The Next Three Days

2010 by Paul Haggis - English movie from Hollywood

Russell Crowe is one of my favourites from the west, especially after watching his Beautiful Mind. His charm is too good to be ignored, even when he comes up with typical Hollywood potboilers.

John's wife Laura is accused of killing her boss and is jailed for a life time. Since the legal system does not offer any more hope, John plans for a jail break, and a life ahead with their little son. 

Once the movie ended, I really felt like, this movie might have been inspired by Shawshank Redumption. Possibly. There are many differences which would nullify my point, but for some reason, one will find moments to support my point too, I hope.

It offers some thrill and some emotional scenes, which are quite touching. In fact, John's love for his wife and his desire to lead a family life with his beloved and son is passed on to us quite easily and nicely. But at the same time, it also has those typical Hollywood cliches. And the most glaring one was John's meeting with an expert jail breaker. The cameo by Liam Neeson was very good though.

But credit to the script and director to make a family thriller, devoid of terrific action. And The Next Three Days is a good one time watch.

Very good performance by Mr. Crowe, it is not a challenging role for him though. 

Pranayam

2011 by Blessy - Malayalam movie

It is an important point that, many of the recent movies in Malayalam, all touted as different and special or what not, were all adapted from movies else where. Couple of decades back, this was un-thinkable in Malayalam as we had a great talent of writers who found ingenious topics for our movies. But right now, almost all movies are good enough for the waste box and the ones which look good, majority of them, are not original. Blessy came in with a lot of promises as a debutant director with Kaazcha, a brilliant movie. He gave some more glimpses of hope with Palunku and Thanmaatra, to some extents. However he did let us down largely. I am sure, many people will hail him and thank him for this movie, but it is just a shame that he has been inspired by Innocence, the 2000 movie from Paul Cox, without any mention at all.

Menon, 67 years, is living in his son's apartment in Kochi city. He meets Grace who has recently shifted to this building, with her husband, Mathews,and family. Menon and Grace had eloped and married in a short living marriage, 40 years ago. 

The master stroke by Blessy is that he has made significant changes to the original and placed the theme to fit into Keralan sensibilities. I saw Innocence long back, sometime in 2003, so not able to recollect it very well. But one of the highlights of that movie was its intense portraiture of love, which can arise at old age which could find pleasure both for the mind and the body. However, catering to a highly hypocritic Keralan psyche, Blessy completely keeps away the physical aspects (and in ways even the mental aspects). And he even suggests that it could be a physical contact between two of the characters, which prompts the end of the movie. This is just my thought, I could be wrong. But this is highly possible and I am sure the Keralan hypocrisy will support him in that. But I cant help saying this, inspite of all his master strokes, the movie still holds elements of an alien culture, which an ordinary Keralite would find hard to understand.(Just like in the case of Bheja Fry, when it was adapted from Le Diner de Cons).

I would say, the movie is more about aging, than love. The original was definitely about love at old age. Here from the very beginning, till the end, it is all about the travails and fear of loneliness of three aged souls. Through them Blessy succeeds in making us feel for the state of  our old. And friendship is what he instills between these three, instead of love in the original. Looking at it that way, I would say it is a beautiful movie about old age.

Blessy always seems to create a wrong aura around his movie for marketing. For Bhramaram, he promoted it as a road movie, when it was not one in any ways. Here, he markets it as one on love, but it looks more like a movie of 3 persons, finding friendship at old age. I feel, a single man or woman, nearing 60, watching this movie, would worry about the lack of a friend for their future.

I was very unhappy with how Blessy dealt with the flash back scenes, the old times of Menon and Grace, some time in the 70's. The settings, actors and almost everything about these scenes, looked quite mediocre (In one of those shots from Maharajas college ground, the LIC building can be clearly seen, which was added in 90's I think). So was his casting. Mohanlal is brilliant as Mathews. In fact I  am very glad to see Mohanlal doing such a role, after a long time. Jayaprada plays Grace and Anupam Kher plays Menon. Jayaprada was not a great actor, even at her prime and even now she is only just ok. Wish if this role was given to Shobana or Revathy or Sumalatha. Any of them would have taken it to a different level. Anupam Kher too, looks good. But his inability to understand Malayalam language is quite evident. Blessy could have found somebody from the South for this role, I hope. So as always for Malayalam, casting is still a problem. Blessy looks like walking on the line of going over board in some important emotional scenes. A little bit of subtlety would have done quite a lot of service to this movie.

Cinematography was excellent. It has been some time since a Malayalam cinema had a camera work, which is quite silent. Just fine for the movie.

Well, it is still a very good movie, considering the present stature of Malayalam movie, like the first rain in March/April. Promoting it as a movie on old age would have been better though.

Theja Bhai and Family

2011 by Deepu Karunakaran - Malayalam movie

80's were the golden era for Malayalam movies. May it be art house, or parallel or entertainers, we got the best during that period. There were some incredible comedies too, which watching now, look like brilliant classics. I wonder, how this particular movie would have been, if it was conceived and shot in the 80's.

An underworld king falls in love with a girl, but her father will only get her married to a man from a big family. The guy has to create a family for him, to impress his would be father in law. 

Of course, if this movie was shot in 80's I am very sure it would have been an excellent entertainer. But but..

It turns out to be a horrible entertainer that it was quite difficult to bear it for two hours and half.

There were two silver lines though. The cinematography, I found quite good, I mean the lighting had a soft touch. May be they spend good money on the DI. Anyways the frames looked quite nice.

A particular scene in which Salim Kumar narrates a story, adapting the epic, Mahabharata, into a real life family story - that was the real hilarious moment of this movie. Brilliant.

God in action, live - Leo Messi & Co in Kolkota

2 Sep, 2011, Salt Lake Stadium, Argentina - Venezuela, 1-0, FIFA friendly

I have few dreams related to football; watching the derby between Boca Juniors and RiverPlate in Argentina, possibly at the monumental stadium - a match whcih is described by many as one of the 50 things to do before you die, watching a live world cup final, watching an El Classico match at the Nou Camp, when Leo is in full flow etc. And as the news came around the end of April, that Argentina will play in India, I had made up my mind that I will watch it. Finally, here is a chance to watch Leo in India. And how lucky we are. The first match of Argentina, under Sabella and with Leo as the new captain. This was so exciting.

Arriving into Kolkota, in a Barca t shirt was very nice. Everywhere you find only Messi's and all were smiling at each other. And whenver people wearing Barca t shirts come across, we had an extra smile and couple of times even exchanged a Visca Barca comment too. I never thought, Barca and Messi had a such a crazy following in my country. Of course, the craze for the national teams of Argentina and Brazil was always there. Arriving into the huge stadium, the excitement grew in a big way. I was sure Argentina would feel like playing in their home. Huge cheers came out when players appeared for their warm up and sadly, it looked like, that only Messi mattered for the crowd. I was glad that I could recognise each and every player in the Argentine line up including the new no. 3 goal keeper Andrada. The crowd went on cheering Leo, each and every actions of him, whatever he was doing.

Sabella lined up a 4 - 3 - 3 team with the Inter Milan youngster Alvarez joining Mascherrano and Lucho in the mid field. This definitely looked like a little better mid field and as the game went on, the mid field was much better than with Maradona and Batista. But still, yes still a lack of a very creative central mid fielder was showing up many times. It is still a long way away from being called a dominant midfield, like Barca. It is a pity that with all the attacking talent in hand, Argentina cannot find somebody who could link up with Messi, so that Messi could receive balls upfront, 30 - 35 yards from the ball. Nor were there any good off ball movements to make space for Messi or any attempts by other players to use the space created by Messi.  Nobody seemed interested in using the width of the pitch except Messi and in a few occassions, Zabaleta.  In fact, like in the past, Messi had to come deep many times for the ball. There were many moments in the game, when Messi played further behind, even behind Lucho. Such a pity. Actually right now, everything is Messi, the team is depending too much on this boy. Even in this game, he created 5 'put me in' passes, out of which only one was properly tried by Higuain, which bounced off the post. It was unbeleivable how the chances are always wasted. Anyways, one of Messi's shot which was pushed for corner by the goal keeper, ended up as an Argentine goal, which looked like a practised corner kick, when Messi's kick was well placed for Otamandi to head in. Venezuela, however had some good chances which all came out of transition, fast counter attacks. They took up the challenge nicely and put in a good game, but often the only way they could stop Leo was by fouling him.

Rains were held back for the match, but the held up clouds ensured that it was really humid and the players looked tired even before half time. Such a pity actually as we could have seen even a better match without the high humidity. Almost all players on the field looked tired including our Leo. Inspite of that, it was a beauty of a beautiful game. Crowds were amazed by the passing play and some of the passes, especially by Messi invited loud applause. I understood, how bohring it was to watch a passing game, in TV, for this looked 10 times even more beautiful. Almost all in the crowd and me included, was wishing oh it could have gone a bit longer, when the final whistle was blown. So much of beauty was there that every one wished, it never ended.

It was nice to watch Argentina playing a possession game similar to that of Barcelona. Except that the defence was not ready to take up the challenges of the sudden counter attack, it was nearly like a Barca match, the mid field still lacking some majesty though. Otamandi and Zabaleta in defence, Alvarez (considering it was his debut) in the midfield are definitely the new found Plus's for Argentina from this match. Lucho has miles to go before he can be better, hopefully with more games, so is the understanding between Messi, Higuain and De Maria. Was also glad to see Pastore, Sosa and Aguero coming in as substitutes. Sosa's physique is excellent, tougher even more than Aguero , but needs lot of improvement in the creativity.

But let us face the truth. This was the first game under Sabella. This players have had only 3 days of training, together. Still, their possession game looked much better than under the previous two coaches. Sabella, I hope, will take Argentina in the right direction. He seems to have understood the frailities in defence and should make it up with time. At the same time, it is scary that he used Demichilles in the defence. Even Roja does not look like a good option at the left back.

And about the venue, the 1,20,000 capacity stadium was almost full. It looked like a crowd of 80 - 90,000 for me. So many people from all over India came in for the match, was incredible, and thousands from Kerala too. It was really nice to meet many of those guys, esepecially from Malappuram and Kozhikode.
India could have done better, if we had avoided the long list of VIP's who came out to hand shake the players before the game. One of those VIP's went back to shake Messi's hands. All of them seemed to try to tell him again. I wonder how many of them knew that Messi doesnt speak any English. The players were warmed up eager to play and here are our VIP's trying to chat up with them. That was an embarassing sight, typical of India. So was the moments after the game too. I wonder what the players were thinking.

Thank you Argentina and Venezuela, for that beautiful show. And thank you my dear Leo. I still cannot beleive that I saw you live, hardly 100 meters away from me, warming up and playing football. You looked tired, but you still made a few of those brilliant runs of yours and some amazing passes. Thank you from my heart. I will see you now in Barcelona.

Polytechnique

2009 by Denis Villeneuve - French movie from Quebec, Canada.

At times, film makers are inspired from a real life tragedy and makes beautiful movies on it. Kalloori, which I would consider as one of the best among the new age Tamil movies, was made so. The director picked up an event, which hurt the whole nation, and built a touching love story on it, backwards. I have this movie, Polytechnique, because of my appreciation for the director. On reading the synopsis I thought, ok he is inspired by a tragedy. It is a true story except that the director does not build anything around it. He just follows the incident.

On 6 Dec '89, a student in the Montreal Polytechnique, went on a shooting spree in his campus, killing 14 women and seriously injuring many others. Finally he killed himself. 

It is more like a docu drama, but I found it like a horror movie. There are spine chilling scenes in it, which we cannot fathom in anyways. The man just walks through the different parts of his school and just shoots at women. This is all the movie is about. Through random flash backs and forrwards, it just gives a few more scenes about the man, what he did before this, and also about two other characters who lived through the whole incident. Thats it. It is a chilling experience though.

The movie is shot in black and white, for reasons I cant make out. But it does give the reasons for which this guy went on this shooting spree. He was fed up of feminism and feminists. His death note says he is doing this only for political reasons. Neither does the movie goes into any details about why he hates feminism, nor does it points to anybody among the victims, who is a dreadful feminist. In many ways, this is just strange. I mean a feature film just shows a shooting spree. There is very little dialogues or scenes which occurs outside the main scenario. Naturally it ends up like a horror movie.

Quebec is definitely famous for its female supporting laws. It is nearly impossible for a woman to be a culprit there, they can only be a victim, it seems. This incident, infamous as the Montreal massacre still lives in the minds of many students and some are still traumatized, as mentioned through the later life of one character. Through the same character, the director also brings out a masochist point, which women will find atrocious. So may be he is making the point that the culprit here, might had some problems.

It is a very interesting watch, horrific though. But for me, it was quite different from the other Villeneuve movies, and will never be on my list of reccommended ones from this director.

Maelstrom

2000 by Denis Villeneuve - French movie from Quebec, Canada

I was searching for Villeneuve movies, after watching Incendies and found two. I am convinced this director is a maestro, a real genius in movie making. May be after a couple of decades, movie lovers will talk about him like we do about Kurusova, Fellini et all.

A woman cannot get over her guilt, after an abortion. To make it worse, her car runs over a man. All is not over and she meets the victim's son. 

This movie begins in a bizarre way. A big fish, on the butchers table, is telling a story. It is extremely brilliant how water and fish is incorporated into this movie. Through the fish and the various images of water, this really takes us through the turbulant mind of the woman, Bibiane. This gives a surrealistic feeling at least in the beginning. But then towards the latter half, the movie turns into blunt reality and it is brilliant and beautiful. There are some cliches here, but we would not even notice them actually.

It is bit difficult watch in the beginning, as it looked more like a low paced art house movie. But soon we are into the mind of Bibiane and the movie is quite different experience from there on. The gradual relation ship between Bibiane and the dead man's son is kind of expected, once they accidentally meet, but it is told in a very nice way.

This is one movie where we can question the story, the lady is never caught or questioned for her crime, in many ways, but nobody, I think, will question the way it is told. Excellent script and director, supported by a brilliant camera. Add to it the brilliant performance by Marie Josee Croze as Bibiane. It is a wonder that, a French actors, irrespective of which side of Atlantic they are from, is always brilliant.

I cant wait to watch Polytechinique, the other movie I have from Villeneuve.

Kynodontas - Dogtooth

2009 by Giorgos Lanthimos - Greek movie

When somebody told me that Greek movies are on a much superior level to general cinema, I was not sure. Couple of movies later, I am quite surprised. At least in my country, when people discuss movies, seriously, nobody seems to talk about Greek movies. I have only seen a few now, but from what I have, its incredible. They are not the entertainment kind. (Am very curious as to how these movies fare in their box office though) But they are quite different and definitely will make the viewer think and wonder about what is happening on the screen.

Three children are bought up by the parents in a confined territory of their home. 

It is as simple as that, but this is a kind of shocking movie. When I read the synopsis, I too made the same mistake, thought it must be children. Only when the movie begin do we realise these children are actually past their teens. We do not know their exact age, but they are definitely around the twenties. And to think that, they have not seen the outside world is unbelievable, strange and scary.

The parents are able to give them different meanings to words, can trick them to fight for a toy plane, as if its the original plane which has fallen down from the skies. Everything about this movie  plot, is strange and unbelievable. But the script and the director has done a brilliant job that it make us curious about these people and will make us live with them. It is like we are watching some alien family performing their drama in a home with high walls. Nothing happening inside will never occur in an ordinary family, but still we are deeply engaged in this family. It is shocking, it is disturbing and thought provoking and even explicit.

I am not saying this movie deeply moved me or anything like that, but I will always say that this is kind of thought, film makers need to have so that cinema as an art form will prosper and inspire more people. I cannot cover my excitement when I say, the man behind this movie owns a truly brilliant and extra ordinary mind of thought.

I do not love it, I do not hate it, but it is definitely, may be, the most different cinematic experience. I hope I can say that. 

Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités

2004 by Laurent Tirad - French movie

It is high time, French movies are released in India, dubbed or subtitled. I would prefer the latter. It is such a pity that Indian movie lovers are not able to watch these movies. Mensonges.... translated in some ways as My love story.., is not a classic or a master piece. But..

Raphael is a ghost writer, he writes biographies for celebrities. He is assigned to write for the French football team captain, and his girl friend is known to him. In fact, he had a crush for her and had failed to attract her. His present girl friend, Muriel, wants him to write his own book, but Raphael cannot. 

This movie could have been made as a very serious movie. But, the makers decided otherwise and made it like a simple funny movie. But inspite of that, it raises many questions. It is presented in such a way that we can either ponder over those questions, or just ignore it and enjoy the fun being offered.

Raphael is a brilliant character, so are Muriel, the football captain and Claire, the old friend of Rapahel. Through all these main characters, we actually go through a very nice ride, with occassional sentimental scenes thrown in.

Edouard Baer as Raphael carries the movie through out. Alice Taglioni is charming too.

I am still laughing, thinking about some scenes. An excellent funny ride. 

Easan

2010 by Sasikumar - Tamil movie

Kerala always look down upon Tamil, may it be their people or movies or what not. I dont have any idea why this happened. 2 decades back, Tamil movies were really poor and we could understand why people used to talk about Tamil movies, only with a kind of contempt and sarcasm. But Tamil movies made a big leap from the beginning of this millennium, but the attitude of Keralites to Tamil movies remain the same even now. Most Malayaalees still watch only the big entertainer productions from Tamil Nadu, which are typical entertainers of course, and ignore the good ones from Tamil Nadu. The movie distributors in Kerala, who bring in Tamil movies, I think are very well aware of this trend that most good movies from Tamil Nadu are not shown in Kerala theatres. There are so many brilliant movies, to my knowledge, which are never shown in Kerala yet, forget that they never are released. The list of such movies include even the movies which inspite of being different and classy were even super hits in Tamil Nadu. Kalloori and Yudham Sei being the best examples. Easan was released in Tamil Nadu last year, and it got only an average response. However, it is surprising that the movie is playing in Kochi now.

Group of rich youngsters, lead by a minister's son, enjoy their life in the city, girls, drugs and rave parties and what not, but they dont have to worry at all by the law with the kind of political back up one of them has got. The ministers son is kidnapped and a police officer investigates. 

Sasikumar, the director's second effort after the much rated and successful Subramaniapuram, directs and produce this movie, should have been enough reason for this movie to find some response in Kerala. But still it takes about an year to get released in Kerala. But the movie is brilliant only in parts, especially for some sections of the second half, and it is very average for most and there are some moments, when it can hardly manage the standards of those C rate porn based movies of the 80's.

There was a very good plot but the script is a huge failure for most parts and the director seems to have ignored this, nor did he try to make it up. But still, there are moments when we will wish, why did not he try to better the script and the movie. This could have been a real thriller, a very different entertainer...

What was shocking is actually the terrible scenes of violence towards the end, raising questions that if Sasikumar is also going the Ram Gopal Varma way. Is violence going to be an integral part of his movies? Subramanyapuram did have violence, but the movie was a brilliant revenge story and it was supposed to be that way. After all it was a rustic revenge story. Only towards the second half do we know that Easan also is a revenge story, but the violence in the last minutes could have been avoided.

The movie ends up as a pretty ordinary one, unfortunately. It could have been much better. Whatever, Samudrakani, as the police officer, promises a lot. He is an excellent actor and I hope he gets nice roles and he gets noticed.

But the highlight of this movie is a song, brilliantly choreographed and shot. It is very Indian (Tamilian) and very much adhering to Tamil folk steps. But the master stroke is the use of the dress as a kind of prop, in its choreography, occassionally. I love this song and its choreography, that I cant help pasting a link here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgm_YRvhfXg

Topio Stin Omichli - Landscape in the Mist

1988 by Theo Angelopoulos - Greek movie

The UEFA super cup between Barca and FC Porto was to start at 0015 hrs, so I really wanted the movie to finish well before. But, but but.. I had picked up an acclaimed master piece movie, a real art house production from a maestro, and there were moments when I really felt, I might have to stop the movie some where to not miss my Football show. But there were also moments when I even felt, whatever happens with Barca, I am not going to break this movie, for any football. There it is, its pace is quite slow like in most art house movies, but it is quite a bewitching cinema, cinema at its artistic best.

Two children, a very young boy and an adolescent girl, are told by their mother that their father is in Germany. They elope their home, north wards to the Greek border, to Germany to meet their father. 

This is master piece of a road movie, with two children as protagonists. We are told quite early that there is no such father, but the desire of the children to meet him takes us through a stunning journey. They travel by train, treks, bus, bike and even walking through never ending roads, coming across various things in life, the good, the bad and the ugly.

I would call it as  surrealism at its best some times, with some incredibly brilliant stunning images. Towards the first half there are some scenes and frames with brilliant juxtaposition of contrasting senses or matters, which was brilliant. And at other times, it is reality at its best. There is a terribly painful and touching scene with a trek driver, which was unbelievable. It was like somebody just killed someone very dear to you, right in front of your eyes. We feel terribly sorry for these children but we continue travelling with them.

And the Cinematography, this is classic brilliance. There are so many frames which looks like, they have been just shot as told by Ansel Adams or Cartier Bresson or such great masters of Photography. Absolutely brilliant and Classic, confirming to text book rules of photography. And there is brilliant music too.

However, as I always feel when I watch great master piece's from art house maestros, it does have all those moments or situations which you would expect only from these kind of great artistic works. At least in few scenes I was thinking, isn't this kind of pretentious, like I feel often with art house movies.

- a lack of reality in the plot when two children can travel like this day and night, with not even one character asking  them why or what or how?

- characters who doesn't want to talk at all. Except a young man, every body who is coming across this children seems to, like to keep mum and understand everything, all  are intelligent - even the very young boy seems to understand certain moments, the feelings between the young man and the older girl, which I wonder how he can at all?

- typical situations when you, I mean me, dont understand what it is, why, for what?, like the lady saying something, sitting on a bench, outside the police officers room, repeating it.

In spite of all the above , the movie is soooooo captivating, definitely speaks volumes about this movie. In spite of its slow pace, it can keep us really engaged worried and wondering about these children.

Anybody who is interested in Photography, I strongly advise, must watch this movie. Even if this movie is not your kind of movie, you need to complete watching it. And dont forget, it was shot in film, without the help of the digital screens from which you can immediately see what you just shot and improve it if needed. This comes from those good old days, when the man behind the camera needed to be intelligent enough to understand everything. Even otherways, this is a classic example of classic photography. 

The 11th hour

2007 by Leila and Nadia Conners - Documentary in English

I was a very happy man before I sat down for this one. Leo Messi was declared the European player of the year by UEFA. Well that was expected, but what was the icing on the cake was the margin of votes, by which he went ahead. Leo got 38, Xavi 11 and Christiano just 3!!! Those three who voted for Christiano - a journalist from Portugal, a woman journalist from San Marino (for obvious reasons) and then another journalist from Armania. Well, his newspaper is called Armanian Soccer, may be the only one to call Football as soccer in Europe. So its all an easy guess. Even Leo and Xavi might not have guessed such a huge margin. Anyway, it is only a question of months, before little Leo will be declared the FIFA world player, the first player to win the most prestigious individual honour in Football, consecutively for 3 years.

Also, the Champions League draw for the season was done and my beloved Barca only will have AC Milan as a major partner in our group. Watching AC Milan now, I think it will not be a tough job for Barca to go to the round of 16. Every prospects for a rematch with Arsenal and Chelsea is ahead though.

Within a few minutes from the beginning of the documentary, I forgot completely about Football and started to worry about our nature.

The 11th hour is yet another documentary on climate change. 

It is created, produced and narrated by Leonardo De Caprio, which is quite interesting. No words to appreciate a star like De Caprio coming out to make such a documentary.

Though it talks about Climate change and the horros awaiting human kind, it is still looking at the whole issue from a kind of American perspective. Also, it bombards us with information, quite important and scary ones, in a consistently fast pace. Even before we have realised one issue, the next personality is telling us an even scarier thought. Sure, this is all serious and it is really an excellent effort, but I thought the pace could have been a bit slow to allow the viewer to digest what he is told. It rather is a documentary with the pace of a Hollywood thriller.

But whatever, it is an excellent documentary warning us about the problems we are looking at, because of all what we did to our nature in the last 100 or 200 years. One scientist tell us that 99.9% of species in the Universe will get extinct one day and human beings are digging its own grave.

Home is way ahead as a brilliant documentary in all its aspects, but 11th Hour definitely manages to convey its message. And it is heartening that it comes from a Hollywood star. 

La Doublure - The Valet

2006 by Francis Veber - French

It is not easy for me to remember names, even the ones from daily life. When discussing films, if at all people ask me for the names of directors and all, I wont be able to answer immediately in most cases. And especially when it comes to names outside USA and UK, when the names are not easy for me, it is even difficult. But I dont think I can easily forget the name of Francis Veber. I watched La Diner de Cons (which was remade in India as Bheja Fry) and Le Closet, and felt this man is a maestro in making classic comedies. He just substantiates my belief with La Doublure.

A billionaire CEO has a super model mistress. One Paparazzi photographs them together, an ordinary man too got inside the frame by accident, and the CEO's wife is out to prove the story. To save his marriage, the billionaire picks up the ordinary guy and pays the supermodel too, to act as couples, to convince his wife. The ordinary guy, working as a valet, in fact is let down by his old time girl friend, who rejected his marriage proposal. 

An incredible plot for a romantic comedy. As it progress, it only turns brilliantly funny.

I would say, it is actually a study of men. There is a man who is cheating both his wife and also his mistress, the way he cheats them both is typical of rich men. He is quite confused about whom to keep but what he is sure about is his love for money. His final preference is weighed down by his goal to remain a billionaire CEO and husband. At the same time, there is also this ordinary man, a pure example of man who loves his girl than anything. He has got this unbelievable opportunity to live with a supermodel, a beautiful woman for whom any man would do anything, but he still remains loyal to his girl friend, without any hope of her accepting his proposal, but still is nice to the super model. It only adds to the brilliance of this script that there are two occassions when through actions and dialogues he is shown as an ordinary man, not any saint. Also there is this friend of the Valet, who is a perfect example of a male friend, jealous, creepy and everything. This character was really funny.

At the same time, it is also brilliant with its female characters, especially the wife of the billionaire. Her happiness in giving any sorts of pain to her cheating husband gives us some wonderful laughs. The girl friend is quite typical, but the supermodel is quite different and is brilliant. In fact, she is quite a revelation. Of course, it is clear it must be only money what attracted her to a much older billionaire, but she behaves quite normal and her relationship with the guy is really nice. There is also this hilarious scenes involving a doctor, who ends up taking treatment himself, at the patients home, and still charging the patient.

Of course, this could be considered an out of the world plot or unbelievable one, but the script is brilliant and Veber ensures that all this could be quite happening. The movie is quite fast and sleek. Just that, it ends even before you have not had enough of these wonderful characters. Yes, to be frank, I really felt the movie could have been a bit longer. It is only once in a blue moon I wish oh, this movie should not be ending. Doublure is so nice and charming.

Daniel Auteuil, as the billionaire, reinstates his acting prowess. For Gad Elmaleh, the role is only slightly different from that of Hors de prix, but he is nice. I was quite charmed by Alice Taglioni as the super model. Agreed, she doesn't have much to act here, but her presence is brilliant.

A very funny movie indeed. For me, it is not just a funny movie, because it is very rare for me to wish a movie didn't end at all. I loved this movie.

Unknown

2011 by Jaume Collet- Serra - English from Hollywood

I am definitely not a fan of Hollywood. Yet, sometimes I end up picking up the same kind of movies, which I believe is routine Hollywood.

Mr. Harris and wife arrives in Berlin for a conference and upon arrival at the hotel, Harris has to go back to the airport to find his missing bag and ends up with an accident. When he wakes up at the hospital, after a few days, he does not remember everything. Somebody else is acting as Harris. 

This is routine Hollywood, with typical turns and cliches through out.

It is thrilling in parts but by the end of the movie, we just realise that this is nothing special, just the same things repeated, old spy, fake passports, killer men, some GREAT invention which is good/bad for the world, a prince (Muslim of course), car chase, comments against communists, explosion, some innocent dead bodies, an angel to help and a perfect fine end that it looks really ordinary, especially towards the latter half.

La Rafle - The Round up

2010 by Roselyne Bosch - French movie

Second world war has always offered a lot for movie makers, especially for European movie makers. The mass killings of the Jews by the Nazi's has been told umpteen times that we seem to have a new story at least once in a decade. This one is again based on true events and the script depends a lot on the memoirs of one woman who survived this particular pages from French history. The script features many real life people.

German occupied France. As per agreement with Germans, French police make a massive arrest of all Jewish people who had come into Paris, before the German occupation, about 24000 of them on the 16 of July 1942. They didnt manage the agreed number as many French people hid and helped the Jews. Those arrested, together with the children, are transferred to different camps. 

This movie is special, because the script uses a lot of time to see the happenings through children. The script concentrates on one particular family, but there are also other families involved. The efforts of French to save their neighbours and the problems in the camps, including an initial stay in a Parisian Velodrome, are all picturised here. During all this parts, children occupy a big presence and all the sadness, anger and disappointment we feel for these innocent people, are felt through their children.

One of the most brilliant aspect is the recreation of the Velodrome. That was quite stunning and stood out for me. The innocence of some of the children was very touching too.

Jean Reno, as a Jewish doctor, Melanie Laurent as Ms. Monod, a red cross worker whose memoirs were so important for this script and Gad Elmaleh, as the young father of a few kids, together with the many children performed very well.

But I do felt that, this movie could have been more touching. There is some brilliance lacking in many moments, which could have made it even more heartening. In spite of all efforts by the team, I still thought, may be they did not put their 200% into it. If not, this could have been a movie as deeply touching as Life is Beautiful. Instead it ends up as just a nice movie.

World has seen enough of the sufferings of Jews, I think. I am wondering, when will Europe make movies which will show the sufferings of the Palestinians and those countries around Israel?

Not a Love Story

2011 by Ram Gopal Varma - Hindi movie

I made a promise to myselves, after watching No one killed Jessica, that I would not attempt to watch another Bollywood experiment of a true crime story. I knew this one was based on the infamous Neeraj Grover murder case and it was directed by the once brilliant RGV, but I wanted to ignore my promise, just because of Mahie Gill. Here is an actress in Bollywood, who can really act, Dev D had proved it to me so I really felt I must not miss this one.

Anusha has a possessive boy friend in Robin, who quite obviously, as any Indian with some common sense have some idea how things work for a Bollywood entrance,  is not receptive to her idea of trying out to be an actor in Bollywood. But his love for her, lets her leave for Mumbai and give it a try. Obviously, Anusha meets those who wants to try her other talents than acting and is almost disappointed, when finally, she is offered a real chance. She calls Robin, shares her joy, and then goes for a party with all her friends and the casting guy, who accompanies her to her apartment, drunk obviously, and both have a very late night sleep. Robin, wanting to congratulate his would be, flies into Mumbai and knocks at the door. Anusha can only behave as if the casting guy is just trying to rape her. Robin, does what every man would do, kills the man. 

Mahie Gill is good, but she still looks a bit over age for this character, for me at least. But to be frank, I cannot imagine a single different actress from Bollywood who can do all those, repeated a lot, close shots of crying out loud scenes, with even half the results as hers. She could still have been better, but I thought, she has done it much much better than any contemporary Bollywood actress would have. Others might have looked comical with so many of such shots, that too with a camera so close. The actor, who really stood out for me, was Zakir Hussain, who did a brilliant under play as the investigator. This kind of underplay is achieved by Bollywood only rarely.

The unbearable part about this movie is its camera. I really doubt the intentions when RGV use this kind of camera angles, always having Ms. Gill's legs on the fore ground. (There is even a shot with a bra in the fore ground!!!) Until the second half of the movie, when it is into the investigation and court, Mahie has to do a lot of cleavage shows and the camera is always in a low angle. What for? And such angles are nearly absent in the second half. Add to this the horrible camera movements, which can even create some pain for ones eyes, together with some horrible back ground score, the movie is a little bit of pain actually. But it is still watchable, only because of the shock and seriousness of the plot. I really wish there was a camera, the presence of which would not have been noticed, for this movie. There is a touch of realism for many scenes, until the advocates walk in for each party. And the final scene between Anusha and Robin, is truly brilliant. If I would remember this movie after a couple of years, it would be for that single scene. Brilliant.

I really had many questions during the movie.

Do girls in our country still believe, that they can fly into Mumbai and look for an acting career, without show casing their talents outside acting, at all?

Dont our women smell something bad, when our men want to come to their apartment, late at night, drunk or not?

Having a possessive/ non possessive boy friend, who keeps calling every hour or not, how can a woman not take his calls, especially late at night, and think all will be allright?

All what is required to bed a girl, is just two drinks and a sad story at late night?

How the hell can a man walk into his girls apartment, in the morning, sees a man naked there and can still believe the word of his girl that the naked man is trying to molest her? How stupid can a man be?

Even after all the blood shed, there doesn't seem to be a single word from this stupid man to his girl about how the hell this man ended up naked in his girls apartment?

How can an educated man and woman be so stupid to decide that one can say the other never came to Mumbai at all.  (Investigation for this crime, I thought, is so simple even a college student could have done this, so foolish were the acts, how the two lovers carried it out. )

All these questions does not have anything to do with the movie, as it might be what really happened, but I find it quite amusing. Are all our men and women really stupid like this? During the investigation, Robin asks the officer, what would you have done, if you were in my place? Good question, but ... sounds really strange for me.

Layer Cake

2004 by Matthew Vaughn - British movie

I think many people I know consider James Bond films as the best they know about British films, except for an occassional Gandhi or others. I consider British movies almost in the same wave length as those from rest of Europe, much better than from the Americas. Watching Layer Cake, I am quite impressed that their entertainers are excellent too, not going over the board always, like in the Hollywood ones.

Our hero is a cocaine delaer, very successful but is planning to retire from his nasty business. But then his chief gives him an important assignment. There is also a huge ecstacy deal, he needs to settle out, which was infact stolen from Netherlands, from a neo Nazi sect. 

It is interesting that the hero doesnt have a name in this movie and we do not realise it until the very end. The troubles he seem to be in are so nicely woven together that the movie looks like an absolute thriller, without any over the board action scenes at all. This is what I consider as the biggest high light of this movie. It is thrilling to the hilt and it has great sense of an under current of action, but there are hardly any action at all.

This is a brilliantly scripted and executed thriller movie. The climax especially is brilliant, though we feel bad about it, it is quite realistic and the whole movie is brilliantly realistic. Nothing over the top, anywhere.

This is a classy entertainer, something in the path of Goodfellas, Casino etc.

In the beginning, when our hero is narrating the mafia world, he says something like - note that one day all this drug business will be legal, once the system realise how much money is to be made from it, not millions, but billions. 

Eldorado

2008 by Bouli Lanners - French movie from Belgium

Some movies are quite different that at the end of the movie, we are perplexed about it, what to say about it, was that good or bad or average or was it too intelligent for us to make something out of it....

A man finds a burglar at his home, but instead of reporting to the police, decides to ride him to his home. 

This is one movie, which can be easily called a road movie. But, honestly, I could not make out the ending of the movie. The movie has a brilliantly funny beginning and as they both set on their drive, getting to know each other better, facing minor obstacles through out, the movie is simply good with occassional hilarious moments. The character, especially of the young 'burglar' is brilliant that we cant help laughing at everything he does.

Then there is this scene when they both reach the home of this 'burglar', where the movie take a different turn and this scene, very hard and touching, is may be the best in this movie.

But thereafter, it seems like something was missing. And this culminated towards the end. It is like as if there were soooo many options for us to decide what happened. I dont know, may be I did not understand the whole thing at all, or there was something I completely missed. But it is like we are in absolute dark about what happened to one person, who was keeping us really focused for the whole journey.

Anyways, I felt a bit disappointed towards the end, for the movie was soo brilliant till the final 1/3 rd.

Barcelona begins the season with Super Copa (3-2)

I had few movies ready to watch. But I was so tensed about the match, the second leg of Super Copa final, between Barca and Real Madrid, that I decided to not watch any movie. Normally, super copa finals is not this tense. Last season, Barca even lost the first leg to Sevilla, 3-1 I think, but still I wasnt worried about the second leg, which we won with a Messi hatrick. This time it is different. Being the Copa del rey winners, our opponent is Real Madrid and they had a better preseason than Barca and played a really brilliant game in the first leg. And that had prompted for a media lash across the world about a beginning of the end of Barca's supreme reign and made this second leg really an important El Classico.

Real Madrid, definitely is much fitter than Barca and played a really brilliant match, especially in the first half. They were pressing so hard, so high up in the Barca half, man marking each and every Barca player, it looked almost impossible for Barca to pass the ball up. Of course, it was impossible for them to do it for the whole 90 minutes, but they did it for a very long time, demonstrated their fitness and also the determination to get on top of Barca. But, what makes a champion team, a real champion team is their ability to stay hold under immense pressure and still produce moments of brilliance which will see them through. Even half fit Barca team managed a win against a firing on all cylinders Real Madrid  is really incredible. What normally ends up as a typical pre season match has paved way to be the best El Classico match between April and August, an excellent start to the season.

Arrigo Saachi, the great Milan coach, would say when you press hard it is important that the defence and forwards lines must be compact and should not be more than 25 meters apart. Real Madrid pressed well, but they were not compact enough and it was just a question of moments when Barca would pass through. When there is strong one on one marking in your own half, all it requires is a player of amazing quality to dribble out and send a pass through to the front lines and Barca has Messi. Messi really made a great run through the RM players and send in a pass, a synonym of the perfect assist, from which Iniesta found acres of space before him and the RM goal keeper, Casillas. Most people are crazy to watch Messi goals. But I am more crazy about his assists. I would say he make the most brilliant assists and like he did for the 4th Villa goal in the first classico of last season, this was a magic pass which required only a single touch to find the net.

In the second goal again, Messi proves what a player he is, with his first touch, by chest, defeating Carvalho and at the same time making it through to Pique, who in turn made an intelligent back heel pass back, may be the only centre back in the whole world who will try such a pass in the opposition box, and that was enough for Messi to do what he does best. Make opposition players look ordinary and score. It was so funny to watch Christiano Ronaldo, tyring to stop Messi during this goal and sliding on his knees, like in a celebration, but failing.

Well, Real Madrid managed to level the score with two cheeky goals, only because Barca defense is poor in defending set pieces. I strongly doubt, the first one had a hint of off side to it. And with just 10 minutes left and all players looking to be really tired, Pep introduced the prodigal son, Fabregas in. It was so clear why Pep needed him in the team for the last two years. Messi, Fabregas and Pique played in the same '86 team at La Masia and the understanding they have was quite clear. Fabregas was part of the last minute Messi goal too.

Real Madrid definitely have improved a lot as a team and they can really fight with Barca. This season is going to be real tough. But the difference between these teams is Messi. That was quite clear yesterday. His vision, intelligence, balance, ability et all is at least 2 levels above any other player in contemporary football. Little Maestro.

Some journalist in Argentina wrote that, Leo, Xavi and Iniesta are really out of the world class, that they can make even average players around them play 50% above their normal ability. And Iniesta, in pure techinical quality, this man is the best in the world, only if not for the little Leo. Dani Alves also had a brilliant game, defending Ronaldo so well, that Ronaldo was clue less. Another brilliant player was Mascherrano who looks like an excellent central defender, playing out of position though. But I thought it was the presence of Sergi Busquests, that really helped Barca play better than in the first leg. He almost nullified Ozil, even if he was only half fit.

Barca can only improve from here and as always, should reach their peak by end of November, in time for the first El Classico. Real Madrid is already playing great and I am kind of scared how they will be playing by November. Mouth watering games awaits ahead.

Such a pity that the match ends with a bunch load of red cards after a melee at the end of the game, when Fabregas was fouled by Marcelo. It is surprising how Marcelo and Pepe finishes their game. Anyways they are players. But it was really stupid and brutal for Mourinho, to walk across to Tito, Barc's assistant coach, and poke his eyes. He is a disgrace to football and he is also harming the image of Real Madrid.

London to Brighton

2006 by Paul Andrew Williams - British movie

To my knowledge, there must be only a few films which have dealt with the terrible theme of child prostitution. I dont remember seeing any serious movie actually. This is quite a serious topic and it does definitely have a ' handle with care' sticker, may be the reason, why there is hardly any movies on this topic. Mr. Williams, definitely wanted to make a thriller, but puts in the issue of children being used, in a brilliant way. Gem of a movie, for sure.

Joanne a 11+ years old girl runs away from her home, to escape from her father, and is met by Kelly, a prostitute, who has been asked by Derek, a pimp, to find a little girl for a pedophile millionaire. Kelly and Joanne, then have to run for their lives. 

That's how I would look at this plot, but it is told quite differently in the movie. It begins with Kelly and Joanne, Kelly injured and Joanne petrified, trying to run away from London to Brighton. We might even take them for a mother and daughter escaping from some crazy father or villains. And only through brilliantly placed flash backs, does the whole story come into light and that was brilliantly structured. The script, I must say was extremely brilliant. The whole drama is done within about 24 - 48 hours, I think, inlcuding all the flashbacks and we feel like we have lived through the whole period.

Towards the climax, we do get some feeling about the intentions of the millionaire's son, but the climax still is brilliant. Because, even if the movie is like a thriller, it is actually looking at the mind sets of two females. One a grown up who is already a prostitute, and one a 11 year old who just tried to attempt the job for some money. Their relationship is brilliant in the movie. Kelly is quite aware about the dirt behind her job, but is still forced to do it, but she tries hard for the girl, inlcuding selling herselves a couple of times to make some money for their expenses. And one of those scenes, which is edited so fast, makes us really feel sorry for her.
Joanne, being interviewed by Derek, pushing her into the job  is one of the best scenes in this movie. We can only watch it with a deep fear, knowing that a little girl is about to be thrown into prostitution. This scene alone sends in a lot of messages against child prostitution. I think, I was watching most of this movie with an open mouth, with a kind of fear in my eyes and mind. It is definitely a hard watch. But it is a gem of a movie. Very successful in crossing the bridge, from the script to the viewer.

The performances of Loraine Stanley as Kelly and Georgia Groome as Joanne were truly brilliant. There is not a moment when you dont feel for them. But towards the end, they really touch us deep.

A brilliant plot, brilliantly scripted and directed. A real thriller, with a message.

I would rate this as one of the best British movies, I have seen.

Tournee - On Tour

2010 by Mathieu Almaric - French movie, with quite a good amount of English dialogues

India has a really colonial influenced, hypocritical, way of looking at nudity and sex. And because of this there is a very strict censoring system in India that, watching some of the International movies in India, is a disaster, as they will be so badly censored. The only exception, as some say, is when movies are screened during the International film festivals. I am not sure whether movies are permitted to show in these festivals without any cuts by Indian censor board. The after effect is that, movie lovers in India really miss certain movies, which will never be played in India because of lots of nude scenes, even if they are not intended to create any sexual feelings in the viewer. La Belle Noiseuse is a striking example, which I think Indians will never be able to watch. And Tournee is yet another one.

Joachim tours in France with some middle aged Burlusque dancers, performing in small towns and cities across France. But he is unable to find a place for performance in Paris. 

For me, this movie is a master piece, a master piece from the latest times. And to know that it was written and  directed by the same man, who lived the life of a failed man in the frames, only adds on to my reasons to credit more stars to this wonderfully brilliant movie.

Joachim is a brilliant character. He was some TV producer in Paris and only earned foes than friends during that time that he had to leave his home for US. And then he makes this promise to these amazing middle aged artists for a performing tour of France, which will include a grand show at the very artistic Paris. He does manage everything for them, well attended shows every where, but in Paris. All his attempts to find a theatre  hall in Paris fails and he is as disappointed as his girls. What makes us really sorry for this guy is that he is a real failure with his family too. Even his kids, who are introduced into the plot to the latter half, a master stroke by itself, doesn't find any reason to love and respect him.

It is difficult to not be amazed by this plot, character and execution. If one needs to look at it as a road movie, you can. Or as a movie about some burlusque dancers, you can. Finally it is the movie about a failed man too. The movie does not focus specifically into any of these, but it still retains its focus as failed man touring with some burlusque dancers. The effort and bohringness of their repeated travels is effectively transmitted to the viewers. The real sadness, pretentive joy and the disenchantment in being nowhere in life for some middle aged woman who has to sing, emote and strip tease to please the crowd is brilliantly felt and so is the realisation of a man that he is nothing in life, personal or professional.

Some of the best moments of this movie involves the discussion between Joachim and his 'girls', before and after their shows. It is more like peeping into some dressing rooms of some dancers. And the script and the camera is not shy at all of what is happening there, the camera has access to almost anywhere. This middle aged dancers are all old fashioned and yet are not shy in front of the camera and they all are brilliant characters too, especially Mimi who is the person through which we are told that behind these smiling, dancing bodies, there is sadness personified.

Brilliant script, wonderfully shot. It is difficult to believe that Almaric directed this movie, while giving his best performance of life in front of the camera. I salute you sir.

This is definitely modern cinema at its best. I will stop just short of calling it a poem or verse on celluloid, just because it is a kind of real dry movie, differently styled.

French cinema is really incredible.