, Nicolas had told his son that one can be granted three wishes by fairies but added that problem is that most ladies don’t know if they are fairies. On being asked that how to identify them, he says that they have marks on cheeks as they scratch them while thinking, which they do a lot. And over here, Sezar has marks on her cheeks coz back at home a guy had beaten her and raped her. I found this ironic contrast of mark made by scar quite moving.
Visuals are often sumptuous with the lighting bringing out the rich color of the beautiful rural scenery. Attention is also paid to details, such as the raindrops on an umbrella under which Nicolas and Ingrid kiss.
The script is sufficiently grounded in emotional truth. All the characters are concealing past issues, and it takes the innocence of a child to confront these issues and bring them into the open. The appeal is lost in the end as the reasoning of leaving of Ingrid being having a cancer is insufficiently woven in. She tells Nicolas that she is seeing someone and how Nicolas reacts is emotional turmoil at the best. But as she comes again later, Nicolas rightly questions that if she talks the same talks of separation and questioning the integrity, then there is no point coming back.
What I have realized by now in life is that the relationships need faith, love, time and passion to succeed. Compromise being an integral part of it, one adapts to other with time. But there is a limit of compromise and if the arguments are too often, maybe there is a time to check the chemistry. I get reminded time and again by a quote of my cousin, “What you think is the best for you may not actually be the best for you”; which brings in the need of arguments and listening to other people’s justification. But then once you form a bond then one should realise that with the power of joy, we also give each other a power to hurt or demolish each other emotionally. So in fact, Ingrid’s decay of life in arms of Nicolas would have been a better option than deserting Nicolas and kid. But then an opinion is an opinion and I know, when it comes to such matter we all have varying opinion and all are true!
Movie Reviews
Aug 22nd
Life post MBA has high affinity to the cinema, and I was no exception. The love since scintillated is still riding high on my exploring self. I had fumbled upon a Japanese movie ‘Spirited Away’ (2003) by chance once, and could not help being struck by its simplicity and continuity. So last week when my room mate brought another of such Japanese animated movie, “Grave of the Fireflies” (2002), I could guess my weekend schedule.
Grave of the Fireflies: *****
What I did not know was that this animated movie was much more an art piece than just any other mainstream movie. You can easily find that it’s not the animation that is the life of this movie, it’s the direction. Strange it was for me, to think of directing being of such a strong influencer in an animated movie. Why would you make an animation? To jump over the boundaries of a movie enacted by blood and flesh humans; say a fiction with magic, powers, stunts etc. But not this movie, there is none of these in here, just that it adds a minuteness in details every here and there.The story is set in Japan when it was bearing the burn of Allies airpower in World War II. It’s casted on two thespians, a brother in teenage and his sister of age six to seven. The movie beautifully captures the nuances of a child’s behavior; so much so that when the little girl gets irritatingly childish, still she doesn’t invoke the emotions of irritation! The bond between the two and the world spun around them that has been shown requires a mature direction and a high understanding of the emotions of humans when they are set in a trauma wherein they have no option but to take it all. Not even a single word of cribbing has been voiced by the brother who faces the life hard way. Along the movie you can easily see the change in his personality and the mockery that the war casts upon their life and life of people around them. When others run away from their homes to a safer place during bombings the guy runs towards home as he can find the food for him and his sister left by these people. He is the one who has to bear all the emotions inside his own self when he founds the unrecognizable cadaver of his mother.
In the end you can’t help but acknowledge this satirical mockery. No I wont give the ending, for then the taste of movie will be lost in case you plan to see it after the review.
I always thought that the movie was ought to be the league of Night Rider or Street Hawk (this one was my childhood most favorite serial!). This made me always think that I can manage not watching it. Based in early 50s, at best it could have been a mix of stunt and adrenaline showcased with the newly found use of technology in movies; it would have been a blockbuster at that time but in today’s date? Why would I watch it when there are movies like Matrix, XXX (Vin Diesel) etc!! But then I was wrong, the movie is on totally different theme and showcases why it has always been considered as a milestone in movie acting. No doubt it won three Oscars in acting alone!I managed to get my hands on the Original Director’s Version, which has in addition to other scenes, the show of sexual tension between Blanche (very nicely played by Vivien Leigh) and Stanley (Marlon Brando). What struck me the most was the acting of Vivien, the lady has beautifully portrayed the role of a female with impulses, whims, mood swings and high emotions which would turn the frustration on in a man. In first half I couldn’t help but despise her character for she stood for something that really gets in my nerves. But the second half takes you through her inner self, the part that has made her what she is now. The blasts of internal conflicts that she has to go through are aptly demonstrated in expressions without uttering a single word. That, my friend is what I call acting!
