Synecdoche, New York: A Review

"The greatest compliment an artist can get is the acknowledgement that his work inspired another human being.", observes Black, the protagonist of Orhan Pamuk's much acclaimed novel, "My name is Red". It is with these words that i wish to break my silence from this seemingly permanent hiatus from review writing. After watching Synecdoche,... i felt such a sudden of gush of words that it was impossible not to pick up a piece of paper and write about this movie. Charlie Kauffman's panache for exploring the human psyche once again takes the front seat in his directorial debut, as he gives form to Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" on celluloid.

Synecdoche,.. is about a playwright, Caden Cotard (played by the ever-dependable Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who is undergoing a mid-life crisis both at work and at home. His workaday life is punctuated by frequent bouts of quirky medical complications that leaves him with the belief that he is dying. After his wife decides to leave him to pursue her career as a miniaturist painter with his daughter, he decides to direct his full attention into making a magnum opus using the money he received by winning a "genius" grant. The film then follows his spiralling obsession to make his play bigger and closer to reality and how this obsession engulfs his whole life.

Self-indulgent in parts, occasionally pretentious, yet so hauntingly original, Synecdoche is an exhibition of a master who has created a masterpiece and yet decides to improvise it with little metaphors. Besides leaving behind metaphors, Kauffman has also managed to maintain the enigma of film, almost reminding us that life doesn't give us all the answers. Some things are just meant to be enjoyed not analysed.

Dark, quriky, and full of surprises, Synecdoche is like an orange seed, just when you thought you picked it up, it slips. Kauffman's hasn't just created a concept, he has created an entirely new form of expressionistic cinema, one which starts off like a tiny snowball rolling from the top of the mountain, it gathers pace, endlessly improvising itself and when it is in conceptual "free-fall", it unfurls itself in its limitless brilliance and yet hides within itself like a giant matroshka doll.

Synecdoche,.. is not a film meant for a sunday afternoon. It demands a little discipline on the viewer's part and for a film of its calibre, it is worth it. This writer has atleast half a dozen great things to tell about this movie but nothing can describe a masterpiece than the piece itself.

Wake Up S!d – Breezy and Beautiful

Hey everyone, long time new post. And the movie may be a little old but I guess it’s never too late to write a review. Guess the dearth of good hindi (or even tamil) movies and coupled with my indolent attitude has made this blog virtually inactive. So here we go.
George Orwell said “The best book is one which tells what we already know”. Well, it works for movies too. And “Wake Up Sid” is a fine example of that. Dharma Productions (known for their maudlin “masterpieces” in Hindi Cinema) have, surprisingly taken a breezier, more cheerful and “definitely frugal on the glycerin department” recipe for a two-and-something hour coming-of-age flick that speaks from the heart.
Sid is your everyday rich kid with an idyllic life who thinks the answer to anything is the swish of a credit card. He is happy, lives life by the moment and is at heart just a child- immature, overconfident, and arrogant. But when reality comes knocking the door one day, he is left gasping. What eventually happens is what forms the rest of the story.
Playing the rich kid to perfection is Ranbir Kapoor. Armed with his cartoonish t-shirt and his boyish enthusiasm he is sure to bowl you over. Certainly one of the best performances of the year!! Konkana Sen Sharma is all bong beauty and wit. Her character had to balance between the mature and the not-so-mature and brings a lot to the table in terms of her character. The fact that the lead pair’s age difference is barely a hindrance in the plot is evidence of the evolving maturity of the Indian audience.
The stand out aspect of the movie, however, is definitely the screenplay. Replete with convincing devices and fine touches, Ayan Mukherji’s debut is very dil se and tells you coming-of-age need not involve joining the army and dying for the country. Art direction is brilliant and gives a very off-beat hip look to the city of Mumbai. There are no hues of grey in Mumbai here, its all graffiti and spray-can art. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s mellifluous tunes do no harm to the proceedings either.
Overall, Wake Up S!d is a fine exhibition of modern Indian cinema. It may be angrezi in expression but its certainly Hindi at heart. Here is Bollywood’s instruction manual for “coming-of-age” flicks. Let the copying begin!!
Rating: 4.5/5

Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa- LOL!!

Title: Madagascar 2- Escape 2 Africa
Director: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Cast: Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Alec Baldwin, Chris Rock and the "late" Bernie Mac, and Sacha Baron Cohen...
Plot: The "Freaks of New York" try to reach home but crash land in Africa
Bottom-line: Cant wait for the penguins spin-off.....

Madagascar is a special movie for me in terms of nostalgia. It was the first time in a long long time that i went and watched the movie in Sathyam in its splendid RDX format. Me and dad had a real laugh especially the antics of King Julian (brilliantly voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen) and the penguin quartet of Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Mason. For me the USP were these side-characters.

Watching Madagascar 2, I was initially a bit apprehensive that these characters would be a bit side-lined to accommodate other characters. But fortunately that was not the case.
The story follows the gang's journey to africa where they are united with respective herds. The film follows their exploits. Although there is a "Lion King"ish tone to this movie, one would think the creators are trying to spoof the classic. But if that were the case then that is the film's only weak point.
Schiwmmer as the hypochondriac Melman gets an extension of his role as the madly-in-love guy which he is so good at. Needless to say Sacha Baron Cohen is brilliant. Even though the lead characters are not that funny,the others characters bring down the roof.
So see this movie and enjoy because its just 90 minutes of sheer delight... Long live animation movies....

Rating: 3/5

The Penguins of madagascar rocks... Btw there is a spin-off series of these characters on Nick... cant wait to see that.. Im downloading it as i am writing this blog.....

Terminator Salvation- Nothing to Salvage, Please Terminate

Title: Terminator Salvation
Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: McG
Plot: Set a decade after judgement day, John Connor is trying to fulfill his destiny by trying to put an end to the war.
Bottom-line: Just when you thought franchise reloads were good...

Franchise reloads are good. Look what happened to the Batman series. The James "bond" grew stronger with casino royale. Reloads are good because it allows filmmakers to come with a whole new dimension to the story by bringing their own flavour to the table rather than sticking to the previous version's style. Its good as long as the original series has gone stale. But James Cameroon action flick which revolutionised "wham-bham" movies has had such a good foundation behind it that while watching T4, this blogger saw so much scope where the writers could have added a bit more blood and skin to the movie. Instead they chose to reinforce it with adamantine shell.

T4's plot is absolutely contrived. Its not even like you are watching a terminator flick. When towards the end of the movie John Connor (played so intensely by Christian Bale) turns back to his wife Katie and says "I'll be back", it took 10 minutes for the nostalgia to kick in, you know the movie has failed on all fronts.

But then different is good. Who wants to see the same old terminator from the future (forgive the oxymoron) chasing a hapless teenager and his mother and another one sent from the future mouthing "asta la vista, baby" and shooting the crap out of people? Surely i didnt. But then who thought i would see some hunky dude trying to be arnie jumping from one plane to another without so much as getting a scratch on his arm but is completely shocked to know that he is not human but some stealth machine trying to steal screen time from the lead character and acting as a tumour in this rotten script. Please gimme my money back..

Only saving grace of this film is Christian Bale. For an actor of his stature, he is given as much screen time as if Arnie was in this movie. Have the writers forgotten that?? Dudes, Arnie has retired and he is not acting in this movie, so he cant save your sorry arse this time. Well i guess they will realize that when this movie is panned by critics all over.

What T4 lacks is just that nothing happens in the movie. Some dude wanders all over the place for 2 hours and blows up a lot of stuff and then BHAMM..... huge explosion and THE END.

T3 was worse but it had Arnie and that-hot-chick-whose-name-we-will-never-remember-except-that-she-was-hot. But it had a good ending and set a solid beginning for a sequel. But the writers have gone around trying to make an anti-thesis of the previous versions. First thing this has no Arnie (dont worry this phrase will be repeated a lot more times). It has no cool villain. It has no hot chick. And it has no Arnie.

However hard-core Terminator fans are in for a sweet surprise at the end of this movie. But sadly it doesnt last long....

I dont know why Bryce Dallas Howard is in this movie (playing John's wife Katie). She could have been eliminated for the sheer convenience of eliminating her. If its a reload why still stick to the original story then?

I give it one thumbs down and one up for the patchy and decently predictable action set pieces and the post-apocalyptic tone of the movie. All dust and bones is the tone of this movie. All dust and bones is what this movie will become.

Rating: 2/5

PS: This is the one-year anniversary of my last blog. lol....

Sam worthington is the biggest culprit. To think he is a villain in a tamil movie now doesnt require great imagination on my part. It comes naturally to him. "Just stand there, with no expression and the rest we will take care with CGI and dubbing" will be the first instruction that he will get from his director.

No Country For Old Men - You can’t take your eyes off this one!!

Title: No Country For Old Men
Cast: Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones
Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen
Plot: A hunter, an old sheriff and an assassin’s life cross path in the 80’s when a drug deal goes wrong and a cat ‘n mouse chase that follows it.
Bottomline : Absorbing!!

Great things are done simple. You don’t need a complex plot filled with zig-zag narrative, twist endings and multi-level plots to make great cinema. Great cinema can be made by just capturing exactly what happens in a story. Outright realism is what transpires into greatness on screen. And you can’t complain to the Coen brothers for doing just that.

‘No Country for Old Men’ in the hands of lesser mortals would have easily become one of those run-of –the-mill guns n’ thrills movie that we see every summer. But when such a plot as simple this fall into the hands of the not-so-less mortals, we see a movie where you are literally sitting there in the hall with your mouth wide open.

At the end of the movie, the average viewer is left in no doubt as to how a thriller has won four academy awards over some three hour long romantic drama movie. The treatment of the plot is absorbing at worst, its cant-take-your-eyes-off at best. The Coen's recurrent strains of fate and circumstances only add to the intrigue. You will never look at a coin toss the same way after you watch this movie. Nor will you look a bullet wound or a suitcase the same way after you see this one. Roger Deakins camera captures 80’s Texas to its fullest extent. Sound editing is another high point of the movie. Lack of background score adds to the intensity of the movie. This is one more after ‘I am Legend’ this year to have used silence as an integral part rather than a vague necessity.

Tommy Lee Jones’ portrayal as the fatigued, old sheriff under whose very eyes anarchy ensues, is very moving. He looks every inch an 80’s character and is an embodiment of the ‘tired’ tone of the movie. Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss, the hunter who becomes the hunted, is one character who hasn’t got much to do other than run and dodge bullets. His character is not a waste but rather a clog in the plot. But the real screen stealer is the sociopathic assassin, Anton Chigurh (Spanish actor Javier Bardem) sent out to recover the money lost in the deal. Cold, unassuming and heartless, his character breathes evil through every pore and represents the ideas of the movie.His character is through which the Coen brothers reach out to the audience. His dialogue delivery, voice modulation disturbs you. A sure-shot winner for the Oscars. A corker of a role!!! Hats Off…

Rating: 8.5/10 (Two Thumbs Up)

Atonement- AMAZING.... but Oscars???....

Title: Atonement
Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan.....

Director: Joe Wright

Story: Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's (Keira Knightley) lover (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit.

Bottomline: Could have been the "Gone with the wind" of our times......

 It is painful to see a movie fall short of itself."What if" analysis aside, "Atonement" could have been a much better movie than it turns out to be at the end.  You go to the cinema hall
expecting a sensitive take on Ian McEwan's much talked about novel of the same name. Instead 
you get pretty much less than what you bargained for. Inadequate character development,  
a running time that is thinner than Keira Knightley, inconsistent acting, crisp editing which is
uncalled for marks "The Atonement". The film's saving grace is the overall plot coupled with
some brilliant engineered sequences which are sure to go down as some the best scenes seen in
Hollywood recently. The film yet again marks the crisp directing skills of budding director Joe
Wright after his faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".

 

Film is basically the narration of two sisters and a man whose lives are ireevocably changed
when the younger sister, out of jealousy accuses the man (who is in love with the elder sister)
of a crime he did not commit. The movie is divided into three parts, each of them representing
childhood, teenage and old age of the younger sister.  The first part is a well devised comment on
perception and reality. Saorise Ronan as Briony Tallis, an oddly matured child with a penchant 
for writing disturbs you with her probing eyes. Keira Knightly impresses but she looks 
as though she is from a concentration camp. Surely women in that age were not anorexically thin, were they? James McAvoy has a static role to play and impresses you.

 

I think you should watch "The Atonement" for only three things. Direction, direction and the third?? Yeah you got it wrong... cinematography. The Dunkirk evacuation sequence in the movie will go down as the one of the best tracking shots ever made. Five minutes of unedited footage in a camera that follows the protagonist's walk through this historic episode enthralls. Hats off!!

On the editing part of movie making, this is one film where the editing had to be in such a way
that there is enough time for the characters to develop. Instead a movie goer is put in a odd
position of concluding that the film was too short (usually its the other way around). True, the film is painfully short, a little over two hours. At the end you feel as though the movie
could have been easily 30-40 minutes longer.

 

Overall the movie could have been as popular and acclaimed as its book only if the screenplay had been a bit more fluid and a tad longer. Nonetheless its a movie to 
watch out for but frankly I dont expect many oscars for this movie expect for the original score and Saorise Ronan's part.

My Rating: 7.5/10
 

I am Legend- Not your deja vu horror movie

Title: I am legend
Cast: Will Smith, Will Smith, Will Smith and others....
Director: Francis Lawrence
Story: Robert Neville, a military scientist is the lone survivor of a disease that has wiped a whole world of people and changed many of them into blood thirsty creatures. He races against time to find a cure to this disease.
Bottomline: Heralding a new variant of horror movies.

"I am legend" could have easily have been a typical zombie-ridden horror movies with a lot of blood and gore thrown in, on the lines of movies like the "Resident Evil". But surprisingly it turns out to be a much more realistic and sensitive story, contrary to what it seems to offer to viewers. So if you are expecting (or hoping) to see Will Smith wielding 4 feet long guns and blasting zombies to smithereens, then you would better tear up that movie ticket in your hands. On the other hand, if you are willing put on your brains to watch this movie, you might be pleasantly surprised and impressed by the innovative treatment of this genre, which is more sensitive and less in-your- face action.
The movie is about the daily life of a military scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith), who is the lone survivor of a pandemic on earth. The movie chronicles his struggle to find a cure for this disease and save the world. He also has to save himself from blood-thirsty, nocturnal creatures that this disease has created out of humans.
Essentially a semi-horror plot, but this movie has a heart in it in the form of Will Smith who lends immense credibility to his part and the plot. It is a movie which revolves around him and only him. The actor has single-handedly carried this movie on his shoulders. Emoting alone is never easy, but Smith impresses. His role draws a fine line between sanity and insanity without overindulging in both. The scene where he goes in search of his dog in a dark building filled with zombies has to be appreciated for both its sound editing and Smith’s impeccable handling of the scene. Listen to Smith’s breathing in that scene and how he calls for his dog. A brilliant and memorable sequence!!
Minimum use of dialogues, absence of background score, importance given in many scenes to silence are some contextual high points in this movie. However, the technical aspects especially the CGI employed for the zombies are a let-down. The “virtual zombies” seem hell-bent on disobeying all laws of physics and believability to their roles. The director could have used actors with prosthetic make-up with better results in this regard. If he thought actors wouldn’t have been believable enough, he better watch a screening of the LOTR series in which Peter Jackson used prosthetic make-up on actors portraying as orcs with great results.

HK’s Verdict: Personally a very good movie. But for people going to theatres with preconceived notions, you have been warned. An empty New York is a sight to behold in this movie. How many times do you go to cinema and end up looking at a desolate NYC?
Rating: 7.5/10(Hollywood Standard)