Maappilai

2011 by Suraj

Tamil cinema going back to its stupid entertainer stuff of the 90's.

It has everything that you expect from a mediocre Tamil entertainer, comedians and comedy which has nothing to do with the main plot, hero and heroine with lot of difference between their standard of life, songs, fights and 'no questions please' kind of story and script. The only aim is to give some stupid fun to the viewer.

A big backwards step for Dhanush after Aadukalam. His charm is still unquestionable.

A friend told me, that Maapilai, still was a better watch than the two latest Malayalam entertainers - China Town & Doubles. For he didnt feel like cursing those behind this movie while watching.

Les Miserables - The Miserables

1998 by Bille August

Jean Valjean, a young man is arrested for stealing bread, and spends 20 years in a jail. While on Parole he promises to change to a new man, because of the kindness of a Bishop. 9 years later, he turns up as a wealthy industrialist and mayor of a small town. The new police officer to the town, Javert, had earlier worked in the jail and has doubts about the Mayor and has pledged to bring out the truth. Javert, though sincere, is too uptight and performs as a perfect employee for the system, without any kindness for even the suffering. Valjean promises to take care of the young daughter of a poor woman,who had worked in his factory. When an innocent man is arrested as Jean Valjean, mayor himself announces in the court that the man is innocent and the court should be checking on him. Valjean leaves the town with all his savings, finds the daughter of the dead woman, Cocette, and sneaks into Paris, where he works in a Convent and brings up his daughter. Javert is always on the look out of Valjean, who actually will not leave the convent at all and protects Cocette like his own daughter. In 10 years, when Cocette grows up into a beautiful young woman, she falls in love with a young revolutionary, Marius, whose group has big plans against the King. Javert is working to thwart their attempts, but still has plans to find out Valjean and through his informers finds all about Cocette and Valjean. Valjean wants to leave to England with Cocette, who actually is worried for Marius. Valjean goes to the riot site and asks Marius to return to Cocette, but is finally caught by Javert. Valjean pleads to Javert to arrest him and leave Marius. He promises to Javert to come back to him, after taking the injured Marius to safety. When Valjean returns, Javert is impressed by his honesty, lets him free and then kills himself. Valjean walks back as a happy man.

Based on the famous Victor Hugo novel, I am not really sure if the movie turned out great. Of course, I havent read the original novel. But I was sure that something was missing, when Javert commits suicide after letting Valjean free. That scene lacked any backing of the story or script. I was thinking, why should he do that. He is still a great police officer and by leaving him free, he finally show some kindness, can pretend nothing has happened, letting Valjean and daughter to escape to England etc. After all the mistake of Valjean is not a big crime, just stealing bread, and nobody other than him shows any interest in finding Valjean. But he kills himself. But then, this is the failure of the movie may be. Sure this must have been well explained in the novel.

Having said that, Les Miserables is still very good, excellent settings, photography and some beautiful acting, especially by Jeoffrey Rush as Javert and Liam Neeson as Valjean. Jeoffrey Rush is so good that we really start hating his character. Excellent performance. But Uma Thurman, as the mother of Cocette, was a poor choice.

However, I got really curious about this story and hence did some search and understand now, that there are many changes on the script from the original novel. Anyways, Les Miserables is a good watch. 

Zorba the Greek

1964 by Michael Cacoyannis

Basil is a half English - half Greek writer, an uptight English man, on his way to Crete. He meets Zorba, a typical peasant to whom he says he wants to take care of an unused mine in his father's land. Zorba is confident of doing anything that is possible with his hands and legs and has some experience with mines too. He joins Basil on his way to Crete. They are welcome by the villagers and they spend their night at a hotel owned by a French war widow Madame Hortense. With his charming and kind nature Zorba gets  into a relationship with her soon. They also come across another young war widow who seems to be the centre of attraction of the whole village and because of her reluctance to entertain any man, she is looked at with both desire and contempt at the same time. A young man is really after her, but she doesnt respond to him at all. They also start working on their mine. There are some obstacles, like the availability of good wood, which is actually available high up on the mountain and brining it down to the mine region is quite a job. Zorba seems to have some vague plans for this. Zorba push Basil to go for the young widow who seems to have a liking for him, but Basil is too uptight to make any such moves. Zorba has to go to the nearby town to buy some materials for their project. He enjoys his time during these days too. Madame Hortense is very sad so Basil nearly convinces her that Zorba will come back to her and marry her. When Zorba is back he is not happy about what Basil promised to Hortense. Basil, finally took some courage and went to the young widow in a night. The young man who was desperate for the widow kills himself knowing about this. The village is so angry with the young widow and inspite of the efforts of Zorba and Basil, kills her. Madame Hortense also gets really sick and she dies and the villagers steal all her belongings. Zorba's plans for moving the forest wood to the mine is ready but it doesnt stand. Luckily there is no mis haps but the villagers flee the mine site. Basil is so disappointed and Zorba teaches him how to make his special dance. Zorba has changed the uptight British man to live and enjoy life and take the failures in its stride.

This movie, based on a novel, I would say is all about life. Zorba is a beautiful character who believes life is there to enjoy and one should never take any hesitation in enjoying anything that come across. Zorba is charming, clever, kind, adorable, strong and has a great flair for dancing too. He is excellent in making friends with anybody, even more so with women who will instantly fall for his sweet and kind demeanor. Zorba tells Basil, if a woman sleeps alone, that is the mistake of the men around. Zorba is a great character and it is brilliantly played by Anthony Quinn. What a performance from this amazing character. His enthusiasm is so much that it can spill across the screen to us viewers. Brilliant. Young Alan Bates as Basil has well under performed his role, which actually even increases the contrast between these two characters.

From the moment Zorba meets Basil, until they go into a dance, they both take us through many beautiful moments in this film. Madame Hortense is also a very interesting character, living on the thoughts of her past partners.

I have heard a lot about Crete and have a friend who actually owns a house there. They are supposed to be great people. However in this movie the villagers are quite horrible. The way they treat the young widow and kills her, was horrible. And the whole story continues as if nothing happened was quite beyond my sensibilities . The same when madame Hortense is sick. The old woman sneaking in, waiting for her death, so that they can take her belongings, was beautifully shot, but that picturises the Cretans in a very bad way and I cannot understand that.

Watch this movie for a brilliant performance from Anthony Quinn. What a great actor. He is also a wonderful dancer. 

Don't Look Now

1973  by Nicolas Roeg

John and Laura loses their daughter Christine in a tragic accident. John is now working in Venice, trying to restore an old church, and Laura accompanies him. In a restaurant, they meet two elderly sisters, one of whom, Heather, is blind. Heather tells Laura that she could see a little girl sitting between them and the girl was very happy. From the descriptions, Laura realises that Heather is talking about Christine and this actually brings back her happiness. She talks about this to John who doesnt believe all this but is happy to see the good mood with Laura. Laura again meets Heather, who warns her that John's life is in danger in Venice. She also tells her that John is actually gifted with the kind of second vision, she has. John is really angry as Laura looks so silly believing all this. They receive a call that their son is sick and Laura leaves for England. Later, John sees Laura and the two sisters on a boat and thinks Laura is in danger. Occassionally there are dead bodies found in the city which means a serial killer is present somewhere. John goes to police and informs them about the sisters. He contacts his sons school and is then pleasantly surprised to talk to Laura on the phone, who is getting ready to fly back to Italy. Police had by then arrested the sisters but John goes back to Police, apologises and helps Heather, back to her hotel. As John leaves Heather goes into a trance. Laura, guided by Police, arrive into Heather's room. Heather asks her to stop John. John, for the last many days have found the presence of a person in a red coat some where around, and as he comes out of Heather's hotel, spots this person again and decides to follow. Together with John, we too relaise then that John had this second visions and all along he was being warned about his own future.

After watching this brilliant movie, my first thought was, should this movie be released now I, by Indian standards, would have thought this movie is ahead of time. The fact that this one came out in 1973, makes it a super brilliant movie. I am so curious how people reacted to this movie then.

It is not a real horror movie, nor is it a real thriller or a drama about the grief of the parents who lost their loving daughter. It is a unique mix of all this and even more. I feel terribly sorry that I dont have the talent or vocabulary or anything that will help me write all my thoughts about this movie. Such a pity. So let me just note down some of the most brilliant aspects of this film.

A feeling of grief, horror and suspense through out the movie, which is told in an incredibly good and consistent pace.

The description of the serial killings, like routine elements in the city life, and how the person with the red coat is shown at the end, is brilliant. A master stroke, no words to explain. See it to believe it.

Brilliantly scripted and directed. I must specifically say about one important point. John sees Laura, after she has gone to London, with the sisters, in a moving boat which creates a lot of doubts for both him and the viewers. Later at the climax we see the same shot again and realise that Laura is actually on the funeral boat, standing together with the sisters. Without any difficulties, so simple actually, we are told that John was looking at his own future through out. Brilliant and beautiful, I must say.

Cinematography for the mood - excellent. Hardly will we think about the camera ever, while watching. An excellent and unique portrayal of Venice.

May be the best edited movie I have ever seen. From the very beginning of the movie we know that this is excellent but by the end we realise that the Editor Graeme Clifford is a maestro in his art. He did something , the quality of which was decades ahead of his time. Brilliant, Brilliant and Brilliant. It is unbelievable that this kind of a master class perfection was attained in the 1970's. No student of editing will want to miss this movie.

Excellent performance by all actors, especially by Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland.

I have heard many people talking about Shining, with that brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson, whenever they talk about horror and thriller movies. I am surprised why Dont Look now is never mentioned at all. May be it could be because of that explicit love making scene, which was beautifully shot and edited. True, it is not real horror nor is it a real thriller, but this movie can be all. It carries a very special atomosphere, which is quite chilling, making you to watch it even without blinking your eye. This doesnt mean you expect a horror scene at each turn or anything. But its different. As I said, I dont have enough talent to write about this movie. You have to see it to beleive it.

One of the best cinematic experiences, one may have, thats what I would say. A classic of an intelligent movie. Watch it, please, if you haven't already.

Many of those Hollywood flicks, we would not have appreciated as much, if we had watched this movie first. I can see where many of those 'world box office conquering' suspenses and surprises were inspired from. 

Brestskaya krepost - Brest Fortress

2010 by Alexander Kott

The Fortress which was about 100 years old by second world war changed hands of ownership many times before it was rested by Soviets. 22 June, 1941, on the very first day of the German invasion of USSR, the fort came under attack as Brest fort housed many Soviet military units and their families. They knew war was around but it all started suddenly with huge aerial bombing by the Germans. The whole army are seperated into few small units and this make their task of fighting back even difficult. Still, all got together put in a great fight for about 9 days. They did not have any back up, electricity, food or even water, but they fought unto death.

The movie is told through a child, who was part of the military orchestra, who witnessed the whole war and grow into a war veteran visiting the memorial at Brest.

Some would say, the story is very similar to Pearl Harbour, which I thought was a very bad movie, only smokes and flames and people running around, I could not complete that movie in theatre. But, Bestskaya Krepost, is one of the very best war movies I have ever seen. Excellent depiction of everything the script come across. Brilliant scenes unfold one after another that as the British would say it is bloody brilliant.

Brilliant settings, cinematography which can be told poetic inspite of shooting war mostly, all supported by excellent production values, and some brilliant performances by some of the recognisable faces who keeps repeating on the script, all brilliantly directed. A negative is that, other than for the fact that the fort is being attacked and the people are fighting the enemy and getting killed, there is no further development on the story. It is all about the valiant efforts of the people inside the fort. Nothing else. But at the same time, that is exactly what makes this movie even special. It still keeps you engaged through out for the whole length, slightly long by European standards - 130+ minutes, is a great achievement. Brestskaya Krepost does not show any drama or love with just war as the back ground, it is just showing the struggle of the human beings, forced to be engaged actively, in war.

I am not even able to list a couple of brilliant scenes, as I think there are too many of them.

When I was lead to this movie, I read comments by many, especially fellow Americans and British that this movie is well taken but is Soviet propaganda. I thought it has little propaganda than most western war movies.  I find American propaganda, sometimes even in their romantic comedies, that they accuse soviet propaganda on this movie, was quite funny. 

A Simple Plan

1998 by Sam Raimi

Two brothers - Hank and Jacob - and Jacob's friend Lou accidentally come across a downed plane. To their shock they find a bag with 4 million dollars inside. On the insistence of Lou, Hank didnt want this at all, they decide to take the money and wait to see if somebody come for it. If not, they will divide it between the three. Hank is the only univeristy graduate in the locality and has a peaceful life with his Expecting wife Sarah. Jacob is not a normal person, kind of dim witted, and Lou lives with his wife. It all looks quite simple but then surprises unfolds and the three end up killing a villager to protect their secret. And to make things even worse, Hank and Jacob kills Lou and his wife too. Finally, the local police officer too is killed. By this time Jacob gets quite fed up of all the made up stories he has to live with, upon Hank's insistence, and feels he have had enough and wants to kill himself if Hank doesnt do that. Hank escapes the law, but he is told by the FBI officers that they are waiting for somebody to start spending some of the marked bills from the 4 million. This shatters him and he burns the whole money and continues with his normal life, but without any peace of mind.

A very interesting plot for a movie and it has been developed into a good watch. The way money can change human nature, characters and relations is well brought out. But still one wonders about the lack of common sense among the characters, not always but at least a couple of times, especially for Hank, his wife and Lou. Since Jacob is portrayed as special, he can escape this though. And that, I thought, was the only major negative for this nice portrayal of human characters going mad, lured by the prospects of easy money.

If I had not watched 'Bowling for Columbine' , I would have also wondered about how easy it is for Americans to use guns. But that is how it is in America and this movie, I think, also points to the dangers that are just around, just because everybody can have a gun. Human beings can act terribly in split seconds and the availability of a gun makes them bloody killers, un intended. The scene where Lou and his wife are killed is very well shot and points to this aspect.

The performances are quite good, but I especially liked Billy Bob Thornton as Jacob. Excellent performance.

It is the setting and the photography which takes this movie to a different level from a normal good Hollywood experience. So many beautiful frames with the Whites. Excellent.

A Simple Plan is a very good dramatic thriller from Hollywood, quite different from the normal ones.

Nokas

2010 by Erik Skjoldbjaerg

On 5 April 2004, 11 men robbed the Nokas (a Nowegian Cash counting centre in Stavenger). They dressed themselves up like SWAT team and were armed. 7 men went inside the building collecting the cash in their bags and the rest guarded outside. They had blocked the police station entry with a burning trek, only a few minutes away from Nokas, delaying the arrival of the police. A real shoot out occured in the public square between the robbers and police in which a police chief was killed. The robbers manage to escape with 57.4 million Kroners.

This robbery was the largest in the history of Norway and this movie captures the incident just like it occured. Brilliant. The movie starts at 0310 hrs when the robbers are getting ready for the operation and ends at around 0830 hours when they manage to escape. In between it looks at the state of three groups of people, the robbers, the police and the bank staff. The robbers planning, nervousness and anticipation of the job is so nicely shot. The  situation with the police, who are short of staff and who really get caught because of the burning trek at their gate is even more well shot. Then there are the staff who manages to inform the police and sneak their way out of the bank.

I especially liked how the movie begins and carries forward until the shoot out. The robbers expected to break the glass wall on the back side of the bank with a sledge hammer and they thought the whole job will be done in 8 minutes. But the glass wall is so strong that it took more than 8 minutes just trying to break this wall. The scenes here itself take this movie to another level. Brilliant. However, this gives enough time for the staff to lock one of the locker rooms and escape. The disappointment of the robbers, unable to open a cash room, but just looking at the stacked cash across iron bars, was simply brilliant. So was the hapless situation of the police who were blocked by the clever idea to place a burning trek at their gate. But the final shoot out, I thought was rather unclear. Sure, the script is based on the real incidents and words from all those who were involved, but still I thought this was a very slight draw back. But may be that was how it worked on that day. Nobody seemed to know to whom or where they were shooting. And it is a miracle that only one got killed in this shoot out in a public place, where buses and public move between the robbers and police, amidst firing.

And almost all over the world the Police is not really equipped to meet a surprise situation.

All points to the script and director to make us feel for all three groups of people involved. That is excellent.

I really wonder how they managed to catch these robbers, later.

Nokas is a very different and excellent watch. 

Jusan nin no Shikaku - 13 Assassins

2010 by Takashi Miike

Year 1844. The Samurai era is coming to an end. The Shogun's younger brother Lord Naritsugu is an out of this world sadist who rapes and kills just for pleasure. A government official commits suicide in protest on the news of his latest drama and an influential Govt. official, Sir Doi feels it is time to act. He asks a former Samurai officer Shinzaemon to assassinate Lord Naritsugu for the social cause. Shinzaemon makes a team of excellent samurais which itself is not an easy procedure and finally settles for a team of 12 inlcuding himself. They decide to attack Naritsugu and his entourage enroute his journey to home land. A chief Samurai officer, who had earlier worked under Shinzaemon has doubts about the conspiracy and he strengthens the security for the Lord. Shinzaemon and his team is joined by another man in the forest who makes the total of 13. Naritsugu and his entourage is cleverly trapped in a village and in the following battle almost everybody is killed, inlcuding 12 samurais.

For people like me, who watch a Japaneese movie occassionally, initially it felt like this is another Seven Samurais , but actually this movie is a remake of a 60's movie, which was inspired by the Seven Samurais. I havent seen the 60's version, but this is a very good movie.

The movie starts with a low pace, detailing some of the cruelties of Naritsugu. The scene where a woman whose limbs and toungue were cut off by the Lord, is presented to motivate Shinzaemon to accept the job was brilliant and touching. Finally here is a villain in all sense of that word, if given a chance even the audience would jump up and kill. From there on the script and director really make us crave for a win for the Samurais and keep us anticipating till the battle scene. The final battle is excellent, if not brilliant, except for a couple of shots where the CG, may be the only time it was done for the whole battle, looked quite mediocre. Having said that this is one of the best battle scenes we have seen, beautifully captured. Other than the martial art powers of the Samurais we would also appreciate their intelligence.

The movie is beautifully shot and I have to specify the quality of the sound recording in this one. Brilliant.

All the actors did very well but a few did stand out. First of all the actor who played Lord Naritsagu. Then the chief Samurai officer to the Lord.  Quite a different role here as he himselves is convinced abou the cruelty of Nartisugu but as a true Samurai he has to protect his Lord though and would give his life for a man who is not worth living.

There is a Ronin in the group of 13 Samurais who is shown as a master of sword work and who is capable of killing a very very large number of people. In the final battle, there is one particular scene where he is beautifully picturised as doing what is expected of him. May be scenes or shots were edited out as I thought this character was not really used. His role in the battle was a kind of diminished one.

This is a work from a director who was famous for his horror kind of movies, but I am sure he must have impressed a lot of critics with this classic entertainer.  

Tom Yum Goong

2005 by Prachya Pinkaew

Kham belongs to a warrior clan who used to protect the Kings elephants during war. His father now has an elephant Por Yai and its calf Khorn. Kham treats these elephants like family. These elephants are stolen during a festival and smuggled to Australia. Kham arrives in Sydney in search of them and has to find the elephants. He finds some help from a Thai origin police officer. His enemies are from a huge mafia, led by a Eunuch with some deadly, massive body guards.

Just like the Jackie chan movies of 80's, its not about the story here, its all about martial art, Muay Thai. This young man, Tony Jaa, is a genius, brave, powerful and what not. Brilliant is not a word to describe some of the fights in this movie. We know for sure that there is no computer graphics, or wires or dupes used in Tony Jaa's fights. In fact he has even co choreographed the fights. Forget about the weak story or the script or the characters or the loop holes or the director. This is all about fights.

There is one particular fight scene, which is shot in a single shot. I think it must be about 4-5 minutes, where Jaa walks up a many storeyed building and fights with many people. This is taken in a single shot and I dont remember seeing any thing like that in my whole experience with movies. How to think about the possibility, plan it, choreograph it and execute it and it has come out perfect, I will salute Jaa and his team for this scene alone. I remember the Russian movie where the whole movie was taken in a single shot, which I thought was superb choreography. But to have a whole scene of fight sequence where one man takes on so many (destroying many props) others in a single shot is 100 times more difficult than what we see in Russian Ark, with all respects to the makers of Russian Ark. I could not resist looking up in the net, and I found this - According to the director, on the special edition DVD, the continuous fight scene took five full takes for a variety of reasons, including stunt objects not breaking and the stunt mat not being in place in time. The five takes were filmed over a one-month period.


Again, there were few more other fights which were brilliant, especially one in a budhist temple. I must admit this was may be the best one on one fights I have ever seen in any movies. 


I have to also say a word about the co fighters in this movie. Tony Jaa's action look so fast and precise and powerful that I cannot imagine how the co fighters could bear it. Sure, many must have felt the heat and pain during the shoots.


Watch Tom Yum Goong, if you are really interested in action, un adulterered action.

Apart from the action scenes, there are also some beautiful shots of Kham with the elephants. Very nicely shot.

I salute Tony Jaa. I can imagine the kind of hard work he has put behind this role. Brilliant.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria

1969 by Stanley Kramer

Its second world war time. Mussolini is just been deposed and Germans are occupying most of Italy. Santa Vittoria is a small village/town where Wine is the back bone of the society. Bombolini is considered a drunken clown, as he is always drunk and his wife Rosa treats him like a worker or dog. She has utter contempt for the man who is just drunk all the time, a useless husband and father. Bombolini climbs up the huge water tank to earse the words praising Mussolini, but he is too drunk that he is just weak to do anything. Villagers think he is going to kill himself and Fabio, the only university student in the village, climbs up the tank to bring him down. Villagers chant the name of Bombolini, just to motivate him, while he is climbing down the tank. The fascist members of the council, who are in the town hall, afraid to go out, hear these chants and thinks the villagers have selected Bombolini as the next mayor. To save themselves from the mob (fascists have treated the peasants really bad during Mussolini's reign) they come out of the hall and announces Bombolini will be the new Mayor. Bombolini is shocked, but accepts this chance without a second thought. He reads Machiavilli's Prince and earms some weird idea about administration and manipulation. To appease the villagers, he select the most prominent people in the village as his council of ministers. He hope all this will find him some credit in his home, but Rosa is a strong woman and treats him even harder than earlier.

Fabio brings in the news that Germans will come to Santo Vittario to take their wine. The village is shocked. Tufa, a fascist soldier, who left the army, advise Bombolini to keep all the wine in the tunnels in the ancient Roman cave and cover up the tunnels. More than a million bottle of wine are transfered by hand, by the Santa Vittorians, to the tunnels in the Roman cave and are covered with double brick walls. They leave about 300000 bottles in the cooperative cellar, to deceive the Germans. They now wait for the Germans and a small team of Germans led by Captain Von Prum arrives in Santa Vittoria. Bombolini have decided to butter the German noses so that no harm is done to any villagers. When Von prum asks for the wine, Bombolini negotiates with him desperately for some percentage of the wine, in the cooperative cellar, to be left for the villagers, if not that would be a disaster for the village. Von Prum beleives him. However, from the records of the company, who used to buy the wine from Santa Vittoria, German special services understand that there were more than a million bottles of wine in Santa Vittoria and the villagers are cheating. Von Prum asks for 36 hours, before the special services can torture some villagers to find out the truth about the wine. His troups search the whole village but they cannot find the wine. At the end of 36 hours, Bombolini, intelligently, presents two ex fascists as the villagers to the special services to torture. Finally the special services are sure that there is no more wine in the village and agrees with the Captain that its time to leave the village. Von Prum, by now, is sure that Bombolini is cheating him and as a last ditch effort, announces Tufa would be shot at 06 am, the day when the Germans have to leave the village, if the secret is not revealed. In the morning, he points a gun at Tufa and screams for the whereabouts of the wine, but Tufa, Bombolini and the whole village keep on saying there is no wine. Von prum sets Tufa free and just before he leaves, pleads to Bombolini to reveal the secret, only the secret he doesnt need the wine, but to no avail. Bombolini then presents a bottle of wine to Von Prum and as the Germans leave he dances out his joy with the whole village. Even Rosa appreciates him now and joins him.

What a beautiful movie. Here is a movie where within few minutes we know that we are watching a great movie and as time pass our appreciation for the movie only grows. Brilliant scenes follow one after another that by the end, we would like to join the dancing Santa Vittorians. The scene where Fabio saves Bombolini is well taken and I thought excellent. But the scenes that follow are even more excellent. This movie can be treated as a comedy or even an adventure, it offers everything. Most scenes inlcuding Bombolini, and he is there in almost all the scenes, are so funny but towards the end when Bombolini acts more like a responsible Mayor the movie is kind of a thriller and there is enough drama too through the characters of Tufa, Catarina and Von Prum. The love between Tufa and Catarina and the forceful intrusion by Von Prum is an excellent sub plot which makes the final scenes more dramatic in this comic thriller. This sub plot is still not permitted to take away the attention from the major plot. Excellent script and direction I must say. The scene and dialogues between Bombolini and his daughter and with Rosa and the daughter are brilliantly hilarious. No words to describe. So is the final scene with Bombolini and the captain.
Bombolini presents the wine bottle to the captain and says 'its not a great wine, but its not bad'.
The captain replies 'are you sure you can spare it?' and
Bombolini 'oh theres one million more where this came from'.

It has to be seen to realise the magnificence of the expressions on the face of Bombolini and Van Prom at this stage.

This movie is all about the character of Bombolini, more than brilliantly played by Anthony Quinn. Bombolini is present in all most all the scenes of this movie and he grows as a character scene by scene and Quinn seems to instill more and more life and blood into it as he grows. He keeps on surprising us with his performance that  by the end I was wondering, if there is anything that is impossible for this man to perform. Here is a magician of an actor. If I must list, I will have to list almost all the scenes where he is brilliant, but some of them were hypnotic. The scene when he reacts to the announcement that he is the Mayor, when he listens to his daughter, who proclaims her love for Fabio and his looks at her breasts, when he pleads to Rosa to not beat him on his head, when he announces the council of ministers, when Tauf tells him how to hide the wine, his welcome of Germans, his reaction and bargaining when the captain ask for wine, when he pleads his idea to torture only the two fascists and his reactions when they are tortured and so on and finally the scenes at the square. I would rate this performance from Anthony Quinn as one of the very best performances by any actor I have ever seen.

But it is not completely a one man show. Anna Magnani as Rosa Bombolini is brilliant. She has taken Rosa to a different diamension I think, with the few scenes she got. The other major players like Van Prom, Catarina, Tauf, Fabio and Bombolini's daughter all are excellent.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria was an American production, but it is more like an Italian movie, except for the language of English. All these Italian characters speaking in English was the only serious draw back for me. They do talk with Italian accents and with perfect Italian mannerisms, but that was a sour point. I would really love to see this in Italian.

It is surprising that this movie is highly under rated. The Secret of Santa Vittoria would be an all time favourite for me.

Pedar - the father

1996 by Majid Majidi

Mehrollah's, a teenager, father gets killed while teaching him to ride a motor bike. To support his poor family, mother and 3 young sisters, Mehrollah goes to the nearby town to work. After long time, he is back to his village, with a bundle full of gifts for his mother and sisters. On arrival in his village, he is told by his friend Latif, that his mother had married a police man. Mehrollah is really affected by the news. He goes to the policeman's home, throws away his gift bundle and returns. Later he confronts his mother for the reason for this marriage. The mother confirms that there was no other way than to marry this gentle man, who also spend a lot of money when his sister got ill. Mehrollah however cannot accept the truth and he wants to teach the police man a lesson. When Mehrollah gets injured, the policeman takes him to his own home where the mother takes care of him. Back to normal health, Mehrollah steals the policeman's service revolver and elopes. His step father is mad and sets out in search of Mehrollah. He spots Mehrollah in the town, arrests him and proceeds back to the village, on his bike. Enroute, the bike doesnt work and they have to walk through the desert, a tedious journey which brings them closer.

I am not sure if any other country in the world makes so many simple, but beautiful, movies like Iran. Here is yet another simple story from Iran, told nicely.

Mehrollah's anger and madness at his step father and his love for his sisters are all so nicely told, but I am afraid it doesnt clarify the reason why he is so mad at the police man, inspite of being told that he is a nice man and he spend a lot of money for the treatment of his sister. The step father is also ready to accept Mehrollah as a son and even welcomes him to his home, but Mehrollah is really mad at this man. Is it because, he is not happy that his mother remarried without checking with him, or is it that he lost his place as the bread earner for his mother and sisters or is it simple jealousy, am afraid it is not clear.

There are more than a few very touching and funny scenes in this movie. Mehrollah's attempt to kidnap his sisters, his reunion with his sisters, his fight with his mother are all so well shot. So is his attempt to escape from his step father while they are on the bike. And their journey afterwards through the desert, till the end, is definitely brilliant. The way their feelings come out for each other, amidst games played by nature, I would say, is definitely the highlight of this movie. Mehrollah, in the beginning of the movie, had lost a photograph of him with his father in the stream. In the climax, just after he had pulled his step father to a stream, a family photo (his mother and sisters with the step father) falls out from the father and flows across to Mehrollah. This was quite poetic way of saying Mehrollah was accepting his new family.

Mehrollah is definitely the majore player here, but I was more impressed by the performance of the step father and the boy Latif. Latif acts like a stupid, hard working and suffering, boy who is like the mediator between Mehrollah and his mother and his innocence and naivity was quite nice to watch. The child actor did so well and they way he cried, when he is caught and put back in a bus by the polce man , was brilliant. So was his betrayal of Mehrollah during the kidnapping scene. Mohammed Kasebi as the policeman was also really good. The mother also had to do some really nice subtle expressions.

The movie also has some good bits of music and a simple, but excellent, cinematography.

This is still not as great as Children of Heaven or Song of Sparrows, but I liked Pedar very much. 

Bal - Honey

2010 by Semi Kaplanoglu

A young boy, Yousuf, is a stutter and is very very quite. He is open only towards his father, who keeps bees and sells honey for living. Father, hence, spend most of his time in the nearby forests. Yousuf is not even close to his mother. Even in school he is not smart enough to get any recognitions. One day, his father who had left for the forest, doesn't come back. Yousuf is really depressed by the absence of  his father. His mother is also getting really disturbed. Yousuf knows his father's route almost and goes to the forest by himself, in search of his father. He realises that his father is dead.

A story of daily livelihood from a child's perspective. And it is told as if a camera is following the child and his family that it is so realistic that it is so slow. To add more, there are not any kind of emotions or expressions in this working class 'nuclear family'. The result, Bal turns out as a great attempt, but it is a tedious watch. I think it is a good movie, but it is difficult to complete it without ever feeling asleep, especially if you are watching it in the late hours, like me.

The charm of the boy, Yousuf and the charm of the beautiful locales are the big pluses for this movie. But the movie concentrates really on the simple living of a child and his father, in an unbelievable sense of realism, that it gets too slow, painfully slow. Except for the death of the father, there is absolutely no drama at all, happening in this family, which makes this movie, a strange experience.

I cannot think about any other movie, I ever saw, being so calm for its whole length.

Absolutely calm and quite movie. A unique effort, though.  

Ong Bak

2003 by Prachya Pinkaew , second watch because of a dvd confusion

An ancient Budha statue, the priced possession of a village, is stolen. Villagers desperately want to find it and Ting, the best martial artist in the village, volunteers for the job. Ting is excellent in Muay Thai, a traditional martial art but vows to his teacher never to use it for personal gains. He goes to Bangkok and has to engage in a one man fight with the underworld to bring back Ong Bak to his village.

A simple story, but is an excellent watch, especially if one is interested by martial arts. Tony Jaa, the new star, trained Muay Boran, the ancient form of Muay Thai for 4 years, in preparing for the shoot. The results are there to be seen. All his fights are brilliant and so are his acrobatics. We see him doing something and we think oh thats brilliant, and then he does something even more dangerous and beautiful in the next scene. Brilliant.

Another highlight of the movie is its Cinematography. It is so good that often we would not notice the camera at all. Excellent work. 

Urumi

2011 by Santhosh Sivan

Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India and arrived in North Kerala in 1498. When he came back in 1502 he had more plans than trade. He massacres the pilgrims aboard a ship coming back from Mecca. Kothuvaal, a local hero fights him but is killed too. Kelu, the young boy of Kothuvaal saves his life and meets Vavvali and are bought up as brothers by his mother. Kelu makes a Urumi (a two edged, long flexible sword, a traditional weapon in South Indian martial art) plated with the gold that he collected from the dead bodies of the pilgrims. He awaits the coming back of Gama to take his revenge. Gama is coming back to Kerala after 22 years. Kelu and Vavvali saves Bala, the princess of Chirackal palace (a prominent local chieftain). Chirackal king is against the invading Europeans, plundering the wealth of his native land, but his minister and son, and so do many other chieftains, supports Gama. King ask Kelu to save the life of a prince from the Arackal palace, who will be hanged by Gama. During this mission, Kelu meets Ayesha, the princess of Arakkal who is also ready to fight Gama. The three make a daring team, weaving their plans amidst the local politics between chieftains, and fight Gama and his son. In the final battle, Kelu gets really close to killing Gama, seriourly injuring him, but is shot down right before. (Some of my friends think Gama is killed at the end, while I thought Kelu was shot even before he could make that final blow)

That makes an excellent story, a mix of reality and fantasy, for an excellent period movie. But Mr. Sivan thought differently and the movie is told from the present. Two friends, in need of money, have to sell their ancestral forest land to a multi national mining company, just for making huge profits. But a school for the tribals in the region run by an NGO and the tribals themselves oppose this project as that will harm their lives as well as the ecology. Some tribal activists kidnaps the friends and explain them the story behind the region. That is how the main story, ie the revenge of Kelu - a boy who wanted to kill Vasco da Gama, of the movie unfolds. Realising the need to preserve the nature and its aboriginals and how hard the ancestors had fought for the same, the young friends decides against selling their land.

Both these could have been two different movies. Mr. Sivan, I think , wanted to pass this all important message to the Indian affluents, who are turning more western than the west, forgetting our own past, heritage, our natural wealths, causing lot of harm for the aboriginals of India and our nature in the name of development. The message is quite clear and I hope many might take a note of the same. But for me, Urumi as a period movie would have been better without this story of the present. For sure, it would have reduced its length.

Having said that, I must confess that Mr. Sivan has joined both these stories in a nice way, two ways actually

- He have used the same faces in both the past and the present, giving freedom to the viewer to interpret these modern guys as reincarnations of the historical characters.
- He have also completed the unfinished love story between Kelu and Ayesha, in the present. This too is open to interpretation especially because the modern character of Ayesha is described as somebody with mental problems. It is impossible for a modern young guy to love her. But the final scene where the modern day Ayesha unfurls the Urumi, the same one used by Kelu in the 16th C, there is a spark in her eyes which could be interpreted as if .....

The main story, I would say, is brilliant in some scenes, very good in many scenes and mediocre in a few scenes. Some of the scenes with Chirakkal King, his minister, Kelu and Vavvali, some between Kelu and Ayesha and some between Vavvali and Bala are all excellent not just in the way they are shot but also because of the strength and beauty of the dialogues. Especially in the first half of the movie, the script has taken every care to ensure the scenes are sleek and to the point and are well shot too. But in the second half, may be this extra vigil is not always there and it felt like movie would do better with some editing. Even the dialogues tend to be ordinary. The settings and the ambience are all excellent. However the excellence is marred by some completely unwanted songs. No doubt, the songs are picturised beautifully, but they do break the pace of the movie and felt like intrusions in story telling. Except for the very first song and a small interlude when Vavvali dances his heart out, I thought Urumi would have been a more sleek period film without the songs. And finally the final war itself, as always in Indian cinema, is mediocre.

Tahaan was the last Santhosh Sivan movie I saw and hence my expectations were very high, may be. He of course have done a great job. Some song sequences, the first fight scene were Kelu and Vavvali saves Bala, the fight between Vavvali and Gama's son are all brilliant, I would say. Even during the final war, there are shots which are quite poetic. But Mr. Sivan, I am afraid, could not be consistent with this brilliance through out the movie, both as the director and the cinematographer. The song sequence between Kelu and Ayesha and some shots during the final war were all poetic camera work, may I say. But there are also scenes, were I doubted, if these are from Santosh Sivan at all, some indoor scenes to be more precise. There are more than a few shots where the white's are overtly over exposed. I dont know if this movie was shot on film. The theatre I watched, which was using Satellite projection, may be, was having some problems, may be.

There are also few other things that I would like to point out. The script make sure that there are no unwanted references to any religions in Kerala, which was a highlight of Keralan society in the medieval centuries. Caste played a big role, but not the religion. It is after decades that Indian cinema shows a hindu in love with a muslim girl and a muslim in love with a hindu girl, without any mention about their religious differences at all. It also depicts incidents of Hindu rulers raping Muslim women and young girls. For all, this I have to congratulate Mr. Sivan and Mr. Shankar Ramakrishnan. But still, Ayesha who was portrayed like a lioness, ends up like nothing in the movie. A kind of incompleteness was felt with her character there.  I also like to point out something, the use of the singing couple - Pulluvan paattu - in front of the Chirackal palace, as an excellent idea, well executed, to bring out that old world feeling.

The movie would do great for Jagathy Sreekumar (the minister), Prabhu Deva (Vavvali), Genelia (Ayesha), Prathviraj (Kelu) and Nithya Menon (Bala). Jagathy after long has got a role of substance and he was brilliant, the best actor from the whole movie. Prabhu Deva, I doubt, if he will ever get a role of same stature, but he has taken this opportunity with atmost sincerity and excelled as Vavvali. The only small song, which I thought fit into the mood of the movie, which falls in the second half, he dances his heart out and that scene is beautiful. I thought, it was quite appropriate that, only Vavvali dances (his character is of Tamil origin) and the Keralites (who dont believe in such expressions of joy, like dancing) sitting around just watching. Genelia has got a very different role and she has tried her best to excell and is really good. I would still say she is best fit for her roles like in Sachin or Bommarallu (Santhosh Subramaniam). There is a scene in which Kelu is trying to motivate the peasants to join him in the war. Ayesha is seen sitting in the background. Her posture, for a princess from the most prominent Muslim rulers of Kerala, was quite strange and even modern. This is not her fault, but that shot stood out as something un appropriate. Nithya surprised me as the Chirackal princess. Here is a role in which she doesnt have much to do but she has excelled in it. Her subtle expressions of anger and seduction were excellent. I really hope she will look into more serious roles in the future. And finally Prithviraj as Kelu is the major star attraction. There is no question about his charm and the effort he has taken for this role. His dialogue delivery, especially in the first half, was really good. But I really felt, he might have wasted an opportunity in taking this character to another level, like what Mammooty did with Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha. And it would be a sin to not mention about two small characters. Arya as Kelus father and the actor who played Chirackal king, who also were excellent.

I also have to say that the background score was excellent for most parts. The particular bit played for scenes between Vavvali and Bala, was brilliant.

Whatever, I was very happy to see Urumi. I would consider it as the best period movie in Malayalam, after Vaishaali, Perumthachan, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Parinayam, inspite of all its short comings. May be it would have been great if it was scripted by M. T. Vasudevannair, who scripted all those movies of the 80's.

I thank Santhosh Sivan and his team, for making a good movie in Malayalam.

When I saw the stills before the movie, I thought - ah.. three gorgeous women (Tabu, Vidya Balan and Nithya) and Genelia here. But it just turned out for Nithya and Genelia only. Tabu and Vidya doing only some cameos. 

Le Corniaud - The sucker

1965 by Gerard Oury

Antoine Marechal wants to take a holiday in Italy to escape the cold weather in Paris. Within a few minutes, his car is hit by another car, damaging it completely. Saroyan, as a compensation, offers him a chance to drive a Cadillac from Naples to Bordeaux, all expenses paid, which would make a wonderful trip. Antoine cannot even beleive his luck and sets out to Italy. He is unaware that Saroyan has been looking hard to find a naive and innocent looking man to smuggle something from Italy to France. The Cadillac is actually carrying Heroine, Gold, some pearls and a very famous diamond. All these are placed secretly in different parts of the car that all they wanted was an innocent man who could drive it through the customs on Italy/French border. Saroyan's plan is to follow Antoine through out to ensure the safety of the car. Well there are somebody else too, who has some idea of these plans, who would follow both these cars. This is a crazy journey of the sweet and naive guy Antoine, in a Cadillac, from Naples to Bordeaux. He is followed by Saroyan, with two idiotic assists, and another group of criminals. The whole journey ends in the small French town Carcassone.

Classic 'Fun on the road' movie. Two criminal groups following an innocent man itself makes a great plot for a comedy. The facts like the innocent is not aware about the real value of the car and that he is followed by the same guy who offered this free trip and the innocent is losing the valuable parts one by one enroute, adds to the plot. The scene, in which Antoine uses the Cadillac's phone to call Saroyan, just to enjoy that facility and to say how much he is enjoying his trip, when Saroyan picks up the call from another car just 2 meters away, alone conveys the comic plot. The movie is full of such scenes and most of them are hilarious, especially the ones in the hotel in Rome and the camp site. The bonus is definitely the naivety of Antoine. What an excellent character. Though we laugh out loud we still feel sorry for the guy. But towards the end when he realises that he is being fooled, he turns street smart and that is quite nice.

 Louis De Funes as Saroyan is excellent and is at his usual best, but Bourvil as Antoine is the show stealer. His face is so kind and innocent and he fits perfectly for the role and with his master performance makes it a brilliant show. Bourvil is so sweet and kind and I doubt if he plays any nasty characters, would it be so convincing. I am sure he will make it great too, but this man was really special. I especially likes his naive moments like when he offers more money to the work shop man, who stole the gold in the car, and his romantic overtures with the two women he meets in this journey are really really brilliant. That is classic French I must say, a lesson in wooing and being nice and sweet to woman.

I feel sorry that both these men have left this world. How would they have felt to know that their performances are still being watched and appreciated by people from a different century. 

Russkij Kovcheg - Russian Ark

2002 by Alexander Sokurov

The narrator, a ghost, is wandering through the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He is able to talk to another 'European', who too is wandering around. They stroll through the different rooms and areas in the Palace, each region depicting different ages in Russian history, not in any chronological order. They are able to recognise some persons and interact with at some point, but often people do not notice them at all.

I did not really enjoy watching this movie for few reasons, its pace and my lack of knowledge in Russian history.

However, I would strongly say this is a unique idea for a movie. Here is a ghost, who can be the director himself with his camera man, being escorted by another ghost, who seems to have been to this region when he was alive, wandering through a great palace, describing the various artefacts and people they see enroute. They witness few scenes, which are actually recreated from the true history of Russia. I really enoyed some music during this stroll, and also the grand costumes of the people who came through from various eras. And finally there is a magnificient ball scene. There is a kind of grandness in many scenes, but finally without any knowledge of the history, I just couldnt enjoy it.

But I understand that the whole movie was taken on a single shot, yes a single shot, and I can only say, unbeleivable. That requires a great camera man and his lighting team, an out of the world choreographer and group of artists inlcuding actors, musicians and costume designers and finally a brilliant director. Even if I didnt understand the happenings, I do understand the idea behind, especially the effort required and I can only say , brilliant.

I salute the director, Sokurov and the whole team for this great effort. 

La Grande Vadrouille - The Great Stroll

1966 by Gerard Oury

In the Germany occupied Paris, in 1941, a British plane is shot down. The 3 crew members parachutes down to the city of Paris. Before jumping, they agree to meet at the Trukish Bath. All three of them land at different places and are helped by the local person they meet. Augustin a local painter and Lefort a rich and mean Operah conductor both receive one of the crew and helps them to meet their captain at the Bath. Now they have to help them further to find a way to the unoccupied south of France. There is a German Major and his team who has to find the three crew members who are after them. Movie proceeds through their dangerously interesting and funny journey to the South.

Lefort is played by Louis de Funes and Augustin by Bourvil and they make a great pair. Lefort is a mean rich upper class guy and Bourvil a kind and nice guy from the working class. Lefort has no way but to work together with this working class guy to escape the horrible job he is in, because of bad luck. Both are simply brilliant. The very fist scene of De Funes, when he is conducting a rehearsal in his opera speaks volumes about this amazing actor. He definitely is from a different world.

L G Vadrouille is very different from most classic comedies. There is a serious plot but the treatment and the characters make it a brilliantly funny movie. Till this movie, only ultra serious movies were produced in France with WWII as a theme. And Oury did make a huge jump to another stage with this one, I am sure, surprising the viewers. What better way to funnily look at some happenings during one of the most horrible periods in their history, than to create two contrasting characters like Lefort and Augustine and let them free. And it looks like giving freedom to De Funes is like warning yourself about the laugh riot that you have to follow. This is only my third movie of De Funes. But I am already finding it difficult to find words to praise this actor.

There are soooooo many beautiful and funny moments in this excellent comedy. Like some of the great Malayalam comedies of the 80's, I am sure, I will not be bored of repeatedly watching it.

There is one road scene, on the hills, where German army bikes chase a trek which carries De Funes and others. Brilliant, may I say. I wonder how they managed it in those days. 

Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob

1973 by Gerard Oouri

Mr. Pivert, a racist, rich and mean industrialist, who is deserted after a car accident, witnesses some men trying to kill a rebel Arab leader, Slimane. Pivert really causes some trouble there and is being chased by the Arab killers. Slimane too joins him and soon takes Pivert as a hostage trying to escape. The Police too wants Pivert as they think he might have killed somebody during the hiccup with the killers. Slimane leads Pivert to the airport. Pivert's wife suspects he is trying to run away with another woman, because he is not in home as expected, also makes her way to airport to stop him, inspite of this being the wedding day of their daughter. A popular Rabbi, Jacob is coming back to France from USA, after 30 years. To evade the killers and the police, Slimane disguises himself and Pivert as the Rabbi and assistant and is soon welcomed by the Jewish family and taken to their locality where Pivert has to act as Rabbi Jacob and Slimane his assistant.

All ingredients for a classic comedy and a classic comedy it is. The movie losses its pace, slightly, towards the end though. But still this is a classic comedy. Mixed identities, mis understandings, innocent man being chased and brilliant match up of plot with slap stick, but what makes this comedy to stand out is the performance of Louis de Funes.  What an actor. His timing, his expressions and his elegance are a level above most of the best comedians I have been acuqainted with so far. I even feel sorry that this actor is not known at all in my country. I wish my fellow country men, especially the young, who are blindly mad after Hollywood, watch Louis de Funes and realise the benchmark for classic comedy may not have been set by the Hollywood.

When I saw Fawlty Towers, I was introduced into Classic British humour and ever since I always thought about John Cleese, playing Basil, as a master of elegant comedy. Louis de Funes could be his French counterpart.

Even after more than 3 decades, L A de Rabbi Jacob can embarass the best of the modern comedies. 

August 15

2011 by Shaji Kailas

The Chief Minister of Kerala had a heart attack and is slowly getting back to normalcy. A pathologist in the hospital finds that the heart attack was not normal, but it was caused by some foreign body - a poison. The news shocks the Police and decides to ask a reputed senior officer, Perumal to investigate. Perumal wants this to be a top secret only known to few top police officers. Perumal starts his investigation and feels that the killer is still around and there is real threat to the life of CM. The killer, an international professional, is paid for by few friends who leads different Mafia's of the state, who are having a real bad time because of the interference caused by the hard core Communist CM. They would not mind even any other Communusit, but not this CM. Since the first attempt is a failure, the killer is ready to give back his advance and leave but the Mafia wants him to continue and he makes new plans. Perumal continues his investigation and how he finally saves the CM from the second attempt completes this movie.

This supposed to be Thriller, the second part of August 1, there is a script which lacks any intensity or cohesion, but have more than enough loop holes, is very badly directed by the Political thriller specialist Shaji Kailas. If only the serious scenes were kept and the rest ignored, the movie would have been more better with a duration of only around 60 or 70 minutes. Some of the scenes are absolutely lacking any common sense or logic, not to mention some of the characters.
I simply dont understand why there is always, in Malayalam movies, some absolutely stupid and comic figure amongst a Superior Police officer. The scenes of confidential meetings by investigation officers done in the presence of Doctors are a real shame. And even the group of villains, who can even plan to commit to a professional killer to assassinate a chief minister, can they consist of such foolish and loose talking guys. Would any such villains offer huge sum to a killer, even without knowing his name at least. And will there be any professional killer who will go back and give his advance money, just because the first attempt failed between the cup and the lips. There will be many more questions, while we watch the movie. Finally, it was quite unnecessary to take the scene from 'Inglorious Bastards'.

On the plus side, there isnt any heroine, so there is no love angle anywhere and luckily no songs too. Also only one fight scene. Mammootty, as Perumal, keeps his charm but his character who seem to keep his sun glasses for all the scenes, is quite strange for a Keralan officer. Mammootty seems to have changed his walking style a little bit, but overall he doesnt have anything great to do. He is quite glamorous, even at above 55 years, but his lower body is getting weak and that shows. Whatever, his charm is there and his is a great presence.

Only Nedumudi Venu as the CM and SaiKumar as the Communist party secretary, has something to act and they have been very good.

The makers of this movie definitely wanted to give a different kind of thriller, but falls far short of it.

L'aile ou la cuisse - The wing and the thigh

1976 by Calude Zidi

Duchemin runs a universally acclaimed guide book on French cuisine. The ratings he gives for the restaurants are so crucial that it can even make or break a business. He has a son, who is more interested by playing a clown in a circus troupe, run by his friends. Duchemin runs exclusive inspections before he rates any restaurant and he considers himself a saviour of the grandeur of French classic food. Restaurateurs are quite scared about this unexpected inspections by his team. Duchemin is informed about a plan by Tri-Cartel, a fast food chain, to buy all restaurants in a French town. Jacques Tri Cartel in fact would like to buy only those restaurants which are highly rated by Duchemin's guide book that, he even tries to steal the proof of the unpublished guide book. Duchemin then plans to challenge Tri Cartel through a very popular television show and succeeds, not easy though.

This is a classic French satire+slap stick of the 70's. Just that it is an excellent comedy even now in 2011. Satire in a way how the French has always looked down at the American Fast food system, which with its junk food is going places all around the world, offering unhealthy and tasteless food for cheap prices that too as 'take away'. French are always proud about their Food and they ought to be. Fast food chains have invaded France as well and the young and the poor line up for them. I am sure this movie had an intention in this line, especially since it was released in the 70's. Even now this is a valid point and traditional food is always healthy and tasty than the fast food junky. A classic satire for sure, for both children and adults.

Many restaurant inspections of Duchemin brings out the slap stick humour, which are brilliant. Most of these scenes, (to point out one - the check-in scene of Duchamin, his son and the secretary), offer excellent laugh.

Louis de Funes who plays Duchemin definitely steals the show. What a performance. Simply brilliant. I am going to look for more movies from this brilliant actor. Even when he tries out slap stick, he is elegant. Coluche as his son is also very good. But his character is supposed to be only next to De Funes and so it is.

Watch this movie if you would like to see a simple and hilarious comedy.  The message behind is still relevant in the modern world of fast foods.