Chennayil Oru Naal

Rips From Mexico and Los Angeles with Love.

Concepts, sequences and premise have been cut from Ammores Perres, Babel, 21 Grams and Biutiful and mixed with the premise of Speed and pasted on to Mollywood assembly plant and exported to Kollywood.

The director has managed to recreate Innaritu's magic partly and has been imaginative enough to add the premise of Speed but has not been inventive enough in recreating the adrenalin rush of Speed.

In all fairness to the director, the narrative is engaging, philosophical and thought provoking, except for a pathetic climax. A lot of competent actors and a standout performance from Jayaprakash. With whatever little space he gets he manages to pull the carpet from under my feet!!!! I do not have any explanation for the sheer joy of seeing him on the screen.

Django Unchained

An appalling Free Fall

With an Oscar, Golden Globe and a BAFTA for original Screenplay tucked under its belt, its is only natural to go with soaring expectations. Have the standards for the revered awards become so pathetic?  Watching the movie is a horrifying free fall that takes you to undiscovered abyss in movie making.

Jamie returning to rescue his wife in the climax has all the smacking of 'B'  Grade Tamil movie, especially after he walks out of out of the house after blowing it seems straight out of a Vijay or Vijaykanth  film.  Sando Chinilnappa Devar would have been happy to have seen the horse dancing at the end in Tarentino movie. Curiously Jamie Fox also does well to imitate Thalaivar Rajini's shtyle of cooling glasses.

Will Smith seems to have been the initial choice for Jamie Fox, and he seems to have turned it down. Smart Will. The characterization and the writing for a protagonist could have never been more inept.

Caprio, Jackson and Christoph have definite meat in their roles. Christoph Waltz verbal chatter had some resemblance with the more clever and intense Hans Landa in the Basterds. Caprio is in his inimitable style and carries himself with his usual charisma. However I thought Samuel Jackson's character was brilliant. 

Yes, there were some special Tarentinesque moments like the one involving the Ku Klux Klan and a Gladiator like sequence packed.

A long ultra violent movie raking in 413 million dollars at box office and bestowed with all possible honorary awards, Where is this dear

Kumbh Mela, 'Aravaan' and The National Film Awards

While the newspapers and TV Channels explode with stories of distress and our journey on this planet hurtling towards an abyss of hopelessness, there was an extraordinary story of a glimmer of hope that the Indian ethos of empathy and value of life still exists.

In a corner of The Hindu, in Chennai, there was an Advertisement of significant size, 15 days after the incident, that two bodies of  dead people in the recent stampede in the Kumbh Mela remain unclaimed by the relatives. Significant resources must have been spent by the Kumbh Committee to advertise far and wide in all parts of the country to try its best to enable the relatives to claim the bodies. 

This sequence a real life incident,  reminded me of the similar sequence in 'Aravaan', a Tamil Film, based on Su. Venkatesan's Kaval Kottam which went on to win the Sahitya Academy Award. The concern displayed by the elder in the village and the intense effort to ensure that the dead body to the family of the deceased remain etched in your memory. 

Incidentally Su. Venkatesan's play covers 600-700 years of the people who safeguarded the city. Vasanthabalan's effort was to adapt a slice of that history.

What has this got to do with the National Film Awards? I was quite disappointed that such a monumental effort of Vasanthabalan went unrewarded, the sweep and the scope of the epic effort, in terms of adapting such a huge novel is monumental. While OMG was quite enjoyable, the best adapted screenplay should have gone to 'Aravaan'.

I would have also hoped for "Vazahkku Enn 18/9", "Paradesi", "Arohanam", "Eega" and "Gangs of Wasseypur" to win some more awards.

Vathikuchi

Tamil Cinema, Just One Step away from arriving.

In Tamil Cinema, The technicians are firmly in grip, there are no great need for established heroes. IN the last two years, even Appu Kutty(For people who do not follow Tamil Cinema, he is a character actor who is reasonably non descript)  has managed to earn the hero's spot. The only reason Appu Kutty donned the role was because the role demanded it.

Tamil Cinema has also displayed a great understanding of the common man, their aspirations  and their lifestyle, The locations are authentic lending a realism to the narrative.

You can also experience a conscious effort on the part of the filmmakers to bring a fresh narrative style to each of the films.

Vathikuchi simmers with extraordinary potential and few of the action blocks are directed with pin pointed precision to the jugular. 

What stops Vathikuchi from realising its potential is the obsession of Indian/Tamil films with the Mandatory Love Story. 

Lakshmi Ramakarishnan set an example of making a film in 77 minutes with Arohanam. Wednesday was just 90 minutes.

If only Vathikuchi was between 80 to 90 minutes plus the climax improved, this would have been one helluva of a movie!!.

Mother's Day Out

Some of you may remember that in my posts, I had been critical of Life of Pi. However, my sister who lives outside Chennai has been in raptures after seeing Life of Pi and insisted that my Mom see Pi. Hence I had to make it a reluctant second time.

Surprise 1: The movie is running in two screens in Chennai. I did not get a ticket for the Sunday show. I just managed to scrape through and got the tickets at PVR today, At Escape I could not get tickets for a Monday show. For an art house movie which is almost running for the last four- five months, the full house was a big surprise.

Surprise 2: The appeal of Pi. Given that it is a visual treat and aesthetic in many ways, one wonders, how a film which is so subtle, sophisticated, literary, with very little twists and turns, with almost zero drama and phenomenally verbose and boring climax has managed to strike a chord with such a large section of people.

In my last review, I had dismissed the movie as Pi converges to zero. There are few revisions in my observations, I do not think I was turned on by the first forty minutes as much as I did when I saw the movie the first time, neither was I as bored in the second half as I felt the first time.

I was quite touched when Pi has the almost dying Richard Parker, the Tiger on his Lap. The lament of Pi about the several untold Good Bye's was quite touching as well.

An earnest and sincere effort which seems to have gone down well with me the second time(The climax however remains a monumental letdown).

Having said that I am still in mourning for Steve not winning the Best Picture and the Best Director award for Lincoln.

Oh! yes. My Mother did quite enjoy it!!!!

Paradesi

I endorse your Anger nay Rage, Bala

I was quite iffy about seeing this film since there were widespread reviews of the movie dripping in melancholy.

Thematically this may not be a period film, this quite contemporary.

Has colonialism not been replaced by neo-colonialism? Have the Microsofts, the Googles, Apples, and the other technology companies not taken the place of East India Company? Our New 'Kanganiars" are represented by the large IT and ITES service organization. What is the environment under which most of the employees work in large corporations. Indians remain servile. We do not create value. We capture value.

Commerce rules the roost and the stock markets determines the fates of cogs in the machines. Financial performance quarter on quarter is the prime determinant of existence and survival. Therefore most of the employees live in servitude and insensitivity is a rampant world wide phenomenon. Everything is commerce including Religion.

Bala lays a beautiful foundation in a flawless first half to set up a brutal no holds barred display of unadulterated rage in the second half. Remember, Bharati's saying, Even if a single man does not have food, let us destroy this universe. With the kind of madness around, anybody with an ounce of sensitivity is bound to cut loose and Bala, blessed with tonnes of it, does so in style.

GV Prakash music is very very special. It kind of intertwines with narrative elegantly and adds to the mood. One will have to listen to it over and over again to digest the magnificence.

For the courage and conviction to craft a movie of great quality and with no commercial element in it, for the tremendous thought process and the extraordinary work, for the wit, sarcasm, sensitivity and infinite rage, Hats of to you, Bala!!!!

For me there was not an ounce of melancholy, I was quite delirious with Joy.

Kai Po Che

Not to be missed

Is set amongst real people like us and amidst real events. While the tale of love and forgiveness lingers in the backdrop, the movie is a tribute to the innate inability of mankind to accept defeat. Such is the design of creation.

The narrative is paced to savour the journey of the protagonists. Gentle, Coherent, Subtle, Optimal, Clever and Responsible.The blood and gore of the aftermath of the riots are very sensitively portrayed. An object lesson for the other film makers who believe violence brings home their bread.

Congratulations to the entire team for pulling this 'unsensationally' sensational film.