DIRECTOR: David Fincher
CAST: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett
Time is a confusing thing yet it is so simple. It is probably the simplest thing when we perceive it as the ticking of the clock. The ticking of the clock is monotonous with a repeating tick sound but what events occur during this ticking are so random, so confusing, so interlinked and so many. This concept was beautifully dealt with in one of the scenes of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where Daisy(Blanchett) meets with a road accident. The concept of change is the central theme though. The thought that Nothing is constant except change is the essence of this curious story. Our protagonist Benjamin Button is a peculiar case. He is born as an old man and is ageing reversely. The events that have followed as the after effects of this reverse ageing are very nice and deep but the flaw of this movie is that it never substantiated a reason for the reverse aging. When Clarke Kent can lift cars with his thumb, we have been shown that it is so because of the gravity adjustments of that of Krypton and Earth are dissimilar in Superman. It is so because the gravity at Krypton is stronger and to lift objects there one has to put more effort than that on earth. As the earths gravity is weaker, Kent can easily lift even heavy objects here and so he is Superman. No such explanation of reverse aging was provided, though several attempts were made, but nothing was dealt with conviction.
Performances are unquestionable. Brad Pitt has added yet another brilliant performance in his lustrous filmography. Cate Blanchett too does full justice to her role. Though The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has its moments, it fails due to certain flaws. Firstly, as I said earlier, no explanation of the reverse aging was given. Secondly, the editing was extrememly poor and it becomes an extremely long screen watch which becomes boring at some in between parts also because of a not so brilliant background score. Thirdly, there were some technincal flaws regarding the camera work. Whenever the camera focuses on a light source, some sort of dispersion takes place and one often sees a rainbow on the screen. That should not happen. The director should make sure that one is seeing the movie from his eyes and the cameraman's eyes. Surprisingly, it occurs six to seven times in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Even though the story line is pretty curious the slow screenplay often takes off the curiosity and intrigue at certain points, much unlike any other Fincher flick. Apart from these things, the movie is a pretty decent watch and may put you into some sort of thinking. The fact that even though Benjamin had a boon of growing backwards and it made him so different from others yet he was so similar to them and had to face the same consequences as others do, but in a different way, was well captured. But still if one speaks honestly then this flick does not deserve an Academy award Best Film nomination. It deserved that make up oscar, but certainly not a nomination in the Best Film category. Especially, when all time greats like The Dark Knight, were left out. When Heath Ledger would come to know that Nolan's great has not been even nominated for the Best Film, he would simply open his eyes and with his joker grin would ask, "Why so Curious?"
Rest In Peace, Ledger.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE OSCAR NOMINATION
Monday, March 16, 2009
MILK FLOWS "STRAIGHT" INTO YOUR HEART
CAST: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch,
DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant
Homosexuality has got different interpretations and is viewed with different eyes in different parts of the globe. While its a human right to chose who you want to be with, homosexuality is also perceived as a threat to the family lifestyle and the natural phenomenon of having kids. Some sections say that all that homosexuals have given to the world is AIDS. Well its true that AIDS was spread from a gay couple in the United States in the year 1981, but that's not all that the homosexuals have given us. They have set examples of true freedom and have displayed courage to do what their heart wanted. Many call homosexuals sick and that homosexuality is rather a disease than a conscious choice. It was and it still is a highly controversial and debatable topic this, but one thing is for sure which no one can deny, homosexuals are humans and ought to be treated as humans!
Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) believes in his homosexuality and wants gay men to unite and be a force so that they are treated as equals and they get their rights as much as any other citizen. Based in the span of 1970-1978, Milk deals with how Harvey rises in popularity and from owning a camera shop which was more of a gay hangout spot, goes on to become the voice of homosexuals for USA and set a global example. Milk beautifully captures the moments of evolution of Harvey with amazing cinematography and real video clips from the 70s. This year's Academy for the best film may have been unfortunately Slumdog Millionaire, but no force could deny Sean Penn his best actor award. One of the best performances ever in the history of cinema, It was as if Penn lived in the character and not for a moment would you feel that you saw Sean Penn, it was Harvey Milk all along. Another brilliant aspect of this movie was its casting plus the make up, which you would realise in the last scene when you get to see the real life characters as well.
Homosexuality has been the hottest topic of controversy even during US Presidential election campaigns. Evolution of the homosexuals as a united force has changed the script of a lot of presidential speeches and has altered the content of interviews and TV shows all over the world. If someone says that homosexuality is a threat to the institution of straight marriages then I say that the nuns and virgins and the big respected saints too are a threat to marriage and the notion of having kids! If you say that gays are the reason for the biological menace called AIDS, I say its the immorality and irresponsibility of the so called straights which is fuelling it and today its spreading faster than forest fire. Films like Dostana make fun of such sentiments, whereas films like Milk, are a food for thought, deep thought and with the stream of your thoughts they flow right into the hearts of not only all homosexuals, but all humans!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
BAD RGV FILMS ARE MUCH BETTER
CAST: Keanu Reeves. Forest Whittacker
DIRECTOR: David Ayer
I had a great impression of Forest Whittacker after watching his Academy Award Winning performance in The Last King of Scotland where he played the eccentric Uganda dictator. Here for no reason he makes those similar eccentric expressions and does not deliver anything special. Reeves plays a cop, Detective Tom Ludlow whose job is to get angry, push people when angry and drink lots of vodka while driving. Street Kings has that same old story of a cop falling in trouble and getting caught in charges of murdering another cop and all evidences are against him. It is his pursuit of coming out clean which forms the story.
The movie has nothing new to it and looks very silly most of the time. Martha Higareda's looks might be of some solace to the viewer but the remaining minutes of repititiveness brings no good to a viewer. Like I have mentioned in the headline, Ram Gopal Verma's films like Satya. Company, Sarkar and also the bad ones like Shiva, James, D and Contract are much more entertaining action movies than this.
With predictable and repitive screenplay, okay cinematography, nothing great direction and nothing great performances, Street Kings is far from striking any impression.
Monday, March 9, 2009
CANNOT DEPART FROM OUR HEARTS
CAST: Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
Leonardo Di Caprio became the household heartthrob with his cute looks and romanticism in Titanic (1997). Since then he hasn't looked back and has delivered master stroke performances in brilliant movies like Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, Blood Diamond, The Departed and the most recent The Revolutionary Road. This article is dedicated to his brilliant portrayal of Billy Costigan in The Departed which is surely one of the all time best movies, no wonder IMDB has kept it at #50 in its prestigious top 250 list.
The Departed is the story of two undercover agents, commonly called "rats". One poses to be a mafia serving a cop and the other is a cop and serves the same mafia. The mafia, Costello is amazingly played by Jack Nicholson. The Massachusetts State Police has launched a special investigation to gather evidence against Costello for which they have planted a rat, Billy in Costello's den. Mark Wahlberg plays an over abusive cop, Dignam who plays a pivotal role in the movie, beautifully blossoms the character he played. Martin Sheen plays another cop called Queenan. Queenan and Dignam had recruited Billy to keep an eye on Costello's whereabouts. Whereas Costello had a rat in Colin(Matt Damon) inside the cops. With twists and turns and thoughtful screenplay, the fate of Colin and Billy collide more than once.
The Departed beautifully captures the idea of good souls residing in bad lanes. And bad dogs ruling with a mask of good. The dynamics of relationships amongst people which has so much to do with the work they do is also an aspect in the story. Scorsese's power direction and the amazing performances as a whole takes The Departed to a very high level altogether. One memorable dialogue which I can recollect is, ": Marriage is an important part of getting ahead: lets people know you're not a homo; married guy seems more stable; people see the ring, they think at least somebody can stand the son of a bitch; ladies see the ring, they know immediately you must have some cash or your cock must work."
Friday, March 6, 2009
CRAZY! CRAZY! CRAZY!!
MOVIE: Fight Club(1999)
CAST: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
Remember the opening scene of Bollywood's Ghajini? The rushing through the cells, nerves and tissues inside the brain alongside the opening credits won the technicians some acolades. Those who have seen Fight Club know that its lifted from here. The movie is based on Chuck Pahlaniuk's novel with the same name. The script of the movie though was finalised after lots and lots of drafting. The debate was over the style of narration to be adopted in the script. What they finally pulled out remains to be one of the most outrageous and brilliant styles cinema has ever seen.
Jack enjoys a white collar job and due to the stress in life suffers from insomnia. He fights insomnia in a very unusual way by visiting patient rehabs posing to be one of them. In a sequence of events he meets a girl called Marla Singer and a guy called Tayler Durden(Pitt). His association with Durden has to be one of the best crafted aspects of the movie. He and Durden set up a basement midnight organisation called the "fight club" where people just hit each other, they just fight, for no reason, but just fight. The visual effects, the cinematography, the narration pattern, screenplay, the awesome energy in Dust Brothers' music makes this a crazy crazy crazy experience. One starts feeling mad and helpless watching it, thats exactly what the director has intended, they have put you in the characters shoes!
A person when encaptured by his schedule, by his work, by his commitments, by everything what he does starts adjusting to his shackles and slowly and slowly his desire to set free fizzes out. One becomes slave to furnished houses and spic and span clothing but even though he wants to run naked on the street at midnight he cannot as he is not completely free. In this process slowly and slowly our brain creates another personality within itself. A personality which one is not, but what he desires to be. A person with shackles creates the most free and " i dont care" type person parallel to himself. This parallel personality often resurrects a person and more often, destroys him. This is the message of Fight Club, find out how and why....
SPOOFING AROUND
CAST: Paresh Rawal, Sonu Sood, Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan
DIRECTOR: Umesh Shukla
The movie begins with a brief introduction of Paresh Rawal's character, Raj Chopra, a once upon a time big producer and now a continuous ten flops owner. One of his movies is named Goli Goli Pe Likha Hai Dushman Ka Naam while the other is Barsaat Mein Tak Dhina Dhin. Then Kunal Khemu enters with a thought sequence with some Just Kiss Me item number. The number suggests that he aspires to be a hero or something. But later on no such aspiration was established by the writer. Instead they showed that he wants to be honest and wants to earn his do roti from being honest. Aryan played nicely by Sonu Sood is a star. Soha is a Bengali girl who makes her entry with a purposeful Bengali accent. Later on the director forgets that her Hindi is not good and she speaks the usual Hindi. The first half tries too hard to come up to a point and start a story.
The second half is relatively more comic as it takes you through the making of a movie called Solay se L'gaan Tak and those moments of making of this movie which involves a major role of Johnny Lever, make the best moments of the movie. Sonu Sood plays numerous number of characters and the movie proceeds spoofing Sholay, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Gadar and Lagaan. There is a laughter quotient in the end approaching parts with a relatively dumb end. The story though is a pretty fresh thought and more improvisations could have crafted a more decent movie. This is surely not a must watch, but it would not bore you this sunday. Soha Ali Khan got tagged as an actress doing meaningful cinema with Rang De Basanti, Mumbai Meri Jaan and a Bengali masterpiece Antarmahal. After flops and relatively less meaningful movies like Dil Kabaddi and this one, if she has to give an excuse to the media she would pull out the standard dialogue from the purse of heroine excuses, "I do not want to get typecast!" One major thing which I thought was why is this movie called Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge. Actually the very early promos focused on the different looks of Sonu Sood and then this title would be apt. The script seems to have changed since but the title remains the same and without a reason. Probably the reason for the title is aap iska reason Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I NOW WALK, INTO THE WILD....
CAST: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt
DIRECTOR: Sean Penn
Sean Penn won the best actor Academy Award this year for his role in Milk. Into the Wild is his directional venture and is clearly an all time classic. This movie is based on a biography of Cristopher McCandles written by Jon Krakauer, Cristopher's is a curious case. He is a brilliant student and a flamboyant athlete. But along with that he is also sick of the life he lives. A life where he sees his parents fight like animals and where he has no one but his sister. After his graduation from Emory University, he choses a different path. He disowns all his possessions and gives away his $24000 savings in charity. After doing that he ventures out to discover his dream, his deep sitted passion, Alaska!
The story of his journey ahead running parallel to the consequences of his elope form the story of Into the Wild. He meets new people in his journey, various kinds of people. All of them find him strange, little mad yet amazingly lovable. All these unnamed relations with strangers have been fantastically portrayed by Penn. Coupled with that, Eric Gautier, the Director of Photography and Cinematographer, carves out the beauty of Cristopher's journey and makes the viewer travel along. The dialogues give his journey the human touch and a brilliant and dedicated performance by Emile Hirsch makes Into the Wild a sure winner. Out of all the people Cristopher meets, the most touching phase was the one in which he lives with the old man and shares valuable experience with him. Do look out for this movie, it will make a place for itself in your heart somewhere...