Reviews

As a fan of Jaffer Panahi and Majid Majidi, I have always been a huge fan of the 'slice-of-life' style of cinema that seems to have become the in-thing among filmmakers in the Middle East. 'The Band's Visit' may not be a classic, but it is certainly a must watch for anyone who enjoys this brand of filmmaking.

It is the story of an Egyptian band that travels to Israel for a concert and end up making friends and discovering how trivial their cultural differences truly are. Funny in parts, touching in others- the movie could have been one of the best ever had the characters been less clichéd and the plot less predictable.

The Band's Visit is possibly the best movie that has been made on the Arab-Israeli differences, but the movie is more than just that. It is primarily a study of loneliness and how people on either side of the border cope with it. The movie's greatest strength is that it manages to steer clear of any mention of politics, war and the decades of bickering that have torn the two cultures apart.

Far from perfect, the direction is heavy handed at times and some of the lighter scenes try too hard to make you laugh. Nevertheless, 'The Band's Visit' is certainly worth a watch. Especially if you are from the Middle East and know how deep the cultural differences between Arabs and Israelis run.

If I hadn't known that The Number 23 was based on an eponymous novel by Fernley Phillips, I would probably have thought it was another of Dan Brown's thrillers set around a conspiracy theory.

Walter Sparrow stumbles upon a novel based on a guy named Fingerling and how he realizes that the number 23 was all around him. Walter gradually starts believing that the novel was in fact based on him and, like Fingerling, becomes obsessed with 23 and starts noticing it everywhere- 9/11 2001, 9+11+2+1= 23, JFK was killed on November 22, 1963 2+2=4 and 1+9+6+3=19 and 19+4= 23, Caesar was stabbed 23 times- you get the drift. I found it oddly reminiscent of Dougals Adams fans' obsession with 42. Or the conspiracy theories surrounding the number 11 in the wake of 9/11.

A promising premise alright. Jim Carrey proves for the first time since Eternal Sunshine and The Truman Show that he can, well, act. The narrative is taut and the movie chugs along nicely without letting you lose interest. And that's where the positives end.

The climax inevitably forms the backbone of any psychological thriller. Psycho, Shutter Island and Fight Club wouldn't have been half as memorable as they were if it weren't for the sheer brilliance of the denouement. And that's where The Number 23 falls apart. It was unraveling with speed and machismo, promising to tower upwards in a great final revelation. But instead it turned inward and ricocheted blindly backwards. Instead of opening up the throttle and letting the number have real meaning and significance, Phillips turns the plot inward and shells up the climax with a muffled grunt.

I have given the movie 7 on 10, but it could quite easily have been a 6. Or worse.

That Rajni is the star and Kamal is the actor is a fairly common notion among fans of Tamil cinema. It is true, of course, to a fairly large extent. To his credit, though, Rajnikanth has made many a fine movie, at least before the mantle of the Superstar Of Southern Cinema fell on his shoulders.

Aarilirindhu Aruvathu Varai will never feature in any list of Rajni's most-successful movies. If anything, it was one of his least successful flicks. Then again, commercial success is never an indicator of the quality of a movie, is it? The movie is a portrayal of the life of Santhanam, the eldest son of a poor widow barely able to make ends meet. He spends the first half of his life toiling night and day to afford his younger siblings an education and spends the second watching them lead comfortable lives while he continues his struggle for survival. He is ably supported by Cho, who plays his equally poverty-stricken friend. For a movie with a premise this tragic, the movie also produces quite a few laughs, courtesy Cho's stinging digs at society and politics.

Though a tad predictable at times, the movie is still a must-watch for the generation that has grown up watching Rajni punch through walls and stop bullets in mid-air, for them to realize that Rajnikanth wasn't always a superstar. He was once an actor. And a brilliant one at that.

I am a huge fan of Persian cinema. What I find most striking and pleasantly surprising is the lack of melodrama of any sort- a rarity in Asian cinema which is known for its over-the-top expressions and loud performances.

Like most other Iranian films, the performances are strikingly natural, right from the protagonist to the flower-girl who appears for less than ten seconds. The storyline is fairly predictable- within the first 20 minutes, you'll know what to expect from the rest of the movie. There are no twists, nothing that will catch you by surprise. Then again, it isn't a movie that tries to do so either. It is a bland story of the highs and lows of life in Iran, with a few laughs thrown in for good measure.

The Apple is not the greatest Iranian movie ever made- it does not possess the thought-provoking subtlety of The Circle or the heart-wrenching innocence of The Children of Heaven, but for a movie directed by an 18year old (and a woman at that), it is a fine effort.

Intelligently directed with a confident, strong hand by Sturges with a delightful screenplay that blends irony, with just the right splashes of farce, humor, wit, romance and moments of real pathos and tragedy, this one tugs at your heart strings and still leaves you with an uplifting feeling that's hard to resist or forget.

Sturges avoids sentiment and sassiness, though the film has elements of both and characters with each, but things never get mushy, heavy handed or didactic. Instead we get clever wit and humor in abundance. McCrea's understated, dry performance carries this one. He has an air of dignified charm and inherent goodness about him whether dressed in a suit, bathrobe, or tattered clothing, scrambling onto a moving train, caught with chains on his feet or falling into a swimming pool. I loved the chemistry and relationship between the vibrant Lake & McCrea, the montage of the two as homeless wanderers, the significance and symbolism of feet in the film, and a wonderful moment of surprise when a man who steals money from Sullivan, driven by greed and poverty meets an unexpected, tragic fate. As Sullivan wanders, loses and later finds his way, the film takes on a slightly graver tone, but Sturges balances the serio-comic with ease and doesn't lose control of his storytelling. The dark and light, the high and low, the rich and poor, black and white, love and divorce, life and death and all those wonderful opposing pairs of contradictions in the narrative that really reflect the very fabric of human existence find a eureka moment in a scene in a church where criminals in chains, men of god, common folk, men, women, strangers and children find something common to laugh at; Disney's MICKEY MOUSE. "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that's all people have? It isn't much but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan". Amen sir, to that.

The premise is fantastic. India has just been partitioned and communal disharmony is at its peak. Kamal Haasan's character, Saaket Ram, in a moment of madness following the death of his wife, decides to join the extremists and assassinate Gandhi. As the movie goes on, Ram gets closer to the Mahatma and begins to understand him better.

The narrative, sadly, loses steam after an hour and begins to get repetitive beyond a point. Even so, it is one of the most honest portrayals of the Mahatma and for that reason alone, the movie is a must-watch. Kamal Haasan is as good as always, though it is far from his best performance. It's a pity the kissing scenes in the movie made more headlines than its stand on the partition and Gandhi. That just goes to show you all that is wrong with Bollywood and its audience.

I found it hard to come to terms with the 7.5 rating this movie has received on IMDb. Then again, as Jack Nicholson says in the movie, "95% of the people are wrong about most things in the world." One of the best movies ever made. Most movies that try to strike a balance between comedy and profundity fail miserably at it but Rob Reiner seems to have got it just right. The movie has its flaws but it still manages to touch a chord and make you look at life (and death) differently. Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson both live up to the very high standards they've set for themselves.

A must-watch.