Incendies

2010 by Denis Villeneuve - French movie, from Quebec , Canada

I am having some really busy days that I find it difficult to write. Even if I had, I am sure I will not be able to write exactly what I feel about this movie. Sometimes you come across master pieces when you least expect it. The synopsis sound interesting so I just took this one. I didnt had any idea at all about what I was going to experience.

A mothers' will asks her twins (a girl and boy around 20 years) to find their hitherto unknown father and a brother, somewhere in Lebanon, and handover a letter. The girl sets out to fulfill her mothers wish, joined by her brother later. 

If I make a list of 10 best international movies, right now, this one will definitely be there. An absolute master piece, may I say. Within a few moments after the beginning, the movie makes you so curious about this journey and it goes on until in the final moments we come across the truth. And what a bloody, mind boggling truth it is. Brilliant, bloody brilliant. Forget about the cinematic values or everything, even if we just look at this part of the movie, it is so shocking and will keep haunting us for so long.

Once the girl sets out on her journey to find her brother and father, the scenes overlap with the mother's own journey in her homeland, when she was young, in search of her son and it is so brilliant and beautifully done that at the same time we feel like looking at the journeys of two women. The script and the director was so good here that it was unbelievable how they had placed these 2 women's journey from two different eras, in search of the same boy, son for one lady and unseen brother for one.  In fact, in the whole movie the script is brilliant with scenes going back and forth between the two periods and it has been so well put on the screen.

There is one scene in this movie, during the journey of the mother, when she ends up in a bus carrying Muslim refugees in war torn Lebanon and the bus is stopped by some Christian extremists or terrorists. The whole episode was so beautifully and brilliant shot that when all those Muslims are massacred, we sit dumb founded. Can any director picturise this scene better, I would doubt it.  Similarly there is again the scene when the mother kills a leader, for which she ends up in jail and finally had to flee to Canada, which was so brilliant. I just mentioned two scenes, but the whole movie is brilliantly shot. For long periods, it feels nearly like a thriller in fact, even if the whole movie is actually something else.

I am really short of words to explain this movie. It reaches a level which is reminiscent of classic Greek tragedies, I would say. I cant say anything more actually. Truly brilliant piece of cinema.

Brillliant, Script, Brilliant Actors, Brilliant Cinematography and Editing and an extremely Brilliant director too.

The whole world should see this movie. They ought to know what unimaginable things can happen because of the unjust world.

A truly cinematic master piece. Canada must be so proud about this movie. 

Biutiful

2010 by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Spanish

The director of Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel.. - his new film - oh Yes.. and who is acting - Javier Bardem - oh, cant wait , will watch it right away. I am sure, just like me, any movie lover would jump out for this movie. This movie proved beyond any doubt one thing - Javier Bardem is amongst the best 10/5/3 contemporary actors of the world. He is outrageously brilliant.

Uxbal is a father, living with his two kids. His wife, Marambra, is a depressed woman, still not knowing what she wants, lives seperately. Uxbal lives using the underbelly of Barcelona, placing himself in risk of being caught any time, working with illegal migrants, corrupt policeman and so on. He also has this ability to talk with the dead, earning some money sometimes. And he also finds out that, out of cancer, he only has a few more months left. He needs to find a way out to ensure his children will be taken care of after his death. 

Well, from that brief, especially the last sentence, it sounds similar to many movies, am sure, many would want to say repetitive. But dear friends, this is simply a brilliant movie and is quite different from all what we will expect. It does have its own problems, along with a bit too much of length, but all that is forgettable to enjoy this movie, which for me, is definitely an outstanding movie.

Here is a father, who only has problems around him, with his wife and kids, police, poor migrant people depending on him and to add to it, he is also asked to meet dead bodies, before the cremation, to see if the passing soul has some message for the dear ones. I mean, 99% of his time he is around a negative aura. Occassionally he gets some good time with his children. And when his own death is peeping at him, it turns out as a touching love story of a father, for his kids. He tries to see if at all his abnormal wife can be trusted and there is a scene when they all have dinner together, is one of the most touching and deeply joyous moment in this movie.

There were few things that actually takes some credit away from this movie, some of the sub plots, like that of the brother of Uxbal and the two homo sexual immigrants and all.

But still the script and the movie, I thought is brilliant. It gets a bit lagging towards the second half, is something that Mr. Inarritu would have wanted to avoid. A bit more pace would have helped him. However, this must be his most linear film to date. Except for the beginning shots, the movie follows a straight path. Still, how the three unconnected scenes, with which the movie begins, completes the whole movie towards the end is really brilliant. So was his portrayal of the shady regions of Barcelona, scenes which I thought were reminiscent of some scenes from the Tamil film Angaaditheru, in which he was ably assisted by his camera man. By the way, Cinematography of this movie is truly brilliant.

There might be people who might not agree with the whole movie, but nobody, yes nobody, will want to take away anything from Javier Bardem. What a different role as a man who is walking with trajedy always, living by any means to survive, but still being empathetic and helpful to the poor and unsupported, and loving his family like anything. And his has performed it like it is reality. I thought, this role could be a study material for acting students, for he acts not just through his expressions, but the whole body seems to convey facts about the character and the scenes. Even the air around him might be performing. This man can

I definitely want to watch this movie again. I am not a believer and dont like this 'talking with souls' kind of things, but still, this is quite touching though it is dark and sad to the hilt.

Biutiful is a wrong spelling by Uxbal, for beautiful, as he helps his child. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2004 by Michel Gondry

I went to watch a new Malayalam movie, Veettilekkulla Vazhy, and found that in just two days after its release, the movie is not playing anymore. What a pity. I will have to wait till the dvd release now for this movie. I couldnt believe that within 2 days, they had removed a new movie, supposed to be good, which won many awards et all... So just came back to my apartment. Nothing to do, I knew there was no football match on TV, couple more weeks for La liga to commence, but still looked and there wasn't any. And then saw this cd, lying behind the pile with the stupid hollywood movies, which I had bought long back but never watched. Its perplexing, how I didnt watch this movie for so long.

A guy and lady, both quite different that they have problems with relationships and breaking into new ones, enters into a relation and soon takes scientific help in erasing each other from their memory. But then they slowly come back to the reality that they indeed like each other so well. 

To be very frank, this movie is very original and genuine. It is of course a mix of romance and science fiction and neo-realism and all. But still there is something very attractive about this movie. I normally don't like science fiction movies. Here, there seems to be a clinic where lots of people take help to erase somebody from their memories. Except for this factor, this movie is all about two very interesting characters. The girl can never carry long in any relationship and the man loses his partner even without knowing the reasons and then finds it impossible to even make eye contact with any female. But the beginning and ending of their relationship here, is portrayed really nicely.

In fact, the movie is best in its beginning and ending. In between there were moments, when the past and present is mixed too swiftly and sometimes even strangely, for me, when I didnt like the movie. But it regains its nicety towards the end. I just want to forget about the science fiction part, even if its possible or not possible, and admire the romantic aspect of the movie. In fact the science fiction side of the movie just reinstated the fact that it is when we are about to completely lose somebody or some thing that we really recognise the value of that person or thing in our lives.  The guy reaches, almost, the stage when he is about to completely forget the girl but then he realises the sweetness of those good moments with her. That was really genuinely shot.

Normally Jim Carry movies are a kind of strange ones in which he is over expressive, for me at least. I still enjoyed some of them as good entertainers. But in this movie, as Joel, he gives a wonderful performance. And Kate Winslet as Clementine is brilliant. Their performance should be one of the highlight of this movie. And the next favourite would be definitely, the script. A brilliant piece of work, I must say.

But I really wood like to see this movie once again. It is quite a different movie from Hollywood and feel a second watch would make this one a more nicer movie to me. 

Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo - The Gospel According to St. Matthew

1964 by Pier Paolo Pasolini - Italian, Black and White

It was rather because of the documentary on the Church, Deliver Us from Evil, the last day, I decided to watch this movie. There has been so many versions of Christ's story and hence this must have been yet another repeat actually. But there were two points, unlike most Bible movies which are Anglo Saxon productions, this comes from Italy. The poster of the movie, which had a close up shot of Christ was starkingly different from any Christ we have ever seen in any movies.

The story of Jesus Christ, since his birth to his resurrection, based on the Gospel of St. Matthew. 

For the first few minutes, to be honest, I thought I may not complete this movie and might fell asleep very soon. Black and White frames which look older than 60's, a style and pace which are reminiscent of some of the art movies from India in the 70's, oh this looks like a waste of time, I thought. But then, there was this scene where Mary, with the baby in her hands, looks gently at the visitors, and that single shot was brilliant, bloody brilliant and shook me up completely. Soon Christ is grown up and here is a Christ who looks quite different, not like an Anglo Saxon, but somebody who is from the middle east. So are all other characters, they are all amateur artists and doesnt look at all like those from the typical Hollywood world of Bible actors.

For a really good part of the movie, the camera is fixed on the face of the Christ who gives rather fierce looking speeches. And when the camera is looking else where, it looks brilliantly realistic. No mind boggling sets or costume dramas, but you can feel the barren countryside around the lands where Christ lived and the rustic people with whom he interacted. It all looks brilliantly realistic.

Christ is presented in this movie more like a revolutionist. Of course, I have always thought if there every lived a man called Jesus Christ, then he was the first Communist of the world. And this movie treats him like one too. He speaks harshly about what his followers ought to do and the whole dialogues in this movie are more like verse, so that it just adds more to the tone of the harsh speeches of Christ. I am told Pasolini received a medal from the then Pope, after seeing this movie. And, for the first time (yes I have never heard any Christian telling this, or read anywhere in any texts that preach Christianity), I hear this brilliant words - It is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Sure Jesus was the first Communist.

And unlike all other Christ movies which places Romans under the blame, Pasolini focuses on the betrayal by the Jewish leaders, leading to the crucifying of Jesus.

I think this is the best realistic picturisation of Jesus Christ, may it be the settings, costumes or even the actors, who are picked from around the Mediterranean, no Anglo Saxons here. Add to it the stunning music that accompanies.

I wish everybody, especially my Christian friends, watch this. This is more realistic than the best Hollywood depiction of Bible, for me. And be sure to watch a very slow paced movie. It does not hold any surprises or effects or sets or any kind of grandeur that you may expect from a Bible movie. But you will be surprised that it is actually a Marxist, an ethiest and a homo sexual Pasolini, who has made the best , for me in many ways, movie on Christ.   

Deliver Us from Evil

2006 by Amy J Berg - Documentary in English

Mostly people look at film makers as heroes. In fact it is the documentary film makers and thousands of social workers who should be called the real life heroes. I am finding it quite perplexing that these minority never get their real due from the normal public. How many ordinary people get to see the great documentaries which speak shocking truths. It is a real pity. Here is yet another documentary with an in your face honesty that I can only salute the brilliance and boldness of its crew.

This docu is about a priest, Oliver O 'Grady who sexually abused, molested or raped so many number of children while in America, between the 70's and 90's. He was Irish, and after serving a 7 year term in jail, he was deported to his home land where he still works with the church. Still amongst children.

What a work this is. The church authorities knew that O'Grady had a problem, but instead of acting upon him, they just transferred him to a different Parish, where he could continue with his activities. And finally when he was really reported and send to jail, after serving his term, he was deported to Ireland where he continues to be a priest. He continues to work with church and most people with whom he works now, may it be the church or even the fellow followers of Christianity, are completely unaware of his past and problems. He still works constantly with children. What the hell is wrong with the church.

The most stunning aspect of this docu is that, O'Grady himselves appears before the camera and clearly agrees he does have a problem with children, which he recognises but is unable to control, given an opportunity. And this he says, after his jail term.

There are some interviews with some of those children, grown ups now, and their parents and that is really touching. Most of those parents had completely trusted this man and let him be free with their children, girl or boy. And almost in all cases, the children were afraid to report it to their parents.

Some of the striking facts given by this docu is simply shocking. Just a few which I can recollect are here:

* There were more than 100000 victims of sexual abuse (Church's clergy involved) from the USA alone and a good percent of the cases are never reported.
* 10% of graduates from the biggest seminary in US West coast are Pedophiles !!!
* And even the present Pope was involved in the cover up of these abuses in US. He even got Mr. Obama to rule against the prosecution of his office!!!!

Simply BOLD and Brilliant. That is all what I can say. It is also nice to know that the makers of this movie are still alive (considering the infamous acts of the Church in the past centuries)

I wonder how this movie was accepted by the general followers of Christianity in the West. I am curious how the ordinary Christians in India will react. Fortunately for the church, docu's are not watched by a big majority.

The Tourist

2010 by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - English

Johnny Depp is one actor to whom we can never deny attention, may it be he is acting in a Spanish or English or whatever language. A wonderful actor with an extra ordinary charm. And when he joins the director who gave us Das Leben der Anderen, one of the modern master piece's it is difficult to ignore this movie, even if I find it difficult to bear Angelina Jolie in ordinary Hollywood movies.

Elise, a British woman in Paris, is being followed by Police in their efforts to track down a man called Alexander Pierce. Elise has to pick a man who resembles like Pearce on her way to Venice and she falls on Frank, an American Maths teacher, touring in Europe. 

I think the makers wanted this to be a Romantic thriller, but it is neither a romantic movie nor is it a thriller. Its romance do not reach the viewers, except for some beautiful expressions on Mr. Depp and it cant even emulate the cheap thrills that we got from the 70's or 80's average Hollywood flicks.

Forget the fact that we get to know what the end is got to be, but the movie reach to this end, painstakingly, in a bohring way. I am surprised, how of all the actors, Johnny Depp agreed for this movie. I can understand Angelina Jolie, who looks quite pale except for the extra artists staring at her whenever there are some men in the frame and the script saying - she has a nice ass - there are hardly any curves, accepting this movie, but why Mr. Depp.

And even more than that, how the hell can a director who gave an absolute master piece with Das Leben der Anderen, make this kind of a horrible movie.

Sheer waste of time. A forgettable Hollywood flick. 

2LDK

2003 by Yukihiko Tsutsumi - Japanese

At times we come across movies which are quite strange but brilliant. We would find it difficult to agree with the plot or the characters but we would strongly feel that the movie is brilliant. It could be quite opposite too, we would find everything adorable, but would not want to say this is a great movie. 2LDK is one such movie in which there are many factors on which I want to disagree, but there is no question on the fact that it is simply a unique and brilliant piece of cinema.

Two aspiring actors are sharing a flat. Both have been shortlisted for the role of a wife, after the audition and are awaiting the final call. Both have quite different backgrounds and characters, that petty feminine disagreements and jealousy brings out their envy out and turns into a ridiculous fight. 

There are only 2 characters here. One a city bred, brand user and spend thrift, the other from a rural region amused by the lack of 'life' in Tokyo. Looks like the agency who is conducting the auditions put them up in this luxurious flat, which makes the village girl feel a little bit alien. The first half of the movie when both these girls spend their time together, doing evening chores, talking to each other is brilliant. For every dialogue of one girl, we have this dialogue from the other girl, which is like her mind speak. That was extra ordinarily brilliant. It felt nearly like a case study of 2 females, about their jealousy, envy, meanness and everything. Then shortly they start fighting and it really gets physical and will shock us.

This second half is stunning. Even if it is not a sudden change, how they get physical, when they start getting physical it is almost like rude shock and before we realise it, it gets really bad. For me, it felt like the plot was intended to have this violence and hence it turned so. Especially the village girl getting violent and destroying things, which she quite knew for whcih they might be accountable for, was a bit over board. But still its beautifully shot and we would want to forget such questions.

Excellent performances by both these actors and this is clearly a directors movie. This movie was shot as a challenge to complete a movie within a week, with only 2 characters ending up in violence with at least one dead. If not for this challenge, I doubt if anybody can imagine this kind of a plot.

While watching the movie there were few moments I thought, this is clearly the heights of imagination.

2LDK in Japanese refers to a 2 bed room apartment with kitchen. 

Un Coupable Ideal - Murder on a Sunday Morning

2001 by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade - French Documentary in English

I dont think I have ever seen so many documentaries in such a short span of time. One brilliant docu is leading me to another and what an excellent watch this one has been.

An elderly tourist is shot dead at a Florida hotel and an unassuming 15 year old black kid is soon arrested by the Police. The documentary follows the kid's defense team and the whole trial in which finally he is found not guilty. 

This movie will be a real shock to many who considers that western democracies and their practices are the best. It, so easily, portrays how the police picked out a black kid, even without any basic investigations and charged him with murder, just because he happened to be a black kid. In fact the trials in the court are a revelation of how American Police can come up against their own people, if those unfortunate guys are black.

In one scene when the kid's mother is questioned in the court, the camera focuses on the kid himself. There isnt any kind of expression on his face, but soon you  can see tears flowing down and there isnt any expression on him still. What a moment it was. I doubt if any actor can recreate that scene.

The real trials in the court room are more than just eye opening or informative for a lay man like me. I wonder how the film makers got permission to shoot the whole trial and into many private areas of discussions in this movie. So at one point, even if the movie brings out the lazy approach of the police, it also brings out the positives of their justice system.

As an Indian, I would never congratulate or complain against the American system. I cannot congratulate them because I am aware about what they have been doing to millions of innocents across the world. At the same time I cannot complain against their racial or police practices as I am very well aware that my own homeland is no better, in fact Indian system - on racial cases or police or judiciary or human rights, is pathetic. We have thousands of innocents in our jails, who might not have even visited a court room yet. So..

And will there ever be a documentary like this on an Indian trial. Impossible, it seems.

Ala Modalaindi - Angine Thudangi

2011 by Nandini Reddy - Telugu, dubbed in Malayalam

The number of Telugu movies dubbed and released in Kerala seems to be increasing with every passing year. First it was just some Allu Arjun movies, then some pure action and college romance flicks came in and now it looks like almost all big producer has an eye on the Kerala market. On the very first day of its release itself, I was told by some friends near to the theatre that, not that good, dont watch etc.. But I couldnt resist myself from one poster which showed Nithya Menon with a big smile and I promptly ended up at Shenoys.

A girl and boy meets and become good friends. Before they fall for each other, there is a turn every time keeping them away and the number of such turns keep coming like in a bumpy road ride. 

A typical romantic comedy from Telugu movies. The meeting of the girl and boy and the umpteen number of turns are quite normal and different too, but finally the end product is the same. Typical of such movies, there are moments when the viewers are taken for granted and when we too look down at the movie makers. But..

There are some really funny moments in this movie and the time was worth for those moments. It is more like a silly ride, clumsy at times, with some young lovers, with some really good comic moments in between. An Ok entertainer. With a better script and if the director was more serious, it could have ended up as a better entertainer, though.

Nithya doesn't have much to act, but her charm is quite there, really gorgeous and quite tempting. The hero, Nani, looks like a next door boy, and was quite natural with his performance in many scenes. He was the real surprise of the movie.

In between there was a good message too, aimed at the youngsters. The heroine tells her father, who is looking disappointed after a fight with his wife, why he doesn't go for a divorce? And the father replies - when you face a problem, my child, what do you do? go away from the problem, escaping the problem or face the problem and live with it? he very briefly explains it and somebody in the audience even gave an applause there, which was quite befitting the way this scene was told. The best moment in the movie for me, by a debutant lady director. 

Deiva Thirumagal

2011 by A L Vijay - Tamil

Movie makers are always inspired by other movies and some times recreate these movies into their own region or language. How a director recreates an existing movie speaks a lot about the director. Across the world there have been such movies, inspired by other movies and many a time such inspired ones are not a success. But often, when the director manages to successfully replant the same plot from the original movie to a new cultural back drop, it tends to be a big success. Most lovers of Hollywood yet fail to recognise that The Departed, is an inspired remake of the Chinese movie Internal Affairs. Departed was well remade by a master director himself, but yet, when I saw Internal Affairs, I liked it much more than the Departed. There is one more point here, if you see a movie, and you do not know anything at all about the original, you might not find anything wrong with the new movie, as long as it fits the cultural scenario of your language or region. When I first saw, Thaalavattom, the famous Malayalam flick, I didnt know anything at all about One flew over the Cuckoos nest, and I loved it. Later when I saw this Jack Nickolson classic and I watched the Malayalam adaptation again, I still found Thalavattom as a very good entertainer. A western plot was rightly placed into an Indian context, more in the entertainment side of the scale though. Occassionally, there have been many such adaptations in Indian movies where our directors managed to successfully place a western subject in an Indian context. Deiva Thirumagal for sure is inspired by I am Sam but it looks quite Indian and the director has changed the plot in many ways to suit the Indian possibilities and sensibilities.

Krishna, a single father of a 5 year old girl - Nila, is mentally challenged and is matured enough only to be a 5 year old. He brings up the girl with the help of his friends and colleagues at his work place, a Chocolate factory in Avalanche. Nila's mothers family takes her away and Krishna seeks the assistance of some young lawyers to get her back. 

Some of the changes that has been bought into the original plot is quite good making the movie very much Indian. Instead of the Local authorities, it is the family who tries to take the child away from the father for obvious reasons which will easily appeal to Indian crowds. And the way Krishna influences the lawyer and the family is told in minimum scenes too.

The movie is really beautiful in its first half when it tells the story of Krishna and Nila, the wonderful love between a father and daughter who have the same levels of maturity. Many scenes are adorable and we would forget everything and I consider these scenes as the best highlights of the movie. In the second half, when it changes to the legal front, Nila does not have many scenes and we start missing her. Even Krishna here is more like an onlooker and it is the advocates from both sides who have more to do. It is nearly like, the movie has drifted away from the love between the father and the child, even if they are just there and everybody is working for them. Still the final moments in the court scenes were beautiful and I found even some men in the theatre wiping their tears. And there were also some light hearted moments, through out the movie, but more so in the second half.

I think it is the third movie that Vijay is recreating into Tamil and this should be the best for sure. Definitely, this will become his most successful movie. After Madrasipattinam, which was quite a good one but didnt get the acclaim it deserved, he has been successful in touching the hearts of the audience. There were so many moments of big applause, in the theatre, right from the start till the end. That was quite a good sign of how much successful this movie will be.

Vikram has done well and so did that child artist. I felt, Vikram could have been a bit more restrained in some of the scenes, but he really was simply too good in many of the scenes, making it up for the other scenes. Anushka as the lawyer trying to help Krishna, was really good. I think this is her best restrained performance. And the same with Santhanam too. In almost every movie, I felt Santhanam as terrible. But for the first time, for me, he has done it really well. Performance wise, everybody in this movie did really well, augurs well for the director. Yet, he went for a dream song sequence between Vikram and Anushka, was quite perplexing. That song was absolutely unnecessary. Well, it was so nicely shot. No questions about the quality of those shots, but it was quite misplaced. May be he could have shown it during the end credits, giving an impression that the lawyer might go for Krishna.

The cinematography was truly brilliant. Excellent use of soft lighting and the lighting in many scenes really lifted the mood of the scenes too. We do not get to see such support by a cinematographer very often in Indian movies. Hats off to Nirav Shah for his work. I am sure that the production also must have spend good money on the DI to give the beautiful soft feeling for the frames.

With a few more cuts and some more restraint in certain scenes and performances, and of course without that song in the second half, Deiva Thirumagal would have ended as a classic family entertainer. But it is still a wonderful watch and I am sure it will touch the heart of most Tamil movie goers and will be a great success. Tamil movie goers, who have not seen I am Sam, would rather compare it with Moondram Pirai and would claim it as the first great movie in this genre, after Moondram Pirai. Quite a lot of similarities in both these movies actually.

Most people as they left the theatre was humming that cute song - Nila Vandaachu. This movie is going to be a big hit, I think. I am ready to watch it again, just for those wonderful moments between Krishna and Nila.

And after long, I was glad to see some shots of Avalanche and to hear about it. As a child I have been to that place many times as it was very close to Emerald, the village where my father was working. He had good friends in Avalanche and we used to visit them. Avalanche, I was told, was the name of a place in Switzerland or somewhere, dont remember well, the British found this place exactly like the one in Europe, so called Avalanche.

Zindagi na milegi do bara

2011 by Zoya Akhtar

I would not have watched this movie if not for Abhay Deol. He impressed me a lot in Dev D and in a couple of other movies too he proved, he is a different person from the Bollywood family.

Three friends decides to go on a vacation trip to Spain, a kind of bachelors party as one of them is engaged and will get married very soon. The movie goes through their brief 'adventure' in Spain and how this trip changes their attitudes to life. 

Honestly, ZNMDobara is a good entertainer. There are some nice funny moments, some silly moments but all together it is a different kind of entertainment from Bollywood, without the horrible love songs or item numbers or action scenes. If we wont worry about any questions, we can just sit back and enjoy some good fun which pops out occassionally.

But I would say, this is yet another example that Bollywood cannot make Indian movies. ZNMD has a plot which can be pieced together from umpteen number of Hollywood romantic comedies. In fact, it really looks like a Bollywood attempt to make a Hollywood kind of romantic movie.

The characters are all from Elite India, as always, who could easily identify with this way of living which can match Hollywood movies. 99.99% of the movie is in the West, except for a few frames in London, all in Spain, there are only a few indoor shots which are supposed to be in India, so that the settings can be exactly like how it will be in a Hollywood comedy. And what else, even the plot development is exactly like how you would expect from a Hollywood comedy. The difference is just that, we have Indian names on the characters.

Performance wise, I thought it was good from both Farhan Akhtar and Hrithik Roshan. The first time I felt Mr. Roshan can really act and I would give the credit to the director here. My favourite, Abhay Deol, was ok but I thought he was a little bit feminine in many moments. Since the character didn't require it, may be I am wrong, I think that could have been avoided. So here, the director got it wrong.

I am wondering, when will Bollywood realise that they will not get any world wide acclaim, that they crave for, if they try to match western movies. Why cant they think Indian, develop Indian stories which Bollywood have not tried yet, and use their new found production values and technical abilities to make a technically brilliant movie which is genuinely Indian. 

Jisatsu Sakuru - Suicide Circle

2002 by Sion Sono - Japaneese

The synopsis of this movie was quite strange and unique that I didnt had to think twice before my decision to watch it. But there is a kind of scary feeling, an unbelievable shock which cannot be explained, as we watch this movie.

A large group of school girls, jump in front of an approaching train and commit suicide. More suicides occur and the detectives are clueless about what is happening. 

This movie is surealistic, spectacular, chilling but yet can leave us terribly confused. It does create lot of questions about the suicides around, but there are no answers at all. There are more suicides and again there are more, and there are some side stories as well, but at the end we do not have a clue about what and how. At least for me, that is the case. If anybody know otherwise, I would be really grateful to know the truth behind this plot.

Forget about the answers behind the suicides or the motivation behind some killer group and also ignore some really bloody gory scenes, this is still an excellent cinematic experience. There are wonderful moments, both terrifying and touching, in this movie which actually tells a lot about the director. For eg, there is a scene of a group of school students jumping out of their school building killing themselves. Three are left behind and they too follow in spite of requests by teachers and friends from the back. Then there is this scene of a girl friend lying down on the chalk marks (of the dead body of her killed boy friend) which was really touching and beautiful.

But I would still say at the end of the movie I was quite confused and was still trying to find out the truth. In that way it was a bit disappointing. But there is no question about the uniqueness of this movie. Of course, there was Fight Club, which was world famous, but this is quite in a different level than Fight Club. The only reason, why this movie is not famous around could be, that it is from Asia.

Suicidal rate in Japan was quite high actually. So there is definitely some reason behind this plot, though it might look exaggerated or fanatasical for an outsider. I would really like to talk with some Japaneese people about this movie. So I would rather not want to judge this movie as good or bad. There is definitely something cultural in this movie, the knowledge of which would help one understand it better. Let me just leave it as quite an intriguing experience, about which I would really like to know more.

Amelia

2009 by Mira Nair - English

A director who gave two brilliant movies, Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding, joining Hilary Swank was enough to convince me for this movie. But, I am afraid, it does not look at all like a Mira Nair movie. It is more an average Hollywood effort on a biopic.

Amelia Earhart, first took to aviation at the age of 23 and then soon became the first woman to do a solo flight across the Atlantic. She then sets forth to fly around the world. 

The plot has everything to make it a really excellent biopic. But there is something seriously wrong with this movie, it ends up more like a pretty average attempt on a great subject. As we watch the movie there are many moments when we wonder if the script and director is serious at all about this project. The only plus could be the performance of Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo and was a major influence in American aviation history, who also inspired the rest of the world. But even with Hilary, there are moments when we wonder if all these people are serious at all. Still, I must say, she has put in a good effort, especially in perfecting the body language of Amelia, who represented a typical girl in the 30's.

I would say Mira Nair got a golden opportunity and she didn't take it seriously enough and just disappointed. We feel nil emotion all throughout the movie, passing through the most important moments of the world's first (brave) women pilot.

Collector

2011 by Anil C Menon - Malayalam

Sometime in 90's, Ranji Panicker with his fire sprouting scripts, set the trend in Malayalam for a kind of political movies in which a police officer or a district collector would play the angry man for the common man. In fact, for about a decade we had so many of these films, all the super stars playing this kind of a cop or bureaucrat in their own and many of these films meant guaranteed success at least in the first half of the decade, as they managed to mix contemporary politics with a dream hero. For the last couple of years, there were only a few of these kind of movies and now there is yet again one of this genre.

A district collector goes out of the way to fight the real estate mafia in Kochi city, who are backed by strong political personalities. 

Somebody who is not from Kochi, if they see 10 contemporary Malayalam movies, might easily consider Kochi as a very dangerous city where every second person might be from some mafia. It is strange how our cinema picked up Kochi for this. True, 4/5 years back there were many incidents with the mafia world in the city, which made life look dangerous. But then there was a period of strong Police petrols and Kochi city looks quite safe for me. There is lot of Police presence even in the middle of night, at least in the heart of city as this is where I am around with my life, and I find it quite allright. Just wish, if Kochi was clean like it used to be in the 80's and beginning of 90's.

So, this movie makes Kochi look like another dreadful mafia city and as a movie it is quite difficult to complete. The acting of most supporting staff, especially the actress who played Revathy, Assistant Commissioner of Police, was horrible that it gave chances for the crowd to laugh out loud at times. And almost all characters are very similar to the ones from the past movies that we know exactly how all of them would be as the movie goes on.

Sure, it does have some messages here and there about protecting the city and its dependants from the land mafia and construction spree and all, but it is a terrible effort as a movie. At many parts it looked like the print was resting in its box, without any silica gel to fight humidity, for long time. I am not really sure if it is a new movie. At the same time it has scenes which tells the viewer that it was shot only in the recent past.

Forgettable in all ways.

Bus 174

2002 by Jose Padilha & Felipe Lacerda - Documentary in Portugeese

There are so many new diplomatic associations between Brazil and India, like BRIC. In fact, these are two countries which have a lot of similarities. And the most sad similarity is the indifference to the poor.

On 12 June, 2000, a young guy armed with a pistol held a bus and its passengers, about a dozen, hostage for about 4 hours in a rich region of Rio de Janeiro. Within few minutes the whole media was around and the whole drama was telecast live in Brazil. It ended up in the death of one girl and the guy. 

Since TV cameras were omni present, there is no dearth of footage here and it is almost like the whole drama is happening right in front of us. But more than that this movie takes us to many other important aspects. Poverty in Brazil, the life of street children, how they become criminals, how the police treat them making them even worse criminals and the utter incompetency of Police themselves.

The young man here, Sandro was witness to his mother being killed and soon ended up in the streets. He was arrested and send to the correction system, but the way the correction worked the poor kids would only turn up as better criminals. Sandro some how wanted to get a job and change his life. Imagine a man taking hostages, asking for just 300 dollars and a grenade. Here is a guy who didnt know what he was doing at all and he proved many times he was unable to kill anybody. He let most passengers walk out and had asked those inside to pretend as if he was really bad and was going to kill them. After many hours, without anything happening this guy walks out with one of the passenger and if not for the stupidity of the police, a girl would not have lost her life, nor will have Sandro's. It is striking that some of the hostages even felt for Sandro and was sure he was never able to kill anybody.

But what makes this documentary extremely brilliant is that, it gives us excellent reasons why there would be more criminals like Sandro in Brazil. It tells us that Sandro was witness to the infamous Candelaria child massacre, when a group of police man just decided to shoot and kill a large group of street children and nothing happened. In fact many rich in Brazil was supporting the act and said that is exactly the way to deal with street children. The documentary talks to many street children, some who are really into criminal activities now, psychologists and social workers and we really understand how an indifferent system can make criminals out of its poor people. Still, the docu never tries to make a saint out of Sandro. His crime is there for us to see. But it just takes us to the root cause of how Sandro's are made in Brazil.

It is difficult to complete this movie, without feeling for the poor and being terrified by the treatment meted out to them by the system. It is unbelievable that we feel for the hostages and the gunman alike and we feel for the  many possible gunmen's of future.

I can only say the situation is exactly similar in India. We do not care for our poor and we do everything for the rich.

We have thousands of innocents in our jails, both sentenced and awaiting trials, but there doesn't seem to be anybody who care for them. I cant recall even reading about such a documentary from India.

A Psychologist says, in the docu, these children, all they want is visibility. Because for the system and for general public, they dont exist and they are not visible. So nothing is done for them. These children goes into violence, hoping to get some attention as media loves violence. 

This is a terrific, sad and heartbreaking movie. Must watch.

Batista Out!!! Hope for Argentina

The words that I was dreaming a lot, since I watched Argentina playing against Bolivia in the inaugural match of Copa America '11 is out.

AFA has decided to not continue with Batista as the Albiceleste coach.

Argentina has been the best under achieving team in world football since 1993. Since 93 they could not win a single major tournament, inspite of playing good. This culminated in 2006 World cup when they were out in the quarters after losing to Germany in penalties and were rated as one of the best teams in the world that did not win a world cup. Argentina was playing mesmerising possession football till then. There after, in 2007 they reached Copa America finals, playing the best football they have played in the last decade, but choked to Brazil in the finals. After that finals, Argentina has never gone back to its best, inspite of having some of the world's best talents.

In 2010 World cup, they took a gamble by giving the coaching job to Deigo Maradona who lacked any coaching experience. With his charm to keep the whole team as a single unit, Deigo managed to make Argentina play the best attacking football till the pre quarters. However, he was a disaster tactically and when faced against an astute tactician like Geochim Leow of Germany Argentina had to pack its bag.

And then came Batista, the defensive mid fielder who held the fort when Deigo was the best attacking midfielder in  '86. Batista announced his desire to play like Barcelona and proved it by keeping Tevez out of the team for long. It was quite clear that Tevez could never play together with players like Messi as he was too individualistic. Well he was forced by public opinion and just before the Copa America, Batista made a topsy turvy and took Tevez in the team. It was quite sure then that Argentina will not last long in the tournament.

I still had my hopes as Maradona had managed to keep down the ego of Tevez in the world cup. Then came the inaugural match of Copa and it proved what a poor tactician Batista was. He decided to give Leo Messi the same role as in Barca, the false 9, but kept absolutely wrong players around him. Tevez and Lavezzi at the wings and the 3 defensive midfielders behind. Messi has revolutionised the idea of False 9, ever since he first played that role against Manchester United in the Champions League final in Rome '09. But for this to succeed, he needed players with lot of mobility by his sides, making lot of movements and off the ball runs. But it turned out that most Argentine players wanted to prove they were better than Messi and Argentina failed as a team. After one more horrible display against Columbia, Batista kept out Tevez and Lavezzi against Cota rica and also introduced more mobile players. Even if the tactics was not much better, for eg. he used De Maria in the centre of the field, there was some difference to the play. And then came Uruguay lead by a master tactitician, Tabarez, and Batista didnt know how to make use of the man advantage, when Uruguay were playing with 10 men. He infact was really poor and showed that he was absolutely 0, when he bought back Tevez and made him play even behind Messi. Till that match Argentine media was happy to put all the blame on Messi, yes the poor maestro, and ignore all other problems. But this match opened the eyes of many. And here is the result. Batista is out.

Nobody knows who the next person will be. I simply wish it will be a person with real experience. There are news that Sabella, who took an Argentine team with ordinary players all the way up to the club world cup final and gave Barcelona a real scare in the 2009 final, could be the new man. That was one of the toughest matches for Barcelona in the recent times I have seen, and if it is that coach, he might turn out good.

I really wish, Argentina finds a good coach who is tactically as astute as Tabarez or Guardiola. It will be such a pity if a country with so much of bloody talent (Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Pastore, Mascherrano, Banega all should be around 25 - 29 years for next world cup, at their primes) will not at least reach the finals of the Brazil world cup. 

100% Love

2011 by Sukumar - Telugu dubbed in Malayalam

The first Telugu movie I watched was Shankarabharanam. As a child I really did not understand the strong emotional background in that story except for enjoying the great songs. But from the terrific crowds, this movie was a super duper hit in Kerala in the beginning of 80's even in the village theatres, I knew then that the movie was special. Then, when Doordarshan came in, occassionally there were good Telugu movies in their mattinee spot on Sundays. Except for the face of one prominent actor who was there in all these art house movies, I don't remember anything at all from those movies. After a long, Arya was dubbed and released in Kerala, marking the advent of Allu Arjun movies and I really found it a nice entertainer. Since then I have seen more than a few Telugu movies, with 50% turning really bad entertainers, a 40% turning out as average entertainers and the rest turning out as exceptional entertainers, like Pokkiri, Bommarallu, Magadheera, Leader etc. So when you know that there is a new Telugu movie from the director of Arya, it sounds interesting.

A really stupid love story between 2 cousins.

I am not sure, if I must put this movie into the above 50 or 40% category. It definitely does not fit into the 40% category of average entertainers. Because there are many moments when we find it really absurd and difficult to bear. At the same time, there are some real good fun here and there which doesnt make it a cent percent poor entertainer. It is just above a poor entertainer for bits and a poor entertainer for most parts. The acting of the lead pair is really terrible.

Nagarjuna impressed Kerala with 2 flicks towards the end of 80's. One was Geetanjali, with Maniratnam and the other was Shiva,with Ram Gopal Varma, which was about a hero rising out of a college, which had some excellent action. And recently, he was very good in Payanam. Whatever, he is an established and adored super star in Andhra Pradesh. So when his son is casted as a love hero, there will be expectations and honestly, I was quite disappointed. Naga Chaitanya doesn't seem to have any charm and I think most people in the theatre didn't like him too.

A movie to forget. 

Choyonghan Kajok - Quiet Family

1998 by Jee-Woon Kim - Korean

Film makers, across the world, tends to give so much importance for Luck. Irrespective of how good or bad the movie is, they think luck is really important for the movie to get public recognition, awards, festival screenings or even critic ratings, at least some critics should get to see it, right? So there are so many under rated movies across the world, which inspite of being much better than the most average movies from their region or even better than the acclaimed classics, tend to end up as an unsuccessful movie. I have seen some of these under rated movies and sometimes wondered what the hell is wrong with the world that this movie had this kind of a fate. A love song for Bobby Leong, from Hollywood is one such movie, which will always be one of my favourite from Hollywood. I just came across one such hugely under rated movie from Korea.

A family, father mother uncle son and two teenage daughters, buys a lodge by a prominent hiking trail, they did not have any experience with hospitality though. They wait eagerly for their first client, but there isn't any. Finally after a few weeks, a man check in and kills himself on the very first night. Afraid of bad publicity, they decide to bury the body in the woods. Well, that was just the beginning of a series of burials for the poor family. 

A wonderful movie which is hilarious through out. It has a treatment which is followed by art house movies, but there is incredible fun, in spite of the slow place, awaiting us at each and every turn making it a wonderful entertainer actually. Except the teenage daughters, all the rest have some inborn subtle stupidity around them. Who else will go and invest money on a lodge, without knowing anything about that industry or the client prospects. So it is fine with the characterisation, but as you laugh with them you cant help feeling sympathy for them. The script lose some charm towards the end and leaves some pot holes, but I would gladly ignore them and am really glad I saw this ridiculously funny movie. For some people can call it as a kind of horror or black comedy movie, because of all the dead bodies and the blood dripping injuries and for the kind of lighting used. But it is not intended to scare the viewer, I would say, and actually only give us more chances to laugh out.

One particular scene, when the hapless couple has to use their fingers to count, as they are not sure about the number of corpses around, is ridiculously brilliant. And even if it is nearly a fantasy topic, it is told very realistically that I was wondering how in the world did this writer imagined this theme. Brilliant.

The whole family, the father, the mother, the son, the 2 daughters and the uncle all were very fresh in my mind, even when I woke up today morning. I couldn't help laughing on my walk to the gym and saw people looking at me like a weird. An excellent comedy. Such a pity that very few people have rated this movie outside Korea. 

Man on Wire

2008 by James Marsh - British Documentary

I first heard about Philippe Petit, I think, during a school quiz competition. I was supposed to answer what that photograph - a man walking on a rope between two towers - was about and I didnt know. But later I was horrified to know about the passion of these world famous French man, walk on a wire between any tall structures. This is something which is scaringly beautiful, but impossible, for ordinary humans. I would not do that even in my dreams as I have a problem with heights, depending on who I am with. If the person who is near me is really afraid at that height, I will look brave probably, but alone I am scared of heights. Well, not for Petit, the man who doesnt just walk on wires, but dance on wires.

Philippe was quite into wire walking, but he stunned France when he walked the towers of the Notradame church, one fine morning. Then he did the same at Sydney, walking between the two pylons of the Sydney Harbour bridge. But Philippe's dream was to walk the Twin Towers of the WTC, which was then the tallest in the world. 

Man on Wire is a documentary, but for me it felt nearly like a movie. A beautiful experience. We hear directly from Philippe and his close friends, who all had to take so much of effort to sneak into the two towers, rigging the wire between and then finally walk, a walk of 61 metres at a height of 417 metres. Philippe was nervous about the walk in the beginning but soon his friends saw him smiling and he did all on the wire, for what he is famous for, sitting, lying down, saluting everything in a spell binding performance of about 45 minutes and then was arrested by the Police, like always.

But it was his walk (on 7 Aug, '74), according to many, which brought world wide fame to the WTC. Till then they were finding it difficult to even rent out office spaces in the building, which many in America thought were ugly. It is interesting and gives a lot of insight to American thoughts, when Philippe says after such an incredible feat, the only question the American system/people/media had to ask him was Why - why did you do this. And the police took him to a Psychiatrist after the arrest - this was the most funny part of this movie.

While there were breath taking videos of Philippe's walks at the Notredame and Sydney, only photographs were available for his twin tower walk, is the only negative for this stunning documentary. Not the fault of the movie actually. The person who was supposed to shoot, had completely forgotten his job as he was exhausted already.

The sad part of the movie was that immediately after the walk Annie, his girl friend, who had a real passion in following and supporting Philippe from his teenage days, walked out of his life. Out of the police station, on that day, Philippe chose to seek some pleasure with a female fan who was waiting for him to get out of the police station. When Annie talks about Philippe, through out this movie, I always felt she must be with him even now as we could see her love and affection for the man. Well it is not and we realise this only towards the end.

A beautiful documentary for sure. All the more because of the charming talks by Phillippe himself with all his French accents and mannerisms. The man who says, 'if I fail, what a beautiful death it would be, dying while trying my passion'. Beautiful. Actually it is more of a heist movie than a documentary. 

Mesrine:2 L'ennemi public n1 - Mesrine part 2 - Public enemy no. 1

2008 by Jean Francois Richet - French

When looking for this movie I read some comments by critics who claimed part no. 1 as more of a classic than part 2. I was still eager to watch it but to be frank I do not understand those critics. May be part 1 is still a cinematic classic. But part 2, for me, is a brilliant movie. It is outrageously brilliant and I dont understand why some critics dont find so. May be for a layman like me, this is a more classic entertainer than the first part. But for sure, Mesrine - Public enemy no. 1 is not an ordinary entertainer or a typical gangster movie. It is fu***ng brilliant, in the white's own language, and could be placed with the best 5 gangster movies from the whole world.

By end of 1972, Mesrine is back to France from Canada and continues his robberies, jail breaks until one day, 1979, he is executed by a special squad of French Police, in the outskirts of Paris. 

I am not into gangster lives or anything like that, am glad to lead the life of a normal tax paying citizen. However, I have never felt so much adoration for a gangster, thanks to this bloody brilliant movie. It is simply thrilling, thrilling to the hilt, but still proceeds like a classic movie. From the very beginning, incidents follow one after another, proving how a dare devil man he was, may it be his escape from the court room (where he is on trial) taking the judge as a hostage or his escape from the jail. There are only few moments in this movie, when we can actually really sit back without anticipating the unknown. Really thrilling.

But in between there is this brilliant and touching scene of Mesrine, disguised as a doctor, visiting his sick father. The movie had a really different look immediately. That scene was so touching and beautifully done. And it is in this second part, the many different emotions and aspects of Mesrine as an individual comes out. When he is in jail and since there isn't any news about him in the papers, Mesrine just writes a book about his past crimes (when he is awaiting trial !!!), how he killed more than 40 people and all. And then there is this wonderful scene when the special squad rounds him out and knocks at his door. Mesrine takes his time in destroying some documents and welcomes the officer with a champagne. He also tells the officer why he didnt resist the arrest, due to the presence of a lady in his room as he was concerned about her safety. There is also this beautiful scene where his teenage daughter visits him in the jail. Likewise, there are some incidents which places him as a man with lot of kindness and gratitude, an extra ordinarily brilliant guy who just enjoyed being in the other side of the system, robbing banks as they were robbing people. But he was no Robbin Hood, he just spend all what he robbed, mostly for women and luxury.

Vincent Cassel, what do I say, bloody bloody brilliant. With his 70's style hair style, I thought he was even more charming. One of the best performances I have ever seen. He seemed to have put up lot of weight for this movie, not as much as De Nero did for Raging Bull, and had given his heart out. There were moments when I felt like rewinding the scene to watch it once again. Well, my dvd player didn't like it, so I had to stop that after couple of times.

And my sincere most salutes to the director and his team. I must especially talk about the final scene when the police special team is waiting for Mesrine to come out and follow him all the way, before they kill him on the road, without any warning at all. Even before Mesrine realise anything, he is shot. By the present Indian system, this is a perfect encounter. But this whole part was superbly executed. The fear of a hiding squad member, when Mesrine is really close to him, is both hilarious and makes the moment really thrilling. This scene and the one at the hospital are the ones I felt, were the best. Doesn't mean the others were not up to it. As I said, it is a great success as a thriller biopic, but these two scenes would stand out for me.

I am really really glad I saw Mesrine. I really wish, this is released in India for my fellow Indians. Most Indians seem to have a lot of misconceptions about movies from other lands than Hollywood.