Short Review | Kai Po Che

Despite the best intentions of the director, Kai Po Che never rises above the ordinariness of its source material expect for few genuine affectionate moments of friendship. Earthy setting has been well shot with an above average background score but the film is a hiccuped journey all throughout with artificial moments interspersed in a rather difficult to believe story; though helped massively by the chemistry between the three lead actors who atleast create a warm if only partly true portrait of friendship. The leader of the bunch is unquestionably Sushant Singh Rajput who is phenomenally great in his avatar as cricket crazy Ishaan.  But sadly, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel and that's the case with Kai Po Che. The child actor playing muslim boy is a horrible casting, with his acting sticking out like a sore thumb. Not to forget, the climactic 20 minutes of the movie which is a terrible display of manipulative cinema and nearly wastes the otherwise respectable effort put into the film.

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Movie Review | The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby isn't an easy novel to adapt. Not because it's epic but more so due to the fact that its one of the most read and loved books of all time. And chances are that any attempt to do so will be looked upon with frown and considered almost sacrosanct. Hence, it won't be far-fetched to state that director Baz Luhrmann is actually fighting a lost-battle here, since no matter how hard he tries it's next to impossible to please all the fans of the book. Having only read the synopsis and not the complete book, I have to say I was at advantage here, as I wasn't being judgmental while watching the film as many others who inadvertently must have compared it to the book. Having said that, let's come back to the film, and how does it fair when seen from a pair of equitable eyes.

Lush with grand beautiful images, The Great Gatsby is visually spectacular to say the least. True to Luhrmann's style he treats the story with grandiosity which one generally associates with fantasies but strangely, the film never feels hollow or pretentious. If anything it's surprisingly moving and for the most part gripping. Whether that's because of the sheer strength of Fitzgerald's novel or Luhrmann's clever story-telling is debatable. Though one does feel, had Luhrmann been truly honest to the novel, the results could have gone either way with higher chances of it being a slow-burning period piece more suited for television. Probably by following the grand vision of his and creating a close to fantastical world, Luhrmann manages to hold the interest of the audience, and cleverly in the process also manages to tell the story he wants to tell.

Visual Splendor is only one aspect of its majesty, the other aspect is its rich, vibrant music which is one the most exceptional soundtracks made for a film in recent times. Combined with the visuals, the music renders a surrealistic grandeur to the film in effect making it cynosure of both eyes and ears. The lavish, extravagant party scenes are done in the most opulent ways one can imagine, and it's not hard to imagine several conventionalist and loyalists getting irked by them. But having grown up on Bollywood muscials, I wasn't complaining. 

The Great Gatsby follows a former war-veteran Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mythical, party-throwing millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich world of Gatsby but soon learns of a love affair between Gatsby and Daisy that was broken by the First World War. Slowly, Nick is caught in the crossroads of a world full of heightened aspirations and deceitful lies which ultimately ends in a tragedy.

The achingly romantic and hopeful Gatsby is played impeccably by DiCaprio. The false smiles, the phony handshakes, the uneasiness in being in public, the way Jay Gatsby conducts himself in front of Daisy, and in pursuit of her. Everything done pitch perfect well by DiCaprio. His nerve, his frustration, his determination and last but not the least his hope, all so eloquently portrayed. Carey Mulligan is beautifully enigmatic as Daisy but  you wont remember much of her after coming out of the theatre not because she isn't good but more so due to her character Daisy's fallibilities and weaknesses. Toby Macguire is good as a innocuous observer of madness surrounding him but leaves more to be desired as a narrator which to my mind should have been played by someone with a heftier voice. Joel Edgerton triumphs as wicked Buchanan and lends second best performance in the film after DiCaprio. Finally, in an appearance that doesn't last more than 5 minutes, Amitabh Bachchan commands amazing screen presence as Meyer Wolfsheim. His flawless accent, his inimitable style and his immaculate acting all raise one abiding question. Why didn't he venture into Hollywood before ?

Since I have talked so much about visuals, it goes without saying that cinematography is top notch, but that wouldn't have been possible without the exquisite production design and near-perfect costumes. And since much of the film is CGI, kudos to its visual effects team too. Baz Luhrmann, obviously is in his comfort zone, though that doesn't mean the efforts he put behind the film is by any means less than gargantuan. He excels both as a stylistic presenter and capable story-teller, since the emotions are at most times, if not all, are at the right place.

In the end, The Great Gatsby, is a great story told with a certain nouveau pedigree to bedazzling effect. You are going to be more charmed by the film than touched by it. Though if you can get over its thick layer of razzmatazz, as I did, chances are you will come out moved and stirred by its intricate yet intimate love story. 

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Movie Review | Upstream Color

If ever the art of cinema required a reason or a proof to corroborate that its purpose of existence is much more than mere entertainment, then you should leave everything else and watch the compellingly enigmatic and mythical, Upstream Color. And the creator [note that I use the word creator and not director] of this masterpiece in the making is a former software engineer and a mathematician, Shane Carruth. Words like multi-talented, adroit, ingenious seem insignificantly tiny in front of him. How can you describe someone who's the director, writer, cinematographer, editor, music composer, producer and distributor of the same movie ? May be super-human. And did I say he also plays the male lead in the film ? With Upstream Color he has made a film so surreally complex, both narratively and thematically, that Chritopher Nolan's movies will seem fairly straightforward in contrast.

Lyrical, mystifying and at the same time deeply philosophical, Upstream Color is as much a technical wizardry as it is a meditative and contemplative piece of art. It's a rare cinematic commodity which will resonate long after the credits have rolled, it will spark debate and inspire conversations for years to come even if it doesn't set the cash registers at the box office ringing.  But more importantly, it will inspire individuals to push the boundaries of imagination and creativity. Or atleast I hope so.

So, what is Upstream Color about. It's next to impossible to synopsize the film, but on a broader perspective it explores the symbiotic relationship between man, animal and nature through personal journey of two individuals to self discovery after they have been stripped off everything they know and posses. Narratively, it's not as elliptical as Primer but metaphorically it's more dense with multitude of ideas about humans, relationships, and society at large, circling around. Infact, while Primer was purely scientific in nature, this one is less scientific and more philosophical. 

The story follows Kris (Amy Seimetz) who is leading a normal life when she is kidnapped by a Theif who forces her to ingest a parasitic maggot that allows him to hypnotize and control her, ultimately stealing everything she has. Days later she wakes up disoriented while maggot inside her has grown into a worm-like entity horrifically coursing through her body. Unsure of what's happened and after failing to remove the worm from inside, she is drawn to The Sampler who ultimately performs surgery to transfer the worm from her body to a pig. No longer physically infected but still influenced by forces [the psychic bond with the pig] she doesn't understand, Kris encounters Jeff (Shane Carruth), a man similarly broken, and together they struggle to reassemble their lives and make some sense of what has happened to them. Ultimately how Kris and Jeff rediscover themselves, and what are the repercussions of it, is what you will get to see in the film. Having said that, to be honest, I believe any effort to simplify the story is actually belittling the larger ideas and themes that the film covers.

Metamorphically, Upstream Color is multi-layered, but primarily it's about the things that are outside and beyond our control. It is evidently obvious to most of us that not everything occurring in our lives has a reason or is under our control. Infact the title of the film itself is symbolic. We may be able to force the shape of our story, but the color, the details that may define its richness are decided by forces outside our reach. Likewise, in the film the two central characters are caught up in mythical cycle which they are not aware of. The three points of this continuing cycle's triangle are a Thief, a Sampler and Orchid Gatherers. Each of them directly or indirectly affect and influence the lives of Kris and Jeff and ultimately, how they also unknowingly share a bond with the pigs and nature, is what the film tends to figuratively delve into.

Undeniably the film never ceases to be surreally charming due to it's underlying deep philosophical tone but what lends even more hypnotic, mesmerizing quality to Upstream Color is its technical brilliance. Be it the close-up shots with light fading/brightening in the background or the images of colorful fluidic movements; everything adds up to an exceptional cinematography and impart a dream-like feel to the movie. Visually one may notice similarities to Malick's films but tonely it's closer to Lynch's style of film-making. Another ingenious aspect of the film is the Sound and the Original Score which chances are, you won't have ever heard anything like it before, yet that won't stop you from swooning over it. The music in its own right is worth more than a listen but here it helps in building the enchantingly hypnotic aura around the scenes in the film.  And Upstream Color, won't have been the film it is, without the innovative cuts and edits, which again only helps in making it beautifully enigmatic. 

Amy Seimetz, the female lead is the focus of the story and she does an incredible job holding the fort together when everything around her character is going crazy. Shane Carruth, inspite of multi-multitasking never lets his guards down as an actor and is respectably good. There is hardly any dialogues for the actors, infact there are none in the last 20 minutes of the film. Carruth undoubtedly is a visual film-maker, and he cleverly keeps the conversations to bare minimum without feeling the need to explain everything to audience as he lets them make their own interpretations. 

Thematically rich and layered, Upstream Color is a ultimately a twisted examination of love and relationships - how do we function in it, what our love does to one another, and eventually how that's connected to the nature and bigger schemes of things. However hard it might be for you to believe but it's more of a romance than science-fiction. I hope to unravel more of its carefully constructed mysteries in much-anticipated future viewings. Till then it will remain in my mind as the best film of the year.

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Trailer Watch | Gravity

One of my most eagerly awaited film of the year, Gravity is about two astronauts who are on a seemingly routine spacewalk when disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving both to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

By the looks of this sumptuously thrilling trailer, it seems like director Alfonso Cuaron is in 'Children of Men' form.  Gravity stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Film releases October 4.

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Movie Review | Iron Man 3

It's a foregone fact that Hollywood specializes in action. With the most sophisticated technologies at behest, and easy accessibility to money due to popularity of the genre, there is a very high chance of action film-makers being guided by the greed of making money than the actual craft of story-telling. And the proof that this happens more often than not, is that inspite of the profuseness we hardly get to see quality action films. Iron Man series of films treads a thin line of balance between an intelligent racy drama and brain-freeze action piece. The latest addition to it, Iron Man 3 is no different. The film rarely slacks in its pacing with a good amount of action carefully interspersed over the course of its 2 hours running time. Infact, there is hardly ever a dull moment in the film inspite of familiar setting and cliched characters. Yes, it's an enjoyable affair but is it pathbreaking or even worth remembering. I seriously doubt.

The plot lacks any innovations, mostly following an oft seen sequence of events leading to an exotic action-packed finale. Some of the action sequences are undoubtedly breathtaking especially the one involving mid-air rescue, but had the director put as much thought into the screen-writing the result could have been extra-ordinary. In-short, the story lacks imaginativeness, though the action doesn't. Having said that there is a mild little funny twist to the tale in the middle of the film which will amuse you more than it will cause any massive surprise. Ben Kingsingly is great in a short role, and Robert Downey Jr. is as always superb and reliable. Guy Pearce is slowly getting typecast in sci-fi action flicks nevertheless he is terrific. The rest of the cast including Gwneyth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and the talented Rebecca Hall, all have nothing much to chew upon, hence are more or less wasted.

I wonder when will action and superhero films get over the hackneyed characterizations and plot points - a science wizard villain, a super bright kid, a damsel in distress and above all a US President in danger. Iron Man 3 sheepishly moulds into the same template we have seen time and again with the only newness one can expect is in the filming of action sequences. All in all, Iron Man 3 is a treat for action junkies, but hardly breaks any new grounds in terms of story-telling or characters. For all those speculating it to be the next Dark Knight, I have only two words for them - Forget it.

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Trailer Watch | Elysium

Director of Oscar nominated District 9, Neill Bloomkamp is at the helm of Elysium which looks like another action-filled adventure ride. Though I am not particularly interested in action films, this one looks promising; more so, because I loved District 9 and Matt Damon rarely disappoints. 

Synopsis: Set in the year 2159, where the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth, a man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.

Stars: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster

Releases 9th August. 

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Personality | Naomi Watts

No actress in the last decade or so, can boast of working with such an enviable list of great directors as Naomi Watts. From the illusory craziness of David Lynch's world and the enormity of Peter Jackson's out-worldliness to the utter humanity disdain-fullness of Michael Haneke's, Watts has seen it all. Add to those three names, true film-making greats like Clint Eastwood, David Cronenberg, Woody Allen, David O Russel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Gore Verbenski and you are talking about a list that every actor in this world would be jealous of. 

With a poignantly expressive face, deep blue eyes and a subtle classy demeanor, Naomi Watts exudes an old worldly charm but it's her ingrained versatility and penchant for playing complicated woman undergoing transformative changes that will allow Naomi Watts to go down in history books as one of the greatest actresses of her generation. With that in mind, I am presenting to you the Best Performances of Naomi Watts.

Under-rated Performances: 
Rachel Keller in "The Ring"(2002)
Valerie Plame in "Fair Game" (2010)

Honorable Mentions:
Elizabeth in "Mother and Child" (2010) 
Anna Khitrova in "Eastern Promises" (2007)

Best 5ive Performances:

5. Ann Darrow in "King Kong" (2005): The idea that an actor can pull off something noticeable in a big-budgeted blockbuster flick might seem scornful, but Naomi Watts breaks this myth with King Kong in an enormously challenging performance that required her to be not only physically agile but more than convincing to justify her love for a gigantic ape. She achieves all of it, and even goes beyond expectations to truly register her mark playing an iconic character.

4. Maria Belon in "The Impossible" (2012) : Though stunningly beautiful, Watts never lets the outward appearance of the character get in her way of portraying them. Playing a real life character brutally mutilated in tsunami, she fills every moment onscreen with undying spirit of a fighter and establishes a binding emotional connect as a mother trying to imbibe goodness in her son.

3. Cristina in "21 Grams" (2003) : An inconsolable mother, a drug addict, heart-broken & distanced lover, and a revenge seeker. Naomi Watts manages to adroitly handle all of these various facets of her role in 21 Grams; which deservedly so - albeit late - fetched her first Oscar Nomination. Hardly will you ever get to see someone portray the pain of love, loss, grief and revenge with such ruthless precision.

2. Kitty Fane in "The Painted Veil" (2006) : Naomi Watts' metamorphosis onscreen from a selfish infidel to an apologetically repentant wife is not only shatteringly touching but  believably humane. Her character with all the imperfections goes through wide range extreme emotions - from angry vent of frustations to expressions of wishful desires and to her credit, Watts doesn't miss a single note or beat in her performance, ultimately taking this love story of flawed individuals to even greater heights. 

1. Betty/Diane in "Mulholland Drive" (2000): After struggling for about a decade on the fringes of Hollywood, Naomi Watts breathtaking breakthrough came in the form of Mulholland Dr. where her raw talent oozes out of the screen in every frame of it. Her unexpected, radical transformation from a sweet, awe-struck, girl-next-door Betty to possessive, lunatic Diane is sheer acting display of highest order [See the unbelievable transformation in the below picture]. Without a shred of doubt it's the best female performance of last decade and will go down in history books as one of the best ever. 

Upcoming Films: 
Princess Diana in "Diana" (2013) 
Marilyn Monroe in "Blonde" (2014)
Gertrude Bell in "Queen of the Desert" (2014)

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Trailer Watch | Only God Forgives

When I drew list of my most anticipated films of 2013 at the beginning of the year, Only God Forgives landed pretty high at No.3. After watching this gloriously savage and incredibly enticing trailer, I am happy that my faith in the film wasn't without any reason. Nicolas Winding Refn is one of the talents to watch out for, that he proved with Drive (2011) itself, and with Only God Forgives, he is looking to further up the ante. 

While Ryan Gosling seems like playing an extension of his Drive's character, it's Kristen Scott Thomas who looks real deal to me. She should land an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress if the film turns out to be as gorgeous and thrilling as this trailer looks. Can't wait to watch this. Releases July 19th.

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Rewind | Network (1976)

Short Review

A sensational piece of satire more relevant now than then. Arousing monologues held together by awe-worthy performances. Mainly a scathing look at scavenging media, hungry for cheap sensitization in the race to TV ratings. One of the best, if not the best, screenplays ever written with lengthy, hysterical speeches, incisive dialogues and brazen eye-opening social commentary on inefficiencies and inadequacies of the system. Inspite of heavy sounding motives, the film is consistently funny and can be ultimately categorized as black comedy.

Did You Know ?

Film was nominated for 10 Oscars but eventually won 4 including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Best Actor winner Peter Finch died during promotion of the film and was the only actor to receive Oscar posthumously before Heath Ledger.

Beatrice Straight occupied only five minutes and 40 seconds of screen time, making it the shortest performance to win an Oscar, as of 2012.

Ned Beatty, who received Best Supporting Actor nomination for the film, once remarked that actors should never turn down work. Beatty further observed, "I worked a day on 'Network' and got an Oscar nomination for it".

It's the last film to receive five acting Oscar nominations. No film after it, has received more than four.

The film's noted line "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore" is one of the most remembered cinematic lines, and its derivatives are still referenced in numerous films and other media.

The on-air suicide scene was inspired by the real-life on-air suicide of anchorwoman Christine Chubbuck. 

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Trailer Watch | Before Midnight

For all of those, waiting with baited breath for the third in series of one the greatest trilogies ever made here is sneak peak into what can you expect. Having watched the film,[Read the review here] I can only advise not watching this trailer if you really want to go into the film fresh. Though the spoiler in this trailer, gets revealed in the first few minutes into the film but still you would like to be pleasantly surprised by it as I wrote in my review "Before Midnight, as we all know, takes the story of Jesse [Ethan Hawke] and Celine [Julie Delphy] forward but it's quite not what you will go into the theater expecting. While Before Sunrise was playfully romantic and heartwarming, Before Sunset was a more emotional take on love and longing. Cut to Before Midnight; which is maturish take on the subtle but stark truth that falling in love is not the end of the story"

Film releases May 24 in US.

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