Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (India, 2006)

Seen: Saturday, 1st May 2010 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 193′
Director: Karan Johar
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan, Kiron Kher, Arjun Rampal, John Abraham (cameo)
Production House: Dharma Productions
Plot: The story of two people, who fall in love with each other even though they are married to other people.

Trailer

Rating: +2 (Adored It)

Impressions In Short
It’s one of the strangest films I’ve seen about the dynamics of marriage and extramarital relations. Then again I can’t name many films, which had an extramarital affair as its leading theme (I remember I saw some sort of Russian art house film at a festival once, but nothing else comes to mind).

More About the Film
The reason the film strikes me as weird in its treatment of the subject is that there are no villains. All the characters in the film are at least somewhat sympathetic. Neither of the marriages are abusive and there is even some love in them. It’s just that for various reasons the marriages are dysfunctional, which in turn is why Dev and Maya end up looking for love elsewhere (if “looking” is even the right word).
The level of detail in the portrayal of the relationships is amazing. The film touches upon so many marital problems in such a beautifully direct manner. For one thing, it deals with sex very openly. Not that it’s an explicit film - we’re talking Bollywood here ;-P Although it does have a scene in a sex shop, which is very bold I think *grin* (I mean I’ve only seen one other film that had a scene in a sex shop I think ;-P). While sex doesn’t seem to work out well in either of the marriages, for Maya and Rishi it’s a major factor in why there’s so much bitterness and resent between them. Dev and Riya’s marriage has different issues - Riya making a successful career for herself while Dev’s career is going nowhere is certainly amongst them. In one of the scenes of confrontation Dev accuses Riya of being a bad mother. Riya hits back at him by saying she’s the man in their house, which for him is probably the most hurtful thing she could have said. It’s a great moment - it takes on the gender issues in an extremely direct manner.
But even though the film has a substantial amount of melodrama, I always think of it first and foremost as a comedy (IMO the trailer is quite misleading). Much of the film is hilarious with a lot of sarcasm alongside the more standard Bollywood humour. The funny side of things is there even in a lot of the more emotional scenes. One of my favourite sequences is when Dev starts getting jealous of Rishi. There is something very real about it and yet it’s hilarious at the same time. Besides, I absolutely lurve it when Shahrukh does jealousy or any sort of possessive feelings - he’s awesome at it *grin*
There’s a lot of stars in the film and I like all of them, so the film is fun to see for that reason also. I think Rani Mukherji puts in a particularly good performance (or at least it’s my favourite one in the film ;-P).
Technically it’s a very beautiful film as well - there’s some great camerawork and editing in it. But then it’s hardly surprising - I’ve come to expect that from Karan Johar and Dharma Productions :)

Recommended?
Definitely - I think it’s a pretty unique film. Commercial and yet it doesn’t really fit any mould. And even in Western standards the way it takes on marriage and cheating is very bold.

{FILM SPOTTING}

Green Zone (France/USA/Spain/UK, 2010)

Release Date (Poland): 4th June 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 26th February 2010
Runtime: 115′
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: Matt Damon
Production House: Universal Pictures, Studio Canal, Relativity Media, Working Title Films, Antena 3 Films
Plot: (from imdb)

Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
It’s an action film - not exactly my favourite genre ;)

The excited part of me thinks that…
I’ve never gone to see a movie because of an editor before, but that sure as hell is my main reason for wanting to see this one *grin* Christopher Rouse is the man behind the editing of The Bourne Ultimatum and he’s the reason I gushed so much about it. And as this film shares the same director, lead actor and even genre, I’m hoping for more of the same or perhaps even for an attempt at pushing the envelope further *grin*
The fact that this film happens to be about the war on terror and is being called “socialist dribble” on the imdb message boards is just an extra bonus ;)

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (USA, 2010)

Release Date (Poland): 30th June 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 30th June 2010
I originally spotted this here.
The Polish release date keeps changing - originally it was 30th June, then it said 1st July and now they’re back to 30th of June. Both dates are kind of weird anyway because the 30th is a Wednesday and the 1st is a Thursday (films usually release on Fridays).

Most Harry Potter fans have been excitedly awaiting what Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Draco are going to look like as 37 year olds. I didn’t think we’d have any pics or footage of this before the second Deathly Hallows film would hit cinemas - it makes sense that they would want to keep us in the dark for now. However, pics are out ;-P Well, some Harry and Ginny ones anyway.
Clearly they did try to keep it secret (is it just me or do other people find pics of the cast moving around like this a little funny? ;)). Still, so far it appears they have been able to keep the aged Ron and Hermione out of the public eye, so their tactics haven’t completely failed yet.
I actually rather like the way they aged them up, it looks pretty good. Their kids look good too :)

{FILM DIARY}

Double Take (Belgium/Germany/Netherlands, 2009)

Seen: Friday, 30th April 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 80′
Director: Johan Grimonprez
Production House: Zap-O-Matik, Nikovantastic Film, Volya Films
Plot: A strange collage of Hitchcock, Hitchcock’s look-a-like Ron Burrage and the cold war period.

Trailer

Rating: -0 (Ok)

Impressions In Short
Interesting and quirky, but I was a bit disappointed. I hoped it would be funnier.

More About the Film
I think one of the problems with this film was that Mark Perry who did Hitchcock’s voice for some of the film just wasn’t good enough. I mean the accent and the voice itself was spot on, but the personality and the comic timing was not. Hitchcock had a very specific sense of humour and amazing comic timing. A lot of it came through in his voice and Mark Perry just wasn’t able to capture that.
Ron Burrage, who was the look-a-like was a bit better at expressing something of Hitchcock’s humour and personality, but generally speaking I just didn’t find the film funny enough *sigh* I had really hoped for more of Hitchcock’s humour.
The film itself is interesting, but a bit slow in parts. I think it’s probably more enjoyable if you either remember the cold war or are very interested in that period.

Recommended?
I’d particularly recommend it to those who are interested in the cold war. Anybody who thinks a strange collage of clips from TV in the cold war period (a lot of coffee commercials! :)) intertwined with Alfred Hitchcock sounds interesting would probably do well to see it. Otherwise I’m not sure.

{FILM DIARY}

The Shock Doctrine (UK, 2009)

Seen: Thursday, 29th April 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 79′
Director: Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom
Production House: Renegade Pictures, Revolution Films
Plot: (from imdb)

An investigation of “disaster capitalism”, based on Naomi Klein’s proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.

Trailer

Rating: +0 (Liked It)

Impressions In Short
A very informative and interesting documentary.

More About the Film
I think that this is one of the better capitalism documentaries I’ve watched. It had a very clear structure and very specific subject matter. It’s basically a history of neoliberalism (neoliberalism is not the exact equivalent of free market btw, it’s important not to confuse the two! :)), but more comprehensive than what one usually comes across. For one thing, most people start the story with Thatcher and Reagan whereas Naomi Klein starts it much earlier with Argentina and Chile.
There’s a lot of fascinating facts and statistics in the film and I wish I could remember more of them. It would probably be worth reading the book just to have all of them in one place.

Recommended?
If you’re interested in the topic matter then yes, definitely.

{FILM DIARY}

Zamaana Deewana (India, 1995)

Seen: Wednesday, 28th April 2010 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 170′
Director: Ramesh Sippy
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Raveena Tandon, Anupam Kher
Production House: Ramesh Sippy Enterprises, Sippy Films
Plot: A slightly crazy police inspector comes up with an unusual way of stopping the violence between two gangs - make the children of the two enemies fall in love. And so starts operation Pyaarana.

Song from the Film

It’s one of my favourite corny 90s songs with Shahrukh ;)

Rating: +0 (Liked It)

Impressions In Short
It’s one of those corny 90s SRK films, which don’t take themselves too seriously. With the right attitude they’re fun ;)

More About the Film
The first time I watched it, I had a moment of horror at the beginning. When we’re introduced to Rahul and Priya, they’re dressed up in white, red roses in their hands and making poetic statements about love. My immediate reaction to that was “OMG, please no!”. It was all done so earnestly. My advice is that if you have the same reaction - persevere! That whole sequence is not what it seems. And the film really does not take itself that seriously ;)
In fact I find this to be one of Shahrukh’s most watchable 90s films. Apart from the somewhat misleading beginning, it never gets overbearingly sentimental and it has a relatively compelling sense of humour. Not that I’d find it particularly worth seeing if there was no Shahrukh in it, but still ;-P It’s one of those rare SRK 90s films which flows very well. Plus his character is sort of addicted to gambling in it, which is amusing ;)

Recommended?
For Shahrukh fans, yes. For anybody wanting to see Anupam Kher in a drag also yes. Other than that probably not. If you’re not already into Bollywood then definitely stay away.

{FILM DIARY}

My Name Is Khan (India, 2010)

Seen: Monday, 26th April 2010 (cinema)
Director: Karan Johar
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol
Production House: Dharma Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment
Plot: Rizvan Khan has Asperger’s syndrome (a form of high-level autism). Despite that, he manages to move to the United States and make a relatively normal life for himself there. He falls in love and eventually marries Mandira - a Hindu and a single mother of one. They have a happy life together, but post-9/11 his religion becomes a big issue in their marriage. After a huge argument, Rizvan sets out on a journey to meet the president of the United States and tell him that his name is Khan and he is not a terrorist.

Scene from the Film

Or you can watch the whole making of featurette, which this clip was chopped out of :) Much better than the promos IMO ;-P

Rating: +2 (Adored it)
This one was extremely difficult to rate… There are parts of it that make me so ridiculously awed that I could easily argue even a +3 (the opening airport sequence for example), but there are large parts (a lot of the last third of the film) that I was very disappointed with *sigh*

Impressions In Short
It’s a very unique film in many ways and I think very much worth seeing.
Watch out for which version of the film you’re watching. I *think* Poland got the re-cut version for the US market, so this review might differ significantly from some of the others which are up on-line. Even the imdb plot description doesn’t quite line-up with what I saw. In my version Rizvan did not have much interaction with a psychologist named Radha. I think there’s about one scene with her and it doesn’t impact the plot much. AFAIK in the Indian version the whole hurricane subplot got a lot more attention (I’m actually glad that this version didn’t have much of it cause the little bit of it that stayed in the film was one of its weakest moments IMO).

More About the Film
As far as I’m concerned, this is a topic that should have been broached years ago by American filmmakers. It really is a long overdue movie. I’ve been racking my brains to remember another film dealing with this specific subject matter i.e. how 9/11 effected the lives of Muslims in the US and the hate crimes against Muslims that followed, but I cannot think of even one. While there have been many films about Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror and many of these did empathize with Muslims on some sort of level, I don’t think this specific issue has been brought up in a mainstream movie before. Why is it that in over 8 years, to my knowledge, no Hollywood studio has broached this topic and why was it Bollywood that got to the subject first? Having seen the film, I’m not surprised that Fox snatched up the distribution rights in the US (and in many other Western markets). The subject matter is so current and yet so completely untouched that I think there is potentially a lot of interest in it (no other Indian-produced film has done this well in the Western box office before, which speaks for itself I think).
Onto the film though… Technically, it’s absolutely stunning. I was in love from the first shots. Hollywood, Bollywood or whatever else you compare it to, you’re not going to find many films that are shot and edited with such quality and beauty. I suppose it helps that the kind of shots and editing they used are totally my favourite kind of aesthetics ;-P So I may be a bit biased here. The opening shots have particularly stuck with me. I loved how the camera followed Shahrukh through the airport - the tracking shots, the quirky angles from below, the close-ups on his legs and (as is usual with Bollywood) they make you wait before they finally show his face. The way they had him queueing for the boarding checks was awesome as well. The expression on the face of the lady standing in front of him was priceless.
Basically, as far as I’m concerned, any lover of good cinematography and editing should go to see the film for the technical side alone *grin*
Shahrukh was interesting. It’s quite a different part for him. I’m not sure how well it’s going to hold out on the small screen cause he is a bit exaggerated at times, but not as much as I feared he would be and on the big screen his performance works very well - I got very involved with his character and the character’s feelings (which I think is quite some feat considering how emotionally removed Rizvan is).
My main bug with his character is that IMO what he was playing wasn’t Asperger’s, but a condition somewhere else on the autistic spectrum (I’m not sure this was his decision though cause the same was true of the kids who played younger versions of Rizvan Khan - they were all very consistent in how they played it). I’m no specialist on autism of course, but it’s my understanding that Asperger’s is a very mild form of it. While it may impair people’s ability to live normally, to an onlooker it’s not immediately apparent that the person has any sort of mental disorder. Some examples of real-life people with Asperger’s can be seen here, here, here and here.
I felt that what Shahrukh and the kids were playing was definitely somewhere on the autistic spectrum, but it wasn’t Asperger’s specifically. They were just too obvious about it. Still, whatever Rizvan Khan’s specific condition was, the film works well just the same. I just wish they hadn’t called it Asperger’s.
In fact, as long as one doesn’t get too hung up on the name tag, I felt that Shahrukh and the kids did relatively realistic portrayals of autism. And it wasn’t as exaggerated as the trailer would suggest (the trailer somehow managed to cut up the material to make it look as hammy as humanly possible ;-P it really wasn’t that bad at all).
I’d go as far as to say that this was one of the better portrayals of autism that I’ve seen on film. Pretty much the only portrayal of autism that I’ve seen that really looked genuine to me was DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?. Everybody else has always looked a bit fake to me, but I think Sigourney Weaver in Snow Cake and now Shahrukh in My Name is Khan are my number twos. Not so much because they didn’t exaggerate (and yeah, Shahrukh is probably the more exaggerated of the two), but because they played “the character” rather than “the disorder”. It’s a common trap that - people get so hung up on the autistic part that they forget that autism is a condition, not a personality. And in case anybody’s wondering - yes, I have seen Dustin Hoffman in Rainman and I thought he was way more exaggerated than Shahrukh and got way less of the physical mannerisms right ;-P
Anyway, just to finish off the obligatory Shahrukh gushing part (although I’m not convinced that I am gushing ;-P I’m merely writing way more about him than most people would want to read ;-P), as much as Karan Johar always casts SRK as his male lead no matter what, I feel that in this case the choice was spot on.
For one thing, Shahrukh has this sort of rushed and weird way of speaking quite naturally, which suited the part (people with autism often have slightly strange speech patterns). But perhaps more importantly, he’s long specialized in parts that deal with obsession. Whether he plays obsessive lovers or obsessive murderers, you’ll find that a lot of his most popular characters have an obsessive streak. As one of the symptoms of autism is a tendency to fall into very narrow and weird obsessions, he’s an absolutely perfect fit :)
But there were also aspects of the part which were against SRK’s nature. Rizvan doesn’t like to be touched, especially by people he doesn’t know very well. Shahrukh, on the other hand, must be one of the most touchy actors ever - touch has long been a large part of how he expresses himself on screen. And also, Rizvan’s reactions to other people’s feelings and moods are very limited because of his condition, whilst SRK is extremely reactive. Whether you watch him in a film or during an interview, he very quickly reacts to even the smallest change of tone or mood of the other person. Watching him without two of his most basic tools was both very interesting and very weird to me. I felt he did falter on this a bit - they’re such natural forms of expression for him that there were moments when it seemed to me that he was slipping up and using them. Nonetheless, this performance proves that even without some of his major tools, he’s still got loads to offer. He’s a much more complete actor than people give him credit for.
Now onto Kajol *grin* Cause seeing Kajol in this was also quite a treat. I think she was cast even better than SRK was, if that’s possible ;) Mandira is a very good-natured, stubborn and secure woman, who knows what she wants from life. I think most people can already see Kajol suiting the part from this description.
But the greatest thing about Kajol in the part is that you don’t doubt for a second that Mandira could fall in love with Rizvan. Kajol has always seemed very direct and brutally honest to me. There is nothing fake about Kajol and she seems to expect the same from others. And in a way that’s why Rizvan feels like such a natural fit for her.
Because of his condition, Rizvan is as brutally honest as you can get *grin* The way Kajol played Mandira and the kind of sense of humour that both Kajol and Mandira share, you can totally see why she might fall for him.
If the romance between Rizvan and Mandira had felt in any way fake then the whole film would have fallen apart. Making it convincing was very much Kajol’s job and she was terrific :) Plus, of course, there’s the legendary Kajol-SRK chemistry and I actually thought it worked better than ever :]
On the other hand, surprisingly enough, if you ask me who was more hammy - Kajol or SRK then the answer is Kajol all the way ;-P And I know I’m not alone in this because I read some people on the IMDb boards saying the same thing :] Most of the time it didn’t bother me, but there were a couple of emotional moments when it did.
But having said that, I was very impressed with the argument between Rizvan and Mandira (which is rather pivotal as that’s why Rizvan sets out on his journey). As melodramatic as that scene is, there’s not a false note in it. It’s really intense and genuine.
And now, finally a few words about the plot… The core plot of the film is fantastic. It’s basically just a man, who tries to meet the president of the United States to tell him he’s not a terrorist. As Rizvan doesn’t realize how loaded his message is, the film avoids any sort of preaching. It’s beautifully simple and so to the point.
The way the film was grounded in American reality was beautiful as well. Parts of it are like a love letter to San Francisco (and how refreshing to have it happen in San Francisco rather than New York, Los Angeles, Washington or Chicago ;-P). The way they have major historical events i.e. Barack Obama’s election and Hurricane Katrina happening in the background was great too.
Another strength of the film is the portrayal of human relationships and all kinds of small observations about people and situations. But then I think this has always been Karan Johar’s forte.
I could list a lot of small scenes and moments that I think are gush-worthy, but that would make the review even longer, so maybe I should just get to the critical part ;-P The main problem with the film is that it falls apart in the second half. A lot of people have mentioned this (I think even SRK has, actually ;-P). Without spoiling to much, there’s a moment after which everything starts being too over the top and Rizvan becomes too heroic. I’d be curious to see the Indian cut. I have a feeling it might be even worse than the cut I saw *sigh*

Recommended?
Yes, definitely. I think that anybody who loves cinema should see this because it is quite simply unique. Both in terms of subject matter and style - there just isn’t anything else like it (and if there is then please tell me cause I would really like to see it ;-P).

{FILM DIARY}

A mi madre le gustan las mujeres (Spain, 2002)

Seen: Thursday, 22nd April 2010 (cinema, LGBT retrospective)
Runtime: 96′
Director: Daniela Féjerman, Inés París
Cast: Leonor Watling, Rosa Maria Sard?, María Pujalte, Silvia Abascal, Eliska Sirová, Chisco Amado
Production House: Fernando Colomo Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.
Plot: A middle-aged lady ends up in a lesbian relationship. Her three daughters have to cope with it.

Trailer

Rating: +1 (Loved It)

Impressions In Short
Just a lot of fun :)

More About the Film
When Sofia announces to her three daughters that she is in love with a woman, they have three different reactions. Sol, the youngest sounds genuinely happy for her and says it’s cool. Gimena, the oldest is outraged - as far as she’s concerned her mother is being selfish and irresponsible. And Elvira is terrified that she might be a lesbian herself - maybe that’s why none of her relationships with men ever worked out?
It’s a great premise for a comedy and it really works. Not only is the film hilarious, but it has a very rich and developed set of characters and most of them are female *grin* I haven’t seen a film with so many beautifully rich female characters in a while. Having said that, the male characters (though very much playing second fiddle here) are a lot of fun too.

Recommended?
Yes, definitely :) Unless the theme puts you off for some reason then you’re probably going to enjoy it.

{FILM DIARY}

Lebanon (Germany/Israel/France, 2009)

Seen: Wednesday, 21st April 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 93′
Director: Samuel Maoz
Production House: Ariel Films, Arsam International, Arte France, Israeli Film Fund, Metro Communications, Paralite
Plot: (from imdb)

June, 1982 - The First Lebanon War. A lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile town - a simple mission that turns into a nightmare. The four members of a tank crew find themselves in a violent situation that they cannot contain. Motivated by fear and the basic instinct of survival, they desperately try not to lose themselves in the chaos of war.

Trailer

Rating: -0 (Ok)

Impressions In Short
A very intriguing film. I get why it won so many awards. I probably would have enjoyed it more if not that war films are generally tough going for me.

More About the Film
The whole film happens inside the tank. And I think this is what makes the film very unique. They managed to hold the audience’s attention despite constantly keeping to the same setting and characters. The cinematography and editing was a huge challenge, but they found the right formula. It had a very specific and dark sort of humour, which worked very well too.

Recommended?
Yes, it is definitely a very good film. But of course it is a war film, so if you don’t like those, this might not be your cup of tea.

{FILM DIARY}

Dakan (Guinea/France, 1997)

Seen: Thursday, 8th April 2010 (cinema, LGBT retrospective)
Runtime: 87′
Director: Mohamed Camara
Production House: Film Du 20ème Créations Cinématographiques
Plot: (from imdb)

Two young high school boys, Manga and Sory, are gay and in love in Guinea. This is their story.

Scene From the Film

Rating: -1 (Disliked It)

Impressions In Short
Interesting because of its novelty and how it portrays Guinean culture, but overall I found it rather tiresome.

More About the Film
IMDb lists 26 films from Guinea of which only 17 are feature films. This film is even more unusual as it openly deals with homosexuality despite being produced by a country in which such activities remain illegal.
Watching something quite this rare is interesting in and of itself, but (as you could have already guessed from IMDb’s statistics) it remains painfully obvious that Guinea does not have a film culture. In terms of how they used the camera, the actors and how they cut their material this was so far behind what most countries produce that it was ridiculous. In terms of actual technique (rather than technology) a lot of the silent movies made at the beginning of the 20th century were way more innovative. Dakan is painfully slow and has jarring continuity errors (like a girl’s dress changing colours between cuts).
This is not to say that the film holds no value, it’s just that the value is only in its content. You get a very good low down on what being gay in Guinea must be like and there’s a lot about the culture of the region also. One gets the feeling that this film is generally very brave in that it broaches the subject of sex at all. Because of social pressures both of the main characters get married eventually and the one whose marriage we follow has a Caucasian girl for a wife, which I assume was because of the sex scene and some mild nudity. It’s not a sexually explicit film by any means, but I certainly got the impression that it went further than Guinea’s normal standards.

Recommended?
Recommended for those interested in its the content, otherwise not really.