THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD AND HIS NAME IS DEATH – SPOILER ALERT GAME OF THRONES IS BAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKKK !!!!
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Why “BOYHOOD” should win BEST PICTURE
Switching off from cricket for one night all eyes will be on the Oscars on Feb.22 and I hope that Boyhood will win the Best Movie statuette.
Starting off as a project – filmed over 12 years Richard Linklater’s labor of love is the definitive time capsule of a lot of our childhoods. It charts the growth of Mason who begins the film as a young child and ends it as an 18-year-old on the cusp of college. Along the way, his growth is juxtaposed with that of his separated parents and his older sister, and also evolution of tons of pop and real culture !! For instance, at one point, Mason and his dad agree there should be no more Star Wars films after the prequels, an excellent joke on the upcoming films made even more amusing by the fact that no one involved could have known more were coming when the scene was filmed… An interesting fact, they shot the President Obama scenes when he was still running and hadn’t actually won. There are tons of such instances of foresight which made the film in the making for 12 years still relevant today.
It’s the subtle accrual of details, argues Linklater, that defines a life, not the big moments. Instead of wedding ceremonies and clichéd depictions of awkward virginity loss, Linklater luxuriates in the minutiae: a cruelly enforced haircut here, a trip to the bowling alley there, camping trips, sibling arguments, the first day at a new school, a first kiss, lying about sex, making awkward friendships and so much more. The perfect definition of adolescent life (if it had a definition) – it just happens …
2 words sum up this film “Casually Complex” and its a feat that will almost surely never be replicated in the annals of cinema again. “Boyhood” is a singular, masterful work of art. Linklater and his team have done something incredibly difficult and made it look effortless. The result is easily one of the best films of the year.
So in conclusion on the 22nd of February hopefully there will be two winners —- India will triumph over South Africa in Australia and Boyhood will trump all the other nominees for Best Picture in Hollywood.. Also being a stock market participant – Full disclosure – I have wagered a small sum of money on both my picks. (You know where the party is on the 23rd if either/both win !!)
SAUMIL BHANSHALI
The power of the pen(cil) – as seen on #banksy
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
If you scoffed at the pretentiousness of the title, perhaps dont see the movie, but if you were intrigued by it – you will be entranced by the magic of Alejandro Inarritu’s film-making…..
Life is weird. It’s frequently disturbing and often downright depressing. But there are moments when human beings attempt to do something beyond our selves in an effort for redemption. And whether we succeed or not, it’s the undertaking that forgives us. This philosophy is at the core of Birdman…. Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, who once ruled Hollywood as the star of a superhero franchise – he was the titular Birdman – but whose career crumbled when he balked at making a third sequel. So now here’s a washed-up action hero seeking to validate himself as an artist by staging a Broadway play based on the work of Raymond Carver.
Technically the film is superb. On screen we’re watching what appears to be a continuous take that snakes through the narrow backstage spaces, massive auditoriums, rooms, Times Square, a bar and more without stopping…. In many instances you will wonder where the cameraman would have been to take the shot…
There’s no shielding yourself from the percussive score, with its shattered beats and crescendoing chaos enhancing the contagion of Riggan’s mental state.
Someone or many on the technical side should start preparing their acceptance speeches… Antonio Sanchez – music, Emmanuel Luzbeki – cinematography, Inarritu – direction.. Also the ensemble cast works. So while it won’t win Best Movie since its not great “great” there is no denying that the movie is a work of art.. Art needs to be appreciated since the Earth without art is just Eh…
On the flip side this movie is definitely not for everybody, only for a niche demographic.
Circling back to the beginning – if the title and the concept appeals to you then only go for it – keeping in mind that art has a relatively lower entertainment factor than some trash…
In conclusion if a ticket at the multiplex costs Rs. 300 this movie is worth Rs. 300 for those who will see it with the right mindset… Like a majority of critics have written – “Birdman is a work of great ambition, a unique and beautifully executed vision that celebrates the creative soul.”
SAUMIL BHANSHALI
American Sniper
A little more Bradley Cooper, A little less everything else…..
Clint Eastwood returns to solid form with this tale of the real life exploits of Chris Kyle, a United States Navy SEAL who was awarded the dubious title of most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.
A stark, powerfully-acted drama featuring a career-best turn from Bradley Cooper.
The story is wafer-thin , not even worth getting into…. School essays on Kyle would have more depth. But this is all about the two men – one behind the camera and the other in front who are on top of their games…
Both the action scenes and the scenes at “home” are filmed with extraordinary spatial clarity – very much filmmaking 101
Its because of these two “heroes” that despite its missteps, American Sniper is still a powerful, deftly pulled-off film which works more as a competent character study of a single-minded man, and less as a lesson on war and its aftermath.
In conclusion, if a ticket at a multiplex costs Rs.300 this movie is worth every penny if you treat it as a movie and not some deeper meditation on war….
SAUMIL BHANSHALI
FREEDOM !!!!
Having been released from my contractual obligations with respect to Maxim and Switch magazines I am now free to post my thoughts here …..
ZERO DARK THIRTY
ZERO DARK THIRTY
ZDT is more of a chronicler of events leading to (Beware – Spoiler Ahead !!!!!!!) the death of Osama Bin Laden. While the final picture is always known to the audience, the fun lies in how the jigsaw pieces come together over the 2hour 37minute runtime to form the final picture. If you’re in the mood for brainless twists and illogical turns watch an Abbas-Mustan flick instead.
There is absolutely nothing new in the plot, nothing that the papers haven’t regurgitated over and over again. Right from the inhumane torture methods employed to the final violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, everything has been documented.
What’s new though is the ref
reshing treatment given to the docu-drama by Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to have won Oscars for both Best Picture and Best Director for Hurt Locker. This time round though, its difficult for this Mark Boal written and produced film to get Best Picture since there is little by way of suspense. Infact compared to Argo, it appears substantially less entertaining as well. (And we know the 3 things that sell movies in India – Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment – courtesy The Dirty Picture). Few actually refer to this as Anti-Pop !!!!
Make no mistake though, I highly recommend this movie, for all cinephiles and especially budding directors for it’s a crash course in how detailing and painstaking research can elevate the material, keeping the audience interested even though they know what’s happening next.
This is a singular film. We see what is happening, and we’re allowed to have our own thoughts about it, and to carry them with us out of the theatre. It’s a movie that follows you home. It makes an impact with hardly any preaching. Very, very subtly the point is made that torture almost always resulted in wrong information. Bribery (a Lamborghini, no less !!!) has better results, but there is no substitute for hours spent poring over files and re-going over the details…. That’s where the real intelligence is gathered from.
Starting off with a black screen and 9/11 recordings perfectly sets the stakes for the decade long hunt. Quickly moving from CIA Black Sites around the world to Pakistan to Afghanistan to Washington and culminating in the Abbotabad raid at zero dark thirty (military speak for 12.30 AM), the movie unfolds like a razor blade – sharp and direct. No unwanted side plots or indulgent scenes here. No ideology or politics here. Only honesty. Just the facts which inevitably pulls the audience into ambiguous moral territory.
No decent human could fully agree with the American methods to counter terrorism, but there is no sugarcoating here. The movie has presented the terrorists and the search for them as it is in real life – cruel, controversial, cold blooded, corrupt and almost cannibalistic (in the sense that human lives have little value in this war on terror)….. There are many scenes where the line between those carrying out terrorism and those attempting to refute it grows increasingly tricky to discern.
The last 40 minutes are right on riveting. You’ll forget you are in a movie theater once the helicopters take off, instead you will be riding shotgun on one of the most famous missions in history. Bigelow does not resort to romanticism or flag- waving sensationalism to make the finale more palatable.
The protagonist Maya is a uni-dimensional character with no apparent family and no real friends. Jessica Chastain’s portrayal of the obsessive CIA analyst deserves an Oscar and she will get it.
In conclusion, if a ticket at a multiplex costs Rs. 300, this movie is worth the money. Watch it, if only for the history lesson…….Like Michael Crichton has eloquently put “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. ”
SAUMIL BHANSHALI
LIFE OF PI
LIFE OF PI – WORTH LIVING THROUGH !!!!
Don’t wait for the DVD unless you have a 21 by 9 Metres Television set with inbuilt 3D !!!!!
Forget the story watch it for the incredible indelible impactful imprint left on your eyes during its 127 minute duration.
Ang Lee(Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) is a sorcerer, for the book on which this movie is based on was supposed to be “unfilmable”. Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger, weirdly named Richard Parker. Allegorically the movie adaptation too has taken many days to see the light of day. (2005 was when M.Night Shyamalan was approached to direct it !!)
Comparisons could be made to other single actor survivor silver screen shows like 127 Hours or Castaway. While these two do have emotionally richer and more accessible screenplays they don’t even come close to the transcendent sublime imagery shown in this movie. Truly Ang Lee has redefined “cool” with the effects and CGI on display.
Adapted for the screen by David Magee, the movie is framed as an extended conversation between a frustrated novelist (Rafe Spall) and the title character (played by Irrfan Khan in the framing device) — who shortened his original name Piscine (French for “swimming pool”) to avoid the taunts of his schoolmates — the narrative begins with Pi’s early years in Pondicherry, India, where his father ran the local zoo. The first act of “Life of Pi” shows him always fascinated with aspects of various religions, choosing parts of each in which to believe. Soon however a teenaged Pi (Suraj Sharma) is faced with a Titanic-like disaster and finds himself in a predicament now well known to anyone who has seen the trailers or even the posters….
Stuck on a lifeboat with a most unreliable coterie of critters, Pi’s odyssey defines the word spectacular. The second act is littered with lush imagery and richly detailed seascapes. If these scenes could be paused and framed and auctioned in Sotheby’s, I’m sure they would make enough money to fund the movie’s $70 million budget !!!!
And so onto the third and perhaps the weakest of the acts. It does not lead to a crescendo of intellectual and spiritual elation, like the book. Just bringing up God and faith and presenting them with visual style is not enough. Say something about religion. Say something about God. “Life of Pi” thinks it’s a deep meditation about faith but it’s really not. The book is infinitely richer. Seems like the filmmakers were exhausted by the time the conclusion came around. If only the themes were as deeply thought out as the visuals, this would certainly be one of the Oscar favorites. But all’s forgiven because of the “eye-gasmic” feast we have gorged on for the major part of the movie.
Also , as Ang Lee spelt out in one of his interviews, sometimes like faith, the movie works better when we believe it in our souls rather than when its spelt out on screen before us. As TIME Magazine says, “Magical realism was rarely so magical and never before so real than when you see this movie”
Acting kudos to the CGI team for the best tiger since Sherkhan, and also to the 17 year old Suraj Sharma who in his debut puts in a cracker of a performance. Note how he loses weight and changes physically as his ordeal continues.
In conclusion, if a ticket at a multiplex costs Rs. 300, this movie is worth the entire price of admission to a cinema. It is definitely worth seeing and the viewer would do absolute injustice to oneself if its not seen on a 21 X 9 meter screen with 3D glasses.
— SAUMIL BHANSHALI
SKYFALL
SKYFALL Old dog, New Tricks !!!
Girls – The female lead is all of 77 years old ! A seasoned vintage indeed !!
Gadgets – A gun and a radio (nothing else not even an exploding pen)!!
Gas guzzlers – A throwback to the old days – a 1960 vintage Aston martin DB5 !!!
Yes, this Bond(Daniel Craig) is different. In the capable hands of Sam Mendes (American Beauty) he has been deconstructed and like he himself says, resurrected. After the 23rd installment spanning 50 years the audience can safely conclude that Britain’s national treasure is in safe hands.
Bond films are a genre unto themselves and any new entrant is always measured up against the previous ones. So not everything is different – Chart topping – title song? Check. Thrilling, thumping, talismanic, telekinetic opening sequence? Check. Exotic locales ? Double Check (Turkey and China) Scenery chewing psychopathic villain? Triple Check (Javier, Javier and Javier Bardem). Infact while casting for the role of the villain, Mendes had lobbied hard for Bardem to accept the part. In preparing for the role, Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish in order to better-understand his character, which Mendes cited as being a sign of the actor’s commitment to the film.
Starting off with a subtle nod to the Wikileaks furore, cyber-terrorists have stolen a hard drive containing a complete list of NATO operatives embedded in secret operations all over the world. The trail leads Bond from the bazaars of Istanbul to the casinos of Macau, culminating in a fabulous confrontation with a flamboyant (for want of a better adjective) villain on a far out island !!
The brooding Bond is perfectly played by the craggy Craig with a rugged roughness, definitely shaken not stirred !! He almost dies before the opening credits come on, and a number of times thereafter. Embittered, battered, aged, shaken, stirred, shot and surprise, surprise with permanent stubble.
M, too is frostier and fighting harder for her survival than ever. She is under attack from without and under scrutiny from within. All the while the psychopath stays few steps ahead of them. So far, so dark, so bitter but so very, very good. A chest wound, shaky trigger fingers, advancing age may have slowed James down physically but this is a more intelligent Bond and infinitely more relatable.
A third act which emphasises more on character development rather than an action set-piece will no doubt come as a letdown to most movie-goers. And this represents the major flaw in the sense that it gives us an impression of less bang for our bucks.. The final script which was written by Bond screenwriting regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade finds it difficult to give the devil his deserved desserts.
Thanks to lensman Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner, the locales have never looked better be it a Shanghai skyscraper rippled by neon advertising or a Scottish highland home nestled amongst moors.
Of the cast, as you would have guessed Craig, Bardem and Dench are outstanding. Support cast in the form of Ralph Fiennes, as a Brit bureaucrat, Naomie Harris, as an MI6 agent, Ben Whishaw as Q and Berenice Marlowe as a sexy siren Severine are more than adequate. Only Albert Finney is wasted in a role which doesn’t really make any sense.
Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have produced a triumphant re-boot of the spy series. Oh yes, the world’s favorite franchise is well and truly secure and will definitely win itself a whole new generation/legion of fans with Skyfall.
In conclusion, if a ticket at a multiplex costs Rs. 300, this movie is definitely worth every penny and would have been more had the climax been more conventional.
SAUMIL BHANSHALI
STUDENT OF THE YEAR
This Student could have got a “B”
High School – the template of many a purported new age film…… KJo’s version might have new faces, “new” songs” and newer clothes but it’s the same old anorexic script in a shiny new wardrobe !!!!
In fact it could be SOTY 1992 or 2012… This is not a compliment on the timelessness of the movie rather a reflection on the datedness of the stories and ideas presented…. The centerpiece of which is the competition involving academics, dancing, a treasure hunt (yeah, seriously could have been in SOTY 1972 too) and a triathlon to prove which student is indeed the “Jackass” of all trades !!
It’s a shame because Karan Johar is one of the few directors who can elicit super performances from his actors. This time like most times he is let down by Karan Johar the screenwriter. The koffee is presented in exquisite cutlery but is very weak and definitely needs less sugar. Although hailing from the same genre it needs some spine from “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar”, some originality from “3 Idiots” and some humour from “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na”.
Cinema involving excessive (over)enthusiastic escapism, expressing exaggerated emotions is KJo’s forte and is amply reflected in the set design, the school and its students. The story is that of Abhimanyu Singh [Sidharth Malhotra] and Rohan Nanda [Varun Dhawan], who traverse the well-trodden path of competition, loyalty, friendship, love, envy, heartbreak, failure and triumph in St. Teresa’s High School, Dehradun (in exactly that order, and no, its not a spoiler if the whole thing is already telegraphed in the promos !!). Abhimanyu comes from a middle-class family and is hungry for prosperity, the first step to which will be the ‘Student Of The Year’ trophy, while Rohan Nanda is the son of a business tycoon , who is made to feel that winning the ‘Student Of The Year’ trophy will bag him Papa’s approval. They also compete for the affections of Shanaya Singhania [Alia Bhatt] playing the perfect naïve, innocent high-school sweetheart.
Team “Abhi” and team “Ro” in Saint T’s (in keeping with the “cool” factor) are supported by an absolutely unnecessary cast of extras which include a Barbie, a Motu, a She-man and a spoon(chamcha) and assorted bimbos and himbos speaking mumbo jumbo…… Considering the screen presence of the three protagonists this cast of extras seems superfluous and simply jars the cinematic flow. When the koffee tastes good pure it’s a waste to ruin it by adding extra ingredients. Infact the coach (Ronit Roy), the flamboyant dean (Rishi Kapoor) and the tyrant tycoon (Ram Kapoor) who have all acted very well could easily have been given more screen time than the faltu friends. But then there’s the “dude” demographic to cater to.
What’s refreshing and what will certainly pull in the teeny bopper crowds is the lead trio. The debutantes are true next-gen stars. Full credit to the styling by Manish Malhotra to make them truly photogenic. Their acting is also sublime, infact some of the “non-versations” they have show that they have grasped even the subtle nuances of their craft. Bereft of star-baggage their talent is mint-fresh and a treat to experience.
Cinematography by Ayananka Bose is sleek, under her and Karan’s touch even a rhino in the frame would be made to look like a unicorn. Dialogues by Niranjan Iyengar are lazy but yet have a youthful touch to them so they don’t look out of place. The lyrics of the songs could have definitely been better ….. “Ishqwala love” …… come on you’re just setting yourself up for the parody “Gaanewala song”. The music by Vishal-Shekhar is first rate. Not only does the score compliment the mood while you’re watching the film, it also has repeat value.
Like I said before if you ignore the story, the direction by Karan Johar is fantastic. You feel light and satisfied at the way the movie’s been presented. KJo is definitely the “king joker” maker of our generation and we need him to direct way more movies than he produces !!!
To sum up if a regular multiplex ticket costs Rs. 300 this movie is worth Rs. 200, Rs.150 for the terrific triple debut and Rs. 50 for the music videos DVD.
SAUMIL BHANSHALI