Missing

Another film in the endless parade of South Korean thrillers, sees a supposed feeble old man in the outskirts of a sleepy South Korean town picking up young beautiful women as his pets. The only difference being that he treats his dogs and chickens with way more empathy. More torture horror than thriller, the film's production quality is on the lower side but the atmosphere created by the director does keep you taunt and guessing.

Rating: * * 

Big Fan

Paul Aufeiro is a full time parking garage attendant, but his real job is that of a hardcore New York Giants fan.  He goes the full distance for the team, tailgating at the stadium during games and calling into talkshows to defend his team. He does all this while living with his mother and jerking off in silence giving you the sense he is a loser with a misplaced unrequited love. This is brought to the forefront when he is assaulted in a club by his favorite player. It throws his life into a loop as he finds himself struggling to deal with his team's downturn thanks to the incident. A tragic comedy that makes you question and wonder about the mental health of rabid sport fans all around the world.

Rating: * * +

The Lunchbox

Saajan Fernandes (Irfan Khan) is gearing up for retirement from his sleepy accounting job from a firm that is stuck in the past. Mourning his dead wife, he starts wading into the mists of after work life. This is when he finds a new spice entering his life through the lunchbox delivered by the famous Mumbai dabbawala service. The service that prides itself for never making a delivery error, ends up giving Saajan the lovely cooking of Ila who is a struggling housewife  yearning for the love of her disinterested husband. 

Interwined in this story is Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), Sajan's replacement at the firm, who starts off as an irritant to everyone but slowly makes his way to the viewer's heart. That sort of acting is hard to come by these days and Mr. Siddiqui's talent needs to be nurtured and given more exposure. Then there is Ila's invisible neighbor whose voice conveys so much more than what some actors convey with their faces. Throw in another appendage from the past; handwritten letters, and you have a romantic film that reminds one of Wong Kar Wai during his better days. 

Rating: * * * +