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 Dima. However, 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

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 

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

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

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

AHALYA (BENGALI) (2015)

Sujoy Ghosh (of Kahaani fame) presents his take on the story of Ahalya - a minor subplot from the great epic of Ramayana - with a feminist twist that keeps the viewers on the tenterhooks till the end. 

Aptly cast Soumitra Chatterjee as the sagacious, yet naughty, artist husband Goutam Sadhu, ravishing Radhika Apte in the titular role and Tota Roy Chowdhury as the wavering cop Indra Sen, are convincing in their respective roles. 

A Subtle.. Sublime.. Scary.. short. 

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5

P.S. - YOU CAN WATCH IT RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW @ THE LINK BELOW !

BAAHUBALI - THE BEGINNING (TELUGU/TAMIL/MALAYALAM/HINDI) (2015)

 
Most of India identify him as the maker of the 2012 sleeper hit Makkhi (aka Eega/Naan EE/Eecha) as well as the reincarnation saga, Magadheera (Maaveeran in Tamil). However, in the annals of Tollywood, S.S. Rajamouli, is better recognized as the serial blockbuster maker with a Midas touch. Even his lesser known earlier movies have spawn successful remakes/dubbed versions in multiple Indian languages. Seen thus, he is among the few regional film makers who can rightfully claim of winning adulation and appreciation across the country.

Baahubali, Rajamouli's ambitious magnum opus, to be presented in two parts - The Beginning released now to be followed by The Conclusion next year - owes much of its existence to the critical and commercial success of Makkhi (2012) where Rajamouli proved that he could weave a riveting revenge saga with a humble housefly as the protagonist. One can also say that Baahubali as well as Rajamouli's dream took flight with the tender wings of that housefly which could establish him as a maker who could assure delivering the goods on a much larger scale and reach.

Set in a fictional medieval land, Baahubali - The Beginning is a revenge saga of a royal family where the long lost prince - Shivu (Prabhas) - would be seen avenging the injustices of a cruel and corrupt king - Ballala Deva (Rana Daggubati) who murdered his father - king Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas) and imprisoned his mother - Devasena (Anushka Shetty goes completely de-glam). While the story is as old as humanity itself, it is in his presentation that Rajamouli scores his aces. Without doubt the design and execution of the movie is on a scale hitherto unseen in Indian cinema. The movie boasts of state of the art CGI which could rival most of what is on offer from Hollywood which is seamlessly complemented by gorgeous art design of the ever-dependable Sabu Cyril which is captured by K.K. Senthil Kumar to spellbinding effect. While the songs themselves are quite unremarkable, music director M.M. Keeravani (aka Maragadhamani) has amped up the intensity of the action set pieces with an energetic score. The extended action set piece of  the battle which forms the finale has been spectacularly conceived and rendered by Peter Hein and his team. In fact, the visionary director, his visual effects team, Sabu Cyril and K.K. Senthil Kumar as well as the audacious producer who believed in the director and his team to deliver the wares are the real stars of this movie. Speaking of the star cast, Prabhas and Rana bring on an intense screen presence with their hulking herculean builds even as veteran Ramya Krishna matches them with her fiery presence. Satyaraj (as Kattappa) and Nasser (as Pingala Deva) excel in their minor cameos.

S.S. Rajamouli has the rare twin gifts of being a visual artist and an entertaining storyteller. In Baahubali - The Beginning, he has let the visual artist to overshadow the storyteller in him. Baahubali has several instances where Rajamouli doffs his hat - without copying, per se - to Hollywood masters like James Cameron, Peter Jackson as well as local influences like the epics of Ramayana, Mahabaratha along with notable works in Bollywood and his own earlier works. 

If one were to count the failings of the movie, I would flag the lack of emotional connect with the story and its characters, especially coming from a maker who could hook us and root for the revenge saga of a humble housefly. The insipid romance between Prabhas and Tamannah is unconvincing and is the chief culprit resulting in the extra long first half which feels a tad of dragging. Nonetheless, the movie remains consistently engrossing as Rajamouli shifts the action from one verdant locale to another which rise up in majestic CGI visuals which are well crafted with the exception of few blemishes which look phony. 

Baahubali - The Beginning heralds the breach of the long held and accepted horizons of Indian film-makers and explores brave new visual vistas where contemporary Hollywood has held reign for a decade or more. Now, if only our film makers build more muscle in the storytelling side too, our films would be celebrated across the world, besides India. But, till then, Rajamouli and his team richly deserve the shower of praises that are to come their way for imagining and  executing an epic entertainer that has taken Indian cinema to an all new apex. Hope he scales greater heights and concludes his epic saga with a fitting finale. I AM WAITING !!

A VISUAL SPECTACLE ! A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5