Sunday 25 December 2016

DANGAL (HINDI) (2016)


Director Nitesh Tiwari and Bollywood's perfectionist, Aamir Khan's sports drama Dangal is a clear winner despite its imperfections. Aamir Khan's brilliance in transforming into Mahavir Phogat sees him embody the role at every level. While his dedication and hard work is apparent in the the muscular physicality of the initial sequences, the flabby bulk for the rest of the movie and his embracing the mud and grime of the ring and making the strategies and technique utterly convincing, his acting chops shine through in scenes in which he trains his daughters with a steely resolve playing a ruthless, if not cruel, coach, his wholehearted celebration when he sees her triumph at various levels and those silent moments of frustration and helplessness when he sees his daughter losing focus and going astray or even in the final sequences when he struggles to witness the final match.

Even as he towers over everyone else, the stellar supporting cast too ace their roles including Sakshi Tanwar as Phogat's wife who supports her husband despite her persisting doubts on the path chosen by him, Ritwik Sahore playing the young cousin Omkar who becomes sparring partner for the girls, Aparshakti Khurana paying the older Omkar who is the narrator, Mahavir's aide and adding to the amusement, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar who play young Geeta and Babita going through the grueling training regime, Fatima Sana Shaikh playing the older Geeta and Sanya Malhotra playing the older Babita. Fatima brings in the required intensity, athleticism, innocence as well as vulnerability in the role which sees her ascent, sense of innocent awe at the glitzy world outside her village, losing focus and finding redemption.

One can see that a lot of effort has gone into making the bouts look authentic, yet thrilling at the same time. On the flip side, Dangal is flabby by at least twenty minutes, the characterisation of the national coach is more of a caricaturish villain, it plays to the jingoistic gallery with its anthem adjunct, as well as the contrived climax.

Yet, Dangal rises above these niggles, thanks to a star who effaces himself to be the character and sincerity that permeates almost every frame of this venture which makes it a winner.

It may not soar high enough to be the epic Olympian gold it seeks to be; Nevertheless, it is an international gold, albeit at CWG, which is well won !!

RATING - 3.5/5

A MUST WATCH !!


Sunday 4 September 2016

AMERICAN SNIPER (ENGLISH) (2014)

While widespread trail of death, destruction and displacement are the visible effects of war, its real brutality is in the less visible, or often invisible, albeit pronounced effects on the psyche of those who survive. For, it is they who have to live with the scars of war, picking up the shards of their shattered life. As against those who die and are consumed by the war, the survivors face the pain of death on a daily basis as they are relentlessly haunted by their commissions and omissions which could have made a meaningful difference.

In American Sniper, veteran director Clint Eastwood narrates the real life story of Chris Kyle (an excellent Bradley Cooper), an ace marksman of the US Navy SEALs, who in his four gruelling missions during the Iraq war, is credited with more than 160 confirmed kills - the highest ever for a sniper.  The film is largely set in the wreckage of Iraqi towns where the invading US marines had to engage in deadly urban combat with deadly insurgents from the al-Qaeda. The nature of urban warfare necessitates the services of snipers like Chris Kyle who is perched in a position, far and high from the battleground, keep an eagle eye to protect his mates from any incoming threats. 

While this setting provides for several thrilling and action packed moments, especially when confronted by an Olympian sniper from the other side, the focus of the film remains firmly on the psychological aspects of the war on Chris - Why he came to be what he is and what is he going through..? Even as he is highly effective in his role as a sniper in the battlefield and is celebrated as "THE LEGEND", we find that the war quickly consumes his psyche entirely. He is unable to shift his focus away from it even during his well deserved breaks away from the war zone when he is safely ensconced in the warmth of his home with a loving wife, Taya (an effective Sienna Miller) and his newborn son. The battle continues to rage on in his mind and brings on a firestorm of guilt and helplessness that singes his very soul and almost upends his normal family life which was moving on an even keel. As the distant war continues to cling on to him like an unyielding parasite and can he quell the very real threat it poses to unleash a turbulence on him and his loving family...? Check out the movie to know the answers.
  
Despite being an one-sided narrative which does not care to focus on the other side, Eastwood's movie which has strong resonance with his earlier westerns raises difficult, yet pertinent questions about the whole idea of heroism and violence. And, in a beefed up Bradley Cooper, he has an actor who has embodied the character so deeply with all its vulnerabilities and nuances that makes this movie tick as an almost meditative exploration into the troubled psyche of a celebrated war hero.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5




Friday 2 September 2016

FOLLOWING (ENGLISH) (1998)

While the greatest of journeys begin with the first short step, it is the hallmark of legends in the making that their brilliance shines through distinctly from the crowd even in those nascent steps. Such is the case of Following, the feature directorial debut of Christopher Nolan who is reckoned among best filmmakers of our, nay, all times. Before Nolan emerged as the master of the big budget brainy / psychological thrillers, he began his career with a spartan debut film which, despite its minimal settings, served as the harbinger of the great things to follow.

Following tells us the story of Bill (Jeremy Theobald), a young wannabe writer in London, who obsessively follows random people, supposedly to research / find a spark to kindle his writing. He makes stringent rules for himself on this activity which borders on a voyeuristic pursuit as to who to follow, for how long, etc. It is in the course of one such random pursuit he follows the charismatic Cobb (Alex Haw - (does the name of the character ring a dreamy bell deep in your mind ??)), a burglar and gets drawn to him when he discovers they share a similar passion for following strangers. 

Cobb persuades Bill to accompany him as an understudy during his serial burgling expeditions. Despite being a burglar, Cobb shows minimal interest in his victim's belongings and rather, appears to revel in the shock and awe of his victims when they return to find their residence burgled. Enamored by Cobb's attitude and style, Bill's lifestyle  undergoes a sea change as he dives deep into what he finds as an adventurous new world. When an enigmatic blonde, a violent gangster, a murder and some blackmailing are added to the proceedings, we have a potent recipe for a thrill-ride. 

Being a debut feature, Nolan did not have the luxury of any big studio funding which enabled his mega projects like the The Dark Knight series, Inception or Interstellar. Yet, operating in a shoe-string budget of roughly $6000, Nolan donned multiple hats as the writer, director, cinematographer, editor, and producer of this movie which he completed over the course almost a year as mainly weekends project with the home of his parents as the principal location. His actors, who had other weekday assignments, were put through a drill of rehearsals spanning six months before the filming could commence which is evident from their convincing performances. Nolan shows early symptoms of what is now his signature style elements of intrigue, non-linear narratives, dives into the depths of darkness inherent in human nature, crisscrossing chronologies which peel away at the mystery layer by, carefully constructed, layer even as he teases the viewer to guess and second guess with an engaging screenplay. Nolan's masterclass is evident all through as he constructs a captivating noir in elegant monochrome frames with some nifty hand-held shots. 

Clocking a crisp length of seventy minutes, this engrossing thriller is the earliest gem from a master when he chose to step out of the shadows. 

AN EXCELLENT WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5





P.S. - As a bonus, check out Doodlebug, a 3-minute short from Nolan, made in 1997. This telling short, again in his signature style, showcases the seeds of much more magnificence and magic that was to follow.



Thursday 18 August 2016

THE FOOL (aka DURAK) (RUSSIAN) (2014)



In Durak (The Fool), Russian director Yury Bykov presents the story of a young idealistic plumber who wages a lonely war against the system and society steeped in corruption where honesty, integrity and empathy for fellow beings appear to alien values. The Fool is the story of Dima Niktin (Artyom Bystrov), a young plumber who finds himself at the mercy of small-town government bureaucracy when he discovers that the tenement building he is servicing is in imminent danger of collapse. 

In an unnamed Russian town, Dima Nikitin (Bystrov) is a plumber and heads the local municipal repair crew maintaining several buildings. Late one onight, Dima is asked to attend to an emergency plumbing job in one of the rickety communal housing buildings in the neighboring districts which houses the poor including an assortment of drunkards and social outcasts.While completing the repair, Dima unearths a much larger problem, as he finds that the exterior wall behind the pipe has cracked and has started to tilt. On further inspection, Dima realizes the building wall has developed a deep fissure from the ground level right up to the roof. As he assesses the extent of this damage, Dima calculates that the fissure could cause the building split into two halves and would ultimately collapse within the next 24 hours.

The knowledge that the 800 odd inhabitants face imminent death and require immediate evacuation wouldn't let Dima resign himself that the building is in not in his regular jurisdiction and would be responsibility of his colleague. So, despite the objections of his his protective wife and nagging mother, Dima rushes to inform his seniors who are gathered at the 50th birthday party of Nina Galaganova (Nataliya Surkova), the town’s imperious mayor. In doing so, he bypasses his direct boss, the corrupt inspector of public housing, Federotov (Boris Nevzorov). Soon, we get to know that Federotov had received funds for a major overhaul of the building, he had only supplied a new coat of paint and had funneled the remaining money on his daughter's personal residence. On hearing the news of the impending disaster, Nina begins an extended, closed-doors meeting with Dima, Federotov and heads of several other departments, including the fire brigade. As the assembled try to pass the buck on culpability and increasingly blatant and aggressive accusations fly thick and fast and long buried skeletons come tumbling down, the fact that this city council (and, by extension, Russia’s ruling class) is rotten to the core becomes painstakingly clear to DimaHowever, his sense of responsibility would not allow him to relinquish his responsibility towards the residents of that ill fated building and he strives to to do his best to safeguard them even if it would mean putting himself and his family in peril.    

The movie presents an explosive combination of highly personal moral drama upon the canvas of a wider, scathing commentary of a country in which corruption and greed seem to be the only shared values left. This well-oiled narrative machine is further aided by the inherent race against time that ratchets up the tension about a building on the brink of collapse threatening heavy casualties among its indigent residents even as the key bureaucrats and politicians are engrossed in their vodka-addled blamegames and intrigue to protect themselves. The humble plumber Dima, on the other hand, with his steadfast integrity and ethics, is the titular fool, who represents the conscience and the moral compass of a society which is muddled in the miasma of selfishness and corruption. 

The director Yury Bykov has wrote, directed and edited the film has also composed the music which sets the right mood for the proceedings which unfold at a brisk pace in the course of a single night. He also employs several overt and subtle metaphors like the crumbling building representing Russia as a whole resulting from deep seated corruption of its ruling class of politicians and bureaucrats, the night itself in which the entire story unfolds indicating the dark tidings that engulf the country and the indifference and helplessness of the ordinary folk resulting in their lack of empathy and sense of responsibility for fellow beings indicating the prevailing social conditions.

Bykov assembles an effective cast who deliver remarkable performances especially Artyom Bystrov who is terrific as the humble and naive plumber, Dima and the Natalia Surkova as Nina, the mayor of the town. Running just over two hours, The Fool, despite being set in Russia, has relevance which would resonate across several regions beyond Russia where the hapless citizenry suffer under the power of an abusive authority and greed of the ruling class.

This powerful social drama has won numerous awards at several films festivals across the globe and was also highly appreciated at the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2014.  

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5


Thursday 28 July 2016

7 BOXES (aka 7 CAJAS) (SPANISH/GUARANI) (2012)



Paraguay is a landlocked country in the middle of South America sandwiched between Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. Due to its central location, it is often referred to as the heart of South America. To the outside world at large, Paraguay is known more for its football than films. Nevertheless, this cracking thriller from Paraguay is set in a bustling market complex in the capital city of Asuncion and unfolds in a span of 48 hours. Our protagonist Victor (Celso Franco) is a 17-year old who makes a living by transporting the loads of his customers on a rickety wheelbarrow across the market which sprawls over eight blocks. While he could hardly make do with paltry earnings, he is fascinated by cell phones (movie is set in 2005 when they were still a novelty) and TV screens attract his attention, even in the middle of a fervent chase. 

One day, the wily butcher Dario, who is expecting a police raid at his premises, offers Victor a deal wherein Victor is required to carry 7 wooden boxes of unknown content around the market for a day and deliver them at a specified location the next day to earn a fat paycheck of $100. Victor gets the deal because Nelson, another wheelbarrow pusher, who is Dario's regular transporter, turns up late as he had to take care of his sick child. Nelson desperately needs the money to pay for the medicine for his kid's treatment. He is frustrated when learns that Dario has given the goods to Victor. Nelson plans to steal the boxes from Victor in order to make the delivery at the specified place to collect the promised $100. Thus, begins a cat and mouse game between Victor and Nelson who enlists the support of several associates in the market to track down Victor and his consignment. There are also a set of cops lurking in the market who are on the lookout for some suspicious activities. Victor is joined by his pushy girl friend Liz who tags along with him in his adventure as he tries to evade his pursuers and safeguard the cargo. In the unfolding tense drama, Victor, Liz, Nelson and his associates become unwitting associates in a high stakes crime involving ruthless gangsters and corrupt cops.


As Victor tries to flee one hurdle after another, Richard Careaga’s with his kinetic camera captures the chase with a frenetic pace that adds to the tension. Director duo Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schémbori use the maze like marketplace buzzing with activity to maximum effect to infuse the movie with crackling energy. This chase movie is an entertaining thriller that would hook the viewers early and keep them engrossed till the very end.

AN EXCELLENT WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5 

Monday 25 July 2016

KABALI (TAMIL/TELUGU/HINDI) (2016)


First up.. The good news.. This is a mighty leap from that lackluster Lingaa.. But, that's not much to write home about.. Is it..?

Be warned..

This is more a film for Rajini, the actor .. who shines through with a neat performance.

And..

Less from the SUPERSTAR, worshiped by the masses.

Director Ranjit's movie is a mixed bag..  A movie which is neither an entertainer in the mass masala mould that the fanboys crave from the Superstar, nor in the signature style of the auteur that is rooted in the milieu and emotionally potent.

It has some good bits of both worlds. Alas, in his meandering between these two worlds, the final result is less than fulfilling.

The revenge drama at the center lacks sufficient bite. While some of the action sequences pack a punch, the rest are so so. This movie has more emotional content than most contemporary movies of the Superstar. Yet, most of it fail to deliver the impact, except for the bits between Rajini and Radhika Apte.

One gets the feeling that this could've been so much more if the best elements from these diverse universes were to be assembled better with more coherence and finesse.

Rajini, with his trademark swag, is in fine form as the aging gangster who still has the fight in him and holds some aces up his sleeves. He convincingly portrays the character's vulnerabilities and yearning for his lost family. After the disastrous Lingaa, he has made a bold choice of choosing to work with a next gen director and a character that suits his age in a story which, while not far off from the run-off-the-mill kind, has enough to showcase his acting skills.

  
Among the other positives are Santosh Narayanan who has delivered a great album that goes well with the movie and Radhika Apte who is once again impressive and holds her own against the Superstar.


Don't get me wrong. This IS a GOOD film. But, given the director's potential, the Superstar's magical presence and the promising glimpses from the trailer, one expected a much more heady cocktail.

Nevertheless, the fact that it comes on the back of a let down called Lingaa and is promoted aggressively through a high pitched carpet bombing marketing campaign, should set the box office on fire as deprived fans lap up enough of their Superstar to satiate themselves till 2.0.

Overall, it feels like a well intentioned recipe that is a tad under-cooked (perhaps, I should call it overcooked, given its length that calls for some trimming) ... a jigsaw puzzle that doesn't quite fit so well.

A DECENT WATCH !!

RATING - 2.5/5

Monday 11 July 2016

THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT (aka E TOUT NOUVEAU TESTAMENT) (FRENCH) (2015)



Who wouldn't want to see God..? The Almighty who is the Creator of all of us and everything around, above and below us - including the big and small miseries that engulf us on an everyday basis. While God is generally conceived as an epitome of love, grace and all things wonderful, it is also true that most, if not all of us, on our bad days, would've cursed this very entity for a sadistic streak that piles on the pain on us, the hapless victims.

This delightful movie imagines God (Benoît Poelvoorde) to be a nerdy, booze addled and perennially grumpy middle aged guy, living in Brussels, in an high rise apartment which has no doors to the outside world,  with his submissive wife (Yolande Moreau) and young daughter. He terrorises his meek wife to such an extent that she hardly ever opens her mouth in his presence and shivers whenever his temper escalates which happens quite frequently. He spends most of his time behind closed doors working at his computer through which he controls the fate of everyone on earth. He finds great amusement in concocting ever new modes of misery to torment the mortals on Earth ranging from a falling toast landing on the wrong side to catastrophes which claim numerous lives. 

His daughter, Ea (an endearing Pili Groyne), though, is mischievous and is keen to explore the world outside. She considers her dad as a sadistic boor and hates him for shutting her out of the rest of the world and for his ruthless streak of seeking pleasure by heaping pain on hapless human beings. Egged on by her long lost elder brother JC (Jesus Christ, of course), Ea breaks out of her home. But, before leaving home, she hacks into her dad's computer system and resets the password, thereby locking him out of it. She also reveals the date of death to all the residents of the planet through a celestial SMS which sets off a series of bizarre repercussions across the globe.

After escaping from home, she follows the advice of her elder brother JC and sets out to find six new apostles who would assist her in writing a brand new testament for humanity. She chooses an assorted bunch of persons to be her apostles including a lonely beauty who has lost her arm in a freak accident, a middle aged sex maniac, a corporate worker, a rich and lonely old woman and a young boy diagnosed with terminal illness along with a homeless old beggar who is her designated scribe. The rest of the movie narrates the events of Ea's encounters with this assorted bunch of individuals and creation of a brand new testament even as she is hounded by her dad who wants to regain access to his celestial computer system. 

Director Jaco Van Dormael has created a very imaginative and highly irreverent satire which is playful to the extent of being blasphemous. It is quintessentially a feel good feature which is laced with several laugh-out-loud moments including those involving the fate of the God, in hot pursuit of Ea, getting a taste of his own medicine which are especially hilarious. Besides the loads of fun, there is also a distinct feminist undercurrent that runs through the movie which is perfectly cast and well executed.

A co-production between Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, this movie is a manifest testimonial to the levels of artistic freedom prevalent in these countries which have collaborated to produce a movie with such irreverence to contemporary religious beliefs. A movie of this nature is simply unimaginable in most parts of the world which is sinking under a surge of religious bigotry and intolerance. This movie has won many accolades at multiple film festivals across the globe and was also highly appreciated in the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES), 2016. 

Check out this lesser known gem and am sure that you would find yourself laughing out loud and grinning till its entire length. A word of caution though to those of you who are highly conservative and may regard any kind of pun/satire on religious beliefs as highly objectionable - If you are one, then you would do well to skip this flick. 

An EXCELLENT WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5


Tuesday 19 April 2016

THERI (TAMIL) (2016)



THERI = SCARY !!


Why ? Was it not supposed to be a sleek action entertainer ? 

First up, if it is a solace enough ..  I concede,  that Theri is definitely not in the league (or, should I say, twenty thousand leagues under the sea) of Sura and is much better than his previous outing  - Puli .. by some distance ! 

So.. 

What is so scary about Theri ??

Not the done to death story (if you can call it that) line.. We have seen several such star vehicles with much less.

Definitely not the audacity of presenting Amy Jackson as a Mallu school teacher. Should we credit the casting department's spine or funny bone ??

Not even the adventurist streak of the director Atlee in making Vijay (definitely looking good) emote (??) and cry more than we have seen him do in the past decade

Not the inane ensemble of villains who barely register (by the way.. I am still puzzled as to why veteran director Mahendran agreed to become a prime contender for the most insipid and predictable villain of the decade??)

Not the revival of the long buried tradition of hero slugging it out with that muscle man foreign "motta boss" in the final fight sequence

Certainly not the "ghost apparitions in the smoke" horror film act of an avenger Vijay

Nor his attempts to ape the famous famous Scarlett Johanson's introductory action sequence as Black Widow strapped to a chair from the first Avengers movie

No.. No... No..

The scariest part of the movie comes in the final few minutes when we find Vijay, having vanquished the villains down south and having shifted his base with his daughter, aide and Amy in tow, to (I guess) Ladakh ( a la Yennai Arindhaal ??), receives a package which gives the hint of some new assignment. 

That is Atlee, in all his ruthless and merciless cruelty, threatening us with a possible (& quite probable, given the current trends in Kollywood) sequel.

Now.. That's a REAL SCARY THOUGHT to walk out of the hall with .. a thought which could visit you in your sleep as a VIVID NIGHTMARE !! 

I, for one.., am T(H)ER(R)IFIED !!

RATING - 2/5


BAWAAL (HINDI) (2023)

In Bawaal, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal) directs a drama about a young couple set in modern Lu...