Film-watching 2006

Since books and movies are the only entities to motivate me enough after a busy day to blog, this time around I thought about treating my readers to a cocktail of everything I have been watching since the year dawned. So read on:

1. All or Nothing: **** and 1/2 (2002)

A film I couldn’t find fault with. And a film that’ll forever be in my favourites list, All or Nothing is possibly one of the most realistic, honest and unmanipulated chronicle of three working class British families and their everyday struggles. In a mere 100 or so minutes I was so totally sucked into this world populated by these so-sincere-I-could-touch-them characters that I laugh-cried, cry-laughed, sympathised, agonised, empathised, felt disgusted and scared and sorry with them, for them. Boy, Mike Leigh (the same guy whose Vera Drake in 2004 hogged many a nomination–but failed to impress me) alongwith a super-efficient cast (especially Timothy Spall and Ruth Sheen) and technicians should be applauded for this piece of utter cinematic brilliance. Its sheen comes not from any new-age CGI or some profound psychobabble but from the faithfulness, optimism and compassion with which it recreates a the same world we dwell in. Spellbinding!

2. The Insider: *** and 1/2 (1999)

Just for Al Pacino’s tour-de-performance as a no-holds-barred-die-for-honest-journalism producer of a news programme, and some of the most engaging dialogue to be found in a Hollywood film, this male version of Erin Brockorwich deserves your time. Top this with a haunting background score, Michael Mann’s assured direction, deft editing and you have a film that just doesn’t let go of you. Boasting of a topical, real story of a tobacco research biologist who blows the whistle on the tobacco industry that’s influential enough to buy off the press, the media and sinister enough to hide the debilitating illnesses that cigarretes are so capable to cause, its only Russell Crowe’s staccato performance as the whistleblower in dilemma of thinking about his own family’s or the society’s good that evades the film from becoming truly exceptional.

3. Munich: **** (2005)

After the rather mediocre War of the Worlds, the movie-making machine philandering as Steven Spielberg came up with this unrelentingly violent drama chronicling the hit squad employed by the Israeli Govt after the Palestinian terrorists captured and killed off 11 athletes in The ‘72 Olympics in Munich as they hunt down the eleven suspects. With terrific and terrifyingly genuine reconstruction of the era, replete in a thriller format, laced with jaw-droppingly real performances and some of the grittiest action on the big screen ever–this dark and urgent epic worked for me by forcing meditation on the sheer futility of the terrorist attacks (then, now, whenever), the revenge strategy employed at that time and the hellish psychological impact it has on the assassins.

The tone, the atmosphere, the background score is grim-to-the-point-of-suicide, and it excels in disturbing, shocking even the most desensitised to screen violence with its rawness, and also simultaneously brings about the sheer magnitude it takes to kill a human and then live with the burden amazingly. Spielberg’s masterstroke is evident as he cuts out the whole harrowing footage of the athletes’ captivity and murder and scatters them throughout the movie, with every successive clip gorier than the last as Eric Bana goes into a lucid thinking frenzy (watch the climactic sequence where Bana reaches an orgasm as the final clip of the athletes being savagely killed at gunpoint plays in quick succession-a bizzarre, indulgent yet highly effective sequence) And I haven’t even said anything about the very good and plausible political commentary.

4. The Descent: *** and 1/2(2005)

After a long time (since 28 days later to be precise), a horror film that truly terrifies. Six backpacking, cave-digging female explorers venture into a labyrinth of underground caves and find themselves amidst crumbling walls and cannibalistic predators. If the thought of watching six femme fatales in flesh-hugging bodysuits isn’t motivation enough, there really are some genuine shocks, creeps, slashes and gore galore. Its also commendable how the screenplay and the script writers have made a deliberate attempt at steering clear of the cliches, have roped in a convincing thread of betrayal amidst the team and how much thought has been given to the camera-angle and light-play inside the caves to evoke a true sense of claustrophobia. The result-a bloodcurdling film that leaves you hating the caves and swearing to yourself you won’t venture anywhere near these godforsaken places atleast for an year. (call me a wimp, you can!)

5. The Blair Witch Project: * (1999)

Backpacking and expedition came under some more axe with this supposedly inspired-by-real-events farce of a horror film. Though I was close to commending the makers for going the brave way and trying to instill horror by leaving it all to the viewer’s imagination, its really the tackiness of the whole thing (the video-camera footage is eye-wateringly shaky) and the general stupidity of the lead characters (who are basically nothing but swearing and screaming motor-mouths) that makes you wish the “Blair Witch” skins them alive in front of your eyes. Sadly, even that’s not to be. All one sees is an upturned video-camera and some ambush sounds, and yes the rolling credits. Really makes you go “what the f*ck was that?”

PS: Fans of this movie-Please fit a video-camera in your attic and watch the footage every morning to be “freaked” by the insect sounds and sudden wisps of insects flapping by. If that doesn’t do the trick, put the lens cover back on and leave the camera on for the whole day. Seriously guys!

6. The Godfather-Part 2: * and 1/2 (1974)

Another proof of how absolutely lame and repetitive sequels can get. Another proof of how hype in Hollywood is inversely proportional to substance. And another proof of the stubborn “am-successful-will-repeat” mentality. Taking the reins from the masterpiece that the first Godfather so irrefutably remains, this one attempts two tracks–Vito Corleone’s childhood and Michael Corleone going legit and in the process, degenerating to become this cold-blooded, alpha male. The film’s biggest undoing is its over-indulgence (the camera never tires of capturing long, listless faces which mouth either Italian 90% of their time on screen or seemingly profound English monosyllables during the rest) and its length (at a hefty 3 and a half hours, this one dilutes and super-dilutes any impact the script might have packed). As a genre signature, there’s a lot of glorification of crime and romanticization of gangs which I am not particularly a fan of. The film elicits almost zero emotion from the viewer and there’s nothing more painful than sitting in front of your TV for a whole 4 hours with a straight, bored face. Dull, dull, dull!

7. Underworld: * and 1/2 (2003)

Now this is going to be difficult. Writing about this movie means recalling some really painful moments of film-watching, which thankfully my brain has decided to repress in some un-recoverable region. Its not as if I expected a film like Underworld to respect my grey matter, but it did one better by insulting even my other senses–that of sight and hearing.

Still managing to remember bits-and-pieces, there was no emotion/humour, the CGI was decidedly tacky and the action sequences were downright boring and shamelessly plagiarised. Like some bad 2 hour advertisement video for leather bodysuits and hair styling gels, it went on and on about some war (yawn) between vampires and werewolves running for centuries with the latter likely to be extinct. Just then enters the heroine who discovers there are more beasts than her “boss” has been saying there were. And then starts the hunt to find out exactly what are these werewolves hunting normal humans for. Not to forget another boring thread of what started the actual war between the two quasi-beastly families (more yawn) which is just Romeo Juliet replayed. So amidst all those stoopid chases (which really never excite), lame hidden “alliances” you just sit as the credits roll saying to yourself “is that it?”.

8. Ocean’s Eleven: *** (2001)

Nowhere quite as good as Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men (2003) which managed to pack in more charm and repeat-value with much fewer stars, Ocean’s Eleven still is an enjoyable watch-it-and-forget-it affair with precious little working against it as a con thriller. Its directed, acted and shot exceedingly well and the twists and turns catches even the most avid movie watcher by surprise. The con-job at the heart of it strikes the right balance between plausibility and convenience and with no heavy-duty conflicts/ scenes/ deaths/ redemptions, its really a film you don’t mind munching away on a lazy weekend. Sure leaves you with one big smirk on your face. Good one!

9. The Pianist: *** and 1/2 (2002)

A thoroughly watchable Holocaust drama, with some really effective, well-directed scenes and Adrien Brody’s earnest performance to boot. But quite not as moving or as profound as I had thought it would be. Its different in the sense that it follows a a character who really isn’t in there facing all the atrocities of Holocaust, but is outside the hell-ring, shuttling through flats, living at the mercy of acquaintances and peeking through flats and toilets out on the street.

The film almost achieves masterpiece stature in its first half as it effortlessly captures a throbbing-with-life Polish Jewish family (three cheers for the superlative cast) and packs in some really difficult scenes like a wheelchair bound old Jewish man being thrown off the balcony, Brody’s old father slapped on the street and rebuked to walk off the footpath, a Jewish boy bringing food to the ghetto sliding through a passage hole in the wall but caught by the German guards who crush his legs by a through beating killing him right there, decent Jews made to randomly dance on the road– just about every scene uptil the families are sent off to Auschwitz is jaw-dropping.

With a choking separation from his family, the good part of the film’s next 1.5 hrs chronicle Brody’s character fending for himself alone as the beautiful city (and the world) around him bears the brunt of the times. Brody however makes all of this 1.5 hours watchable, almost doing what Tom Hanks did to a never-ending Castaway. Yes, it sure is quite fresh to see a viewpoint of a meek bystander of that era who slided between the atrocities and there indeed are some classic old-school morals–that of patience and perseverence being the only worthy virtues to have , and how sometimes (especially where you won’t be much use in, or be killed as just another animal) the bravest thing to do is to escape and hide as ultimately being alive is the biggest achievement-well honed into the script. Sure as hell, its one of the most unmanipulative and uncliched accounts of the era, and boasts of truly an exceptional first half and a credible redemptive climax–but even all this isn’t enough for me to watch all of it again. Maybe its the Holocaust–there’s only a certain amount of it that you can take in a movie and rewatching serious movies like these isn’t exactly the perfect recipe for an “enjoyable” movie night. So yea.. good, serious stuff.

10. The Polar Express in 3D (2004): **

Either its really me or there clearly is a huge dearth of good 3D movies being made. Whichever way, the Polar Express remains one of the strangest and possibly the most bizarre kiddie film ever. A Christmas-doubting young boy is woken up 5 minutes to the Eve by a train which he then boards and a long, fantastical trip to the North Pole (basically a Christmas-present factory) later starts hearing the Christmas bell ring. A storyline as simple as this is stretched to a sleep-inducing 1 hr 40 minutes and when you have to gulp all of it down wearing glasses that go all the way from your forehead to your nose, you are in for some real trouble. I would have happily forgiven the screen-time if only there was some quality 3D. What one gets for a wallet-ripping £12 is just the same old 3D cliches where the camera follows the steam locomotive dropping from cliffs, and rising, and dropping, and rising again. Not impressive.
What really nails this movie experience as truly bad is the animation itself. In some demented state of mind, the producers have plonked in millions to make a whole animated movie out of “performance capture” (a digital technology famously used on the actor Andy Serkis who morphed into a terrifyingly real Gollum in LOTR and Kong in King Kong)– a move that backfires completely. All the kids in the film look clinically depressed, on-the-verge-of-jumping-off-Polar-Express creatures who are in desperate need of some Prozac. Their hyper-moist eyes and stoned-into-place facial muscles make every dialogue jar, every monologue grate. There’s none of the cleverness and wit that one associates with the animations and the tired fable just goes on and on with one silly hot-chocolate song paving way for another christmas carol. The only redeeming sequences are when the whole train slides over a huge frozen lake setting off a frenzy of cracks and a lost ticket being followed by the eager camera all the way upto a vulture’s nest and then coming back into the same chair car.

Overall though it remains a confused and a thoroughly bad experiment in animation that sends its very target audience–the kids– either screaming in disgust or dozing off. As for the adults, you just heard me moan for a good two paragraphs.

Done with rating and ranting on the first 10 films I watched this year. More reviews to follow in my next post. So keep reading!