Une vie de chat (2010)

English Title: A cat in Paris

Country: France

Language: French

Director: Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli

Music: Serge Besset

An animated feature, for a change it is a hand drawn animation movie. What we used to call cartoon when we were kids !! This one is a noir movie, an interesting cartoon noir.

A simple storyline, 4 main characters and a cat – A police detective, her daughter who can’t speak (who eventually does !!), an acrobatic burglar and the cruel villain who murdered the detective’s husband and rendered her daughter mute.

The cat is the detective’s daughters pet and also the burglar’s accomplice / partner in crime. The cat accompanies the burglar every night, one night the young girl follows her pet to stumble upon the villains. The girl listens from the background as the villain’s gang plot to steal the statue of the colossus of Nairobi. The girl is caught eavesdropping by the gang of baddies, the burglar and the cat come to her rescue.

In this entire melee the burglar and the cat get caught by the police for a jewellary heist. They escape from the police to rescue the girl and the baddies are punished.

A superb noir and after a long time computers make way for hand drawn stuff. Most refreshing to see a ‘cartoon’ as opposed to the present day CG based ‘animation’. The background score is another plus for this movie. The other plus for this movie is the distinct lack of violence. It is a noir, yes but there isn’t any violence here.

Don’t miss the opening credit title... It is a dynamic title sequence with the cat hopping across the Parisian landscape as the title zips across the screen.

All the positives said, the statue of the colossus of Nairobi didn't need that long penis. Although the colossus is entitled to his manhood, flashing it in a classy film like this was completely unnecessary.

SuperWatch, a very strong contender for the Academy awards for an animated film.

The Descendants (2011)

Country: USA

Language: English

Actors: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Robert Forster

Director: Alexander Payne

A two faced story that is a comedy in one frame and a family drama on the other. Superbly scripted, well-acted out movie that is in the running for this year’s best movie Oscars. I love the way the director opens the movie, with a disclaimer on what we thing Hawaii is and what it actually is.

It tells us the story of a workaholic Honolulu lawyer, Matt King. He is a father of two girls, a 10 & a 17 year old and a comatose wife in a hospital. He is also the trustee of a family holding of 25,000 acres of land in an island of Kauai. The land has to be sold before the trust expires in the next 7 years because of the law of perpetuities.

Matt is faced up with a couple of situations, with the wife in coma he has to take care of his two girls. From being a second hand father to hands on seems to be a tough transition for him, especially with the two problem children he has. With the sale of the trust land also in the materialization stage, he has his hands full.

The doctor’s tell Matt that his wife will never wake-up and because of her living will he has to authorize the hospital to pull the plug, discontinue life support. And he decides that he has to inform about his wife’s state to all her friends & family and get them to visit her for one last time before she dies. To amplify things, he gets to know about his wife’s infidelity from his elder daughter.

He decides to find his wife’s lover, confront him and get him to meet his (Matt’s) wife for one last time. The search complicates things further when he finds that the sale of the estate comes into this equation.

Does Matt get his wife’s lover meet her for one last time ?

How is the sale of the family estate linked to the equation ?

Is the estate sold ?

These are questions that will be answered towards the end of the movie.

George Clooney, what do I say ? Many have said that this is probably his best acting performance. Phew, was that acting ? I didn’t see Clooney at all except in the credit titles. Amazing stuff. Alexander Payne, all the usual clichés that are associated with a director of a good movie is due, to his man. His casting is one of the most important things that get this movie an extra couple of points. And of course every single one of his actors have done justice to their casting. And background score needs another mention, I loved the Hawaiian flavor.

Surely a best movie award material. I would only be surprised if this movie doesn’t win any Oscars, has to win at least a couple (hopefully).

A sure SuperWatch !!

Nader and Simin, A Separation (2011)

Country: Iran

Language: Persian

Actors: Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat & Sarina Farhadi

Director: Asghar Farhadi

A drama that explores the judicial, familial, gender, social and religious pressure the middle class Iran is faced with today. Amazingly acted out, it doesn’t seem like a film at all barring a moment or two. This one is more real than the most real reality show you would ever have seen.

A couple married for 14 years with an 11 year old daughter is in the middle of a bitter divorce battle. The reason, the wife wants to leave the country to give a better future for her daughter. The husband can’t because he has to take care of his Alzheimer afflicted old father.

The judge doesn’t give a ruling but asks them to take some time to see if they can reconcile. As Simin, the wife moves to her parents place, Nader hires a woman to take care of his father. The young lady, Razieh hails from a poor family hounded by debtors thanks to her jobless husband. Getting a hang of the taxing job of taking care of a Alzheimer patient and the religious implication of handling an elderly male, she decides to put her jobless husband in her place. But as luck would have it the guy gets arrested for defaulting on a loan and is sent to jail.

So the pregnant Razieh decides to continue with the work till her husband comes out. And brings her toddler daughter to the work place. Circumstances force Nader accuse Razieh of stealing money and neglecting his old father. The accusation leads to a fight and Nader shoving Razieh out of his house and a miscarriage for her.

Nader is arrested for having caused the miscarriage, a charge he refutes. And the drama reaches a crescendo touching upon the key drivers of the contemporary Iran like gender, morality, monetary & political uncertainty, judiciary and religion.

Towards the end the couple is back in the family court for finalising their divorce. This time with both parties agreeing on separating, the judge asks their young daughter with whom she wants to stay. The girl says she wants to tell her decision to the judge in person. The credit title rolls with the couple waiting outside the courtroom as their daughter is alone in the courtroom talking to the judge.

The actors, Leila Hatami who plays Simin and Peyman Moaadi who plays Nader have already won loads of acclaim and awards for their lovely portrayal of the two main characters. Sareh Bayat who plays the role of Razieh and Ali-Azghar Shahbazi who plays the Alzheimer affected father of Nader are a class apart.

This movie doesn’t have fancy cinematography, except the lovely piano piece as the end titles roll there is no other music you remember, no major locations or set properties and costumes. If this movie has succeeded it is purely on the merit of a great story, tight screenplay and direction by Asghar Farhadi.

This lovely drama is the Iranian nominee for Best Foreign Movie at the 84th edition of the Academy Awards. I’m sure this will be one of the shortlists and one shouldn’t be surprised if A Separation eventually wins.

Most recommended, a straight Super Watch