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: * * * + 

My Wedding and Other Secrets

Emily (Michelle Ang), a dorky New Zealand born Chinese undergrad, finds James (Matt Whelan) the love of her dreams while doing some bad foil fencing. The only problem is that James has not a drop of Chinese blood in him which is a criteria for acceptance in to Emily's straight laced Chinese family. The solution that seems logical to the couple is to get married in secret and hide it from the parents. You are then treated ninety minutes of whining as they figure out a way for a white man to gain acceptance in to a Chinese family. And no, learning kung-fu is not an option. That might have actually made the film a bit more funny instead of this trite affair that passes off as romance.

Rating: *

Neelathamara

Many a mallu boy has dreamed of a beautiful young woman showing up as the household help and falling to his wiles. Typically the situation ends badly with the woman getting screwed over and having to move on with a wad of cash and bad memories. One would think that such a story would be crass and without enough nuance to be made in to a film. That his where the genius of M. T. Vasudevan Nair rears its head as he weaves this simple tale in to a masterpiece. Well almost... he enters an avenue that could have been explored so much more but he decides it is a dead end without walking its entire length. And yet the film has a grace and poignancy to it that is not easily achievable.

Rating: * * +

Almost Perfect

Vanessa (Kelly Hu) is supposedly an overworked and badly dressed NGO professional with an insanely demanding family. Her life is so busy that she has no time for a relationship. All that changes when Mr. Right shows up in the guise of her kid brother’s best friend. Soon a tiresome romance ensues with myriad of forced problems that leaves you wanting to tear your hair out. The only hope is to focus on the stunning Ms. Hu who fails miserably in trying to look plain. Even more painful was the after film question and answer session with the director Bertha Pan, who obviously needs a crash course in South East Asia cinema. It is a wonder that this film was short listed for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2011.

Rating: *

Intimacy

Jay and Claire meet every Wednesday for a roll in the haystack. The encounters seem casual, devoid of emotion and sexually intense. However as it is the wont in the such situations feelings creep in and the couple careen towards an unfriendly place...

Rating: * *

Frontier of Dawn

A film about love and passion between a photographer and two different women. Francios (Louis Garrel) is smitten by Carole (Laura Smet) during a photo shoot and they become fast lovers. As she fades away from his life Eve (Clémentine Poidatz) takes her place. As things progress between the two, the ghost of Carole's love returns to haunt Francios. A very watchable film but at the end of it you are left wondering if it was worth effort of staying in your couch to take it in.

Rating: * *

Delhi 6

Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) comes to India accompanying his grandmother (Waheeda Rehman) who wants spend her last days in the Chandini Chowk district, where her life began. The magical Old Delhi area is show in its full pomp. Soon the very hot and bubbly Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) enters the scene and love is in the air. But what should have been a decent and immensely watchable commercial flick is turned in to garbage by the intrusion of the Kala Bandar. On its heels comes communal strife and the film starts to wander around without an anchor. Even the strong supporting cast led by Om Puri cannot save the day for this move that ends up in no mans land between a political drama and a love story.

Rating: * +

Beauty in Trouble

Marcela (Anna Geislerová) is at the nexus of a crossroads leading to two men who are polar opposites. One man offering stability sans passion. The other an asshole, no end loser offering lots of thrills but no future. That is the crux of this multi layered family drama from Jan Hrebejk, the director of the brilliant film, Up and Down. The acting cake goes to Jirí Schmitzer who plays Marcela's sleazy and selfish step dad. The only jarring bit in the film was the soundtrack by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, which seem out of place from Once.

Rating: * * *

Medicine for Melancholy

The post coital angst after a one night stand between a man and a women. There are better medicines for melancholy out there...

Rating: +

Love Aaj Kal

Two love stories spread across eras that try to show that the essence of love hasn't changed over time. Ideal for a long flight but otherwise is just masochistic torture for the viewer.

Rating: *

The Country Teacher

Peter (Pavel Liska) quits his prep school post and drifts towards the countryside to teach at a small school there. He soon befriends Maria (Zuzana Bydzovská) and her young son (Ladislav Sedivý). But when Peter's boyfriend shows up from Prague, complications follow. A film that calmly portrays that everybody always needs someone.

Rating: * * +

Gigantic

Brian Weathersby (Paul Dano) has wanted to adopt a Chinese baby ever since he was 8 years old. As he struggles to convince authorities that he is a capable father in spite of working a dead end job as a mattress salesman, Harriet (Zooey Deschanel) and her crazy father (John Goodman) walks in to his life. Soon romance is in the air and it was never this dead pan.

Rating: * * *

The Cake Eaters

Guy (Jayce Bartok) returns to his family on the death of mother. His father and  welcome him back with reluctant happiness. His brother, Beagle (Aaron Stanford) meets him with restrained hostility. Soon skeletons in the closets start to rattle as the three men get tangled up in love. Kristen Stewart  plays Beagle's terminally ill love interest with a desperation that is startling. The melancholy of her situation deeply reflected in the endless depth of her eyes. A film that gently wanders around the various inter personal relationships just as an observer  while never passing judgment.

Rating: * * +

Two Lovers

Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) is nice Jewish boy who is messed up from his broken engagement and little disengaged with life. To engage him, his parents try to hook him up with a business partner's daughter. Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) falls for him and loves him to pieces. But Leonard decides to run behind his psychotic blond neighbor (Gwyneth Paltrow) and pointlessly confuse his life!

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: * * *

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Norah picks the first guy she finds attractive at a concert and asks him to act as her boyfriend just to spite the class bitch, Tris. Nick turns out to be Tris's ex and so starts the topsy-turvy night. The twosome along with Nick's gay band, traipse around New York and all things strange. A chick flick with just the right amount of saccharine.

Rating: * * +

The Journey

Kiran (Suhasini V. Nair) and Delilah (Shrruiti Menon) grow up together in a small rural town in Kerala. As the shroud of their childhood, is unveiled their friendship blossoms in to love. A love that is unfamiliar in the conservative surroundings. A film that portrays a complex situation but is dealt with profound simplicity by Ligy J. Pullappally.

Rating: * * *

Wonderful Town

The film is set in a sleepy coastal town in south Thailand that is recovering from the tsunami. Ton (Anchalee Saisoontorn) arrives from Bangkok to oversee the construction of a resort. He randomly decides to stay in a dull but clean hotel run by Na (Supphasit Kansen). And inevitably but gently they fall in love... There is a fine line between exquisite stillness and boredom. Few directors know how to draw that line. Aditya Assarat is one such director.

Rating: * * *

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) go to Barcelona, meet Juan (Javier Bardem) who is obsessed with his ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz) and end up in a mighty existential tangle. Woody Allen continues remain in my book as a noisy and overrated director!

Rating: * +

The Wackness

A wacky movie about a teenage drug dealer, Luke (Josh Peck),who sells weed to his psychiatrist (Ben Kingsley) in exchange for therapy. But when he falls for the good doctors step daughter (Olivia Thirlby), things get even more wacky in this flat "romady".

Rating: * *