Innocent Blood

James Park leads a quiet life as a forensic lecturer at a university far removed from his life of an undercover detective. The quietness is disturbed when his past comes screaming back and his son is  kidnapped by an apparent psycho. The usual detective - psycho cat and mouse game ensue but nothing in the film draws you in. The dialogues are almost funny even when trying to be bone chilling and when you hear laughter at the theater during a film like this, you know that the scriptwriter needs to find a new job. All the viewer can do is wait for freedom from the induced boredom. 

Rating: *

Great Gatsby

Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, yet again makes it way to the screen. The old story is retold of young Nick Carraway's tryst with high society during a New York summer. The vehicle into this flamboyant party land is his mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is young, suave and sophisticated and Nick falls under his spell. But soon cracks appear as an obsession comes to light. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the lead role with a constant tinge of nervousness and hysteria that does quite match Gatsbys of the past. That takes a lot away from the film but if you are a connoisseur of the era like my partner is, the sets will not disappoint. According to her the film captures the spirit of the era very well. However sets can only take you so far.

Rating: * *

Pee Mak

Set in the mid 19th century when Thailand was constantly in conflict with its neighbors, Pee Mak is based on a popular Thai folk tale that some claim is based on true events. Mak is a soldier who is gravely wounded in a battle. Miraculously escaping with the help of his four close friends, the group takes him back to his village and reunites him with his wife and child. His wife, Nak (Davika Hoorne), is an uncommon beauty that has him under her spell. The friends soon start to notice that something is not quite right with her but are terrified to do anything about it. Director Banjong Pisanthanakun could have taken the route of making this a regular horror thriller. Instead, he updates the version of the legend and peppers it with slapstick humor to turn it in to Thailand's highest grossing film ever. It is worth a look just for the reason but cinematically it is only gets high marks for its production quality.

Rating: * * 

The Headless Woman

Vero (María Onetto) is an affluent dentist whose world turns dark when she hits something while driving. Not sure if the creature was a dog or a human, she finds herself plunging in to psychosis. The storyline is vague as the director shows you her life and resulting emotional detachment from it due to the accident. There is also an effort to show the disparity between the servant class and the rich but nothing sticks. All you are left with is a window in to a person's existence after a traumatic episode. This kind of structure in a film can work but it fails miserably here.

Rating: * +

Dallas Buyers Club

For a film that is far from being perfect, Dallas Buyers Club is an entertaining watch. Credit goes entirely to Mathew McConaughey who is brilliant as Ron Woodroof - who throws everything into his personal fight with AIDS, driven by the commercial opportunities of beating the system. The film however struggles to develop any kind of real chemistry between Woodroof and the supporting characters. Jennifer Garner is hopeless and drags everything around her down. Jared Leto plays a dreamy transgender woman, Rayon, but remains just that - dreamy in appearance with no real depth in character. A film that engages but leaves you wondering how different it could have been.

Rating: * * +

Philip Seymour Hoffman

 

Much has already been written over the past few days about the actor that he was. I think I saw him first in '25th Hour' and thought here was a discovery. Some one, with the right role, who would be the finest. Then as I watched more of him I realised he was the finest already. 

It all got personal some time in 2012, as I contemplated the arrival of junior, that I came across an interview of him where he talks about his experience as a father, parenting - past and present. The relevant bits starts after the 5th minute I reckon.

And now he is gone. As a friend put it, he was getting prepared to bat out a day with some 80 bags of heroin, but then fell in the first over. Sad. I want to understand more about the man - the genius that he was as an actor and a person who eventually succumbed to all kinds of internal strife.

In order to commemorate the man, I have decided I am going to hunt down every movie of his.

Rating: * * * *

Photo source: http://danbusta.tumblr.com/

 

I saw the Devil

How the South Korean cinema maintains this kind of consistency in the psycho thriller genre is a mystery to me. Yet again, here is a film that takes the age old genre and adds a slightly new twist to it. Kim Soo-hyeon is inconsolable as he finds his pregnant fiance brutally murdered. Unfortunately for the killer, Soon-hyeon is a top secret agent who takes matters in to his own hands. He tracks down Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi), a human flesh crazy psychopath and starts to give him a taste of his own medicine. But like in the wild it does not take long for the hunter to become the prey. A film that is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Rating: * * *

Rachel getting married

This is one of the reasons why I liked this film. The quiet Sidney, who is getting married to Rachel and played by Tunde Adebimpe, singing Neil Young's 'Unknown legend', which I had not heard in many years. Quite similar in premise to Margot's wedding experience, Kym's (Rachel's sister) one is also about the family's emotional baggage. Which hit close to home - what do you do if you are entirely responsible for an accidental death of a family member? Bollocks really.

Anne Hathaway who normally is more irritating than skilful, gets it right as the troubled one. With the backdrop of a wedding 'Indian' style, much gets played out in front of everybody (including a random bunch of musicians) and credit to the director Jonathan Demme in getting all the many characters involved, including you the viewer.

PS: The writer Jenny Lumet is the daughter of Sidney Lumet. Which explains Adebimpe's character's name. Jonathan Demme subsequently directed a documentary called 'Neil Young journeys', which explains the song choice for Sidney.
 
Rating: * * *

Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen has been a bunch of hits and misses for me. More of the latter. This one, however, surges to the top of the list because of The Spectacular Cate Blanchett - who plays a neurotic ex-socialite struggling with the turn of events in her life. Heads to her sister's place in San Francisco, who is everything what big sister Jasmine isn't, to seek refuge. Things just get worse as she slowly and comically struggles to stay in the race with the Joneses. Louis C K makes a cameo as a cheating sound engineer and is perfect for a Woody Allen film - straight faced, dark, and makes more out of nothing. 'Blue Jasmine' does have a social angle to it - should be the campaign video for the President's latest brainwave on inequality.

Rating: * * * +

Inside Llewyn Davis

I have this weakness for films about music & musicians. That is why the latest from the Coen brothers gets the stars it does. Llewyn Davis is a folk musician trying to strike out on his own before Bob arrives on the Greenwich village scene and makes folk hip. Llewyn lives off other people's couches in & around Macdougal street and has nothing to show for his "principled" view of music. Has his priorities all wrong, which could be irritating to some, but I kind of get what he is about. However, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' doesn't get inside of anything and rambles Coen brothers style. Which still is pretty good.

Rating : * * +

Any Day Now

An attractive man quietly watches a drag show in a gay bar. The follow up is a hot and steamy hookup but never would you think that this would be lead up to a poignant battle for child custody. Rudy Donetallo (Alan Cumming), a drag queen, and Paul Fliger (Garret Dillahunt), who works at the district attorney's office, struggle to convince the courts to give them custody of Marco (Isaac Levya). Marco suffers from Down's Syndrome and has a junkie for a mother. An odd situation indeed and made odder given that the film is set in the 70s. Movies like these need to be made, but they are contrived to tug at the viewer's heart strings, and that is unacceptable in my book.

Rating: * *

This Must Be the Place

Cheyenne (Sean Penn) is a retired glam rock star, boring the hell out of life in Dublin with his wife of many decades. This low key life is interrupted by his estranged father who is on his death bed in New York. In the hope of a late reconciliation, he travels to the US only to arrive too late. What he discovers is that his dad was a survivor of Auschwitz and was tortured by a former SS officer who is still at large. Cheyenne takes it upon himself to track down the office and bring him to justice. So ensues a surreal road trip across the US as Cheyenne unwittingly starts on a path of self discovery and awakening. A brilliant film that echoes with the touch of the Coen brothers and Penn playing a unique role like he has never done before.

Rating: * * *

Dark Water

A young divorced mother moves in to an apartment with her young daughter. A blissful start to their new life is cut short by a water stain on the ceiling. The water in the apartment complex has a malevolent spirit flowing through it and is really dark. The film struggles to put fear in your heart but fails to even slightly startle you out of your seat.

Rating: * +

Chaser

Joong-ho is an asshole of a pimp who used to be a police detective in another lifetime. He finds himself in deep shit when some of his prostitutes start running out on him. He suspects that someone is kidnapping them so he puts on his detective hat to get to the bottom of it. As he scratches the surface he finds someone way more sinister beneath. Unlike many psycho thrillers, this one is not a whodunnit. You are shown the identity of the killer right from the start. Rest of the film is about apprehending him. The way Joong-ho is portrayed is also very interesting. At one side he is ruthless and works his girls to the bone while at the same time he cares deeply for their well being. Director Hong-jin Na throws all this in front of you with zero melodrama and lets you be the judge. Another brilliant addition to the South Korean crime genre.

Rating: * * *

The Secret of the Grain

The film opens with the main protagonist, Silmane Beiji being forced out of his shipyard job. The camera then patiently follows him to reveal the many facets of his life; a divorced father with a mistress and a tired earning for something better. In spite of the tough economic conditions and fractious family life he forces himself to chase his dream of opening a couscous restaurant that he hopes will unify his families. The movie chronicles this journey of a dream being brought to life. 

Rating: * * +

Naked

In comparison, the lead character of Johnny is like facing a bouncer heading towards your throat at 150km/h. This time around however, David Thewlis the central actor, hooks it out of the ground. There is nothing nice about Johnny - runs away from Manchester to London after raping a woman and afraid of being beaten. He then moves across the capital from person to person - mostly random acquaintances from the streets - in pursuit of nothing. Or possibly something that we are not aware of. Cursing the world, contemplating 'future', devouring books and spewing vitriolic shit - like this for instance, to a woman who spurns his advances: "And I hope that all your fuckin' children are born blind, bow-legged, hare-lipped, homeless hunchbacks" Over 120 minutes long, Naked should be far from being considered as misogynist - but a fantastic film that focuses on the lunatics on the prowl. Much like this one. Welcome to my world, Michael Leigh.

Rating: * * * +

12 Years a Slave

When an actor confronts the character of 'Solomon Northup', I suppose it is like facing a juicy half-volley. With an Oscar waiting for you once you have cleared long-on. From being brutally kidnapped, the tragedy of not seeing your family for 12 years, repeatedly being tortured & humiliated, travelling alternatively between hope & despair and finally being free - its all there. But one could easily overthink and hit the ball down the ground to mid-on for no runs. That's what Chiwetel Ejifor manages to achieve - a very safe and unexciting performance. And surrenders the mission to capture the viewer's soul to Steve Mcqueen and the others (Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Lupita Nyong'o & Michael Fassbender). You never know, Chiwetel Ejifor might still get an Oscar for a well crafted film. 

Rating: * * +

Trance

I spoke about this film here. Felt cheated after spending couple of hours getting through it. Danny Boyle? Well..

Rating: *

Following

 

It looks a bit familiar: strangers getting involved in each other's lives, pursuing mysterious goals while the story plays out in a non-linear manner. Chris Nolan's dry run before blowing up the premise into a full length feature classic - Memento. All of 60 minutes, its fluid, shot in black & white and gripping. 

It also brought to mind the recent film by Danny Boyle - Trance - which I review next. Couldn't help but feel that Mr. Boyle has a big Nolan monkey on his back and fails miserably to shrug it off.

Rating: * * +

Ilo Ilo

One of the many characteristics of Singapore is the presence of live-in maids in the houses of the affluent. Being a constant presence in the family the maid becomes part of the family persona whether one likes it or not. This film set during the Asian financial crisis in the late 90s, takes a stab at exploring this inter-family relationship. Teresa, a young Filipina reaches Singapore as the maid for the Lim family of three. Her presence while being a help in the day to day household activities puts a strain on the family. However, slowly a deep bond forms between the young troublesome son, Jiale and Teresa. Throw in the onset of the financial crisis and you are left with a random graph of inter-familial tension that is captured quite well in the film. But yet there is something intangible that holds this film back from breaking through to the audience.

Rating: * *