Khuda Kay Liye

A friend suggested this film saying this is the movie that Shoot on Sight could have been. Like the former this film too tries to extrapolate the perilous situation Pakistanis / Muslims are in all over the world, with the Islamic fundamentalists encroaching up on progressive minds. The storyline is two pronged with the happenings in the lives of two brothers across continents are juxtaposed to highlight this. But in spite of the strong hard hitting content the film appears distant and doesn't engage the viewer. The script could have been easily blamed for this but Naseeruddin Shah's cameo showed the issue lay with the dialog delivery of the other so called actors!

Rating: * *

Just Another Love Story

Jonas (Anders W. Berthelsen) grew up wanting to be a photographer framing sceneries and landscapes. Adulthood finds him leading a humdrum life as a police photographer with a wife and two kids. The only thing that his lenses frame are dead bodies. Everything turns topsy turvy when runs in to Julia (Rebecka Hemse) in a car crash. An awkward circumstances finds himself slipping in to the skin of her boyfriend. And so the film ventures in to existential angst territory only to disappointingly drift away in to the thriller area. Maybe it was the initial expectation that did me in with this finely crafted movie. Expectation is indeed the mother of all disappointments.

Rating: * *

Waltz with Bashir

A pack of feral dogs tear across an anonymous street striking terror in the hearts of the pedestrians. If at all your mind was wandering this scene will snap it  back in place. From there on you venture in to the mind of Ari Folman in his quest to bring back his buried memories of the Lebanon War. A unique use of animation in an almost documentary like fashion to portray the scars a war leaves behind on the human psyche.

Rating: * * +

Revolutionary Road

A couple struggles with the emptiness and hopelessness of their suburban existence. They find a solution for it but life gets in their way. A film that reminded me of The Shawshank Redemption in that both features deal with people trying to be free. Except in Shawshank the prison walls are well defined and freedom lies yonder.

Rating: * * * +

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The story of a man who is born old and dies young. He grows younger as every body around him ages. If only the story focused more on the dichotomy of the situation rather than treating it with a banal focus. But yet when a long film keeps you in your seat, one has to give it; its due.

Rating: * * +

Timecrimes

Héctor (Karra Elejalde) stumbles in to the past and meets himself, setting off events that slowly spin out of control. A film that expose the complexities involved with time travel through a simple plot.

Rating: * * +

What Doesn't Kill You

Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Ethan Hawke) have lived a life of crime since their teens. Now a struggling father and husband, Brian wants to go straight to show that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. But somehow the film fails to create a connection with the viewer and ends up tasting like commercial American beer.

Rating: * *

Maborosi

Yumiko's lasting childhood memory is that of her grandmother's disappearance. Adulthood finds her drifting in to an arranged marriage after her husband's suicide. Slowly she grows to love the fisherman she marries. But the ghost of her first husband's suicide returns to haunt her. She like many of us keeps postponing her goodbyes... another meditative film from Hirokazu Koreeda.

Rating: * * +

Special

Les leads an empty existence as a parking attendant. To infuse some activity in his lethargic life, he signs up for a drug study that promises to make its takers truly special. It makes Les a super hero. He quickly quits his job to focus his new powers towards helping society. Or maybe it is all in his head...

Rating: * * +

Eden

A marriage so down the drain that the participants don't even have dangling conversations. Breda (Eileen Walsh) holds on hoping their 10th anniversary will rekindle the missing spark. Billy (Aidan Kelly) walks around drinking like the living dead, having sexual fantasies with younger women. There is nothing more to say but so much more to observe.

Rating: * * *

Pokkiri

Tamizh (Vijay) is a small time rowdy who does anything for anyone as long as the price is right. Shruthi (Asin) is an innocent girl who falls for him in spite of all his "bad" qualities. Throw in a few "item" numbers and some horrible comedy from Vadivelu and you should have a down right unwatchable flick. But if watched in a mob with those chosen bits fast forwarded, Vijay a.k.a Chinna Dalapathi (small Rajini) converts it in to a time pass movie. BTW, this was directed by our Indian MJ, Prabhu Deva!

Rating: * +

Shoot on Sight

The aftermath of the July 7th bombings in London leads to Scotland Yard issuing an shoot on sight order on people suspected of terrorist activities. Predictably innocent blood is shed. Command Tariq Ali (Naseeruddin Shah) is assigned to investigate the incident. Family conflicts and work pressures mount as the road blocks mount around his inquiry. A film that ponders the changing life for Muslims in this post 9/11 world but proceeds down a very beaten path.

Rating: * *

The Class

The scene is a school in a tough 'hood in Paris. The characters are predominantly students and their teachers. The students are real and not actors. What it results is in a very real look at the delicate student - teacher relationship in current times. It also bring to the fore front, the struggle schools are having dealing with multi-racial build up of their classes. François Bégaudeau brings his book to life in this quasi documentary with touching authenticity where he plays himself.

Rating: * * +

Synecdoche, New York

Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman ) leads a "normal" life as play director. His painter wife, Adele (Catherine Keener) feels disconnected from him and his daughter thinks he is a little strange. Adele takes off to Berlin for a show with the daughter in tow to get some alone time. With his wife departure,  Caden is welcomed with a genius grant to make a production of a life time. He proceeds to convert a giant warehouse in to a miniature Manhattan. This is when Charlie Kaufman introduces his trademark mind bend and things go to pretentious shite. Or maybe I have just outgrown Kaufman...

Rating: *

Mayookham

Pathetic film about an angry young man and a hot girl who tries to right his ways.

Rating: +

Kaattukuthira

Kochuvava's (Thilakan) earliest memory is that of the body of his father, brutally slaughtered by the local Nambudiris for sexual transgression with one of the daughters from the tharavadu. Growing up, he works hard and ruthlessly makes himself in to a rich man of the village. Now his only aim is to bring shame and suffering to the already crumbling Nambudiri illam. Considered to be one of Thilakan's finest roles, I came away feeling he has played better parts in films that have even finer story lines.

Rating: * *

The Host

A strange creature emerges from the Han river and causes havoc on its banks in Seoul. It then proceeds to make off with a teenage girl, Hyun-seo Park (Ko Ah-sung) much to the horror of her family. The Park family is determined to bring her back no matter the cost. A brilliant satirical take on the political climate in South Korea is couched in this bizarre monster flick by Bong Joon-ho.

Rating: * * +

Humboldt County

Straight laced Peter (Jeremy Strong) flunks out of his medical course and finds himself amidst pot farmers after he follows his one night stand to the Lost Coast. Rudderless and lost in life, he find himself warming up to the gentle folk around him the wilderness of California. And sometimes all you need is a bit of weed to get you back on track...

Rating: * * *