Movie Review – Moonlight

Black mamba’s by story

It’s one of the movies which tells a multitude of messages and that’s one of the main reasons I was avoiding it. Unfortunately, it won Oscar too so my affinity got even less. Guess the movies which get Oscars, especially in this category seems to be because of the cultural impact it has. The making and the storytelling gets you on grip but its one of the average joes out there. Thankfully it wasn’t as rooted as ’12 years a Slave’ which had absolutely no impact on me. ‘Moonlight’ even though didn’t sweep me of my feet, at least held my attention, thanks especially to the black lingo.

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The movie takes place in three parts and the first part is the most curious one. It features Chiron as “Little” (Alex Hibbert) who doesn’t talk but his expressions do most of the talking. For some reason it reminded me of ‘Moonnam Pakkam’ when Chiron’s father figure Juan (Mahershala Ali) teaches him swimming by the beach. Even though they both strike a chord all of the sudden, there was a certain sense of warmth in their relationship. Also, it’s the phase where we get to know why people are bullying him and what his mother actually does. So generally, the revelation part is always interesting. So, the first chapter held my attention than what I thought.

His transformation into teen Chiron (Ashton Sanders) was sudden. Even though I liked the cut. I missed Juan and the suspense of first chapter. But it was made that way intentionally. Loses can happen to anyone and in any form in life and it’s the part where he finds whom he really is. It was all good till the part where he goes to beach. I didn’t like it when he turned gay and became violent. I was seeing it coming all the while. It was the obvious thing to happen so there was no surprise left. May be a little more exploration of his friendship with Teen Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) and his loneliness might have added some credibility to the story.

The third chapter where he grows all macho brought the whole black feeling. Black (Trevante Rhodes) as called by Adult Kevin (André Holland) is now a macho man, caught up in the drug business and her mother is in rehab. All the action happens behind the screen so we don’t see much here. He has become a different man after the violence in his teen age. That’s were a movie like ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ scores. The way he angrily comes and sit in classroom to make a point is stronger than a black man hitting someone. To see him falling into the same trap was depressing. It looked as if its inevitable. At least the making style could have been funny to showcase the same.

Guess that’s were a filmmaker like Spike Lee scores. Even though the message is heavy, all his rage is within. He makes it in a stylish manner which is enjoyable and the jokes are really funny. Imagine a climax like ‘BlacKkKlansman’, even though they lose, they laugh it out. That attitude was admirable. That feeling was missing in ‘Moonlight’. It need not necessarily be funny, but the emotions have to be real. This looked strictly for a specific set of audience and that’s the disappointing factor.

Movie Review – The Big Short

A peppy recession lesson

‘The Big Short’ is not really my cup of tea. Like how I didn’t understand heads or tails of ‘Margin Call’ or ‘Moneyball’, here too I didn’t understand a thing. At least ‘Moneyball’ is supposedly a sports movie. Even though it didn’t have the general adrenaline rush, being a sports movie was an excuse to try to concentrate. With movies like ‘Margin Call’ or ‘Money Ball’ which deals with money and business, topics which I’m not interested at, it was tougher to concentrate. Well, everyone can’t make a wolfie. But I see these films as opportunities to learn something new.

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Just like ‘Margin Call’ I didn’t understand head or tails of this movie too. Customary glance at Wikipedia didn’t help me either. Maybe it’s the aversion towards the subject, which makes me feel as if I’m studying for exams. Too many terms and definitions. May be if the film had taken a documentary style of making, I might have been interested to read up. As it’s a feature film, I was more interested on the style than the subject. It, in a way is a good thing as a film reviewer where you’d be able to judge the movie purely on the basis of its filmmaking because you don’t have a connect whatsoever

There were a couple of unconventional techniques it employs to explain financial instruments, like breaking the fourth wall, cameo appearance by stars, subtitles and meta-reference. It’s because of that, we at least get to know the hint of what’s going on out there. But that’s not good enough to create an impact, its good enough to evoke interest at max. Come on when the narrator says that Margot Robbie in a bubble bath would explain a certain term, who wouldn’t want it. Even though tough to concentrate, I remember that one scene precisely. That made me sit upright thinking that she’d appear in the movie going forward but unfortunately for me, there were no heroines at all. Next up Selena Gomez appears to share some more information but unfortunately my eyes were reaching out to check her mole near the cleavage, rather than hearing out the information. Once I discovered that, I was satisfied man.

Taking these two scenes of, it was a pretty bland movie for me. I could neither sympathize with the people who were losing job, nor feel happy for the clever ones. In fact, it was irritating when it takes a goody goody angle in the end where everyone suddenly becomes a good guy. But I was happy to see that actual bank names could be used. Also, the sarcastic climax was a good touch. Don’t know when freedom like that would ever happen in India.

Wonder how I chose to watch this movie. But once I added to my list, there was a close up shot of Brad Pitt with salt and pepper hairstyle and Ryan Gosling all suited up. That made me keen to watch the movie. But boy, making Ryan tanned with whiter lips was such a letdown. Wish he had looked like how he does regularly. He still could have carried on with the same act, there wouldn’t have been any difference. But that wasn’t meant to happen. Nevertheless, he was the only sane character whom I could connect to. Rest all felt caricatures.