500 Days of Summer

"...This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a Love Story," One of the memorable lines from the movie and If you have watched this one, It'll make complete sense to you. If you haven't, well It will prick that curiosity in you and you will want to watch it.

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) & Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) are extreme opposites.Tom is a trained architect, who works at a greeting card company. Tom believes in True Love and Summer doesn't. When Tom meets Summer, who is his boss' new assistant, he begins to fall for her. One night, one of the colleagues and Tom's friend, McKenzie (after getting drunk at a karaoke bar), reveals to Summer about Tom's feelings for her. Summer makes it clear that she is not looking for a relationship and doesn't believe in the existence of true love. Nonetheless, the two begin to hang out and go on dates. They get closer and Tom feels like they should give their relationship a name. The differences begin to arise and Summer and Tom, split up.

The narration is non-linear and It gives an account of the 500 days that Tom spent with Summer and her thoughts, after the break-up.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the perfect Tom Hansen. Nobody else could have portrayed Tom better.  He makes it seem like the character was based on him. He is natural and adorable. Zooey Deschanel, is terrific as Summer Finn. Chloe Mortez, who plays Tom's younger sister, Rachel Hansen, is a mature and sensible woman, trapped in the body of a teenage girl. She is Tom's agony-aunt and probably, the only sane thing left in his life. She doesn't seem extreme and unreal.

The movie has so many memorable lines and scenes. My personal favourites are:
a) Tom and Summer seated at a table in a diner. Summer is breaking up with Tom. She compares themselves to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, the passionate and heroin-addicted couple, who met with a tragic end.
Tom: "Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy seven times with a kitchen knife. I mean we have some disagreements but I hardly think I am Sid Vicious."
Summer: "No, I am Sid!"
Tom: "Oh...So I am Nancy..."

b)Rachel Hansen, Tom's younger sister, sort of consoling him, while her friends giggle and ogle at Tom in the soccer field.
Rachel: "Better than that, you find this out now before you come home and find her in bed with Lars from Norway."
Tom: "Who's Lars from Norway?"
Rachel: "He' some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt's face and Jesus' abs."

c)Tom, on a date with a girl called Alison, post break-up, explaining his heartache to her.
Tom: "She took a giant shit on my face...literally!"
Alison: "Literally?"
Tom: "Well, no, not literally. That's disgusting!"

Rachel, fed up with Tom's depression.
Rachel: "Quit being a pussy!"

The film runs 95 minutes and every minute of it interesting and fun. It's got off-beat scenes, (one that you rarely find in Hollywood films) like Tom, happy as a he can be, singing and dancing his way to work, after things work out between him and Summer. How the world around seems happy and gay, like him. The scene at Summer's house party where the screen splits into "Expectation" & "Reality." 

I'll just go ahead and say it, It's the script and the vision of the director, that makes this absurd love story so watchable!

This is a spoiler but I am going to let you on to this one. It display's the Author's note, which says:
"The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely co-incidental. Especially you. Jenny Beckman. Bitch!"

Now, with a disclaimer like that, would't you watch this one?

Inglourious Basterds

Obviously, you don't expect Quentin Tarantino to present anything subtle and obvious in his films. The man is an archetype for loud, applaud-worthily-blunt and methodically chaotic films. Therefore, even before I watched Inglourious Basterds, I knew the movie would not disappoint me.

The plot of the movie is what we have studied over and over in our History Books at school. Human predicament during the World War II; Germany's domination over the European countries; Hilter's reign and cruelty. What the movie's added is a fictitious drama(I suppose had they included this in the History Books, none of us would have dozed off during class.).

A bunch of soldiers, American-Jews have formed a group called 'The Basterds.' The main aim and mission of this group is to terminate the Nazis. The group is lead by Lieutenant Aldo Raine(Brad Pitt) who is nicknamed 'Aldo the Apache', for he collects the scalps of the Nazis he kills. (A practice by the Native-Americans to prove one's bravery & a profitable proof of one's prowess at war.) Aldo is assisted by his men:

Sgt. Donny Donovitz ('The Bear Jew')

Pfc. Omar Ulmer

Pfc. Simthson Utivich ('The Little Man') and others

Colonel Hans Landa(Christoph Waltz), nicknamed 'The Jew Hunter' is a skilled, ruthless Nazi Officer who manages to find Jews in the most unimaginable hiding places. He is a strict, charming, intensely persuasive and irresistible man. Landa massacres a Jewish family, who are hiding at a farm-house. However the daughter, Shoshana Dreyfus manages to escape and she goes on to avenge her family's death.

I don't believe in co-incidences but that is what works in the film Shoshana plans a callous bloodbath for the Germans, as opportunity strikes at her and unaware and oblivious of her personal vengeance, the Basterds plan a carnage at the same event. Now what happens when two different sides have the same motive but are unaware of each other's plans? The excitement and anxiety of the climax is marvelously executed, without making it seem like a stringent act.

Apart from the vibrant cinematography and witty script, what works for this film is the cast. The casting has been done brilliantly that It makes you believe that no one else would have portrayed these characters better than the ones who have done so, especially Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa. He is flawless and his screen presence as the the cold-cunning-selfish officer is felt on every individual who watches the film. Even the minor characters( I don't really like calling them minor because even though they have less screen time, their characters are very significant) are awe-inspiring and impressive. For instance, B.J Novack as Pfc.Smithson Utivich(one of the Basterds) is someone to look out for. The man, makes you hear his silence and when he does open his mouth, he will have you rolling on the floor, laughing; And he doesn't do it with an intention. Similarly, Omar Doom and Eli Roth, along with Til Shweiger ( as Sgt.Hugo Stiglitz) and Michael Fassbender (as Lt. Archie Hicox) are the perfect Basterds to this entertaining and twisted pandemonium.

I don't need to persuade you to watch this one. If you like watching Tarantino films, this one makes Pulp Fiction look like......"Pulp- Fiction!!!!"

Fear[s]of The Dark ~ Peur{[s] du Noir

Half an hour into the film and I knew instantly that I had to write about this one and I told myself I'd say good stuff about the animation part but won't go overboard with it. However, I cannot help but marvel and be in total awe of the film and its animation technique. If you've watched "Presopolis" you'll know what I mean by Black & White animation but hold on, this is nothing like "Presopolis". This one's dark and as the title suggests...It's Noir.

It's an anthology of stories written by acclaimed directors and graphic designers like Blutch, Richard McGuire, Marie Caillou etc.

The film has six dark tales and they're not necessarily connected; except for the motif of intense aphonic ambiance. It's in Black & White of course, but the images are so vivid that you will not miss the colors. In fact, these two colors, Black & White is what works for all the six tales.

A shy and socially awkward teenager meets a girl who falls in love with him. What he doesn't realize is that, his one ignorant and curious act of childhood may start the ripple, thus creating a Butter-fly Effect in his slow and solitary life.

A strange case of a monster lurking in the swamps of a village; And a little's boy's friend who has the answers and explanations to the eerie happenings around them seems beyond peculiar.

A little Japanese girl suffers from nightmares and horrible dreams. Perhaps the only way to get cured is to go back to her dreams and face the monsters that await her.

A man, looking for shelter and rest in a snow-storm finds himself a large house, a dark house, a lonely house. The pictures and darkness in the house seem to offer him more than what he asked for. As you walk around the house with him, It gives you chills.

An honest confession about the confusion of the world. The trauma and burden of being a human is narrated along with optically illusioned  graphics.

A man, with an attire worn during the 18th Century, walks around with a hound of aggressive, gruesome and ghastly dogs, while he has a even more grim and ghastly expression on his face.

The movie is disturbing, of course and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. Usually what happens is people watch such movies and they feel like they didn't get the message or It went all over their head. What you need to understand when you watch a film like this is the simple theme of Darkness. How we fear the dark; Not just children but how adults, humans fear the inky and dingy atmosphere. The insecurity and the the helplessness that comes along in the clouds of darkness and the unpredictably of what could happen next is what is portrayed in all the six stories.

None have a pleasant ending; Unlike reality, where darkness comes to an end when light pours in, the film gets even darker and dimmer towards the end.

Schlinder's List

Oskar Schindler,(Liam Neeson) a German businessman arrives in the Polish-Jew-dominated Krakov to make fortunes as a war profiteer.He wants to open up a factory. His social nature and friendly attitude helps him get his work done. Being a member of the NSGWP(National Socialist German Workers' Party) he is able to bribe the officials and get a helping hand from the Wehrmacht(Unified German armed forces consisting of the army, navy and the air force) & The SS(The Protection Squad Unit of the Nazi Army who were responsible for several inhuman acts). 

New to the business and inexperienced, Schlinder hires Itzhak Stern(Ben Kingsley), a Jew accountant, who knows the tricks of the trade and has contacts in the black markets. Schlinder hires the Polish Jews as labourers because they cost less than the Polish Catholics. The Polish Jews are not given wages but the money is paid to the SS. I.

As Amon Goth(Ralph Fiennes), an SS captain takes charge, he orders liquidation of a certain part of the ghetto. That is when the massacre begins. It is a very depressing and perturbing scene as people are killed left and right. From children to adults to the aged, everyone who seems uncooperative or resisting, is killed instantly. Schindler watches this from a hill and It affects him.

As time goes by, Schinder lets go of his main money-making motive and the only reason he keeps the factory and the work going, is to save the Jews from the mouth of murder. With the help of his loyal accountant, Itzhal Stern, they manage to do a human act by saving every Jew that they can, by hiring them, instead of watching them being sent to concentration camps, to be killed! . However an order from Berlin arrives, ordering SS Captain, Amon Goth to dismantle the operation and kill every Jew at Krakov. Schindler, alarmed yet wise, manages to sway and bribe Goth. He gently argues that he needs these "skilled workers" in the factory in his home-town so he suggests that they move with him as hiring new workers and training them would mean spending unnecessary money and time. Goth agrees but charges a very heavy sum for every worker. Thus Schindler begins writing the LIST!

Itzhak Stern helps him prepare the list of the "skilled workers" who are to move with him to a safer place. Schindler tries to get everybody out of the concentration camp.

The movie is about one-man army, Oskar Schindler. Of course, Itzhak Stern helps him with most of the work and the duo save many Jewish lives. I have to say that I cannot imagine a man, a German so heroic, so as to risk all his money, more importantly, his life, only to save the Jews! The movie does portray Schindler beyond human and too-good-to-be-true but I suppose when a catastrophe like War befalls on humanity, men become beyond human(too good or too evil!).

It is a heart-wrenching tale and the entire movie is in a Black & White mode. However, the massacre scene at the ghetto has a little girl walking around as bullets fly everywhere. The Red Coat that she's wearing is the only  object in color. Similarly the candle flame is also colored in the first scene as the movie begins. In the colorless frames, these certain colors added to particular images highlight the significance and the metaphor of the Holocaust. The last scene where the real survivors along with the actors who portray them, visit Schindler's grave is in color mode.

The movie is directed by Stephen Speilberg and even though It runs a little over three hours, there is not a single speck of boredom in it. Recipient of seven Academy Awards and numerous other prestigious awards, Schindler's List is definitely one movie to watch before you die. There are few movies which make you think about your actions...Schindler's List is one of them. No matter how many movies are made, showing the cruelty and futility of War, so many of us fail to understand Why or How could something as terrible as the Holocaust have happened!

This film is only a short trailer of what happened back in the late 1930s and early 1940s...It is a story of a good man who saved so many Jews; I wonder If I will be able to watch a film that only tells the brutal part of the Holocaust. Watch this one...to understand that there are things in this world that you cannot control and you could be a reason for a life that is lost; But watch it more, so you understand better that the things you can control, you should and "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire!!!"

Mother

If you have watched Korean director, Bong Joon-ho's other movies like Memories of a Murder or the International hit, The Host, you know you will definitely watch Mother, even before you read the synopsis. My first introduction to Korean Cinema was back in 2005 when I watched My Sassy Girl. I was a teenager then and therefore I loved that film.( Please don't start talking about how our film makers tried to make a desi version with Malikka Sherawat and Ranvir Shorey! OMG...It was a brutal and ruthless murder of such a sad, romantic story) I tried to get hold of all the corny and cheesy romantic Korean dramas/comedies that I could find online. You name it.......
The Classic
My Tutor Friend
My Little Bride
Windstruck
Love So Divine
A Moment to Remember etc...
.....Yes, I have watched it all! However, a couple of years ago, I got my hands on this dark and noir Korean film called Sleeping Beauty. It is a collection of three short stories that takes place in three different rural towns of South Korea. The three stories are not only aphotic but they leave a splendid impression on the audience who are new to Korean Cinema.

Mother, directed by Bong Joon-ho is a thriller that tells the story of a single Mother,(played by Hye-Ja Kim) who lives with her son, Yoon Do-Joon(played by Bin Won). They live in a small town in South Korea and the Mother earns her bread by selling herbal medicines and performing acupuncture to the village women(without license). Do-Joon, the son is an introvert, socially uncertain, clumsy, careless, quiet and slow. He may seem harmless and you may pity the fellow but one thing that sets his mind ablaze is when people call him a "retard!". Taught by his mother since childhood, to defend himself by beating and fighting with the person who calls him a "retard", Do-Joon, though slightly handicapped, often gets into trouble for petty things due to the bad company he keeps. However he manages to live an almost normal life.

Until one day, a murder takes place in the village. Do-Joo becomes the easy and prime suspect as he is handicapped and unfortunately has no alibi to prove his innocence, after the police find out that he was spotted drunk and following the girl who got murdered, the previous night. When he is unable to remember how he got home and what exactly happened, the police make him sign a confession and get him to admit that he murdered the girl.

The Mother, horrified and troubled, does whatever It takes to free her son and find the killer who framed him. She sneaks into houses, pleas to lawyers and tries to bribe authorities. Hye Ja-Kim gives a wonderful performance of the Mother, a frightened and nervous parent yet undaunted and brave to go to any lengths to get her son back. The portrayal of a Woman, with such mighty strength, in spite of being socially weak and vulnerable is more than empathetic. Your heart will go out to her as she stops at nothing, for the fear of losing her world, her everything, her only son!

The script and the tone of the movie is vividly penetrating. The opening scene of the movie, where the Mother is in an open field, looking lost and demented, as she starts dancing to a dark and arcane beat is so clear and resplendent, that the scene sticks to you even when the movie is over!

Mother opened at the Cannes Film Festival 2009 and won much acclaim and appreciation.It won awards for Best Film, Best Screen Writer and Best Actress at the 4th Asian Film Awards, 2010. 

Sybil

This is a gripping drama based on a true story. Sybil Dorsett, portrayed by the talented Sally Field is a young graduate who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder as a result of the psychological and physical trauma she suffered as a child. She seeks help from a psychiatrist, Dr Cornelia.B.Wilbur, played by Joanne Woodward. 

This film will shock you and awe you at the same time. Like I said above, It is based on a true story so when you see the multiple faces of Sybil, you cannot help but fear her. She has at least 16 personalities inside her and usually they take control of the different situations. Sally Field is beyond brilliant. She plays all her personalities so convincingly, making it easy for the audience to identify who is on screen....Vanessa, who plays the piano and socially confident or Victoria, who is sophisticated, mature and speaks excellent French or Peggy, who is a hysterical little girl.

Dr Wilbur, patiently and humanly treats Sybil and meets all her other personalities and does whatever It takes to make her face all of them and understand that these personalities are people that she has created within herself! The film shows the bond between a doctor and a patient, without making it too corny or cheesy or unrealistic. Dr, Wilbur genuinely wants to help Sybil and Sybil does not portray a clown when transforming into other characters. The film has a very dark theme in the flashback, often It makes you feel like you are watching a horror movie! 

This film was made in 1976 for television miniseries and It won critical acclaim and commercial success. Directed by Daniel Petrie Sally Field received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special.  The film was based on the book, Sybil, written by Flora Rita Schreiber. The real name of the patient suffering from this identity disorder is Shirley Ardell Mason. Sybil Dorsett was the screen name given, to protect her identity. She died on February 28, 1998. She was seventy-five years old.

Crazy/Beautiful

This is one of my favourite romantic films. I can watch it over and over again (Just like "She's all that" or "10 things I hate about you").

Directed by John Stockwell, It stars Kirsten Dunst as Nicole Oakley and Jay Hernandez as Carlos Nunez. It's a love story between a rich, supposed spoilt child, Nicole and a working class Latino, Nunez. They attend the same school and fall in love when they meet at a beach. Nicole is a disturbed and depressed girl while Nunez is a practical and hard working guy. Honestly, this movie isn't about a great script or applauding performances. What strikes me about this movie is the passion and love between Nicole and Carlos. It seems so real. What adds weight to their love story is the brilliant soundtrack. The movie features such soothing and perfect songs like David Gray's, "This Year's Love" & The Dandy Warhols' " Sleep".

The simplicity in the chaotic love story that takes place has been displayed effortlessly by Jay Hernandez and Kirsten Dunst. They compliment each other and the chemistry and the equation between them is imperfectly perfect. Watch this one to make your heart melt; Watch this one for the super cute Pilot Nunez; Watch this one for any reason....As the title suggests, It's Crazy & It's Beautiful and aren't those the top two motifs that surround Love? Watch this one, just to fall in Love.

Memento

I have to begin this one with a warning:

If you are somebody who gets easily distracted and has a very low concentration power, please do NOT watch this film. If you don't fall into that category, you MUST watch this brilliant movie by the man who has given us fascinating films like The Dark Knight & The Prestige, Christopher Nolan

Very few films have a striking scene right in the beginning to mark something essential to the story that is about to unfold. Mementouses this technique and what you see in the first scene (the polaroid photograph of a person shot in the head, slowly begins to fade)is when you realize that the story is going backwards. The importance of the reverse procedure lies in the fact that the protagonist Leonard Shelby(played by Guy Pearce) suffers from a certain form of amnesia, in which the person fails to create new memories, after the event that caused the amnesia. Therefore to feel the same confusion and the chaos as the main character, the audience is made to view the film backwards.

The film has two narratives:

The Black & White Mode in which Leonard Shelby is sitting in a motel room, talking to an unknown person on the phone and he tells the person about a certain Sammy Jenkins that he'd met when he was an insurance investigator. Sammy has the same form of amnesia- Anterograde Amnesia. This mode of the film follows a linear chronology and the audience is able to understand what was the incident that occurred to Leonard and caused himAnterograde Amnesia.

The Colour Mode of the film is the narrative that goes in reverse swing. A guy named Teddy is shot in the head; Leonard has tattoos all over his body, with instructions to find a man called "John.G"and kill him. He meets a bartender called Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss) whose boyfriend Jimmy has been missing and strangely,Leonard is wearing the same clothes as Jimmy and driving the same car! The movie confuses you, only to build up the anxiety.

Believe me, when you have put 2 from the Black & White mode and 2 from the Colour mode together, you will figure out the whole mystery of Leonard Shelby but by then, my dear friend, the story ends. That, is the most beautiful aspect of the film. You will not be able to figure out what is the real deal and when you do, you'll know you're out of time cos the charade ends only because you have given up!

Christopher Nolan is beyond brilliant and when you watch this film, you will understand that It is not the actors alone who make a good film but a prudent and skilled director who has the confidence to twist the story and braid the chronology without making a mess out of it.

Watch this one because It is daunting and intimidating. This is one film that I watched with so much of concentration. Had anyone measured/calculated the intensity of my concentration, my name would have appeared in the Guinness Book Of World Records!

And please, don't say Ghajini is a remake of this film because one should understand that you don't copy such a brilliant work. There can be only one masterpiece and that's Memento!