Dead Poets Society

1989 by Peter Weir

Some years back there was a movie in Malayalam from Fazil, Life is Beautiful. I liked it then, as it was a different attempt from all the stupid ones that were coming out in that time. Also it was one attempt by Mohanlal to perform a role which didnt had any of his routing song/fights/walking scenes. The movie still looked up at his character was one of the reasons it didnt turn out as great. Also the private life of Mohanlal's character was portrayed in a way, the 'hypocritic' Keralan family audiences thought was not fit for a family watch. Neither the fans nor the family approved of the movie and it was a big flop. It was a better movie from Fazil after a couple of horrible attempts since his master piece Manichitrathaazhu. Thanks to my friend Jijo, I watch Dead Poets Society and it is quite embarassing that Fazil infact destroyed an excellent movie of the 80's through his terrible adaptation. I dont know why Fazil decided to run a parallel story in the teachers school life, in the form of his personal life involving his wife and sister in law. That, now I can see, was a weird decision.

In a famous boarding school, a new English teacher arrives and urges his students to look at literature and life in a different way. 'Carpe diem' - he says, ie to Seize the day, as everybody is going to be food for worms very soon. So enjoy life. He instills confidence in the students to go for things what they really like. However, parents and the school itself is not impressed as one of the students kills himself when his parents are against his wishes. 

The best part of this movie is definitely the performance by Robin Williams, as Mr. Keating the teacher who wants the students to be free thinkers. A sublime performance, I must say, never going over board even during some scenes where a bit of overdoing would have been pardonable. From the character, Mr. Williams could have made Mr. Keatings a very theatrical person, but he isnt. A wonderful performance indeed.

The climax, when most of the children stands on top of the desk, just to be against the school's conformity, as a recognition to their teacher or a kind of see off for him, or a way of apologising was very beautiful. A single shot shows that the other students who didn't get up, where leaning towards the front desk as a sign of being embarassed or guilty to not supporting Mr. Keatings, was really nice. Even in these scenes, the movie never goes over board is a real credit for the director.

At the same time, the drama performed by the students by which one of them is applauded by one and all, I thought looked a bit mediocre. Nothing extra ordinary was shown for all those around to look at him as a star.

I am sure there would be at least a few parents who would have decided to not forbid their wards from seeking their wishes. If there were, I am sure this movie is a great success.  In fact, it would not be a bad idea for every parents to watch this movie. Some serious points are told in a simple way.

By the way, Dead Poets Society, is a stunning title.

In my 16 years of work experience, I have had the luck to meet people from all over the world. Especially during a 9 year stint in a cultural centre, I met people even from the remote parts of the world and made friends with nationalities (people used to stay for a long period, even upto an year or so sometimes) from every where. One thing I realised during all these period was that, Indians are more adept in meeting the hard ships of life. Of course we (this is not true for the new Indian generation of the affluent class, I agree) learn life a hard way and Indians seems to show more common sense, this in spite of not being literate or as educated as in the west. It is quite strange then that our movie makers always wants to go overboard or explain too much to illustrate things in their movie. Do they really take their own people as illiterate fools. I simply dont get this.

Vaanam

2011 by Krish

I learnt a lesson yesterday. It might be always better to look to find some information about a movie before attempting to watch. I had just watched Train and was disappointed and then thought, ok at least go for a no brainer movie and relax. So I just went in for Vaanam. I cannot believe how all this happen on the same day. I watched Train, and was thinking, Jayaraj should have watched Vedam, may be. The movie starts with a song and then there is a scene and I was like perplexed, what the hell is this, isnt this a scene from a movie I watched not long ago, even the actress, Anushka, is the same. And in a minute I realised, this movie Vaanam is a remake of the Telugu movie Vedam, and what its done by the same director too. And except for a few characters, even the actors are the same mostly, in both version.

Some characters from different walks of life ends up in a hospital,which is being targeted by a terrorist group.

I was cursing my selves like anything. I had watched Vedam, yes in the same theatre sometime in 2010, and was actually thinking about Vedam, when I was looking at Train unfolded painstakingly on the screen. I thought in Vedam, the characters were better and all their life leading to the hospital was much much more authentic than in Train. So the movie was still good in my memory and this happens to me. A really bad day, especially because I thought the Telugu version looked better.

What a day. 

Anyways, Vaanam, is still a much better watch than Train. 

The Train

2011 by Jairaj

It is beyond any explanations that directors who proved their mettle in the last two decades are climbing down their career graphs in Malayalam cinema. This is true for almost all the Malayalam veteran directors. Jayaraj, a proven director, recently came up with a nice movie, could have been even more beautiful if he had not tried with some horrible songs and comic scenes, in Loud Speaker and gave some hope that there is still hope with some veterans. That movie, though it took (not sure if this was intended) the age old theme of Zorba the Greek, people from two ends of life finding friendship, but did have some nice moments and was a kind of refresher. His new movie, The Train, immediately got widespread negative reviews and  I was sure to not watch.  But then a cousin of mine pulled me in.

Life unfolding for few characters in the city of Mumbai, before they lost it in the serial bomb blasts of July 2006. 

Last year, there was a telegu movie, Vedam, which was dubbed as Killadi in Malayalam. Since the star cast included Allu Arjun, the young charming star most people expected it to be a no brainer in the entertainment category, but it was a pretty decent film on some terrorists taking a hospital, where again different characters from many walks of life are affected. No doubt the stars fans were disappointed. I wish, at least Jayaraj had watched that movie, before he went about making his own Train.

Train fails miserably, because of its terrible script and the soul less characters in it. Except for a couple of scenes and minutes, the film is really disappointing.

How can a director who made movies like Vidyarambham, Kaliyaattam and Makalkku not realise the emptiness in this script. 

Red Cliff 2

2009 by John Woo

Rafeeq managed to find the part 2 and thanks to him I was able to watch it yesterday itself.

Based on the Battle of the red cliffs in 208 - 209 AD, at the end of the Han dynasty, with the emperor on one side and two local war lord who have formed an alliance, not against the empire actually, but against his war mongering chancellor. Part two is the final part of this war at the red cliff.

I have nothing more to say from what I did yesterday. As an out and out war movie, this is brilliant. I cannot remember a single movie in which the war strategy is so much detailed and executed with lots of details for the viewers.

And it is brilliant. Each and every aspect is brilliant. It is just a bit disappointing that the music is slightly western influenced. The same too, if it was purely Chinese, it would have been even better.

The end of the movie claims there are no winners. How true. Nobody wins at the end of a war.  And most wars are unnecessary. Here too, it is frightening to know that all this was actually for a woman.

John Woo should be a proud man. He must have taken a bit of fictionalised history for the script, but still.
I had rather measure it on what I get to see and how it is told. There are moments which can only be told poetic. This is an epic war movie in all its sense and am sure many directors must be jealous of him.

Red Cliff

2008 by John Woo

A friend who runs a small cd shop, in the same building where my office is, sometimes takes a lot of pain to get me the dvd's I ask for. He says normally people only ask for hollywood blockbusters and some people just pick cd's based on the pictures on the cover - of war or explosions or guns etc. It is not feasible for him to buy just a couple of copies of a non English movie, but he still does it for me. He says whenever he comes across such CD's he just picks them for me. There are also a couple of other guys who occassionally turn up in his shop for European or movies from other regions than Hollywood. I am very grateful to this guy for giving me dvd's for a small price, keeping only a bare minimum profit for himself. I do understand, Rafeeq has only some basic education and all, but he is immensly helpful. Well he called me yesterday to say about this new Chineese movie and I liked it immediately when I saw the cover design.

A movie about a real war at the end of the Han dynasty in the 208 - 209 AD.

It is such a brilliant movie, BRILLIANT I must emphasize, and is so detailed in its description of war and its preparations, chequered with some wonderful imagery. When a part of this amazing war was over and we are looking for that final , the screen says - to be continued..... -- I really got mad. I looked the cover again and there is no sign at all about this dvd being a part 1. Except for the name Red Cliff, everything was in chineese. It was so disappointing. Even if it meant the second pat was another 2 hours, I would have continued watching it, even if it was 0130 in the morning. Oh what a pity.

I spoke to Rafeeq and he has promised me to get the second part, if its available in Kochi. So eagerly waiting for this part.

In fact, the part I show was released by itself and still went to break all box office records in East Asia. The second part was released a few months later and that too was a historic success.

Once again let me say, this movie is bloody brilliant. It is all about this epic war, but goes into details as to its preparations and strategies, through some characters. It can match or overrun any of the best epic war movies from the west in its production and all other values and is even better as to some ways it details some war techniques and some interspersed imagery, which makes this movie to tilt it to the artistic side of scale. As a whole movie, I might still consider Mongol - the rise of Chengiz khan slightly above, but as an out and out war movie, this is brilliant.

Blood Work

2002 by Clint Eastwood.

I always liked Mr. Eastwood for many reasons and it was Million Dollar Baby, which made me admire this wonderful talent. That was a movie, a real brilliant movie. Blood Work was may be his training ground, before he set out for that master piece.

Terry McCaleb is a retired FBI agent, who has just undergone a heart transplant. He is approached by a woman, Graciella Rivers, to help find her sister's murderer. It was her sisters heart which is ticking on Terry and he owes it to her. And then it is the investigation by this retired agent.

The start of the movie is really good I thought, and it is allright almost till the middle and but then it continues as ordinary. It is full of typical Hollywood cliches is what is most disappointing. I dont know at what age an FBI agent retires. Whatever, Mr. Eastwood is too old, for a relationship with the 30 some Graciella. And there is hardly anything that brings them close too.

Anyways, investigation wise it is excellent till the mid point, but looses its compactness and some silly errors would help most people guess the killer. May be some fast editing on a couple of scenes, for eg. the shot where Terry pins up the cheque for his buddy, would have made it for difficult guessing.

It is not a bad movie, nor is it really good. Just a one time watch.

Admire Mr. Eastwood though, still. 

Thoonganagaram

2011 by Gaurav

A lots of debutant directors are coming up in Tamil language, most of them really young. It is good that a considerable percentage among them do make a mark. This is a very interesting factor that is doing wonders for Tamil cinema in the new millennium. It is even more appreciable that they make movies with a real Tamil flavour, with stories and characters which are routed in Tamil culture, may it be urban or rustic. However, a good percentage of these stories are based on rustic characters is the biggest credit to Tamil movie makers. At least in one state in India, there are artists who haven't forgotton the fact that, India lives in its villages and a good majority are still suffering.

Four callous youth are all struggling for their livelihoods in the sleepless city of Madurai. When they come across a situation when some body takes shoots videos of girls in a trail room (in a textile show room) black mailing her, one of them goes out and bashes out these bad guys. It turned out that one of them was the son of a prominent local bad guy, who is now wanting revenge. This guy makes this strange plan, by which three of the friends have to save their families by killing their friend, who was responsible for the bashing. 

In some aspects, Thoonganagaram is even better than Subramaniapuram, the predecessor in the Madurai youth based movies. Yes its brilliant in patches. But it turns out quite ordinary at some places and those places really takes the charm out of this movie making it just an average entertainer, which could have been an excellent movie. It is certain scenes in the script, unnecessarily detailing certain incidents and elaborating few cliches, which fails this could have been brilliant movie.

But the debutant director has been excellent, who also plays a part as one of the friends. May be it is this double duty which made him ignore the details. But still credit to him, because if this movie was made in Malayalam, I am sure the Malayaali viewers might have appreciated it even more as there are not even good average movies coming up in Malayalam. All the more, there have been a lot of Madurai youth based movies now in Tamil, most are still different in some ways, though.

Once again, the Cinematography is brilliant.

El Hijo de la Novia - Son of the Bride

2001 by Juan Jose Campanella

I have been searching for this movie for long time, ever since I read Luca's book on Messi, in which it mentions this was the favourite movie of Leo. And just like the cherry on top of ice cream, after the Champion league victory, a friend send me the links.  I thought it would be a simple comedy, but it ended up as a beautiful movie, of a family.

Rafael is a busy restaurateur who forgot about life. As a result, he has earned a divorce with rights to have his girl child, once in a week. His mother, Norma, is suffering from Alzheimers and under pressure from his father Nino, he meets her after a long time. Nino and Norma had a legal marriage, against the wishes of Norma, as Nino was against religion. At this old age, Nino wants to give a present to Norma, by getting married in a church as per her wish. A religious marriage after 44 years. 

We assume Rafael and his mid life struggles are definitely going to be the centre point of the movie as it starts. Slowly he has a change of mind, after a heart stroke, towards his priorities, and wants to help his father with the marriage in the church. I was more than moved by the 44 year old love for a man to a woman. And this love is been told in the most beautiful and touching way. Believe me, there are so many moments in the script, which could have been made too much emotional and melo dramatic. But Campanella has told all those moments in a very subtle way and makes it very simple and non dramatic. But still it will reach the deep corners of our heart. I had tears at least twice during the scenes towards the end.

Yes, this is a touching love story of an old man. It is also a wonderful movie about a family. And even if not intended, it also is a movie about how to love anybody suffering from Alzheimers.

I wish Blessy had seen this movie before making his Thanmatra, which was over melo dramatic.

This is a perfect feel good film with family values and love taking centre stage. I can see why Leo Messi, a family boy, adores this movie.

This is going to be in my must watch list, if anybody asks me.

There is a scene when Rafael's girl friend accuses him that he is no Einstein, Bill Gates or Dick Watson and just like Rafael, we too are puzzled by this Mr. Watson, who the hell is he? during the end credits, a small scene shows us that Dick Watson is a porn star. That was really excellent. 

Beautiful, Brilliant, Biwitching - Barcelona

Barca 2008 - 11 by Pep Gaurdiola

For a true lover of football, Barcelona does a performance on the field. After watching the 2011 Champions league finals about 4 times already, I couldnt help writing a few lines about my beloved Barca here.

All my nervousness from the last two days cooled down from the 11th minute onwards when Barca started its own tiki taka and made to look the EPL champions like school boys. What a performance it was, only second to the 5-0 master class we gave to Real Madrid at Nou Camp on the 29 of November 2010, in the first el classico of this season.

Like millions of cules across the world, I feel the most luckiest to have watched this Barca side, ever since Pep Guardiola took charge. From 2008 till May 28  2011, Barca have shown the world how the beautiful game is to be played. More than anything they have showd what a team ought to be, with the kind of spirit they hold amongst their utterly humble and on the earth super stars.

And Mes que un club slogan was more than appropriate when Eric Abidal, the man who went through a life threatening surgery, just a few weeks before, lifted the cup at Wembley.

I am more happy that finally the bloody, hypocritic and mean British media, even, have acknowledged that this Barca is purity at its best lead by an amazing trio of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta.

Look at these passing stats.



Some more reviews, from British, are here.
Review by Jonathan Wilson 

from The Telegraph

Tactical review from Zonal Marking

How do you Know

2010 by James L Brooks

Still nervous about the Barca match. In Rome '09 nobody thought Barca was any match for Manchester united, especially the UK media and hence, most cules like me was not really that worried about that match.  Since, even UK media think this Barca side as something special, a once in a generation kind of team, all seems to just wonder how the hell can M United stop Barca. This favourite tag on Barca, I think, is not good and is making me really madly nervous. So I decided to watch one more movie after Due Date, especially since Due Date didnt offer any kind of healing.

One woman, two men and a couple of characters around. The same plot which have given lots and lots of romantic comedies, some times brilliant ones. 

I picked up this movie, because of Jack Nicholson. I am nearly a fan of this wonderful actor. Also to see Owen Wilson, with him was quite nice. So didnt hesitate at all to pick this up.  But oh my dear... but. Even Mr. Nicholson makes this kind of mistakes. Well, his role as a businessman, who does some dirty things and indicts his son instead, is a different character. But not for this kind of movie. I felt really sorry for Mr. Nicholson to have chosen this movie. What  a waste of talent. He does give glimpses of his brilliance, especially in the very first scene, but there is nothing for him in this movie.

And compared to this movie, Due Date is a better watch, at least. What a waste of time.

I really dont understand what happened to Reese Witherspoon. Where is her charm and where is that energy. Very disappointing.

Avoidable, cent percent. 

Due Date

2010 by Todd Philips

I have really got into the mood of the Champions league final match between Barca and Manchester United and hence have been really nervous, since yesterday and as I type this now, I think I can hear by heart beats.
So decided to see something really entertaining.

Peter and Ethan meets in the airport and finally ends up on the no-fly list. Peter has to reach Los Angeles immediately as his wife is expecting delivery. Two guys with contrasting attitudes to life and everything travels together. 

Quite ordinary plot, dont know how many times this has been repeated now, from Hollywood, filled with all the typical cliches. I am afraid this is not even average.

Watch this movie only for Zach. Even if its the same kind of routine character, he is still funny.

Baaria

2009 by Guiseppe Tornatore

Even the very best directors, sometimes can faulter. When I am on my movie search, more than anything, I am  lead to movies through the director. I came across Baaria, as a Tornatore movie, the man who gave the beautiful Nouvo Cinema Paradiso and the wonderful Malena. Baaria, doesnt really have that heart touching free flowing stamp of Tornatore.

The movie is set in the Sicilian town of Baaria and extends from 1920's to the 80's, giving the life story of three generations from Cicco to Peppino to Pietro. It also touches the varying political scenario of Italy during this period. 

I was little disappointed. May be it was just me. For some reason, the movie lacks the usual heart that we get to see in Tornatore's cinema. It is not a bad cinema at all. It just fails to reach the levels of his other works.

I am not sure about this, but may be Tornatore wanted to make an epic movie like 1900 or Le Meglio Gioventu. But sadly, Baaria is not anywhere near those movies. In spite of lot of opportunities, there is a not a single moment in Baaria, which can match the emotional scale of Le Meglio....

The only factors which were brilliant were the cinematography and the editing.

But let me say this, during this movie there is a particular scene and I immediately thought, may be the Malayalam director Ranjith watched this movie, before making his Paleri Manikkyam. May be not. One shot was strikingly similar in its setting. May be its just a coincidence. Two artists thinking alike.

Naked

1993 by Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh must have done something in his life to understand human behaviour so well. How he creates, prepares and depicts his characters, I am afraid, is beyond any imagination for most directors or artists. It is unbelievable how he creates his strange plots, looking strange and unique but these sort of things are happening around, and brings life into it with extra ordinary characters. Naked, is yet another example of this amazing anthropologist director. I dont know if Mr. Leigh had anything to do with Anthropology, but for me he has studied human beings better than anybody I know.

Johnny flees from Manchester to London, to avoid getting beaten by the husband of a lady when his sex with her turns out to rape. He arrives in the shared flat of his girl friend, Louise, shared with Sophie and Sandra. Sandra is out on a trip to Zimbabwe, which means there is space in the flat. Its Johnny's tryst with Sophie, Sandra and couple of other London characters, what make out this brilliant movie. 

Johnny is bloody intelligent actually, but like many Leigh characters, he speaks out loud against many problems of this world and its existentialism and cliches. And he does this in the most brutal and unsophisticated manner, ruthless, brutal, sadistic and cruelly sarcastic. At the same time, he needs only few seconds to charm anybody, man or woman, and to seduce them. But then its his after conduct that brings out his ruthlessness and kind of dictatorial nature.

To be frank, this is an unbelievable movie. It is no action, no comedy or drama or anything like that. But just through one character, which is unpretentious and ruthless, it portrays a different side of human nature. May be that is why it is named as Naked, as human mind is left open without any pretensions here.

We get to see a different side of Johnny through all the characters he come across, all of them unique in their own ways, may it be Louise, Sophie, the security man, the young couple on street, the young waitress who throws him out of her apartment, the aged woman across the building or finally Sandra the nurse coming back from Zimbabwe. I wish, I could recollect and write down some of the dialogues of Johnny that anybody reading this, who have already not watched this movie, will understand what I am trying to say. It is a pity I cant write. I could write and write and write about this for long. Brilliant.

Truly out of the world performances by everybody, typical of Leigh movies, especially David Thewlis as Johnny. How can a man with blood and flesh understand this kind of a character and live as that person on celluloid. Unbelievable. I am told, Mr. Spielberg was so amused that he requested for a meeting with Mr. Thewlis. Speilberg, Martin Scorcese and Brian de Palma had spend a whole night arguing on this character before.

And what to say about Leigh, nothing more than what I have already. This man is a genius. It is towards the end that he really surprise us. The final 20 minutes or so turns out literally to be a laugh riot actually, even if it is not what might have been intended. Especially since the arrival of Sandra, the movie takes a very different turn for the viewer with lots of laughs. All credit to this genius director.

I dont have anything more to say actually, my salutes to Mr. Leigh and his team.  This is the best of raw cinema. Most uncompromising effort on celluloid, to my experience.

There is a way of saying in Malayalam - I live in Kochi - and I can tell to my friend, if I need to get beaten, I can get it done in Kochi, why go all the way up to Mumbai to get beaten.. In someways, this is how it works for the major character in Naked. 

Oldboy

2003 by Park Chan wook

I think I have seen all Kim Ki Duk movies and I never understood why his movies are not that popular in Korea. In fact even most Koreans are not really appreciative of this wonderful director. I still dont know the reason and am not sure why I even thought about Kim Ki Duk now. But I must say that Korean movies, from all what I have seen in the last 4 years, are excellent. Even some of the pure entertainment ones were excellent. Watching Old boy, I was thinking how lucky Koreans are.

Oh Dae-Su gets drunk on the birthday of his daughter and before he can reach her, is kidnapped. He is locked in a  room and actually spends about 15 years there. When he is released he wants revenge and soon finds his kidnapper who reveals to him that Dae-Su has been hypnotised for selective memory and he will have to find out the reason behind his 15 years solitary confinement. Dae-Su, with Mi-do, a young chef he met in a restaurant, sets on this search for his past. He realises that the 15 years itself was a revenge on him, for a silly sin, and its not over. The worst part of this revenge is for him to experience, yet.

This movie is based on a novel, but if we can call some movie scripts as intelligent, then here is one for those list, which I would say is brilliantly intelligent. What a plot! Absolutely stunning. In the beginning, when he is in his jail, I was struggling to think about another movie on a similar kind of jail - still dont remember the name and if it was from US or Europe - but the similarity ends there. Oldboy actually starts only when Dae-Su is out of the jail. His quest for the past is excellent and so is his relationship with Mi-do and how he wants to take on his kidnapper Woo-jin. And as the past is out there, obviously not just Dae-Su, but even the viewers might think, is it all for this.  Really? That just looks like a very silly sin. But once the final revenge on Dae -Su, the main secret, is revealed, the transformation on Dae-Su is stunning. He falls and pleads on the legs of Woo-jin like a dog and even cuts off his own tounge. The most amazing aspect is that we keep wondering, but isnt this a bit too much of a revenge. However, at the end there is this really touching scene between Woo-jin and Soo-ah and that scene was really heart broking. If one has ever fallen in love, it is hard to bear that scene and I must say I really felt sad.

It is also noteworthy that Hypnotism plays a major part in this movie, it occupies only a few seconds on screen though. The final scene, were Dae-su finds his original hypnotist and wants to be hypnotised again, is quite nice. The movie is left open for interpretations, like modern French classics, and I liked it. It is for sure that Mi-do is still not aware about the secret, but the final hypnotised Dae-su, what exactly is he carrying in his mind, is open to the viewer to interpret.

There are still some ethical questions here but I would like to ignore all that and all those probability questions and just admire and appreciate this movie. Cent percent, this is an intelligent and beautiful movie. Intelligent for its script and direction, beautiful for its technical sides and performances.

I feel proud about this movie as an Asian. My salutes to the writer and director.

Just wanted to note down something which is repeated in this movie - When you laugh the whole world laughs with you, when you cry you cry alone. Truly loved it.

This is a kind of genius of cruelty. Brilliant movie. It is nice that Hollywood haven't remade this yet.
Please don't. 

Happy go Lucky

2008 by Mike Leigh

Imagine an award committee requesting for the written script of a movie, which they consider as probable winner and the director watching the movie again to write a script. This should happen often with Mike Leigh, who just explains the plot and the scene to his actors, who have to improvise it with many rehearsals and even further on the shoot. That is a terrific, but brilliant way of film making. I have heard that Priyadarshan is able to shot adverts without even a story board. But will he be able to do a whole film? I doubt it,especially if that movie has to be comparable with the ones of Mr. Leigh, impossible. This man is incredible. He picks so out of the ordinary themes and brings out the real human reactions on those themes. Mostly his themes are so not that easy ones, like in Secrets and Lies and Another Year. In Happy go lucky, he has chosen a simpler topic, more light hearted one and have still given us another out of this world kind of light hearted movie.

Poppy is 30, single, lives with her best friend and is working in a primary school as teacher. What makes her special is her attitude to life and everything around her. She is so pleasing, looking at everything and everybody in a nice and good way, that she doesnt mind her to look stupid even, to give a nice feeling to the other. The movie is all done with some of her interactions with her friends, her sister and family, her cynical driving teacher and a new boy friend.

Well thats it. There is nothing more happening in the movie. But, what we are in is actually a treat. A wonderful character, Poppy, takes us through some really touching moments and through other characters. From her close friend, Zoe, to her Flemenco teacher to her student to her sister and partner to the cynical driving instructor Scott and a gentle boy friend. All this characters are very different from Poppy and actually almost quite opposite to what Poppy represents. But with the interaction of Poppy, we actually understands how more nice it would be if all could react with the easiness of Poppy. This is no better explained than through the scenes at her Sisters home and also the ones with her driving instructor Scott. Scott actually can create a lot of hatred, but towards the end, we could really feel for the man. And yes, even Poppy feel sorry for him at that stage. That scene, the confrontation between Poppy and Scott is a master piece I would say.

Sally Hawkins plays Poppy brilliantly. An out of this world character actually and played with unimaginable perfection. The only comparison, to my knowledge, for this kind of character is Amelie played by Audrey Tautou in the Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain. But Amelie is a completely different movie. I would consider Sally's performance even better for the very simple and primary reason for not working on a basic script. For eg, that scenes of driving lessons, when she comments about the happenings around, which are spontaneous are really wonderful. The single scene which made me think she should get an award was the beginning of her Flemenco class.The shot of her popping sidewards for keeping away her sunglass was brilliant and more than funny.

Definitely, this is light hearted, but there is of course an underlining of sadness, not just on the character of Poppy, but on Zoe, the husband of her sister and of course Scott. I was still thinking about all these people, long after the movie finished.

Here is a unique director with a distinct style that can be picked up from even a thousand works. 

Capitalism A Love Story

2009 by Michael Moore

Yet another wonderful documentary from Mr. Moore.

This time he takes on Capitalism - the system that is the heart of America, by its own horns. He starts off from the deregulation prompted by the reign of Ronald Regan to that of Obama, how it has all benefitted only the rich. It has funny moments, sad moments, shocking moments and even moments of hope.

I really wonder how Americans, especially the ones who normally simply swallow all their media propaganda, found this docu. The most unexpected info for me was the comments by some priests against Capitalism. That was a surprise. I was shocked about the companies insurance scheme for the employees, benefiting themselves and the judge who sentenced every child to a private shelter home and to be frank almost everything actually.

And how peaceful life is Mr. Moore having, in America? I really would like to know that.

Whatever, this man is brilliant and he deserves an universal award. 

Yudham Sei

We see a lot of movies on serial killers and police investigations, from India and abroad. But in India, we have had only very few movies on serial killers. One reason could be that, we have never had that many serial killers here in reality. Anyways, most of the time, the Indian versions end up disappointing in some ways, at least to the end.There are few exceptions of course. Yudham Sei starts as an investigation on serial killings, but it really surprised me. This is one movie, which ought to be seen by International audience and truly deserves international recognition. I, for one, always have felt that the best of Indian movies are never promoted outside India.

A CB - CID officer, J Krishnamoorthy - J.K, is worried about his own sister who is missing for 3 months. Male body parts are left in card board cartons in different parts of Chennai city, in public places, and  J.K has to lead this investigation. A doctor's family had committed suicide some time earlier. Their daughter was raped and had hanged herselves first. J.K arrives into the truth slowly and at the end is even suspended from duty for letting one of the culprits to escape.

I really do not want to say much on the story. Serial killings are almost unreal for us. So for that aspect, it is quite a fantasy plot. However, this is coupled with abuse of women, which is terribly common now in India, and what results is a kind of surrealistic plot, if I can use that word. Purists might not like me using that term here, but I think the overall concept is something like that. But what makes this movie special is that a movie starting out on the look out for serial killer ends up like a thriller of a revenge drama. This is the first time I have ended up watching a movie on serial killing, with appreciation for the so called serial killers. Its not just appreciation, towards the climax, I bet, anybody with respect for womanhood would rather want the killers to finish their job. That is an incredible plus, I would say.

Yudham Sei has a brilliant script with certain shots, which shows killers doing what they do, placed cleverly between the investigative process of J.K and his team. And never, for the first time I would say in Indian movies, does J.K and his team does the routine cinematic investigation. There is only one time where J.K explains something about what he has found so far, to a superior, in the whole movie. And that happens quite earlier. We understand everything about the story directly from what is happening on the screen, not by occassional speeches by the police officer. It is a very cleverly put down script.

And there is actually only two action scenes in this movie, which too is quite surprising. The first in which J.K, wonderfully played by Cheran, takes on a few goons in a railway over bridge, is may be the best realistic action scene in Indian movies, one that could stay put with the Aadukalam fights, simple but clever.

And Myshkin has realised his script very well. Until the motive unfolds, he manages to keep a sense of the fear for unknown and there after he still manages to keep the thrills intact. Of course, Myshkin is no Hitchkock, and there are few blips, but I am more than glad to ignore them. When have I thought about a young director who have consistently kept his graph scaling up. He made a good entertainer in his first and an off the beat entertainer in his second, which was definitely 2/3 steps ahead and with this thriller he has placed himself even higher. He could have really not used that song actually, but it is almost like a Myshkin hall mark now, a beautiful lady in an yellow sari dancing with some men. And his use of famous directors for many characters, including the one of J.K, is a very clever idea. They are quite good and refreshing too. Especially using Cheran for the role of J.K was a master stroke. A simple guy as an investigator. That happens only once in a blue moon in Indian cinema. I am going to expect much more from this director.

Cinematography by Sathya, has been brilliant, except for a few scenes where the camera was too much present with its movements. And his low light scenes, there were lots and lots of them, were brilliant. After Aadukalam, yet another brilliant attempt behind the camera.

I sincerely want to salute the whole team behind this movie. The best after Aadukalam. And a special mention to that wonderful actor Lakshmi, who dared to shave off her head for this once in a life kind of character. 

Another Year

2010 by Mike Leigh

After watching any movie, I would rarely find that the casting was allright. I would say at least a few characters could have been better with some other artists or some negative thoughts like that. For the first time, I think, I watch a film and feel the casting is 110% perfect and all the more the performances are 200%, more than perfect, actually its unbelievable. I had seen Secrets & Lies by Mr. Leigh and was impressed. But to be frank, it didnt impress me as much to just go and find more movies from him. I watch Another Year, his latest movie and I have to say, I am impressed, no am bloody impressed, that I am going to watch all his other movies.  To make beautiful movies on human life without any script is an unbelievable art.

Tom and Gerri is an old, working couple. They have more than a content life and does not have any real issues at this point of life. Some of their friends and family including their son, Joe, visits them and the conversations are mostly about the difficulties of the visitor.

In one sentence Another Year is a beautiful movie about ageing and loneliness. Fun at times and sad at times.

The movie is told through four seasons in the life of Tom and Gerri and the different characters who need them or the characters through whom they pass their time at home. There are Mary, working together with Gerri, Ken an old friend, Ronnie who is the elder brother of Tom who just lost his wife. All these three characters are quite uncertain about their future, getting old and being alone. T&G seems to be their only solace as they patiently listen to all their grievances and show some compassion, which is lacking elsewhere. At the same time, at least in the beginning we do feel that T&G also needs somebody around in their bohring life, just to talk to or listen to. As their son is not with them and they are also feeling a kind of loneliness, even if they are a happy couple. However, they look more than pleased when Joe, their son, finds a girl friend who seems to enjoy  their company.

What is very appreciative about the movie is, even if the whole movie is centered around T&G, it is nearly a story about the life of this hapless woman Mary. Mary who is divorced and cant find any new friend, at one point is seen almost seducing (not really but) Joe. She is so narrow minded (she knows Joe as a child) to think that since Joe is into his 30's and is not having a girl friend, he must be finding it difficult and might like her. Well, she is terribly shocked, when Joe brings his girl friend to the home. Mary is a perfect example of an almost attractive woman, who has to remain single after 40's, starved of love and sex, who can never be really independant, and turning really mean and selfish. She has two sides, one of an adolescent where she is almost innocent and the other of a really selfish and mean woman. Since I knew somebody like this, I was actually very surprised by the portraiture of Mary in this movie. Unbelievable.

And the best feature about this movie is, it could have been easily made into a drama, but it still appeals to us as a movie. It is full of dialogues between all this characters, who are all normal working class people. Everything comes out through the chats between the characters, but it is like cent percent natural talks. Not a single moment does it turns dramatic or even cinematic. Well, the reason is Mr. Leigh is famous for never using a script. He just gives some outlines to characters and the rest is upto them. The advantages are there to see. As I said, each and every dialogue and expression is natural, bloody natural. It offers some brilliant laughs in a minute and in the very next moment make us feel really sad.  It is like a camera is placed in the living room in a family and the movie exactly is like taking out few pages from the lives of few English men and women.

All these characters, Tom, Gerri, Mary, Ken, Ronnie, Jo and his girl friend Katie, they all were shot from their real lives, or I would say, performances are 200%. Not a single frame is there to point to and say  - see you could have bettered it. And what happens is that all this people really grow into us, even Katie who is there only for a couple of scenes has done wonderfully well. But the real star is Leslie Manville who does Mary. Amazing performance. Each and every shot of her's was brilliant.

Anybody who is single should definitely find a partner. Thats what this movie will teach you. You may find it allright to be alone at your 30's or 40's, may be. But after, there could be a time when being alone could be the worst thing to happen to a human being.

Home

2009 by Yann Arthus - Bertrand

I have always been worried about poverty and the destruction of nature in the name of development. But to be very frank, I dont know what I ever did from my part. Nothing actually, other than forwarding some emails or posting some news on my Google Buzz about matters touching on poverty and nature issues. 99%, I am sure, those posts have not even set started a meaningful discussion. My wife would tell me, it is no use my husband, no body cares. And it is true that there were only a couple of occassions, in all my history of acquaintance with Internet since 1997/98, when some people ever responded with meaningful comments or discussions on the topics of poverty or nature. I just posted a buzz with links to the documentary HOME, and for the first time truly, sincerely I wish, please my friends, take this seriously, watch it and also make your friends and family watch it. Home is such an incredibly moving experience that each and every human being in Earth should watch it.

Home talks about life, how everything in nature is connected, countries have borders but not for nature, and how human beings who are only a later species in the process of life have endangered the very existence of our mother Earth through our own actions. All in the name of material welfare.

Home is a gripping documentary. At first we are amazed by the beautiful camera work, completely aerial shots, only once - when it captures the tallest structure in Earth in Dubai - will it have an eye level shot, which captures images from all across the world. However slowly we are shocked by the information we are told by the narrator even while watching wonderful frames.

There is no limit to the applause and respects Mr. Bertrand and his team should receive for this wonderful movie.

I simply wish, this movie is shown in each and every schools, colleges, offices, villages, towns, police station everywhere in India. I am surprised nobody spoke about this documentary yet, until my friend, Father. Jijo suggested it. I think he saw it in Italy, not in India.  Thank you Father. 

Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok Joint Security Area

2000  by Park Chan-wook

India shares some volatile borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. But never, our film makers made a movie on our borders, about those, the soldiers, facing off on both sides, other than some ordinary war movies. I am surprised I didnt realise this fact at all, until I saw this brilliant Korean movie, JSA. In fact, other than movies like No Man's Land, which is quite similar and different at the same time, as far as I know, there are really only a few movies on this subject, even from around the world.

When I read two lines about this movie, it felt more like Few Good Men, and could have been an adaptation, but for some reason I thought I should see this. And what an experience it has been. This is an incredible movie, much superior to Few Good Men, about soldiers from two enemy nations, once a single nation, also pointing out to the futility of war and its politics.

In the Korean border line, a shoot out occured on the North Korean post, killing 2 North Koren soldiers and injuring one. The South Korean soldier who did this runs across to his side with a bullet on his leg. The situation could turn really bad and to prevent a possible break up between the two nations, a commission of Neutral Nations orders an enquiry. A swiss officer, Sophie a law officer, arrives and investigates the case. She finds the reports from both sides completely contradictory. Slowly she manages to talk to the two soldiers, the South Korean accused and the wounded North Korean witness, and what unfolds is a brilliant story. A moving story of friendship, which was quite simple but with a violent and sad ending.

The movie starts in a bit mediocre way with the arrival of Sophie and her first attempts to talk to the soldiers. However, as the main content falls in, this movie raise itself to the level of a master piece. The different versions of the two soldiers, and the real happenings unfolds in pieces and in flashbacks and reminiscences  but its brilliantly scripted and directed. The scenes towards climax is just brilliant. So are many scenes which happens on the border. Scenes in which soldiers from both sides interact without any dialogues like the patrolling in the snow etc are so wonderful. It is the growing friendship of the 4 soldiers and the after effects, which is the heart of the plot and those are all shot brilliantly, I must repeat, its incredibly brilliant.

The final ending of the movie alone deserves some awards. In the first half there is a scene, few visitors, tourists may be, walking in the border from the S.K side and one of their's cap flies off to the other side. A N. Korean soldier picks it up and hand it over to his S.K counterpart. A tourist seems to take photographs of the scene. One of these photograph is shown at the very end and the camera pans through the various faces in the frame and this is incredible. It would make us feel sad and at the very same moment say 'Wow, thats brilliant'. I would say that is the real height of brilliant imagination. If I was to chose the most brilliant and touching last shot in any movies I have watched, I would pick this. Of course, JSA is not just about this last shot, but this single shot can vouch for the brilliance of the whole movie.

It is also notable that this movie does not try to point either of the Korean sides in a negative way. May be that could be the reason why it did not win a prominent award from the west, who have a favourite in the region and the plot is against their basic propaganda.