Movie Review – Dum Laga Ke Haisha

An Ayushmann Khurrana normalcy

On the surface level, it’s yet another Ayushmann Khurrana genre movie but yet again he surprises and makes us wonder how he sustains in this genre for so long. Eventually it has to break but for now it’s lasting and let’s enjoy that. An additional advantage for this movie is that he has underplayed his character and there are a string of characters around him, who are brilliant. Add to it, it has a terrific Bhumi Padekar, who doesn’t do a single scene wrong. It’s one of the movies which even when people walk by, they’ll sit and watch till completion. My house was a proof to it.

The film is set in 1995, where Prem Prakash Tiwari (Ayushmann Khurrana) runs a cassette shop. As it was a period flick, it’s easy to reminiscent the past and make it romatic and that’s what they do in the opening sequence. Generally the mistake that filmmakers do for such sequences are they try to find a connect between such nostalgic sequence with the main storyline, here it’s about the heroines weight, but luckily in this film it doesn’t happen so. It plainly shows Prem’s love for Kumar Sanu and nothing over the top was done, in fact it was nice to see a stoppage of the song in between. Wish I had known those songs, it would have felt even better. Even though it was done well, just imagine the same happening in a Malayalam film with Fahadh Faasil in it, it’d have been even more special. But that’s just me, whatever done here was good enough.

I wasn’t aware that it was Bhumi Padekar’s debut. I thought she would have put up weight for the movie after a couple of movies. To take up this role as debut needs a lot of confidence, because it’s easy to be typecast and also be rejected for looks. In addition to the role, she does a beautiful job in the acting department too. There wasn’t a single scene where she begs for sympathy. Have to give credit to the director, Sharat Katariya, for portraying such a genuine character and not make a melodramatic movie.

There were few aspects apart from these, which was done well too, like how Sandhya (Bhumi Pednekar) gets angry knowing Prem’s intention of not wanting to show her to friends and how Prem feels guilty for the same. But it doesn’t elongate into a dramatic sequence, it ends then and there. Sandhya is not a girl who sits and whines. No matter how much she gets body shamed, by her extended family, Nain Tara (Sheeba Chaddha) and her brother, she doesn’t retaliate but just passes by. Post the scenes, she doesn’t sit and sulk do, she knows her body and just goes on with the random work. Even the scene where she slaps Prem, it doesn’t end there, there is a quick slap back from Prem. That was beautiful. It wasn’t heroic but genuine.

For a film which was going with such a flow, I was afraid that it would have tear jerker of a climax. Even though a part of me told that it wouldn’t happen, I was still afraid. But thankfully, it wasn’t the case. They patch up well and easy. Even the kissing scene in the end felt organic, even though filmy.

It’s a film we know, how it’s gonna end but it’s about how it goes till the end. Credit has to be given to the director to have kept the films tempo intact. It’s a film which could have easily faltered, if it had taken any other route. Thankfully Ayushmann doesn’t overdo stuff and the director keeps it crisp to end the film on a happy note.

Movie Review – Stations of the Cross

Nailed right on the cross

I wanted to start the year with something deep shit, so had chosen ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’ to watch first but unfortunately I’m at a stage, that to watch a 3.5 hour film at a stretch is a luxury beyond words. Can’t believe I watched ‘Sátántangó’ at a stretch. But that being said, for a brief moment when I got time I was lucky enough to choose a film, which I had no idea of, but again was a deep shit. I’m glad that I was able to open the account of the year with a strong film like this.

Watching these minimalistic artsy films always gives hope, gives a feel that one can become a filmmaker. Consider this film for example, it has fourteen long takes, barring a couple of chapters, the long takes are static, still it effortlessly yields us into the film. Such beautiful frame, so much to study, yet so simple. As a budding filmmaker when you watch a film like this, it gives hope that you too can make a movie with minimal budget, minimal crew and yet could come up with something significant. If not for inspiration, what is art meant for.

Ignorance is a bliss, always, when it comes to films. Watching a film without knowing anything about it gives great joy. This was one such film. Even after watching, as I was not aware of the Stations of the Cross concept, it was a great learning too. Like how a Ten Commandments was made into various films, this was so beautifully adapted into film. Especially loved the chapter ‘Jesus is stripped of his garments’. It was so perfect, in literal sense as well as with biblical reference. Wonder how would it had been who had known the concept, would they have been in awe with it or it’d have been underwhelming.

Maria (Lea van Acken) is a treasure trove. You can’t help but like her, so naïve and innocent. Her pure heart is something people can only dream of. On the other hand, the way she goes about it and how she is pushed into that situation raises a question. Whether she was not given space to grow into a normal child. Of course we tend to empathize with her and hate her mother (Franziska Weisz), another brilliant actor, but it doesn’t happen throughout the movie. At times there are scenes which confuses us, whether it’s a pro or anti christ movie. Largely towards the later, but in the climax when her brother tells her name, I was confused on the way the film was about to go.

The first few chapters are just static shots, you can’t help but admire framing, staging but most importantly acting. For every auteurs who don’t believe in acting, this movie would have been a slap in the face. Without proper actors, it would have been impossible to shoot the movie. But I can’t imagine how the kids were able to bring out the innocence after so much of rehearsal. Generally with each rehearsal the innocence gets lost but the scenes feel as real as possible and the acting is clinical, there is no sense of tiredness or boredom on the screen. May be that’s the mark of great actors.

Generally, when a film ends, there would be certain things which we’d feel like, could have gone in a different way or happened differently but this was a kind of film where I was left expressionless. It was as if I was in a spell and I was expected to accept the happenings. In fact it’s a difficult film to review. You can’t criticize or appreciate enough on the filmmaking, all you can do, is talk about concept but to do that, it must have been part of your culture, which for me was not, so at the end all I can do is be happy and thank god for my few minutes of forgetfulness to have chosen this film and not have waited for ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’ to happen first.

Movie Review – Avatar: The Way of Water

A True Blue Avatar Experience

Watching Avatar is like getting into one of those landmark roller coasters. There would be so much thought before getting into that, some go to theme park just for that one experience, for some it would be a surprise. The steps leading to it would be so tense, the queue would have people bored, but with nervous laughs. The seating would give initial shivers, because from outside you’d have heard all those screaming and you know you’re going to be the next. Now the roller coaster slowly climbs up, everyone is quiet, you hear the sound of railings beneath your feet, sun would be scorching but your body would be cold. It takes an eternity to go up, there is a second wait for you to come to terms with life where so much would be running in your mind and then, bam goes the fall. That’s how Avatar movies are defined, no matter, the amount of thoughts run into your mind during the drama, when the fight starts, all you get is glee.

Watching Avatar in theatre is an experience by itself. Kids who’re calling this as the 3D masterpiece are the ones who have not watched ‘Avatar’ I theatre. Because everything you see now has already been done in part one. If ‘Avatar’ and ‘Avatar 2’ released together no one would find any difference in technology, plus as it’s a first part, the story would be gripping. That’s how legendary the ‘Avatar’ experience was. Like I had quoted in my heading, this still is a true blue Avatar experience but not true blue legendary Avatar experience like part one.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is now a Na’vi and raises a family of five kids with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), which includes sons Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) (born from Grace Augustine’s inert avatar), and a human boy named Spider (Jack Champion), the son of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who was born on Pandora and was unable to be transported to Earth in cryostasis due to his infancy. James Cameron doesn’t mince with time as we see the humans preparing for an attack of Pandora right away. How ‘meh’ right. We know it’s again going to be a repeat of part one. An action film at the end of the day. Having a repeat of ‘Hangover’ in ‘Hangover 2’ is fine but not ‘Avatar’ in ‘Avatar 2’. It felt as if the next generation shouldn’t be deprived of the joy of enjoying ‘Avatar’ in theatre, so ‘Avatar 2’ was made. With a rerelease, except for the curiosity factor, that movie would have equally fared, if not better. Not in terms of money, but with terms of connect.

The most disappointing part of the story line was reincarnation of Quaritch as Na’vi head. At least some effort to have brought a new villain, if not a new story line would have made the script interesting. The sequence of events post that too were mainstream. The human boy gets captured, they use him to get to their family but he remains loyal to Na’vi’s in the end. We see the regular templates like going to a new place, settling with them, rifts among them etc. Worst of the twists was the signal of humans who come to the reef island by choppers, used as trackers to get to Jack Sully.

Thanks to one of my friend who spoilt it saying that even “Ellu Vaya Pookalaye” song could have been included in the song because it felt like a Visu movie, I guessed who the culprit was going to be, amongst the kids. Even otherwise it’d not have been difficult to guess it. But with respect to part one, what was majorly missing was the empathy. When the humans attack the holy tree in part one, it’d make us empathize for it but here it’s all bland shock value, no amount of close ups of forests being lit up makes up for that emotion. Even Neteyam dying doesn’t have any impact. By the time we are already getting ready for the big fight, which too unfortunately doesn’t last long. Even though the music director Simon Franglen tries to do a Hans Zimmer, he was not able to elevate it. Also people being trapped in the ship doesn’t work, Cameron should’ve known that everyone would have watched his ‘Titanic’ already.

Probably the only interesting part of this movie was the uncomfortable bond between Neytiri and Spider. Loved the bit where she keeps the sword on his neck. That along with the moment where the village chief’s wife Ronal says, “I ride” was probably the two greatest moments of the movie. Of course Aonung’s entry in the climax was the most heroic, after all he was the hero of the movie, but there wouldn’t be a soul who’d not have expected it to happen. Finally, the last shot. Camera panning into Jake Sully and him opening the eyes, seriously?

Ideally, there shouldn’t have been a sequel made for ‘Avatar’, it’s like making a sequel for ‘Titanic’. There is no point in it. We can’t keep on seeing man vs. Na’vi fight forever. Even though it was not a spectacle like part one (quite expectedly), I’m happy that it didn’t take the “serious” tone which superhero movies are adapting now or didn’t delve the ‘Planet of the Apes’ way by creating internal conflict, which strips the joy out of the movie. ‘Avatar’ is still a joyous watch and it’ll remain so in the coming years. But it’s never going to be a legendary movie like ‘Lord of the Rings’. James Cameron missed the trick here by making consequent parts. If not for that, ‘Avatar’ would have been in the same scale of ‘Titanic’

Movie Review – Avatar

Test of time

Of course I had to watch it before the part two. But was in a dilemma because while watching ‘Avatar 2’, I didn’t want to miss the visceral experience which I had while watching ‘Avatar’. ‘Avatar’ was a phenomenal theatrical experience. A great grand 3D masterpiece. Nothing has ever come close to the visual spectacle. It’s been more than a decade since the movie released and in a way it was good that I have a bad memory and I had forgotten most of the scenes. But just being a visual marvel, enough to sustain interest for people who’ve been waiting for the sequel for more than a decade?

My story of watching ‘Avatar’ itself was an experience by itself. Releasing on a Thursday, I was caught quite unaware. Those were the days when I used to spend half my time in Sathyam Theatre for Rs. 10 ticket. I had planned for some other movie (Tamil movie I believe) that day and the ticket had got over and the guy in the ticket counter told that only tickets for a 3D film was there. That’s how I, like many purchased a ticket to a 3D movie, without even knowing its name. Seeing the posters I thought it’d be just another 3D movie, trying to mint money but what happened inside the theatre was quite different.

For the first twenty minutes, the Rs. 10 ticket people were getting restless. There were too many dialogues and nothing interesting was happening. People just behind us in the Rs. 120 ticket were getting restless too because they were not able to concentrate on the movie due to non-stop chit chats in the front rows. The second phase was the admiration of the 3D. There were silent admirations and wide grins in the back rows and oohs and aahs in the front row. Only from the third phase I understood, what a powerful medium cinema was. Like how we don’t understand the language of Na’vi’s, even though the front rows didn’t understand the film. When Na’vi’s fight human in the last act, the theatre erupted. There was no more demarcation between front row and last row. None were making fun of each other. There were loud roars from front to back, back to front. Only the Mexican wave was missing. It was such an experience to see how emotion is the same, no matter what language, what class people are from.

So to watch a movie like that, without 3D, without big screen (in mobile to be precise), after a gap of ten years, after being exposed to so many other movies and also having aged considerably, it was a wholly different experience. In fact it was the totally opposite experience. Just like any superhero movie where the protagonist discovers his powers, the first half was wildly interesting as we get into the world of Pandora. Everything was a revelation. But the second half which worked wonders in theatre, even though fast paced was cheesy like any other ‘Avengers’ movie. Especially with the characters of Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez) and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), it felt like any ‘Fast and Furious’ movie which was made just to get the applause of audience. By this time I was doubtful whether it was even the right decision to watch the movie again. I was unsure whether ‘Avatar’ that cheap a movie which expects applause with corny dialogues?

But with or without big screen, with or without 3D glasses, Avatar is one of the most beautiful imaginary world. I’d not say the most beautiful film because. I’d rate films such as ‘Capote’, ‘Synecdoche, New York’ in that category. They’re the ones which could be classified under truly beautiful films. Avatar is a fantasy. But a fantasy done perfectly and uncompromisingly.

Is this one of the films which would have been left as such, like ‘Titanic’ may be, instead of giving it further four parts. But four parts doesn’t happen just like it and Cameron is no ordinary guy. In fact it would be interesting to see what happens in the future movies because even though fresh, ‘Avatar’ was pretty straightforward. A dystopian world, a new world and fight between these people. As Cameron has exhausted all the easy stunts like discovery, angst etc. it would be curious to see what he tries next. Whether it would be plain misanthropist or anything deeper than that. Also as a director, wouldn’t one want to try to get into different genres or at least different films instead of getting struck to the same one through a major part of life? Wonder how he gets motivation for that.

Movie Review – Love Today

Trending the new waves

After a debaculous ‘Comali’, ‘Love Today’ was at the top of my must not watch list. Like any guilty pleasure movies, emotions overtake you at the least imaginable moments. ‘Love Today’ was a houseful on a Friday night even after one month of its release and the crowds were enjoying like anything. It was all understandable but the unprecedented success would have dumfounded even the makers I believe. What’s scary is, if youngsters benchmark itself is going to be these “trending” movie, would Atlee become their Godfather.

The first twenty minutes of the movie was hard to digest. The protoganist, Uthaman Pradeep’s (Pradeep Ranganathan), acting was difficult to digest but it in a while, it sets in. The biggest advantage Pradeep had as an actor was his boy next door look. He reminds us of one of the guys, whom you’d not have thought would be in your friends group but he’d have eventually got into it, without no one knowing how. Or he’d have been the funny guy in the next group of friends, whom even though you like, you wouldn’t really feel like talking to him. I saw him in that perspective, more so on the latter. Generally, we think from protagonist’s angle. It didn’t happen here, if it had happened for you, it’d have been lot more enjoyable for you.

He was a surprisingly good actor. His acting works especially for this character where he had to be loud and dramatic. His interviews too were trending for the same reason, as he had this college humor in tact with him. But how long it would last is the question. After ‘Comali’ I thought he wouldn’t exist but he gave a bigger hit with ‘Love Today’ so for now he’s fine.

Obviously between the leads, everyone would vouch for Nikitha’s (Ivana) character for her acting skills. She was beautiful and did a terrific job in romance scenes but generally most of the heroines are good in romantic scenes. It’s the male stars who always falter. But here Pradeep does a fabulous job. Especially the scene where he tries to pin Nikitha’s saree in a scene, he would give even top heroes a run for money.

There were few laughs in the first half and slightly less in the second half but most of it were already the ones which had been trending in Facebook. It wasn’t a full on laugh riot. If Comali took certain cringe factors and used everything together to get 90s kid’s attention, here it takes to another level. Unfortunately it works and that’s the scary part, exactly like how something is very problematic if you start liking Atlee’s film. These are films with absolutely no ambition. They are youngsters who are supposed to take risks and experiment, not showcase something for temporary joy.

Having said all that, it was not an easy task to have just a single concept of phone exchange as crux and move the story forward. Long time I had written a story about two people talking to each other in office chat. Being a fan of dialogues, I had written it, which I wanted to make it a short film. I had no idea how to make these conversations look like they’re not monotonous. Pradeep’s biggest success here was in achieving that. Except for that one scene in bathroom where all the chat windows were given life, there wasn’t any openly “different” way of showing the texts. In fact it was done so well that people don’t feel that they’re reading only the texts.

Pradeep somehow uses elements against Uthaman’s character in the second half and makes it harsh and relatable. But still the film felt like an attack on Nikitha’s character more than Uthaman. Nikitha explaining to her sister and Uthaman explaining to her mother about how the other parties were not so bad was outright cringe. It was just like the rain scene in ‘Comali’. But there is no other way to come to a conclusion. Having good actors proved to be an advantage for these scenes. Post that it was a series of confessions and pep talks. By this time you’re already in the zone and accept what he says.

In the end the film fares better than ‘Comali’ in both the comedy aspects and emotional ones as the former was more fun and relatable and the latter was made acceptable by some intelligent filmmaking and acting. Plus his choice of actors, especially the females were nice. Everyone was pretty (reminded me of Shankar songs extras) and given at least some time to be registered. He wasn’t trying to show only the heroine as goddess and others less superior to her.

P.S: This was the first time three not so famous/trending songs of Vikram had come in a single film as pop culture reference. Ennodu Nee Irundhaal, Chi chi chi, Ithunundu Muthathile. Of course he credited Vijay and not Vikram. All that was understandable.

P.S.S: Don’t tell me he’s a fan of Vikram, I’d be damned!

Movie Review – Kantara

The one to go with the flow

‘Kantara’ was one of the most trending movies of recent times. And naturally I was hyped. May be if I had discovered the film on my own, I’d have liked it better. The film wasn’t a revelation of sorts as many described. There have been far more impactful and raw Indian movies with a similar genre. Bala’s movies are prime examples. Then there are movies like ‘Jogwa’. When compared to those, ‘Kantara’ felt just like an average flick.  But thanks to movies likes ‘Avane Srimannarayana’ and ‘Kantara’, Kannada has taken, “jumping into new realms” as new norm, especially with respect to fantasy films. That’s quite commendable.

The first act of Kantara was spectacular. The last act was hyped but if not for the sound and over the top acting, it wouldn’t have worked much. The real problem was with the second act. It felt like a long gap which was being filled before an explosive climax. Because we all know what was going to happen in the climax. The film was pretty one dimensional and the characters were either white or black. But the problem was the film trying to extend its story in the entire second half without much grip.

The film follows the story of Shiva (Rishab Shetty), a Kambala athlete from Kaadubettu, who is at loggerheads with forest officer Muralidhar (Kishore). Kishore does a fine job, till the time he gets injured by the gun. Post that his character gets reduced to the scope of a mere spectator. The Kambala sequence, which got famous recently, thanks to an athlete who completed the race faster than Usain Bolt, could have explored better, rather than just being used as a hero entry tool. That sequence followed by the fight could have been shot better too.

Similarly, the rift between Kishore and Shiva was just surface level. It could have been handled better, especially Kishore’s angle. It showed promise initially when he tries to defend government’s decision to not allow encroachments. Generally films like these would be plainly against government but here was someone who was trying to put sense to the action. Even though his way of things was harsh, his purpose felt good. Wish that conflict had been handled better and made the opposite party come up with their own points, instead of plain fight. It could have become something legendary on the lines of Kamal and Nasser in ‘Kuruthipunal’.

I could connect with this track better because, when I casually asked someone who was working for a resort in which I had stayed, about forest fire, he told that he was from forest area and forest fires most of the time doesn’t happen on its own. People around the area do a trick like lighting up a fireball filled with coconut coir where it’ll be just smoke for a couple of days and would burn only after long time. They do that because of anger on forest officers who don’t let them collect log. That was a great concept. People who had stayed there for years being denied a right versus a government official doing his duty. That angle could have been explored better. But instead it’s always a corrupt policeman in the movies who makes us hate him and support the villagers whole heartedly.

The characterization was lit. They failed to do justice to it. The heroine’s character, Leela (Sapthami Gowda), too could have been explored better. A protagonist’s love interest in the antagonist’s camp and trying to take government orders was a great premise. Something as great as an ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ could have been made with just these three characters but at last, it ends to be a mere gimmick.

Anyways Kantara wasn’t even trying to play that deep. All it wanted was to use the story as a mythical folklore horror. In that aspect it succeeded. People who are vociferously supporting ‘Kanatara’ are the same type of people who were calling ‘Interstellar’ as the best film ever. Thankfully I watched it with the flow. This is not a movie which would have appealed after the fizz gets faded.

Movie Review – Nizhalgal

A long term wish

It was a long term wish to watch the movie but due to largely depressing comments I tried to avoid it. Thanks to its anniversary along with ‘Varumayin Niram Sigappu’, I got a chance to watch this movie. The comments indeed were real. It was a largely depressing movie and on top of it was an unsettling movie. It shows promise with certain scenes and just when we want to lured by it, it puts us off with a completely abysmal scene. Of course it was a different attempt and director Bharatiraja wanted to explore something. But was the experiment a success, is a question which is left to be desired.

If you compare with ‘Varumayin Niram Sigappu’, it doesn’t even stand a chance because, ‘Varumayin Niram Sigappu’ was clinical. There was nothing you could find fault with respect to that film. May be your ideologies can differ and you can hate something, some characters but the end product was something which was perfectly planned and executed. But when it comes to ‘Nizhalgal’, even though it can be appreciated for trying to do something out of ordinary, it was not clear whether the confusion was intentional as part of the script or the director himself was confused with what he has written.

We see three characters, Prabhu (Rajasekaran), Gopi (Ravi) and Hari (Chandrasekhar) trying to attain a goal in life. Prabhu is a weed smoking college student, trying to attain salvation. Someone who doesn’t know what really he wants in life. Gopi is an individual trying to get a job, because he’s an idealist, he lands into problems and Hari, an aspiring music director. The only relatable thing between all three of them was the confusion. In the process of identying who they really were, they lose themselves.

Mahalakshmi (Rohini) plays the love interest of Ravi but not clear whether she has affections for Prabhu as well. Rohini played her part to perfection and was atrociously beautiful too. In fact, she looked like the only well written character. Prabhu as much as he wants to be shown as scholar, doesn’t really appear so. Maha and others around him had to constantly hype his character citing what a different individual he was. And his weed smoking scenes were badly shot too. Wish some research had been made. Cinematically too his character wasn’t appealing.

Gopi’s character on the other hand gets defined in that one interview scene, which definitely could have been better made. At least Hari’s character was better when it comes to the other two and Chandrasekar being a naturally charming individual amongst the rest, he was better suited for the role.

It’s a shame that Ilayaraja has come up with his best work for this film. The actors especially don’t deserve such great songs. And the songs too were not matching with the film, especially the lyrics. Wonder what the idea behind it was, because the songs were wholly optimistic, whereas the film was entirely pessimistic. Interesting thing was, in spite of that, the film was a musical because all the songs had a proper lead too it, it was also shot well with scenes cinematically defining the lyrics. Funny thing is that it was a confusing film for the same reason. The film need not have a proper path, individuals can be confused but if the film doesn’t even have a proper blueprint and doesn’t know what it was trying to exhibit, then it’s a problem. ‘Nizhalgal’ felt like one such film.

Of course there are enough problems even before the climax or the pre climax sequences, which was a total disaster. The conclusion felt forceful and wanted to depict all characters to be out of their mind. In a way it was a dystopian society. But starting with the death of Gopi’s father, it triggers a series of death. First being Mani’s (Manivannan) son Singam (Master Haja Sheriff), then the money lender (Janagaraj) and then the leads. The entire sequence felt hurried and makes the audience lose interest. It makes people disown the individual and the end of the movie only feels like a relief out of their depressing world.

Movie Review – 3:10 to Yuma

Where actors overtake ambience

‘3:10 to Yuma’ is a classic example of how important actors are. Generally in a western film, the locales, music and dust take over the entire setting. So filmmakers don’t even prefer proper actors and even if they do they’d not be given any scope to emote. They’d be a point of interest in the story we could relate to, but not really humans. ‘3:10 to Yuma’ breaks the template and gives actors rich importance. Or maybe the actors were so great that they took over the onus set by the director. The end product due to that is a highly refined emotive intelligent piece of work with which we could empathize.

Every time a Christian Bale movie starts, it makes me feel why is he rated so highly but he himself answers the question by the end of the movie. Especially with this movie, it was more challenging because Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors. But even with him around, Christian Bale overtakes him in the end. The whole movie had an interesting conflict between them. Not only as characters but as actors too. It felt like subconsciously they were in awe of each other’s acting and fighting their inner demons to go past them. It was a beautiful feeling if you could understand that.

Dan Evans (Christian Bale) was not really a hero but in constant pursuit of being one. In the very first scene we get to know that he has lost a leg. Despite the fact, he was ready to fight a ruthless leader of a gang of outlaws Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). We know that Dan doesn’t have an iota of chance against him. But he goes for a fight against him not only to be a hero in front of his family, his son to be precise, but to redeem himself. May be deep within he knew it was a suicidal attempt or maybe he really thought he could do it but he reminded me of Jaime Lannister after losing his hand. May be Dan too would have been heroic like him before losing his leg.

Thanks to have watched ‘Asuran’, the opening scenes reminded of that and I thought, at some point Dan Evans would come out heroic and kill all the goons. Only then his annoying son, William Evans (Logan Lerman) would know his value. But ‘3:10 to Yuma’ shows why it’s a greater film than ‘Asuran’ and stands the test of time by not making Dan heroic at any instant. In fact Christian Bale needs to be appreciated to have taken such a deeply unheroic role.

Ben Wade on the other hand was an effortlessly ruthless villain. He spits venom just by mere look. The role was in fact a reversal of sorts because generally Russell Crowe would always be a good guy and good guy phenomena suits him to tee, just like he did in ‘Gladiator’ and even so brilliantly in ‘Cinderella Man’.

The arc of Ben wade was really interesting. For some reason he has that admiration for Dan Evans. May be because he had a life that Ben Wade doesn’t and that’s what led him to this or maybe he just liked the gut of that man, a true straightforward person who was ready to fight him but he also knew that he didn’t have any chance. The bromance between the both was brilliant. This type of bromance wouldn’t have been special even if they both had been on the same side, because it would have been one-dimensional and Sholayish. They being opposites and still admiring each other was something special.

Even though, from the time Ben Wade gets captured, you’d be at the edge of the seat. It’s only when Dan tells him why he wants the win more than the money, was where one would truly break up. Post that Dan helps him of course and I liked the fact that the train which was supposed to arrive at 3:10 as per the title doesn’t arrive on time. It was a nice pun. But what I didn’t like was Ben killing his aids. Of course he wanted Dan to succeed and he had plans to escape but may be the killing gave a sense of forceful completion to his character. May be as he had killed his entire group, he’d escape and be a good guy going forward.

Generally in westerns, it would be okay to bask in the feel of the movie unless there would be no crowd, like the desert, Ben’s house etc. but when they come to a town, it feels artificial to just see such less people around. We don’t really get a feel that it’s a world of the past. It’s something I wish filmmakers negate in the future.

Movie Review – Escape from Planet Earth

An Absolute Waste of Time

It was the last of movies which I watched during my recent travel. It had least running time among the list of films I had with me. As I watched films as per the running time it came last. Just like any other film, I had no idea what this film was about. I was surprised to know it was an animation but the surprise didn’t last long. The movie felt like a disgrace to so many other interesting works which had come off late. I was expecting something on that lines but ended up terribly disappointed.

Right from the word go, it was understandable that the movie was going to be quirky. Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser), a supposedly famous yet reckless space pilot who gets himself in tough situations but comes out heroically, thanks to his brother Gary Supernova (Rob Corddry). We see a live example right at the start of the movie, where he was supposed to save few kids from another planet but in an attempt to play with the kids, he wakes up the monsters of the planet and had to fight out with them with the help of Gary.

Even though Gary helps him like that in his mission, Scorch doesn’t acknowledge of him. So Gary walks out of the next mission where Scorch was supposed to go to Dark Planet (the Baabians’ name for Earth). The movie could have got interesting from there but except for them landing in Area 51, there wasn’t anything even remotely funny to enjoy. As typical of what you’d expect, Scorch again lands himself in trouble and Gary understands that it’s upto him to go save Scorch. In the process they meet equally irritating characters from other planet. Actually I was feeling bad of Gary throughout. How difficult it is to be a single sane person in a group.

The funny thing about the movie was the villain of Area 51 was named as Shanker (William Shatner). Of course it doesn’t have any connect to the Tamil director. But how funny to think how it would have been a parody in Hollywood for a Kollywood director who wants to shoot like Hollywood film. But the fun ends there, there wasn’t anything interesting apart from that thought.

I was waiting for the film to get over. The double cross, aliens, conspiracy etc. didn’t help in any sort of way. It just felt like a no brainer which only people with no brains could enjoy. Even for kids after certain age, this film would have been plain boring. May be the ones who’re getting to see animated characters and getting a first glimpse of color, might have liked it.

When you’re watching movies out of the blue, without any real research, disasters like this tend to happen. Generally my sources are good so I get more positives than negatives but this one was one of the worst films i’ve ever watched.

Movie Review – Mustang

An emotional close to heart feminist film

Foreign films are always a pleasure to watch because by the time it transcends boundaries and comes within our reach, it would have already undergone so many filters, by passed so many criterion and would reach us only if it’s worth. So when it comes to foreign films, one can be rest assured that it’d be of minimum guarantee. So as soon as I saw subtitles for the film I was happy. Plus the film revolved around five beautiful girls. So I was rest assured that I wouldn’t regret watching it.

As soon as the film started it reminded me of ‘32A’. It had all the vibes of ‘32A’. May be in some time when the first serious scene appears and with the diction of the language, my mind wavered through to ‘About Elly’ too, it would have been because I watched it recently. But otherwise, as soon as you see a household of the girls, you’d get reminded of Iranian films because we’ve been exposed to Iranian films more than Turkish ones. But the film treaded more on the former line and was a lot more global than ‘32A’. ’32A’ felt more personal when compared to this and thus I would rate it better between the two. But that doesn’t take anything away from ‘Mustang’ though.

The film revolves around five beautiful young woman, intentionally avoiding to use the term “kids”. The five sisters, Lale (Güneş Şensoy), Nur (Doğa Doğuşlu), Ece (Elit İşcan), Selma (Tuğba Sunguroğlu), Sonay (İlayda Akdoğan) are all equally charming individuals, part of an extremely strict Turkish household of the countryside. They’re represented as a society. Not sure whether the reality really is that bad but through the film we are made to feel so like that.

Lale, the youngest and the most dynamic gets to see what all their elder sisters had to undergo, so she plans to escape right from the start. With every sister being married off, we could potentially feel Lale’s tension where she knows that the bullet was going to pierce her sooner or later. Through voiceover, when she tells about their last night together, it was a deeply emotional moment.

Sonay, the prettiest or may be even the hottest of all, luckily has a life she wishes too but same can’t be said about Selma, who is married off to the individual who comes to see Sonay. I didn’t know that the bed sheet ritual happens in that part of the world too. I thought the plates would change after sometime but we don’t get to hear anything about them further. Thus assuming that Sonay lived happily but Selma didn’t. Anyways the film was about Lale, more than anyone else, so that could be a reason too.

Similarly when the next one gets ready to be married off, she starts acting differently and kills herself off. It was mentioned that she was sexually abused by her uncle but I couldn’t get it while watching the film but she looked despondent, ever since her marriage had been announced. She comes to a stage that she doesn’t care about anything but her death happens out of the blue. Wonder why even her death ceremony was conducted secretly and there were not any interventions from police. That idea looked far-fetched.

Now when it comes for the penultimate one, Nur. The marriage looks sudden. She visibly looks very young for marriage and Lale gets as much surprised as us. As Lale had already known to drive, I knew what was going to be the climax but there was a moment of scare, when she gets into an accident while driving the car. I thought she’d get caught but luckily they escape.

In fact the whole moment till the last shot was scary because I didn’t want the film to have a depressing ending. I was skeptical of the guy who was helping her and as she reaches Istanbul and searches for an address, it didn’t look like a typical residential place. Plus a male opens the door in the climax. But finally when a warm embrace happens with her teacher just like that of scene one, we could be rest assured that all is well. May be they’d have to face further challenges in life but for the moment when that scene happened, it felt like a relief.