MAN OF STEEL

Man of Steel is the reimagining the story of the most famous superhero by Christopher Nolan who has written this along with David Goyer who was his collaborator for The Dark Knight trilogy. The film is directed by Zack Snyder who is a master in creating stunning visuals (300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch). So, it is quite natural that the output has shades of The Dark Knight with the protagonist having to lug some emotional baggage of his past despite being a superhero.

The story basically has Superman trying to save earth from a misguided General Zod who was banished from their home planet of Krypton before the planet's core collapsed destroying the entire planet. Zod wants to build a new Krypton on earth even if it means that the present inhabitants of the planet would have to be exterminated for that purpose.

The film works only in parts especially where a young Clark Kent has to get a grip on his superpowers as a young kid as well as in his youth. He is guided by his adoptive parents played by a wonderful Kevin Costner & Diane Lane. Russell Crowe also does a competent job in the initial sequences as the chief scientist of Krypton as well as in several appearances strewn through the film in guiding his son. The film also benefits immensely from a rousing score from Hans Zimmer.

Henry Cavil fits the part beautifully though he could've added further dimensions & depth besides the grey & sombre moods. It might well be because the writers haven't provided him with such scope.And, that is a major issue with this movie because for, what I am sure is, a first installment of a franchise, it almost completely shuns the lighter shades and humour and seems to revel in its dark tones. Even the part of Lois Lane played by Amy Adams seems incomplete. Yes, she seems to be a capable, Pulitzer winning investigative journalist. But, little else....

My next & biggest grouse is that the action sequences though awesome in all their CGI wizardry have a very chaotic & noisy feel to them and appear more from that dull & jarring junkyard rampage, Transformers. The last half hour is almost completely mired in sequences where almost an entire city is ground to dust. While Michael Bay might feel happy to find this carnage & may even feel inspired, it is such a put off.. Wonder when these guys would learn from Cameron or even Joss Whedon ...

This appears even more of a criminal waste when you consider the first part of the movie seemed to be in a tearing hurry of a runaway freight train and throws so much at us including the backstory of Krypton, the growing up of young Clark Kent, his youth, his discovery of his origins, etc. All that for this crescendo of chaotic madness... Oh, how we wish they had dwelt more on building characters with more shades & depth.....

Overall, while the movie is definitely a good watch & might be THE BIG BLOCKBUSTER of the season, one feels SUPERMAN deserved something more SUPERlative than this ! Hope they do a better job with the sequel !!

BLANCANIEVES (SILENT/SPANISH) (2012)

About a year ago, The Artist, a black & white silent movie, stole the hearts of millions and went on to win several accolades including the best movie at the Academy Awards. The roaring success of that movie showed that the silent movies, as a medium, can present several new enchanting dimensions to the viewers who are flooded with a deluge of banal assembly line finished products from Hollywood and its several other regional workshops which rely more on technical brilliance and CGI than more substantive, if economical, storytelling. Seen from that light, The Artist was like a whiff of fresh breeze and was natutrally, lapped up by viewers across the world.

Blancanieves is the latest gem in the line of The Artist. Being a silent movie, it speaks a global tongue. But, one would still need subtitles for the Spanish title cards that pop up occassionally. This movie is based on a interesting reimagining of the popular Snowhite fairytale set in Seville, Spain in the early twentieth century. 

The movie introduces us to the famous matador Antonio Villalta entering the ring for what he belives would be another one of his fine performances in front of an arena filled with adoring spectators. His conceit brings about his downfall, resulting in an accident which leaves him paralysed and immobile in a wheelchair. Further tragedy strikes in the form of his beloved wife dying during childbirth. Crestfallen at his double tragedy, a wheelchair-bound Antonio shuns his new-born daughter, Carmen. Antonio, now a melancholic loner in need of constant assistance, is quickly ensnared by a wily nurse, Encarna, who marries him to enjoy his immense wealth and promptly ignores him after the marriage. 

The newborn is nurtured by her loving grandmother and grows up longing for her father's affection. When her grandmother dies, Encarna brings Carmen to the palatial home, only to relegate her to the barn and to a daily rigour of hard labour.  Carmen is also given strict warnings against venturing to the top floor, for Encarna intends to ensure that Antonio, now virtually immobile in his room there, should not chance upon his daughter. Nevertheless, a sleight of fate ensures that the father and daughter end up meeting each other. In a series of covert metings in his room, they bond with each other and he manages to teach her the art of bull fighting. 

When Encarna gets to know about these secret meetings, she punishes Carmen in a manner that hurts her and leaves a permanent scar. Encarna also ensures that they do not meet each other anymore by keeping Antonio locked up in his room. Carmen grows up into a teenager toiling everyday keeping up with the household chores piled on her. At this point,  Encarna, pushes Antonio to an early demise and even attempts to get rid of Carmen. However, Carmen escapes when she was left for dead in the river. She is rescued by a group of dwarves who are travelling bullfighters. Carmen loses all memory of her past and travels with the dwarves who name her Blancanieves (Spanish for Snow White) after she proves her bullfighting skills when she jumps into the ring to rescue one of the dwarves. She gradually blooms into a matador of repute and the finale sees her performing in the arena where her father was once a star. The finale has certain twists which I would desist from delving into.

The story, having its origins from a popular fairytale, bears lots of semblance to a plethora of desi movies. But, it is the rendition of the movie in the silent medium which proves to be the uplifting factor here. Once again, just like The Artist, we are awestruck by the richness of expression provided by an awesome background score which livens up the entire movie and is a star in itself. Accentuated by the fact that their expressions have to do all the talking, the performances across the board are commendable, especially by Sofia Ora who plays the young Carmen.

Replete with sizeable doses of mischief, romance, action and dark tones, this movie engages the viewers completely and can make us laugh and cry effortlessly. Movies like these are rare gems, not just beacuse such silent movies are so rarely made these days, but for their inherent brilliance to forge an instant and deep organic connection with the viewers. 

A silent movie, that engages the viewers in a speechless state of enchantment, this is, indeed, A CLASSIC !

A MUST WATCH !!

HARD CANDY

This psychological thriller turns the cat & mouse game on its head, a la Tom & Jerry, one may say. But, the content here is far removed from the innocent and enjoyable pranks of those animated characters.

This is the story of how a young teenager Hayley (played true to form by Ellen Page) ensnares Jeff, a fashion photographer (Patrick Wilson) who is also a pedophile. She appears to be well aware of his modus and gradually entices him through conversations in internet chatrooms which culminates in an innocent ice-breaker meeting at a cafe. At the meeting where she comes fully prepared, she tempts him further and gets herself invited to his residence. 

What follows is a suspenseful thriller of twisted cat & mouse game filled with mind games where he tries to take full advantage of what he feels is a serendipitous development while she intends to deliver her own version of justice for his unholy deeds. She is smart to decline the drink offered by him which was not mixed in her presence and offers him a drink laced with sedative which he gleefully accepts without any qualms only to wake up hours later to find himself tied securely to a chair.

Much of the movie takes place within the confines of his residence as interaction between just these two characters. Full credits to the two leads and especially to Ellen Page for wonderful and convincing performance and the director for spawning such a suspenful thriller which is also remarkably economical in more ways than one.

Nevertheless, at the end of the movie, one gets a feeling that if Jeff is definitely a pedophile and deserves the punishment, there appears something deeply & chillingly wrong with Hayley too, though the jury is out on that one.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

CONFESSIONS (JAPANESE)

On the last day of the school term, a teacher at the Junior High School tells her apparently disinterested class about the value of life. Gradually, she draws the attention of her class when she declares that she is resigning the same day and further confesses that her 3 year old daughter who died, a few months ago, by drowning in the school swimming pool did not die by accident. The class is stunned by the time she declares that she now knows that two of the students in the class (referred by her as A & B) were indeed responsible for the death. She also expresses her anguish that she cannot register a complaint with the authorities because the law does not hold anyone below 14 as responsible for their actions and accordingly, cannot be punished for whatever they do. However, she states that, irrespective of the law, she is determined to punish the culprits.


Thus begins this psycho thriller wherein the teacher adopts a twisted way to avenge her daughter. The events surrounding the death and the teacher's punishment unfold through a series of confessions of the students who recount the happenings. The narrative style may remind us of Rashomon which also used multiple accounts to reconstruct a set of events. However, unlike Rashomon where each account narrated a different version of the events, here it is a singular version which is narrated from the perspectives of the individual confessor.


Although the movie succeeds as an effective thriller, one does not particularly feel much for any of the characters. The characters appear to be emotionally bereft and also guilty of harbouring dark motives (not that dark/grey characters can never evoke feelings). This movie was Japan's entry for 2010 Academy Awards and was also shortlisted a final nominee. The entire movie is picturised in a sombre tone though a scene towards the end where an explosion is captured in reverse slo-mo stood out for its magnificence.



A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

PIETA (KOREAN)

The protagonist, Lee Kang-do, is a loner working as an enforcer who collects dues for a loan shark from meek borrowers. He is incredibly ruthless and cruel in collecting his dues and appears to have no compunction whatsoever towards the plight of his several hapless victims who are at the receiving end of his severe punishments when they fail to pay up.

One day, a middle-aged woman enters his life claiming to be his mother who had abandoned him some thirty years ago. Despite several (some very disturbing) attempts by him to shake her off, she stubbornly & resolutely sticks around till she wins him over.

He becomes a changed man as her maternal love (which he'd yearned for all his life) transforms his cold, cruel & ruthless persona to someone who could be loving, sensitive and even compassionate. The rest of the movie is the effect of this transformation on his life which I wouldn't want to elaborate for it would providing spoilers..

Halfway through the movie, a visibly confounded Lee raises a question "What is money ?" She replies that "It is the beginning and the end of all things: love, honour, violence, fury, hatred, jealousy, revenge, death."

Acted competently by both the leads, this is a remarkable movie on crime & punishment at their cruelest.. In equal measures, grim, violent & deeply disturbing (definitely not for the faint of heart - Compliance, may feel like The Lion King), this movie is also an effective study of the human psyche and remains with you long after you've watched it.

Thanks Banu Prakash for the suggestion.. Much appreciated !

SOODHU KAVVUM (TAMIL)

A delightful comic noir ... It tells a story of a schizophrenic & his team of dimwits who indulge in kidnapping..nay, kednapping for small sums.. But, when they attempt to raise the stakes all hell breaks loose in several quirky, chaotic & HILARIOUS twists.

After Pizza, NKPK, once more, Vijay Sethupathy, the lead, shows his stellar skills in picking wonderfully original & entertaining scripts.

KUDOS to the debutante director & his team for a wholesome entertaining treat. One of the best movies I would see this year by a long stretch !

A MUST WATCH (with subtitles, if necessary) !

WARM BODIES

An endearing zombie movie. Oxymoron ?. But, nevertheless.

After an apocalyptic event, human survivors live in a walled city & try to evade attacking zombies & bonies (zombies so deeply zombified that they consume themselves to their bare bones)..

It is here that the protagonist R (zombie) saves a human girl from attacking zombies & in her company appears to slowly turn into a human..

What follows is an interesting Romeo & Juliet-esque twist with subtle humor & a tad under-cooked finale ! The performances are competent & the narration from the zombie perspective is a refreshing change !

Save for the mandatory bit of gore of this genre, this is one very different & engaging take on the done & dusted zombie genre !

A VERY VERY GOOD WATCH !