WILD TALES (aka RELATOS SALVAJES) (SPANISH) (2014)

"When poison expires, does it get more or less dangerous ?", muses a character in Wild Tales, Argentinian writer-director Damián Szifron's brilliant black comedy, co-produced by the great Almodovar. It is an anthology consisting of six individual pieces themed on rage and revenge. Anthologies, in general, are helmed by two or more directors who contribute individual pieces to the final movie and by this very structure, there is a loss of congruence among the individual pieces. However, Wild Tales, is a rare exception to the aforesaid pitfall as Damián Szifron, who has written and directed each of the six shorts, strikes a fine balance among them and has pruned off almost all flab from the proceedings which engross the viewer in their taut storylines.

The movie begins with Pasternak, where a model boards an air plane and finds, through a casual conversation with another passenger, that she shares a connection with all her co-passengers in the form of her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Pasternak. This is the shortest piece among the ensemble and precedes the title credits and packs a wicked punch in its tail that would leave a lasting impact. 

The Rats (Spanish - Las Ratas) is set in a rainy night on deserted diner, wherein the waitress finds that the lone grumpy customer stepping in is, in fact, the loan shark who had driven her father to suicide and ruined her family.  While she is inclined to insult him verbally, she finds herself caught in a bind of a fledgling moral compass, when the cook - an ex-jailbird herself - suggests mixing rat poison in his food. 

In The Strongest (Spanish - El más fuerte), a suave corporate honcho is driving in his swanky premium car through a remote highway when he encounters a driver in a shabby truck who frustrates him by blocking the path with his crawling pace. He verbally abuses the truck driver and shows him the finger when he ultimately manages to overtake the truck. However, things escalate into a catastrophic case of road rage - a la Spielberg's "Duel", albeit in an ultra-violent version - when the honcho's swanky car has a flat tire and finds that the truck driver is the first to arrive on the scene . 

In "Little Bomb" (Spanish - Bombita), a demolitions expert (Ricardo Darin - "The Secret in their Eyes"), trying to reach home to be in time for his daughter's birthday party, stops to buy her a cake and finds that his car was towed away despite the absence of any markings on the parking space as tow-away zone. He is driven into a righteous rage and his quest to seek justice from the corrupt system pushes him into a downward spiral resulting in him losing his money, his job and even his fragile family. His response to this unfolding turmoil transforms him into an unlikely popular hero.

The Deal (Spanish - "La Propuesta") finds a rich manipulative businessman trying to salvage a situation when he finds that his son is involved in a hit and run accident which has resulted in the death of a pregnant woman. He contacts his lawyer, a long time associate and together they cook up a plan to convince the poor gardener to become the fall guy in lieu of a suitable compensation to his family. But, when the lawyer and the investigating cop start demanding their own pound of flesh for the cover-up, the rich man finds himself in familiar territory of being a hard nosed negotiator in a high stakes game. 

The final piece, Until death do us part (Spanish - "Hasta que la muerte nos separe") takes place in a boisterous wedding reception which descends into an unbridled chaotic see-saw finale when the bride, Romina (an electric Erica Rivas) discovers that the groom was sleeping with one of the guests. 

Seen as a whole, while Bombita and La Propuesta might seem a few shades darker in comparison to the other four stories, they stand out for their gravitas and social commentary.

While at the apparent level there is no connection between the six stories, Szifron weaves them in the same thematic thread where he pushes his leads to their breaking point in a narrative that sparkles with fluency and visual flair. He also manages to transcend the vicious violence in these stories to present his views on the social decay that festers in the form of corruption, inequality and injustice that permeate Argentina at every level. Each of his stories is a resplendent exposition of Szifron's consummate skills as a writer-director, where his stories immerse the viewers in an intense roulette of role reversals, set to a lively pace, packed with oodles of wicked dark humour and horror in equal measures right till their twisted denouement. 

Wild Tales was a final nominee for the award for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards where it lost to the Polish movie, Ida. It has also received wide critical as well as popular acclaim across several international film festivals where it was screened. 


A MUST WATCH !!

RATING - 4/5

BIG BAD WOLVES (aka MI MEFAKHED MEHAZE'EV HARA) HEBREW) (2013)

When Quentin Tarantino picks a film as the "Best film of the year", one does expect a lot from the movie. And, as one would expect, this movie has several elements and quirks that we have come to identify as the imprints of that master auteur himself.

The movie begins with the kidnapping of a little girl by an unknown assailant when she is playing with her mates somewhere near the woods. A few days later, a phone call directs the police to the headless body of the girl with signs of physical abuse. She is the latest in a series of such gruesome crimes by a twisted serial killer who also appears to be a pedophile. Our protagonist Micki, who heads the team of cops is convinced that Dror, a shy schoolteacher, is the perpetrator of these evil deeds. However, in the absence of any material evidence to prove his instincts, he picks up Dror with his team and interrogates him quite brutally in a secluded location. While his colleagues remain uncomfortable with the interrogation per se as well as the methods employed by him,  Micki who is convinced of Dror's guilt is desperate to make Dror confess to the crimes irrespective of the means employed by him. However, when another kid playing in the vicinity captures the interrogation on video and uploads it on YouTube, Micki is shunted out of the force. 

Nevertheless, a undeterred Micki, intrigued by Dror and convinced of Dror's guilt, plans to extract a confession from Dror to clear his name and vindicate his instincts. Micki abducts Dror and in an unexpected twist, both Micki and Dror are, in turn, abducted by Gidi, an ex-serviceman and the father of the latest victim. Gidi takes Dror and Micki to a secluded cabin in the woods where he aims to extract a confession from the schoolteacher and also to deliver some painful vigilante justice. In the basement of the secluded cabin, Gidi and Micki begin torturing Dror to make him confess to his crimes and to identify the place where he has secreted the head of Gidi's daughter as the same is essential for the final rites as per Jewish customs which mandate that a Jew is to be buried as born - complete with all his limbs and organs. Some distance into the bloody interrogation, when Micki starts to doubt of Dror's involvement in the crime, an unwavering Gidi, chains Micki and continues with his interrogation. 

The trio are also joined by the Gidi's father, another army veteran, who arrives at the cabin to check on him and upon finding the two captives in the basement, decides to help his son in his mission. The rest of the narrative unfolds in a series of bloody, violent and quirky twists laced with black humour and shifting alliances to a finale that stumps the viewer.

While the movie works well as a first rate psycho-thriller which is tense and unpredictable, the director-duo Navot Papushado and Aharon Kashales deserve kudos for the way they have smartly structured their narrative in a morally ambiguous space wherein the actions of each of the leads appear to oscillate between morally correct and blatantly inhuman. This challenges the moral compass of the viewer and sows seeds of doubt in their minds as the movie brings into sharp relief the hidden animal in each of its characters through the unfolding events which seem to blur the the lines that would differentiate between the predator and the prey. 

Overall, this is an excellently staged, entertaining, darkly comic, blood-soaked, psycho-thriller which is highly recommended for the fans of Tarantino and Park Chan-Wook and definitely not for the weak of heart. 

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3/5

AIB - Another Imbecile Bollywood project

Thank You AIB for putting profanity on such a high pedestal which makes it sound almost profound.. So profound that people didn't mind paying good money to pay for the tickets.. (Oops.. It goes for charity .. you see..)

Thanks for educating us that it is indeed SUPERCOOL to punctuate every sentence with multiple profanities & one can even go a step further, if one can vandalize their vocabulary to such an extent that sentences are populated more by profanities than by proper words.

Yes.. Thanks to the Constitution, we are blessed with a right for free speech which includes the right to offend and insult, especially when it is consensual and even be liberal with one's profanities. 

Yes.. Humour is highly subjective.. What is funny to some could be totally unfunny or even abusive to others..

&

Yes.. Insult, Abuse, Raunchy and even Profanities could certainly be counted as categories of comedy

But..

Personally, I felt while there were some genuinely funny moments strewn around the whole episode, the entire theme of couching everything in a canvas flooded with expletives appeared utterly hollow and trying too hard to appear cool.

Yes.. The viewer has the choice to choose to ignore it or view it on his/her own volition and having watched the same, cannot react as if the contents were forced down their throats. 

And.. there is no gainsaying that the ability to laugh at one self is an essential component of maturity. But, if this is to be considered as your/Bollywood's attempt to mimic maturity, it seemed as hollow as most of the regular tepid fare that Bollywood dishes out on a weekly basis. 

And, it is utterly unsurprising considering the fact that it was anchored by none other than (KKK)Karan Johar - the heartthrob/poster-boy of all things hollow & a master of vacuous fluff which pass off as blockbusters in the largely silly universe that goes by the name of Bollywood.

CONFESSION OF MURDER (aka NAE-GA SAL-IN-BEOM-I-DA) (KOREAN) (2012)

Choi Hyeong-goo, a cop was on the trail of a serial killer who has killed 10 women. After fifteen long years of fruitless pursuit, the statute of limitations kicks in shutting the door on the investigation. Knowing that there can be no conviction beyond the period of limitations, Lee Doo-seok surfaces and confesses as the serial killer who committed those murders. What's more..? He pens a book detailing each of those murders and becomes an instant celebrity and media darling adored by the mindless masses. The appearance of Lee and his public confession also leads to the coming together of few of his victims' kin who seek to avenge their dead beloveds by bringing Lee to vigilante justice. Coincidentally, the media spotlight also falls on Choi who had investigated the case who refuses to accept Lee as the killer and pursues his investigation, albeit at a low key. Choi is also personally interested to solve the case as the last victim happened to be his lover and he hoped she is not dead yet as her body is yet be found. The media organises a debate on live TV between Lee and Choi to clear the confusion. However, in an unexpected twist, a caller to the show, identifying himself as J, claims himself as the real killer. 

Who is this mysterious caller J ? Is he the real killer ? Would Choi solve the crimes ? What happened to his lover ? Is she still alive ? Is the charming and enigmatic Lee the real killer ? If he is an impostor, why did he confess to such gruesome crimes ? Could the band of victims' kin avenge for the killing of their beloveds ? The rest of the movie answers these and more in a pacy roller-coaster narrative where the tables are turned continuously and the momentum oscillates continuously from one side to the other.

Confession of Murder is another notable addition to the genre of racy thrillers emerging from the realm of Korean cinema which dishes them out at regular intervals. The movie sticks to the tried and tested template of the genre and is replete with its standard ingredients like stylish leads, brilliant action set pieces, bloody violence, suspense, intriguing twists, brisk editing and racy screenplay which doesn't let the viewers to exercise their grey matter too much. Besides the thriller element, the movie also serves a reflection on the rot in a society sozzled in sensation-seeking media ever craving for the next big scoop, reality TV and 24-hour news reporting that could morph even ruthless murderers as celebrity rock stars even as it breeds a growing insensitivity to the agony and anguish of the voiceless victims and their kin.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3/5

I (aka MANOHARUDU) (TAMIL/TELUGU/HINDI) (2015)

Shankar, the showman of the current generation, has presented a personal revenge story set in the glamorous world of modelling in his latest venture. While he continues his trend of pushing boundaries in terms of budget of regional movies, capturing hitherto unexplored exquisite locales (this time in China), cutting edge special effects, he has moved away from his usual social message embedded narrative featuring a lone hero/vigilante fighting societal evils.

Keeping with the theme of the movie, I is the cinematic equivalent of that lavishly made, well picturised attention grabbing commercial which captivates you for the first viewing, but remains/means little else thereafter. Whether that spells success/otherwise of its maker Shankar is the big question.

Speaking for myself, despite its several shortcomings - including its length of 189 minutes, a paper-thin plot lacking depth and further beset with several crater-esque perforations, cardboard-cut characters, indulgent action set pieces that lack the zing and overstay their welcome - I liked it for the way Shankar has managed to package it as an engaging entertainer with P.C. Sreeram's visual brilliance showcasing a montage of vivid and rich imagery, WETA's magic in creating very real pro(ae)sthetics, Rahman's numbers (Ennodu Nee Irundhal, Pookkale & Mersal) and above all, for the towering brilliance of its leading man,vIkram whose performance and transformations through the film are simply SUPERB.

A GOOD (ONE-TIME) Watch !!

RATING - 2.5/5

OMAR (ARABIC) (2013)

When you are born in a land which has been suffocating under strife for generations, distress and betrayal could well permeate into your very being to the extent that they get embedded into the genetic code itself. Perhaps, it seeks to serve as a flimsy line of defense that helps this cursed populace fight on in a futile battle of survival. And, it would appear that trust is something that gets truncated with the umbilical cord at birth itself. In the resulting melee of such poisoned environs that fester with insecurity and hatred which feed on each other, innocence goes incognito. 

This is a case of a history which refuses to remain just that as it transcends the realm of the past to haunt the present, perhaps in a death wish which seeks to reenact itself on a daily basis. History, akin to a mighty banyan tree, which even as it provides the security of shade from the heat of a scorching sun, stunts the inherent growth - in this case, the present and the future - of plants beneath it. Seen that way, this is a generation buried under the burdens of their past which is spreading its tentacles through timelines to slowly scupper their present and future.

The story is set in the West Bank region of Palestine which features the tall wall that separates the fellow Arabs on either side as much as it seperates the Israeli and Arab settlements. Our protagonist Omar (Adam Bakri), a baker is in love with Nadia, the younger sister of his close friend Tarek. Omar and Nadia  steal occasional moments of romance and togetherness hiding away from the eyes of their conservative society and plan for a "happily ever-after" marital bliss. Meanwhile, Omar, Tarek and Amjad who are buddies from childhood are planning to launch an attack on an Israeli army post as their act of angry defiance against an enemy who defiles their daily lives through their continuing occupation and oppression. Their ill-conceived, mindless act results in the death of a random Israeli soldier which triggers an Israeli backlash in the form of a manhunt for the perpetrators. 

While Tarek and Amjad flee, Omar is apprehended and lands in the Israeli prison. In the prison, after being put through the customary third-degree torture, Omar is entrapped by the wily Israeli agent Rami who persuades him to accede to a deal for his freedom in return of him aiding the Israelis to capture Tarek who is seen as the leader of their gang. A desperate Omar agrees on the false hope that he could somehow wriggle out of this mess and may even turn this deal to the advantage of their gang. He also hopes to salvage his relationship with Nadia and realise their dreams of a life together. Alas, all is not well and the best laid plans and hopes turn to mirage in a land parched by the unquenchable thirst of a continuing conflict. 

There are no winners in this battle of betrayals which is a zero sum game that feeds and fuels a seemingly perpetual vicious cycle of  meaningless violence and bloodshed. Fears cloud the psyche as a thick and persistent smog strangling any recourse to reason. And, this is  a land where even love appears steeped on conditionalities of one's conformity to a credo that is identified as the common cause.

Director Hany Abu-Assad, who awed the viewer with his earlier Paradise Now (2005), paints an intimate picture of love and betrayals in a conflict zone. While he refrains from making any overt political commentary on this region trapped in turmoil, in his observation of events at the micro level of his leads here, he subtly brings out the lasting effects of life in a war zone. With a cast of mostly fresh, albeit confident, artists, Assad succeeds in essaying an engaging human drama which is filled with romance, friendship, commitment, betrayal, pain and survival laced with intrigue and subterfuge.

"Omar" has been richly awarded in several international film festivals including the prestigious Un-Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes. It is also the second film directed by Hany Abu-Assad to be a finalist among foreign language films nominated to receive an Oscar at the 2014 Academy Awards and lost to The Great Beauty, the winner from Italy. It was featured in the recently concluded Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES-2014).

A multi-layered film, Omar is at once a crisp thriller, engaging human drama as well as a subtle commentary on the devastating impact on the daily lives of ordinary citizens of an occupation that has spanned several generations without an end in sight. It is a thoroughly satisfying watch which stays with the viewer long after watching it.

A MASTERPIECE & A MUST WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5

UGLY (HINDI) (2013/2014)

The kidnapping of Kali, the ten year old daughter of Shalini (Tejaswini Kolhapure) and her ex-husband Rahul (Rahul Bhat), kicks off the action in Ugly, director Anurag Kashyap's latest venture. Shalini had walked out of her marriage with Rahul after being exhausted by his continuing failure in becoming an actor compounded by his stubborn reluctance to choose an alternate career that could provide for the family. She is presently is married to top cop, Shoumik (Ronit Roy) and feels trapped in a well-provided, albeit, loveless marriage. Rahul is allowed to meet Kali only on Saturdays as per the terms of their divorce and on one such Saturday, Kali is abducted, when Rahul's attention was distracted from her by some calls with his casting agent, Chaitanya (Vineet Kumar Singh), about an audition that could help his career. 

Soon, Rahul and Chaitanya approach the local police station seeking their help to find Kali. Their initial interaction with the police inspector Jadhav (Girish Kulkarni) who treats them callously provides for some darkly comic moments in the film. However, things take a serious turn when Jadhav realises that Kali is the step-daughter of Shoumik. Shoumik, who has hated Rahul from their college days and for being the ex-husband of Shalini, sees this an opportunity to hit back and prompts Jadhav to accuse Rahul and Chaitanya for the kidnapping. This sets off a chain of events which meander through several perverse twists and turns where Rahul and Shoumik are continually at loggerheads even as they try to succeed in their quest to rescue Kali. The plot is muddled further as every player in the story, including the leads, try to wring out some opportunistic benefit for themselves from the grave situation.

Kashyap has crafted a tight plot and has populated it with characters who inhabit in several shades of grey with competing and often, conflicting interests. He does not bother to burden any of his characters with cross of a moral compass and as a result, with every decision of these characters arising from their twisted and selfish motivations, the plot thickens and the tension ratchets up another notch. 

While on the apparent level, Ugly, is a gritty and raw thriller about the attempts to rescue an abducted ten year old girl, Kashyap's brilliance is manifested in using it merely as a setting to stage an in-depth exploration of the ugly side of every character that walk through his frames. He infuses a good deal of character into each of his characters, even the most minor ones, which makes them to stand out and get noticed. Be it the callous inspector who finds perverse fun at the cost of a tense father seeking to rescue his abducted child fearing for her safety or a father who is preoccupied with his career which puts his kid in peril or the top cop who is keen to settle scores from his college days or a suicidal alcoholic mother who is seldom bothered about her kid or the friend who even while helping his distressed mate does not flinch from milking an opportunity that presents itself, Kashyap puts the glare of his spotlight on the pervasive perversity in everybody. 

Kashyap is acknowledged for his penchant of casting talented artists to play the characters and here too, the cast consisting of Ronit Roy, Rahul Bhatt, Tejaswini Kolhapure as leads who ace their roles and excellent cameos by Vineet Kumar Singh, Siddhanth Kapoor, Girish Kulkarni and Surveen Chawla provide the power-packed performances that the plot demands. The pulsating background score by Brian McOmber and the dark frames by cinematographer Nikos Andritsakis accentuate the gritty and grimy proceedings.

Through the entire course of his movie, Kashyap continually underlines the moral bankruptcy and ugliness that lurks under the seemingly normal personalities of each and every character as they continue to plumb ever-greater depths seeking some self-centred goals. As a result, Ugly is not an easy film to watch and definitely not for the weak of heart or those who would prefer to remain straight-jacketed in their moral certitudes. In fact, it unleashes the lasting impact of a knock-out punch to the gut that makes us feel queasy and dazed long after the viewing. And, somehow, as if by some quirk, that doesn't feel so bad and on the contrary, leaves you, strangely, satisfied.

In an era that is marked by the continuing shrinkage of the viewer's attention span, Kashyap's craft demands their unwavering attention and wields complete control over it through the two hours of his very real, grim yet riveting tale set in the mean streets of Mumbai. It richly deserves the standing ovation it received in Cannes and many more accolades that are sure to come its way.

A MASTERPIECE ! A MUST WATCH !!

RATING 3.5/5

P.S. - As an add-on, check out the snapshots of the key characters of Ugly with Kashyap's tongue-in-cheek description of them and their dark sides.