Overheard 2 (2011)

Country: Hong Kong SAR

Language: Cantonese / English

Director(s): Alan Mak & Felix Chong

Actors: Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Michelle Ye

This can be (very) loosely called a sequel of the 2009 movie, Overheard. The reason why I mention “loosely” is because except the overhearing part and some key actors being the same, the story is different and the characterization is completely different form the 2009 movie. I would say it is a bit slicker than the earlier one.

The other basic difference in the storyline is that the police aren’t the espionage agents in this edition. It is the young son of a former share trader & influential member of the Hong Kong trading elite. The father who was part of the elite gang called “The Landlord Club” who indulge in insider trading and other irregularities for “the benefit of” the Hong Kong trading community is murdered (as the sacrificial lamb) to keep certain secrets. And the son decides to take revenge. So he does the espionage and the police occupy the middle ground of playing catch-up.

Louis Koo is the policeman who has to expose both the sides, “The Landlord Club” as well as the son of the former member who is avenging his father’s death. Lau Ching-Wan is an influential stock pundit who is the go-to man for “The Landlord Club” and Daniel Wu is the son fighting to avenge the loss of his father.

Another superbly scripted, well-acted out movie. I would rate this higher than the 2009 installment. Again Lau Ching-Wan stands out tall.

This one goes down the 24fPs logs as a SuperWatch and it thoroughly deserves that.

Overheard (2009)

Country: Hong Kong SAR

Language: Cantonese / English

Director(s): Alan Mak & Felix Chong

Actors: Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Alex Fong Chung-Sun

Same duo which wrote Infernal Affairs (and by default won the first Oscars for, you know who !!). A crime drama. As the title says the movie is about overhearing. And more than overhearing it is about the human tendency to manipulate the overheard story to his / her advantage.

Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) probes a company for insider trading, they basically bug the company and do an espionage operation. The lynchpins of the operation from the CCB have their own, the leader of the trio is in love with his boss’s (friend’s) estranged wife, one guy is under pressure having to match up to his rich (to-be) father-in-law, the third suffers from cancer and his infant son is seriously ill and has to settle his family before he goes.

The two boys overhear an insider trading conversation and decide to delete it off the record and take advantage of the circumstances to overcome their financial situation. They invest all their monies (and borrowing) to make a killing but greed overcomes them and in trading is suspended by the Hong Kong Securities for unusual activity. The inspector takes pity on his boys and plays on. Because of not reporting, the incident blows up to gigantic proportions with both their higher-ups in police and the people who are part of the insider trading circuit coming after them. What happens & how is the climax.

Alan Mak & Felix Chong have a great story here and they tell it well, given its shortcomings. The major shortcoming I see is sustaining the speed, the dynamics of a lovely start. The part where they kidnap the inside traders and the subplot there was a bit of a letdown. But that doesn’t take the sheen out of a lovely plot. Lau Ching-Wan, what can one say about this man ? Lovely acting, with a typical poker face (and sometimes playing the joker) he carries the whole weight of the film. All the others have done definite justice to their roles, especially Lois Koo.

Definitely a GoodWatch and a bit more !!

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 !!

Rashomon and other stories (1952)

Paperback

Language: English (Original in Japanese)

Author: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Translator: Takashi Kojima

Few of us would know Ryūnosuke Akutagawa as the man who wrote Rashomon. A story immortalized on silver screen by Akira Kurosawa.

For the majority of us who don't bother to see credit titles, Akutagawa is a legend of Japanese literature, he is called the "Father of Japanese short story". He has a premier Japanese literary award named after him. A legend who lived in the late 1800’s and committed suicide 35 years later.

This book has 6 stories. The first two are the ones which Kurosawa made as Rashomon, In a groove and Rashomon. Every line of these two short stories you read brings before you Kurosawa’s movie, frame by frame. At the end of it you are confused if you want to praise the literary brilliance of Akutagawa or the faithful adaptation Kurosawa gave us (which by itself is an amazingly great movie).

Yam Gruel, the next story has some good humour in it. It is about a low ranking Samurai waiting for an opportunity to have his favorite yam gruel. And it has what you can call, a moral of the story. The next story “The Martyr” is a story about an orphan raised by Jesuit priests. “Kesa & Morito” , the next story is told in the form of a monologue of Morito and then Kesa. It is a story of a man who has to kill someone at the behest of his lover, whom he doesn’t love.

The last story, “The Dragon” is the story of a priest who by spreading a rumour about a dragon wants to go one up with his fellow priests because they make fun of his large nose. The story reminds one of the famous NFDC (India) animated promo against rumour from the late 1980’s.

The stories showcase how humans react when they come face to face with lust, greed, poverty etc. A special mention should go to Takashi Kojima, the translator of the stories. Amazingly written, super dooper read.

Most recommended.

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 !!

Phatik Chand (1983)

Paperback

Language: English(Originally Bengali)

Author: Satyajit Ray

Translator: Lila Ray

This is a novel by Satyajit Ray the great film maker from Bengal, India.

This one is a poignant story of a 12 year old affluent kid who is kidnapped for ransom. The kidnap attempt goes haywire as the kidnappers crash their car and the kid escapes with minor external injuries but a major one internally, loss of memory. The boy who has lost his memory calls himself Phatik, afraid that he might have broken some law and hence be a person wanted by police he runs into oblivion and happens to meet a juggler Harun.

Harun-da takes Phatik under his wing and finds him a job in a restaurant owned by his friend. And there comes the twist in the story, the kidnappers spot Phatik in the restaurant. And Phatik without knowing why they are after him runs from them with the help of Harun-da. What happens next is the novel.

The characterization and the narrative are amazing. You feel like you are looking at a storyboard and not reading a novel. The relationship between the boy and Harun-da, the juggler is the heart of the novel and is handled beautifully by Mr Ray.

A short novel of 112 pages which you can’t put down without finishing it.

Super Read of monumental propositions !!

Most recommended.

PS: This novel was later made a feature film by Sandip Ray, Satyajit’s son.

Serious Men (2010)

Hardback

Language: English

Author: Manu Joseph

Social divide is something we Indians are very familiar with. Caste system & reservation has become the fief of our political masters who flash these cards only when our votes are needed. But it is something that affects many of us Indians in our daily lives from malicious stereotyping to outright slander and rejection. This work of fiction is the story of Ayyan Mani, a dalit who lives in a one room apartment in one of the many Chawls of Mumbai with his wife and son.

Mani is the personal assistant to the director of the Institute of Theory & Research, a research institute supposedly dominated by Brahmin scientists. Mani’s boss is a world famous physicist who nearly won the physics Nobel and who had a very famous run in with the Pope. Although he is aging he maintains a firm grip over the institutes functioning and is working on his pet project of proving the presence of alien microbes in the upper atmosphere and his autocratic ways are resented by a good section of people in the institute which results in a power struggle.

On the other side, Mani who resented the domination of Brahmins starts feeding his 10 year old convent going son Adi with intelligent questions to ask his teachers so that he can be labeled a genius. The modus operendi is to get the boy ask these questions to his teachers at random like questions on Arithmetic progression or about acceleration due to gravity.

Mani also pays one of the reporters of a small time newspaper to insert an article saying that Adi has won a science contest conducted by the Swiss science foundation. Step by step he succeeds in his mission of getting the world term his son a genius. He uses the feud between the two Brahmin leaders of the institute to further his ambition of showcasing his son’s genius.

This is a work of satire that gives us a glimpse of the social divides in India on the basis of caste. And how one can manipulate the situation to his or her own advantage.

Amazingly real and relatable and a good read.

God save the Dork (2011)

Paperback

Language: English

Author: Sidin Vadukut

A sequel to the hilarious Dork: The incredible adventures of Robin “Einstein” Varghese. In this episode the highflying consultant from Dufresne, Robin “Einstein” Varghese is sent on secondment to Lederman Bank in London. The good thing for us readers is that Robin still updates his famous diary.

This one again is a laugh riot that gives us a good look into the relationship issues Robin has with his girlfriend Gouri, his life in London, visit to museums, his tryst with the interns at Lederman, his relationship with the CEO of Lederman, the financial irregularities in Lederman, the mistake in the payroll system that effects in a windfall into his account and more.

There is something that has not changed at all, in fact at times you wonder if things have gotten better in this edition of Dork. The stupidity and naivety quotient of Robin gets bigger and better in this edition and hence laughing out your guts is guaranteed.

The fact is that sequels are a very tricky business but I think the fact that the books are a presentation of Robin’s diary entries helps the book a lot. Go for it…

Another Super Read from Sidin Vadukut !!

Dork: The incredible adventures of Robin “Einstein” Varghese (2010)

Paperback

Language: English

Author: Sidin Vadukut

As the name suggests this book is about the adventures of Robin “Einstein” Varghese. The story starts with the last few days of Robin on the campus of his business school. The days when campus recruitment is in full swing and Robin like many others in his institute want to be lapped up by a consultancy firm with a fancy salary.

The difference between the others and Robin is his top of the rack stupidity and naivety quotient. And more importantly a false air of confidence & the ability to screw-up or score an own goal at ease.

The story comes to us as Robin’s diary entries. It is a hilarious account of Robin’s naïve arrogance, stupid brilliance and confident messing-up of things. Episodes of Robin’s booze fueled bravado, puking, monumental hangover, epic fights with classmates / peers he hates, his quest to rewrite supply chain management, the stupid thought that he is going to be the savior of the world of consultancy. And the monumental of all, a booze fueled voicemail message which puts him on top of the world map of the consultancy business.

The story becomes even better if you have come across someone of Robin’s caliber in your life. It becomes more relatable and enjoyable. A laugh riot and most recommended !!

Super Read… Go for it !!

The Immortals of Meluha (2010)

Paperback

Language: English

Author: Amish Tripathi

This is the first of the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi. The author has taken Hindu mythology and has fictionalized it a bit to give a good novel.

The story is about the fight between the Meluhan Suryavanshi’s and the Chandravanshi’s who have joined force with the Naga’s to defeat the Meluhan’s. The king of Meluha invites various tribes to his country (Expat workers ?!!), one of them is a tribe from Tibet of which the leader is Shiva.

From the serene personality shown in the backdrop of Mount Kailash with his trishul, damaru & a snake coiled around his deep blue coloured neck we have seen in calendars, books and in our pooja rooms, we see a completely different Shiva here. A chillum bearing, marijuana smoking warrior and a lovable leader of a tribe.

Although the characterization takes a while to settle in you, it doesn’t disturb you. By the end of the first few pages the author manages to pull the readers into the fictional web he spins. Mahadev becomes a post occupied by great leaders, Somras makes Shiva’s throat go blue, Sati who becomes Shiva’s wife is a widow who remarries him.

There are places where you feel a slight reduction in the intensity with which the book moves. But by and large the author manages to keep the reader glued to the pages. And more importantly you start thinking about the second book by the time you finish this one.

A very good read

Chronicles of a death foretold (1981)

Paperback

Language: English (Originally Spanish)

Author: Gabriel García Márquez

Translator: Gregory Rabassa

Orignally written in Spanish as Crónica de una muerte anunciada. It is a murder mystery that chronicles the last day of Santiago Nasser, a ranch owner. Almost everyone in the village knows Santiago Nasser is going to be murdered and the reasons surrounding it.

The story starts on a busy day with Nasser waking up from a dream of walking through a grove of timber trees, waiting for the bishop who is to visit his village and the Vicario brothers waiting to kill him. The story isn’t linear, meaning it doesn’t follow an order.

The narrative follows Santiago, it moves on to the marriage of Angela Vicario, the wedding celebrations, Angela’s bride discovering that she is not a virgin and sending her back, the Vicario twins blaming Santiago for defiling their sister and finally murdering him. While the reader gets a clear idea as to why the Vicario twins want Santiago murdered, what we don’t get is whether Santiago really defiled Angela.

The most impressive thing about this work is the way Márquez sketches his characters. Especially the key ones like Santiago, Bayardo, Angela, her family and more importantly her brothers. This novel is replete with symbolism and supernatural stuff.

Never a dull moment in this novel with superbly chiseled characters and a powerful narrative.

A straight SuperRead.

PS: This novel was also adapted as a Spanish language feature film with the same title in 1987 directed by Francesco Rosi

Vanavasam (1965 ?)

Language: Tamil

Author: Kannadasan

Kannadasan, Kaviarasar or King of Poets for many of us Tamils was and is still one of the best contemporary Tamil poets the world has seen. Vanavasam is the first part of his two part autobiography. This culminates with him leaving the DMK (a political party from Tamil Nadu), disillusioned by the internal politics and personality clashes.

In the interim there are some grim moments which force the King of poets to discontinue studies, flee his home in search of greener pastures, finding his foot, stepping on the first step to the gateway of recognition, friendships, courtships, controversies, heartbreaks – emotional & economic and realization.

It is a fabulous rollercoaster ride through his life in second person. For there is no I in this book, there is a he. There are times when you feel the details are overdone, like the woman he loves from Mylapore episode and like where characterless, promiscuous politicians make an appearance. You like a true blue voyeur want more but there isn’t any more detail.

Overall I would say this is probably one autobiography from where you can’t take much out. The author himself says that in the start. That one can’t take much out as the moral of the story but can understand the things that need to be avoided to be a better human being.

For those who have an interest in Kannadasan this book is a primer, for it gives details of where, when and how he made it big and the circumstances surrounding that. The circumstances interest the reader more because they involve the politicians and famous people who have ruled page 3 and also our lives (literally and figuratively) .

This one is a good book to read if you satisfy one primary condition and two secondary conditions. (1) is the primary which I’m not sure everyone would satisfy but (2) & (3) is something most of us are.

1. If you can read and understand simple Tamil
2. If you are a voyeur (If you say you aren’t, sorry you shouldn’t be reading this blog. For you are not a human !!)
3. If you like literature of any kind

A very good read.

I love Kannadasan, but I still believe there is something that stops me from marking this a Super read. That said this one is really, really worthwhile, buy it and read it if you can read Tamil.

PS: In the foreward to the 1981 edition the author says that this book was sold for INR 4 in 1962

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

Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha (2009)

Country: India

Language: Malayalam

Actors: Mamootty, Shweta Menon, Mythili, Sreenivasan

Director: Ranjith

Story: T P Rajeevan

This is a crime drama based on a Malayalam novel of the same name by T P Rajeevan. This story is supposed to be based on the first recorded murder case in Kerala (after the state was formed following the linguistic carving out of states in the 1950’s). This is yet another movie where Mamootty plays a detective and cracks a previously unsolved case. But it doesn’t just stop there, we get to see Mamootty in 3 different characters and you get to see a different him in each of those.

A young woman, Manikyam is raped and murdered in the village of Paleri. There is another death on the same day, of a young priest which passes off as a case of drowning. After prolonged investigation and court procedures the accused are acquitted for lack of evidence thanks to a weak prosecution case.

Around 52 years after that, the protagonist Haridas a detective from New Delhi comes to Paleri to solve this case. The reason, he was born on the same day the murder happened and happens to be the illegitimate son of a powerful landlord in the village. Who incidentally was accused by a few to have played a part in the murder.

The movie is gripping as it traverses the length and breadth of feudalism, money, cronyism, power and politics. The director very subtly shows how the two major political parties, the Communists who have just come to power and Congress who have just lost play to the galleries for political one-upmanship. This battle is eventually won by the comrades at the expense of humanity & justice for the oppressed.

The way Ranjith has treated this film is fantastic and is worth a special mention. For many of us who remember Kamalhassan’s Virumandi as the Indian tribute to Kurosawa’s Rashoman should watch this movie, the way Ranjith cobbles up the story through the different points of view (although in the strictest sense this is slightly different from Rashoman). There are also many characters who come in and go out, telling what they know about the Manikyam murder case. But each one of them serves a purpose in the whole scheme of things.

Sreenivasan appears in a small but a superbly crafted role, of that of an aged renegade barber. A person who always suspected his top comrades to be hand in glove with the rich & powerful murderer. His character is sure to stay etched in the viewers mind for a while. And so are all 3 of Mamootty and Shweta Menon who does superbly well as Manikyam’s mother in law who is also the village prostitute. Cinematographer Manoj Pillai makes the movie come alive with his pleasing visuals.

I wonder why this wasn’t India’s submission for the foreign movie Academy awards in 2010 (Peepli Live !!).

A great movie, highly recommended.