Adaptation

Director: Spike Jonze
Year:2002
cast: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton
Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)

Adaptation is like a simple, pure, beautiful and mysterious thing that keeps on adding these fascinating layers around itself. Amazing us with insights about this little journey called life. The plot kind of grows on you. It's up to you how much you can take in and digest. It's about ordinary people like you and me, telling their extraordinary story. Strangely the films I've loved lately have been about pathetic losers, about timid but genuine people. Their naked vulnerability kills me. I feel bewitched body and soul.


Something strange but fascinating starts happening in the second act. The philosophical journey turns into this tale of mundane characters. The characters you loved so much disappear into darkness. The character of The Orchid Thief seem neglected in the second half of the film. Maybe that's what happens in life. After all life is no fairy tale. Things change, trying to 'adapt' themselves as Charlie Kauffman would say. This movie is not about the orchid thief and it's hard to tell what it is really about. See, sign of a good film. It sure amazes you with it's effortless charm, innocence. As Ebert says, the movie is wickedly playful in it's construction. It never takes itself seriously. Well, why should I? It does work for sure, it's audacity, it's mistery.

Arranged

Directors: Diane Crespo, Stefan C. Schaefer
Year: 2007
Cast: Zoe Lister Jones, Francis Benhamou
Rating: *** (out of ****)

"L'enfer, c'est les autres", translated as "Hell is other people".
-Jean-Paul Sartre

Rarely do we see a movie that has a rather big point to make but nothing to preach about. Something sensible, pure, tender and effective. A movie that peeks into that very delicate fabric of American life, wait, any life and illustrates if we show patience and have good intentions, any contention is not beyond our reach. Be it Brooklyn as in this case or any place else. It never harbors the hostile approach or hatred towards others, rather follows the path of tolerance and understanding.

A movie that tries to understand human spirit and values and therefore should be hailed with all our hearts. And this movie comes at a time when we are hell bent on changing others, blaming other religions, waging wars against each other and what not?

Watch it for the two lead actors. Particularly Rochel Meshenberg (Zoe Lister-Jones). She is the kind of girl I would love to change myself for (which I think I'd hardly do for anybody else). I'll give up all my bad habits, if any! I swear.


Note: Here she is.

Butterfly Effect, The- I & II

Directors: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Year: 2004
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart.
Rating: *** (out of ****)

There are movies when you are supposed to be in a confused state when you are done watching them. As if it was shown that way and was perfectly intended. I believe The Butterfly Effect lies in that category. Having travelled through all the versions of virtual reality of Evan, I felt disoriented. A feeling of discomfort crept in my mind. The same thing I experienced while watching Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes) for the first time.

But my question is, do you have to be a victim of dementia to be experience this feel this desperate need to change things you deeply regret ? We all do that sometime or the other. The director duo have made a fine movie nonetheless. A well written, finely paced, a bit too flashy but still a true movie. I wish they had done it with more subtlety.

Director: John R. Leonetti
Year: 2006
Cast: Eric Lively, Erica Durance.
Rating: ** (out of ****)

A sequel is and should be usually made when you have something to tell, an extension of the original, a step further. Not with a trifle idea of making money riding on the popularity of the first one. Hollywood has this tendency to go about making sequels with the sole commercial purpose (Remember Saw, I Know What You Did Last Summer). This one here is, I believe, both. It's like you have a tested formula, you just replace the characters with new one in a different setting. It was a diary in the first and here, they are photos. Story seems like an afterthought.

The 'story' is necessarily the same as The Butterfly Effect (of course with more sex and flash-editing) and the climax heavily influenced by the recent If Only. As for the film, I still stand by what I thought about The Butterfly Effect ( There are movies when you are supposed to be in a confused state when you are done watching them). Still I would recommend it to those who like thrillers. It'll be a good bet for them, only for them.

Lot Like Love, A

Director: Nigel Cole
Year: 2005
Cast: Amanda Peet, Ashton Kutcher
Rating:*** (out of ****)

Just few days back I happened to watch a movie called Shallow Hal. As the name suggests, the movie was even shallower than Hal. Unbelievably unconvincing. A lot like love, on the other hand, is a subtle, charming and touching tale of love discovered after much hide and seek with destiny. The credit should go to both the lead actors particularly Amanda Peet. She is this grey eyed beauty with a strong screen presence. I had liked her even her minor role in Syriana. Here she presents Emily in as believable manner as there could be. Much to our delight Ashton Kutcher pulls the shy, lovable guy equally well.
Yes, regarding the story, Emily (Amanda Peet) has just broken with her boyfriend and met an introvert Oliver (Ashton Kutcher) on a plane. In that immature age, they end up having sex without even knowing their names. And then they keep meeting as the destiny plays it's games and that is pretty much that.

The constant shifting of timeline, a little overdone, would have ruined everything (you know, after six months, after three years......). But surprisingly, it doesn't. Like When Harry Met Sally, they just keep on meeting but sometimes either he is focusing on carrier or she is engaged with someone else. Anyway, these very moments make the movie all the more worthwhile. A good film.

Life Before Her Eyes, The

Director: Vadim Perelman
Year:2007
Cast: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood
Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)

Watching The Life Before Her Eyes was quite frustrating experience for me. It was like going through the dense jungle with a hope to find something but it just becomes darker and darker. If you feel the same, wait some more. It reminds me of some other movies with guilt ridden protagonists. Both of them I liked. Make it loved, but for different reasons. I wouldn't go into details here. First is David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and the other is Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter. These movies, including this very film are not only about Survivor's guilt but also about survivor's fear.

Nishikant Kamat, director of Mumbai Meri Jaan told in an interview that he came very close to the 1993 Mumbai blasts and could not speak to anyone for a long time ( Madhavan's character of a techie who experiences a close shave with the mayhem. He can't make up his mind to aboard the train after that). That fear of Kamat ultimately became the inspiration for Mumbai Meri Jaan.

The film starts with Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) in a college, taking her classes. A horrifying act of mass killing occurs in the same college (reminiscent of the recent Virginia University incident). Showed chillingly here. This trauma grips Diana. The shadow of that terrifying event never leaves her. Now she is happily married and having a daughter but her past still haunts her. The film's constant shifting between past and present became a bit cumbersome to watch. But I guess Vadim Perelman had to do that to make us feel the agony of Diana, taking the journey with her, as she remembers it all. If you have watched the film, you would agree.

Anyway, Diana here is a victim of the post traumatic disorder. Director Vadim Perelman choose to pay attention to the visuals (with all the close ups and all) to show the agony and fear. His visuals convey a lot more that words throughout the film. At times, I was irritated by Uma Thurman's acting. It seemed hollow (makes me wonder what someone of Naomi Campbell's might would have done). She is constantly insecure. About her daughter, her marriage, about herself. And then comes something I couldn't imagine. Anybody possibly couldn't have. The slow motion sequences spread throughout the movie suddenly start making sense. A study of a heart filled with fear and guilt. A dream lost, a life destroyed, a perplexing requiem, recurring trauma. The life before her eyes.
"Heart is the strongest muscle in the body", Diana's professor had said.....The weak had to die.....the fear moves on..... fear of losing the loved ones..... the fear that happiness may be just an illusion..... the guilt of being alive is eternal..... the guilt of being a weak heart..... feeling of being unworthy of any happiness.....Such people die every moment.....it's not a feeling, it's a phenomenon, it's eternal.

I've invested myself so much in this motion picture, I need some sleep. I need to lie down. It has been painful.

Heart is the strongest muscle in the body.

Teeth

Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein
Year:2007
Cast: Jess Weixler
Rating: ** (out of ****)

Here's some trivia for you, 'Vendata' in Latin means teeth. You will know the significance after watching the movie. Moving on, there's a girl called Dawn obsessed with chastity and abstinence. Supposedly, she's taken a vow or something. So she teaches girl students about saving their 'apple' for 'the father of their children'. So everything is going fine till Dawn falls for a guy but then she realizes her mistake. The guy tries to force himself on her and something really weird happens. And the chronicles of teeth begin! Once Dawn realizes about her 'incredible gift', she starts using it against the people she hates (Ha Ha ...Surprise! It works according to her will or mood, probably).




This could be made into a good thriller, you know but the writer and director here don't even come close. Every incident is laughable, almost all of them. Hollywood is seriously running out of ideas now. "Mutation of female genitals", come on! Will you please get over that mutation stuff already?

It all becomes so ridiculous at a point when you may think it's indeed a comedy, particulrly the climax. I was actually laughing at the end.

Go for it, may be as a black comedy but never as a thriller.

Elegy

Director: Isabel Coixet
Year: 2008
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Penélope Cruz, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson.
Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)

When a person is young,he is carefree, jumping from one relationship to other thinking he has still got it. Things gradually change as he discovers something is missing, that pure feeling of love, admiration, camaraderie, that gentle touch. That makes one realize it was the testosterone talking. There's more to life than that.

Based on a book 'The Dying Animal' by Philip Roth, is a story of David Kepesh (Ben Kinsley) is a renowned cultural critic. He has everything but at this age (around 60) he could feel an emptiness. This is the time when he is bewitched by one of his Cuban student Consuela Castillo (Penélope Cruz). He falls for her 'elegant austerity', as he puts it. After the grades are declared, he meets her at a party. There are some beautiful moments between them here. Very carefully captured. A sexual tension filled across every frame is palpable. Things progress and his world is filled with that love he was looking for like forever, I guess. He has a friend George O'Hearn (Dennis Hopper) older than him with whom he usually plays squash and share the feelings.


There's no particular tone to the film in regard to the professor's life. You know what I mean? The film does not dwell at a particular aspect. Is it about a person's desires in second innings? yes. Is it about his unusual friendship? Yes. His obsession for the girl? Yes. No one answer. Still it says much more. All that is happening to him is an elegy, a requiem, a mourning. A very apt name for this creation. The one thing he loved beyond anything, and the destiny strikes. I won't divulge any further.

The beauty still lies in the narrative finesse and strong performances by all the principal characters. It took about a day for me to come to grips with this film. I hope it will be as memorable for you.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Director: Michael Moore
Year: 2004
Cast: George W. Bush (Him and him only)
Rating: ***1/2 (Out of ****)

One word to define this documentary, in my opinion, is Anti-Bush. Moore stresses the point heavily throughout that Bush is incompetent, naïve, manipulative, and sometimes plain stupid, president. My knowledge here may be inadequate, but I thought this was one sided. Let me tell you, I can't defend this point. If someone comes to me telling he liked it and this is the complete story, I might agree. See, knowing the whole story is not the point here, I think, trying to project an unbiased picture is. This surely does not happen here.
There are some utterly devastating instances where I couldn't control my emotions. One where an Iraqi woman cries for the death of her family. There's another heart-wrenching scene of a vehicle full of corpses of innocent Iraqi people and one man handling a child's body. An eye opener indeed.

To end this disturbingly effective documentary, Moore quote George Orwell, "It's not a matter whether a war is not real or it is, victory is not possible. A war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. A hierarchical society is only based on poverty and ignorance." Read it and read it again. The more you read it, the more sense it makes and the more unsettling it becomes. It has to stop somewhere, isn't it?

Crash

Director: David Cronenberg
Year: 1996/I
Cast: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Rosanna Arquette, Deborah Kara Unger
Rating: **1/2 (Out of ****)


What turns you on? For some it's shoes or nails or scars or your favorite perfume, some even have great sex in seemingly dangerous situations. Apparently, for some crashed cars and ghastly wounds due to the crash are a turn on. While the crash we witnessed in 2004 was about human lives crashing into each other, this crash is about car crashes and it's effects on sexual behavior.

As the opening credits start, you will hear a haunting score by Howard Shore. I was reminded of the opening score of Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. It creates apt atmosphere for what is following. The graphic images of accident wounds, uncomfortable close-ups of car crash may scare some viewers away. But that's quintessentially Cronerberg stuff. Sometimes Crash will remind you of some of David Lynch movies, or at least it's ambiance along with background score create that feel. Sans the surrealism, of course. The idea behind this movie is novel, no denying that, but it ultimately gets down to sex. I understand the point of the picture is people getting off at a crushed car, still Cronerberg fails to add some interesting angle to it.

Let me make this very clear, it is not for everyone. This is weird stuff. I mean, they look at a car and they are aroused, they look at a car accident wound, they get aroused, man! After such a promising and original idea the narration loses the track completely. The explicit sex shown isn't gratuitous, but after a while (once we get the point) it becomes boring and uninteresting.

Cloverfield

Director: Matt Reeves
Year: 2008
Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, T.J. Miller
Rating: ***1/2 (Out of ****)

This is, arguably, the best creature flick since Jurassic Park. I say Jurassic Park because I liked it for the same reasons I like Coverfield, novelty and creativity. We are there in the middle of a major crisis and for some time we even don't know the cause. The digital hand-held shaky camera achieves what it is set out to, the claustrophobic feel of an imminent danger bubbles us with cast members. Thus achieving the very intention, I think, of the filmmakers. There's this guy called Hud whose camera capture the entire movie. It's hard to imagine how a person can film everything when such an horrific attack is under way. But, hey, it's for you to watch. It's like your window to an alien attack

The production design is exquisite even if the camera understandably can't capture it completely. But the devastation is crated stupendously, much better than much hyped Godzilla. The special effects are excellent either but, you see, this movie is not about special effects, nor about the monster who attacks Manhattan. We even don't know what happens to the two survivors. I still believe I didn't quite understand the point of making such a movie but it works, it really does. This is very innovative effort, nothing short of a cinematic achievement, a movie not to be missed!

Dead Man Walking

Director: Tim Robbins
Year: 1995
Cast: Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon
Rating: **** (Masterpiece)


Let me tell you first, as a convict is led onto death row, the prison man shouts, "Dead man walking, dead man walking here."

A man named Elmo Patrick Sonnie (Sean Penn) is convicted for murder of a couple and a nun, Helen Prejean played by Susan Sarandon (She has become a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty) accepts the job as a spiritual advisor, and there are many questions. Was he guilty or was implicated? What prompted the nun to help such a person? Atonement, salvation, redemption, spirituality, these concepts are trickier than we perceive them to be.

Director Tim Robbins take this material to a different level altogether. He sometimes surprises you, sometimes leaves you speechless. None of this is manipulative. There's no formula, no melodrama, no shortcuts used to garner sympathy, what transpires on screen is, believe me, pure brilliance. Oh God! That pain, utter pain that as if it renders your fate hanging with his. A true spiritual odyssey. A must watch.

Babel

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Country: USA
Year: 2006
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Gael García Bernal
Rating: **** (Masterpiece)

My dictionary tells the meaning of 'Babel' as 'a confused medley of sounds'. Could it get any more close to the essence of this gem of a film? I don't think so. This world is filled with confused souls, shouting to get their 'sounds' heard. We all have become so judgmental by nature. We are always all set to judge others making us oblivious of our own mistakes. This movie doesn't do that, for one. It opens it's big heart for all of them, understands them and most importantly, loves them for who they are.

On a different note, I would have loved to see one story from India too. After all we have enough 'life' going on here. But I believe India is largely unknown to the western world. Some academicians and Noble laureates notwithstanding.

I think this a coming-of-age movie. It's about a Ukrainian village boy who is indulging in voyeurism, about a mute-deaf Japanese girl who is yet to come to grips with the 'outside world' as well as her own desires, about the mistakes of a average Mexican boy, and a dysfunctional American family rediscovering the relationship. But eventually it's much much more than it all. It's about the cries of confused and tormented souls, misunderstood (or never really understood) by others.

Fortunately Inarritu does not choose to leave them hopeless here as he did in his first installment of this powerful and engrossing trilogy, Amores Perros. He gives them hope, hope to stand again, share their grief, their pain, their feeling of entrapment.

Trois Couleurs: Rouge/ Three Colors: Red

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Country: Poland/ France
Year: 1994
Cast: Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant
Rating: **** (Masterpiece)


Ever wondered why a set of numbers repeats itself in decimals e.g. the value of π. As if the it has nothing to tell you. Our lives, oddly enough, have the tendency to repeat itself in some form. No, it's not déjà vu. No. It's more than that. Einstein said, I don't believe God operates this universe by throwing dice. Indeed true but then how? Is there any pattern to our existence? Do certain incidents or maybe images in our lives recur? If they do, why? Kieslowski is no ordinary director. By 'ordinary' I mean the following.
To certain filmmakers Cinema is entertainment to others just fun to some it's life. To Kieslowski it's all the more than that. It's a platform to question our behavior, our existence.

In this small universe we all are very far, out of our reach, like islands that desperately need intimacy. We are covered by some glass we can't break. A sense of isolation (that we experienced in Babel). A man's (here Kieslowski's) inner self is painfully fortified from others to reach. I personally have been experiencing it for as long I remember. That's something beyond words. No one reaches there and that empty void seems abysmal.

Here, in the end of this trilogy Kieslowski provide some hope. A hope that things will get normal, that the creator does believe in compensatory action. An act of balance. The three colors Blue. Red and White each defining some virtue of human existence namely Liberty, equality and fraternity. A window to explore existential ideas. Double lives and recurring images have always been central in Kieslowski's work. In Double life of Veronique, he dealt with the issue of double existence. I would request you to watch these movies with audio commentary on a DVD. It's a beautiful shot-by-shot explanation of elaborate use of light, symbols, sound and of course colors by Kieslowski and cinematographer Poitr Sobocinski. An intelligent explanatio by film critic Annette Insdorf. But don't go for it in the first viewing as it may be distracting.