Departures (Okuribito~ おくりびと )

For me, The Japanese are the best story-tellers. Whether it is anime or live-action films, the art of story-telling comes naturally and beautifully to the Japanese.

Okuribito or Departures is the 2009 Academy Award winner of the Best Foreign Language Film. Directed by Yojiro Takita, the film stars Masahiro Motoki in the lead.

Motoki plays Daigo Kobayashi who is a cellist in Tokyo. The orchestra he plays in runs out of business and he if forced to quit his job. He returns to the village he grew up in, to start anew with his wife, who seems supporting and loving. When he arrives at the village, he begins to look for a new job. He finds one in the papers that says, "helps people in their journey" and applies for it, even though he isn't really sure what kind of job it is. He assumes It is something similar to a tourist guide.

He goes for the interview and his boss hires him without even taking a look at his resume. He then finds out the job is that of a mortician/encoffiner; somebody who prepares and cleanses a corpse for the final ritual. He is reluctant at first and hides the nature of his job from his wife. However he begins by assisting his boss and as he watches him clean, beautify and prepare the body for the last journey and something in him feels that there is a reason that he landed the job.  Kobayashi decides to become an encoffiner.

Director Yojiro Takita depicts the funeral rites in the most simple yet beautifully elegant manner that a dark  phenomenon like Death, appears anything but morbid. The many funeral instances in the movie are touching, not because it is filled with sadness and emotions but because we get to watch the dead being prepared in a manner like we have never seen before. The stories, the pain, the departure has been so sophisticatedly captured that a macabre element called death becomes engaging! You don't want to take your eyes off the screen even for single moment!

Kobayashi has to deal with his own conflicts. Abandoned by his father when he was six, he feels he can never forgive the man for being irresponsible and heartless, however fate has something else prepared for him. So does the fact that he lands up as an encoffiner have a purpose in his life? You will have to watch the film to find that out.

Departures is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. Another plausible characteristic of the film is It's background score and music. In fact, it has a scene where Kobayashi is playing the cello in the open fields and yes, I have only one word to describe it, Beautiful! It is evident that It is director, Yojiro Takita's brilliant vision and simple yet aesthetic depiction of the departing process that makes this film, one of the greatest movies ever made.

Like all good movies, this one stays on with you. Watch this and you will know why other foreign movies nominated at the 81st Academy Awards lost to this particular one! Departures is alluringly delightful and enchantingly simple. 

2 Faces of my Girlfriend

Gu-Chang (Bong Tae-Gyu) is a senior college student, who has never kissed a girl! He has never had a girlfriend! He hangs out with a bunch of guys, similar to him...uncool, un-popular and clumsy. He lives with his mother and a divorcee, single-mother sister. Unemployed and having failed his senior year, Gu-Chang is usually broke and by himself, until one day he finds a wallet in the college cafeteria and starving, uses some money in it to buy food. Enter Anni, the owner of the wallet. Gu-Chang's life changes as he spends some time with Anni. She seems to be a sweet girl, who has, for some reason been dumped by her boyfriend and is still hung up on him. The two become friends and begin to hang out. What Gu-Chang doesn't know is that Anni suffers from a mild Multiple Personality Disorder and has an alternate self called Hanni, who is the exact opposite of Anni.

This Korean rom-com is a sweet story about how a guy meets a girl and as be the law of nature, falls in love with her. However the two personalities of the girl creates a lot of trouble and confusion for the boy. He ends up getting beaten and bullied by her alternate side. Even when he tries to leave her, she comes to him, unable to recall what happened last between the two of them. Gu-Chang being the vulnerable and a hopelessly deprived romantic, tends to take Anni/Hanni back.

Obviously this isn't a ground-breaking film; And frankly, there are better romantic comedies/drama that Korea has offered. What is special about the film is it's lead actor, Bong Tae-Gyu. He isn't the most good-looking of the bunch. In fact, he sort of looks dorky and funny. What melts your heart is the character he portrays. A loser who sacrifices so much for a girl who is some times sweet to him but often a tough browbeater. Like most Korean rom-coms, this one has a lot of comical scenes. Your heart goes out to Tae-Gyu, as he acts silly and cute at the same time and gets his butt kicked around by Hanni. It isn't one of those corny movies where the characters try too hard to make you laugh or where they attempt to deliver deliberate cute scenes, making a botch out of the situation. 2 Faces of my Girlfriend is anything but dryly calculated. The chemistry between the two leads is natural and adorable.

Watch this one when you have the time to relax and want to enjoy a romantic flick. Like I said, It isn't one of the greatest movies ever made but It'll touch your heart at the depiction of a common love story with a not-so-common situation (MPD).

Personally, I fell in love with Bong Tae-Gyu after watching this and since then, have tried to get my hands at most of his other movies. He is sweet, dorky and according to me, I believe he is what he portrays in most of his movies. A loser with a heart of gold! That may not be the best compliment to give an actor but you will understand what I mean, only when you watch his movies. For me, Tae-Gyu is the kind of man I'd like to be with. So step aside all you drop-dead-gorgeous looking men! It's time for the Nerds to step out.Dorky Guys rock!!!! ;)

Taxi Driver

A disturbed war veteran, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) suffers from incurable insomnia and is depressed and disturbed with the dirt and sleaze of the ghettos of Manhattan. This is his world. He drives a taxi, not only to earn a livelihood but so as to keep himself busy and engaged. Travis is a loner. He doesn't have many friends, except his colleagues that he meets during his breaks at the cafe. He seems to be bustling and restless. He hates the cheap ways of the world around him. Pimps and Prostitutes, liars and cheaters...An uneasy and chronic feeling eats him up inside as he watches the world work in a paltry, poor process.

Travis Bickle, a twenty-six year old man, decides to change, to do something about this immoral and disgusting ways of the world. He just hasn't figured out what exactly but he knows he is going to do something about it.

Martin Scorsese, gives an insight into a lonely and depressed man's life; Somebody who lies to his parents, yet does not have a strained relationship with them. He writes to them regularly. Travis Bickle isn't insane...It would be wrong to call him psychologically disturbed. Yet, as you watch him buy weapons illegally and talk to himself in the mirror....
"You talking to me???"
You know there is something not quite right about him. His attraction and persuasion towards Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a campaigner for presidential candidate Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris) seems normal until he takes her to watch a pornographic movie on their first date; Betsy gets offended and leaves. She avoids Travis thereafter. You know Travis isn't your ordinary boy next door even with that cute smile across his face. It's evident, Travis is so much more than what meets the eye. However, Travis' concern and care towards a young prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster) is juxtaposed with his other strange self and that is when you begin to question: Who is Travis Bickle? Is he the good guy or the bad guy???

Watching a movie in 2010, that was made in 1976, does two things to you:
a) It makes you watch the movie attentively, looking for details that reviews/critiques spoke of
b) It makes you want to travel back in time and watch it, only to know and feel what It must have been like when a brilliant movie like this hit the screens.

The saxophone playing constantly in the background with the piano at various intervals; and the street drummer add an almost macabre music to the film. It seems to be the right element to the equation because It works well and as an audience, you hear Travis' restlessness and affliction in the beats.  

Many call this Scorsese's masterpiece but when he's given you films like Mean Streets, Goodfellas,  Raging Bull,  Kundun, The Deaparted, It's fair to say that this man, actually has a collection of such masterpiece! Bow down to Martin Scorsese for being able to create not just one character but characters film after film, characters that you love, you despise, you envy and characters that you will never want to forget. Travis Bickle is one such character!

Yes, If I only had a time-machine, I would go back to 76' and walk down the sleazy ghettos of Manhattan and hail every cab that comes by, hoping that a twenty-six year old cabbie with a marine jacket stops by and smiles and asks, "Where to?"
I'd cornily answer, "Right into your heart Travis Bickle!" 

Go ahead, watch this one and fall in love with Robert De Niro. (Oh...and If you're a guy, learn something from Travis Bickle! Just cos It's 2010, It doesn't mean we don't dig, lean, mysterious men who carry that wry smile!!!)

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.