Albert Nobbs

Albert Nobbs (Glen Close) is a hard working waiter at a drab hotel in Dublin. Everyone loves the dedicated man and he keeps to himself with his room and dreams. The main reason for his introversion is that he is harboring a secret. Albert is actually a woman and the harsh 19th century Irish economy forces him to take up the role of a man. He is very comfortable in that role but of course society would not have that if it came to light. This is the setup for the film and what follows is the exploration of the question of gender in the face of society's insistence of it being binary in nature. 

Rating: * * *

The Master

Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a World War II veteran, struggles with a post war world when he meets the enigmatic Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Dodd is the crack head leader of a new religion called "The Cause" and Quell falls under his thrall. Quell though sticks to his hard drinking and philandering ways and that forms the background of the film using it as a window in to the psyche of the cult. Brilliant performances all round that got all the main actors Oscar nominations. In spite of that and the well thought out script, the film fails to engage the way a film of this calibre is supposed to.

Rating: * * +

Aftershock

The film is set in the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake that tore many families asunder. A young mother, Li Yuanni sees her husband getting crushed when trying to save their twins. Li is soon faced with a Sophie's choice and like a good Chinese mother picks the boy. The girl miraculously survives and is adopted by a military couple. The movie revolves around the parallel lives of the twins in great melodramatic detail and ended up grossing over US $100 million at the Chinese box office. It is worth a watch if you love films that tugs at your heart strings in the most cloying fashion. 

Rating: * *

Caterpillar

Lieutenant Kurakowa returns home from the Sino-Japanese war as a decorated war hero. He is literally a husk of his former self with his limbs torn off and no auditory perception. But that does not stop him from abusing his wife who in turns feels duty bound to take care of his needs. A disturbing film that examines the effect of Japanese wars on both the soldiers and their families.

Rating: * * +

The Dark Knight Rises

Gotham finds itself fairly free of crime in the aftermath of the Harvey Dent's death and the Dent act. Batman seems to have disappeared in to the twilight and Bruce Wayne has turned hermit. With a sinking Wayne Enterprise and a guilt filled Commissioner Gordon, Gotham seems ripe for the picking again. Enter the mysterious Bane. But then there is always Batman. There are hints of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns in the makeup of the film, however the majority of the plot seems to be from Knightfall. Christopher Nolan has also thrown in some hits against Occupy Wall Street though that could be a matter of interpretation. In spite of that the movie turns to be an excellent final piece in Nolan's Batman trilogy.

Rating: * * *

Shob Charitro Kalponic

The film swirls around a poet, Indranil and his attractive wife, Radhika (Bipasha Basu). Indranil is reckless while being a genius and Radhika is constantly picking up the pieces of their life behind him. His recklessness drives her in to the arms of her colleague and thoughts of divorce enters her mind. But the sudden death of Indranil takes the decision out of her hand. She soon starts re-discovering her relationship with her husband when a publisher asks her to finish one of his works. There are fantastic performances all around including Ms.  Basu for a change. But the standout is Sohag Sen as the maid, Nador Ma who stands like a rock next to Radhika. Another masterpiece from Rituparno Gosh.

Rating: * * +

Shrink

Dr. Carter, a psychiatrist played by Kevin Spacey (who always does well with roles involving marijuana smoking) wanders the film in a depressed stoned haze treating his Hollywood patients with compassion. Other than that all I can recall about the movie is the main character's refusal to sleep in his bedroom and something about a screen play. 

Rating: * *

Rabbit Hole

A couple's grief for the loss of their four year old son is splashed across the screen. Becca (Nicole Kidman) wants to move on while Howie (Aaron Eckhart) clings on to every bit of their son's past. This coupled with Howie's desire for another child slowly builds an invisible wall between them. The movie is a dispassionate look at the creation of the wall as supporting characters show up and cement the bricks that pile up. 

Rating: * * +

Prometheus

A group of humans and an android find themselves on a remote moon after discovery of a star map that promises to answer the human origin question. Predictably the crew find themselves treading murky waters and to their "surprise", alien creatures. The plot tries to go philosophical with Noomi Rapace's character's questions about faith and God interwoven in to the quest for the answer to human creation. However the prequel to the Alien franchise goes beyond its ken and tries to answer questions it has no business or need to ask. But the film is gorgeous to look at and that alone makes it worth a trip to the cinemas.

Rating: * *

Vicky Donor

 

Made the exit at half time, after a long time. Surprised that they still have intermissions. 

Rating: *

Zindagi Na Milega Dobara

Reminded me of one Jacob Koshy in Bandra (ran an audio store somewhere on Waterfield road) who when asked what he thought of Yamaha amplifiers by a friend of mine replied, "I'll piss on it. Piss on it". Thats what I would say about this mega shit.

Rating : *

Blue Valentine

 

6 years is a long time for any relationship and much can change. Blue Valentine is a study on precisely this - how shit things can get between 2 individuals who were ore in love in the beginning. Director Derek Cianfrance, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams all put in spectacular effort to get you close to the shit and feel just as suffocated as the characters themselves. 

Rating : * * *

Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives

Nek (aka ex-political reporter K Kuppuswamy) pointed me to this rather honest take on this Uncle Boonmee film : "If you like films in which a princess with a skin disorder is ravished by a catfish under a waterfall, a buffalo goes for a walk in the forest, and a Buddhist monk watches the television for a very long time, this is for you." All of which really takes place + the character from the poster, who is dead, but comes along every night and hangs out with his mother at a rather dark dinner table.

Well, Kogi this film is not for you. And I see you are quite familiar with this said director.

I suppose it is quite normal to scratch your armpits after the experience. But I must say there is something about that Thai country side that is quite aptly captured by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. All those trees, the rather peaceful people that populate the areas and the simple yet fantastic food they eat - all captured in the mystic fashion that encapsulates Thai people and countryside.

Rating: * * +

Being Flynn

I felt this whole pressure being lifted as I walked out the cinema. Of wondering if they actually do show good shit in the theatres these days. All I knew about 'Being Flynn' were the 2 solid actors in it - Robert De Niro and Paul Dano. Rememeber that I was quite impressed by the latter in his turn as an evangelical priest who had then matched Daniel Day Lewis every inch of the way. 

Being Flynn is a story of a father and son who eventually meet each other in unforseen and unfortunate circumstances. The elder, played quite brilliantly by Robert De Niro, maniacally trying to understand the legacy he is going to leave behind in this world where he finds himself isolated. While the son engaged in trying to understand the legacy that he inherited - from a dead mother and an invisible father. "We're all works in progress" -a lofty idea to be deconstructed over 90 minutes, but a fine film.

Rating : * * *

The Avengers

The refrain of "Avengers Assemble" was echoing out of this film as Marvel, after years of setup with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America, bring their iconic team on to the big screen. Technically the film should have been called The Ultimates with Joss Whedon liberally borrowing from the Marvel reboot of their Avengers franchise. Loki is up to mischief again as he steals The Tesseract (go see Thor) in return for an alien army from the mysterious Other to subjugate Earth. The story does not get deeper than that as the film focuses on the formation of The Avengers and the ensuing carnage against the invading alien force. Granted the plot could have been made complex if Whedon borrowed a tad more from the graphic novels. But sometimes action that causes enough adrenaline to pump is good enough excuse for enjoyment.

Rating: * * *

Kick-Ass

Mark Millar's epic graphic novel graces the screens bringing to colorful life the morbid story of high school loser, Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who decides to become a super hero with disastrous results. I.E. until he meets the crazy father-daughter duo, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz). Their mission is to bring down the evil drug lord Frank D'Amico. Throw in is some teenage romance, carnage, violence and you have a way to escape your sorry life for a couple of hours.

Rating: * * *

War of the Arrows

When a friend claimed the movie was the highest rated on Netflix, it seemed like a no brainer to watch it in spite of dark forebodings in my mind. Set in Korea at the onset of the second Manchu invasion, the film centers around a brother - sister pair. The brother is a master archer and when the Manchurian army kidnaps his sister on her wedding day, he sets off in pursuit taking them off one at a time. There is not much else to say about the film which has high production quality but it does not help overcome the poor story line and screenplay of the film. The moral is to never trust Netflix rating and recommendations of a certain friend.

Rating: *

Sleeping Sickness

The film opens with a family in throes of moving from an African country back to Europe. For bizzarre reasons, the father, Ebbo Velten (Pierre Bokma) remains behind to continue to help with the sleeping sickness malady that has hit very few patients but is well funded by the WHO. Flash forward a few years and the scene is a WHO inspector looking for Velten to discover the current status of the project. Throw in a few allegorical images about wildlife and you are left with a murky film that seemed to have a grip on the audience only to lose it thanks to the director's laziness.

Rating: * +

The Hunger Games

The Suzanne Collins bestseller makes its way to the big screen with much fanfare and a close following from teenagers and adults alike. Set in a murky future where a nation is split in to Districts and ruled by the fist from the Capitol. To show its power, the Capitol picks two young ones from every district and have them to duke it out to the death on live television a la Battle Royal style. The only difference in the year in question is that a young girl, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers in stead of her younger sister. She travels to the Capitol to take part in the bloodbath along with her male counterpart, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) leading to a much predictable climax leaving open a call to revolution against the Capitol. If only Ms. Collins had left out soon to form romantic triangle there might have been some hope for this trilogy. However the only good thing that might come out from the film is a propensity for some teenage girls to emulate Katniss and not some lame ass Disney princess!

Rating: * +

Delhi in a Day

Jasper (Lee Williams) floats in to a upper class uber rich home of his father's friend in the capital of India. Apart from the family, welcoming him are the "chottus" and the household staff that keep the place humming. Attraction and sparks fly between the firang and the lady help, Rohini (Anjali Patil), though it is a one way street for the foreigner. In midst of the attraction, sight seeing and the preparation for a party, Jasper's money goes missing much to the chagrin of the host. The servants are put on notice to replace the money within a day. Here lies the crux of the movie as first time director Prashant Nair tries to expose the difference in socioeconomic conditions of the two classes of people living under the same roof. But strangely what it actually brings to the forefront is whether happiness or contentment can be met by the less affluent. 

Rating: * * +