Vazhakku Enn 18 / 9 (2012)

Language: Tamil

Director: Balaji Sakthivel

Actors: Sri, Urmila Mahanta, Mithun Murali, Manisha Yadav

Cinematography: S D Vijay Milton

Music: R Prasanna

A crime thriller that has a real feel, you don’t feel this is a movie till the last frame where the lead artist says, “However long it will be, I will wait for you”. The highlight of the movie is how the director tells the story. He chooses to do that through a series of flash backs as seen from the point of view of two people. One, a boy (the lead) who is accused of throwing acid on the face of the girl (the lead) and the other a girl (the second lead) for whom the acid burst was meant for. 

The storyline is simple acid is thrown on the face of a maidservant of a middle class household. The police interrogate a boy who has had a couple of run-ins with the girl (maid servant). But another unlikely angle arises when the young girl in that household suspects it could be her neighbor, a rich boy who is after her. Then comes the rich boy’s influential mother, a minister and the police and the director’s knack to draw you to the edge of your seat.

This movie has all the ingredients to rocket Tamil cinema into the world stage. All the characters in the movie are so real and you could relate to most of them. The cinematography is another huge plus for this movie, purported shot on a Canon EOS 5D digital camera the images speak volumes. Prasanna’s background score adds strength to this classic. One can keep talking about the director’s attention to detail and the way he has chiseled his characters, it looks so real. Every single actor / contributor to this movie needs to be commended. Director Linguswami deserves a very special mention for producing such a classic in this age of commercialism.

There have been many comparisons of this movie with the Oscar winner, A Separation which I think is very unfair. That I think is the Tamil jingoism we are used to, that makes us get into such comparisons. Vazhakku Enn stands out, it would be unfair to compare this masterpiece with other movies.

I loved the way Director Prabhu Solomon & Mysskin talked about this film (on two different occasions).

“The days of us watching good movies from Iran, Korea etc. is gone. The time has come for them to watch our movies, this will be the first” says Solomon.

“I asked Balaji Sakthivel how this movie is doing and he said it is doing okay…. This is a movie that should be celebrated… A movie each and every one should be talking about” says Mysskin.

This movie is a gem, a must watch for all movie lovers. A sure super dooper watch and most recommended. 

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 !!

Marina (2012)

Country: India

Actors: Siva Karthikeyan, Oviya, ‘Pakoda’ Pandian, Sundararajan, ‘Jithan’ Mohan

Director: Pandiraj

This film has a documentary feel to it (in bits and pieces). The hero of the movie is the Marina Beach of Chennai, the second longest beach in the world. The movie is complete with the inhabitants of the beach – Beggars, love birds – illicit & otherwise, children hawking things, joggers, petrol thieves, singers & dancers and of course the police.

The movie opens with a young boy landing in Chennai to make his fortune. He lands up in the Marina Beach selling water packets. Then you see the boy making friends, friends with fellow hawkers, beggers, guys who rent horses and a guy who comes to the beach with his love interest. As the director documents the life and times of the people in the beach we are suddenly distracted as police comes in search of one of the boy hawkers. And then comes the usual trivialization of things that happens in Tamil movies – Why, what, how and all that.

You could dissect the movie into 5 segments – (1) The boy hawkers (2) The young couple in love (3) The old man / begger (4)The police men / trivialization (5) Others: Including the Postman, singer father & dancing daughter and the moral of the story. All but the policemen segment lend to the strength of the film.

The music is likable and is not on your face like a normal Tamil movie. For once, the background score plays an important part in a Tamil movie. The actors do well to live their parts without naming names every single actor have delivered a great performance. The script seems tight except for a while when it strays out with the police searching the young hawker episode.

This is what they call a “feel good” movie that delivers a powerful message against child labour in a way you wouldn’t even know what hit you.

Good work by Pandiraj and his team. Had the director clipped that trivial segment it would have made the film a bit tighter and shorter by a deserved 15 minutes (and may be a SuperWatch).

A good watch !!

Manmadan Ambu (2010)

Country: India

Language: Tamil

Actors: Kamal Hassan, R Madhavan, Ramesh Arvind, Urvashi, Trisha Krishnan & Sangeetha

Director: K S Ravikumar

Music: Devi Sri Prasad

Romcom, a simple story... A man about to marry an actress suspects her of having relationships with her industry colleagues. He engages a private detective to tail her during her cruise holiday in Europe. As events unfold the original pair break-up and the girl falls for the detective. There are lots of other characters fill the blanks in this two and a half hour film and also make a huge impact on you, Ramesh Arvind and Urvashi are the notable who have done a fabulous job.

Devi Sri Prasad’s music is another plus for the movie. He has straddled genres here. Neela Vaanam is one song that you are sure to take home and hum around for the next couple of days. Kamal Hassan the lyricist & singer has done a great job in taking the song to the next level. Talking about this song without mentioning the violin intro would be a great disservice to the song, it is mindblowing. The other notable thing is the picturisation of Neela Vaanam which is shot in reverse motion saves at least about half an hour of unnecessary flashback.

Overall, it is an enjoyable K S Ravikumar, Kamal Hassan & Devi Sri Prasad (commercial) flick.

PS: There has been lots of talk about the picturisation of Neela Vaanam, in reverse motion. This is slightly inspired by the video of Cold Play’s The Scientist. Although it seems to be a lift, the director has done a commendable job telling a super story within a story.

I would say “Well lifted”

PPS: Thanks to @girsubra for pointing out the mistake we made on screenplay credits... Apologies, we stand corrected now

Red Cliff 2 (2009)

Country: China

Language: Mandarin

Actors: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-Ling & Zhao Wei

Director: John Woo

I saw Red Cliff 1 last month, yet it was fresh in my memory once I started watching the second installment. I would have watched the movie(s) even if it was (were) one part and an hour and a half extra to sit. The production value is mind blowing and one feels that it is monies well spent by the producer.

Tony Leung, what can one tell about his man ? I’ve now become a great fan of his Zhou Yu (the character in this movie), but for how long ?? Tony Leung, for me is like a bottle of wine… You are taught the older the wine is the better it is. Likewise, the more of Tony Leung you watch the more you like him.

Zhang Fengyi does well as the antagonist. The experienced actor he is, he excels as Cao Cao. The ladies in the movie, Lin Chi –Ling & Zhao Wei are brilliant. If we have a winner of a movie then one needs to credit John Woo, the man at the helm,the father of this lovely epic movie.

The battle formation & strategy are practical tips for the gamers among us. The background music is something that needs very special mention. It makes the movie even more impactful.

Part 2 has more action compared to the first installment. For once it is not senseless action, blood & gore. The music, the unmatched visuals and some superb acting take this movie to a completely different level.

The climax is something that WOW’s us. I don’t have words to describe this movie other than very highly recommending this movie.

Amazing movie, a must watch.

Ko (2011)

Country: India

Language: Tamil

Actors: Jiiva, Karthika Nair, Ajmal Ameer, Piaa Bajpai, Prakash Raj & Kota Srinivasa Rao

Director: K V Anand

Story: Suba (D Suresh & A N Balakrishnan) & K V Anand

Cinematography: Richard M Nathan

An action thriller about politics, the role of youngsters in it. The protagonist is a photographer in a local newspaper who becomes the champion of investigative photography thanks to his daredevil photographs of a bank robbery. The field now shifts to another youngster who wants to make his mark in politics, he fights election against two giants. The ruling party and the opposition do what our current central government does best, spoil their own chances by doing the improbable. Taking advantage of this the youngsters come to power and the photo-journalist figures a link between the bank robbery and certain people who are close to the youngster (new) CM.

Is there a real link ? How does the CM respond ? That is the movie

Jiiva and Ajmal Ameer have done exceedingly well. So have Karthika Nair and the rest of the cast. Piaa Bajpai fills in the blank as the mandatory Mumbai export required for a masala, populist Tamil movie to round things off.

As usual my pet theme of the role of songs in Tamil cinema comes to the fore. Though the songs by Harris Jeyaraj sound nice and the picturisation in foreign locations by Richard is amazing we need to question the need for them. I personally feel KO would be a hit even without the songs and foreign locations just on the merit of the story & screenplay.

This movie has all the ingredients to be a super-duper hit it has become. A straight superwatch for the story, screenplay, cinematography, music, acting & direction. Although my prejudice against the unnecessary songs, dance & foreign location would call for a downgrade to a goodwatch.

For once I will go with the popular sentiment and call this a superwatch. Could have been a real knockout but KO wins on points !!

Thamizh Padam (2010)

Country: India

Language: Tamil

Actors: Shiva, Disha Pandey

Director: C S Amudhan

A movie not to be intellectualized about, absolute nonsense if you didn’t know or understand the Tamil movie industry and haven’t watched any of the contemporary hits. This one parodies all the Tamil movies in our recent memory. Movies that have some stereotypical scenes that have become milestones of our movie industry.

The film opens with a parody on Karuttamma, a cult village movie that dealt with female infanticide in certain villages of Tamil Nadu. And ends with a stereotypical court scene where nothing is logical expect the mention of IPC 302, the penal code for the punishment of death.

Even the songs parody movies, thankfully the tunes don't. The movie has some decent songs by debutant Kannan. A couple of songs sound really good and therefore his efforts are really worth a mention.

But my standout scene in the movie is the family song sequence. Family song is something the Indian movies are famous for. This is one song that unites a whole estranged family that was separate for decades. In this movie this song literally throws you off your seat, makes you roll with laughter. Suddenly Michael Learns to Rock play “Someday” as the family song starting with the famous guitar intro.

One should credit the director Amudhan for risking his career parodying all the top heroes of the Tamil industry. He has done the movie really well and it is entertaining too, we should wait and watch if he does get to do anymore movies (egos are the most important weapon of the industry). And most importantly what kind of movies he does if he does indeed get to do Tamil movies.

A good watch, super parody of all the known Tamil movies in the recent past. But the catch is that you shouldn’t even attempt this movie if you haven’t watched any Tamil movie before or you are not familiar with the stereotypes they are known for.

Love in the time of Cholera (2007)

Language: English

Actors: Javier Bardem, Benjamin Bratt, Giovanna Mezzogiorno & Fernanda Montenegro

Director: Mike Newell

Cinematography: Affonso Beato

Based on a book by Nobel winner Gabriel García Márquez, At the end of the movie we get all the usual questions we have when a screenplay is adapted from a famed book.

1. Has the director done justice to the amazing book ?

2. Has he overtly tampered the original to get to his screenplay ?

3. Is it good when people make movies out of great books ?

4. What would have been Gabriel García Márquez’s reaction when he saw this movie first ?

5. Will this movie make the people who have not read the book run to the bookstore to get their copy ?

And we know the answers well. Never before have we been satisfied in unanimity with any movie that has been adapted from a book. If that were an overstatement, then I would sweeten it by adding “Most of the times”, if that would satisfy you !!

The same is the case of this movie. Unfortunately I still can’t say 100% that the movie didn’t do justice to the great book. Because I’m only halfway into the book. But till where ever my bookmark has gone, I’m only semi-satisfied.

As any movie, this one has its plus points. In my opinion almost all the actors are fantastic in their roles. Javier Bardem & Fernanda Montenegro (who plays Tránsito Ariza) are just fantastic, not to take away the credit from the other actors. The visuals are pleasing, one should definitely credit Affonso Beato who has manned the camera in this movie. The music is fantastic, it is pretty unfortunate that we know Shakira only for a “Waka Waka”. This movie is one example that there is a musician called Shakira who’s beyond just one anthem.

Overall I personally liked the film although I would have expected that I would love it.

Now, let us continue with our debate on the merits of making a film out of a great book.

PS: Legend has it that Gabriel García Márquez said "Bravo" at the end of the screening of the (unreleased) movie