Queen ( 2014)

The queen by Vikas Bahl is a wholesome Bollywood entertainer without the brainless trivia. It has big fat Indian wedding ( Loud, boisterous Punjabi wedding !!!! ), songs and dances , the drama but with a fresh story-line. Definitely a women oriented movie and Kangana Ranuat has done full justice to her role. I knew she was someone to watch out for after I watched her in Madhur Bhandarkar's "Fashion". 

Kangana is the undisputed "Queen" of this movie. Absolutely natural and vibrant. she plays the role of Rani, an upper middle class, girl next door from Rajori Garden quite effortlessly. 

Rajkumar Rao dissolves his character into oblivition which is what the movie needed

Kangana Ranaut ( Rani) is ditched by her fiance Vijay ( Rajkumar Rao) a wanna be who thinks he is gods gift to mankind post a day before the wedding which shatters her badly. However, she quickly licks her wounds and with the support ( albeit reluctant) of her family, decides to use her honeymoon tickets to visit Paris and Amsterdam. It was her cherished dream to visit these two cities which she was hoping to visit during her honeymoon.

  It is quite an adventurous step for a girl next door from Rajori Gardens who has hardly been outside her city to venture out travelling on her own to tour Europe. 

She lands in Paris and life hits her in full force and she stares at life with confused eyes. Everything is new and alien. Luck is on her side and she bumps into Vijayalakshmi aka Vijay ( Lisa Haydon) who quickly takes Rani into her protective fold. Vijay's unconditional supports gives the much necessary boost to Rani's adventure and she thrives. 

Her confidence grows and she decides to pursue her vacation plan by going to Amsterdam all by herself. She even survives the shock of sharing the room with three unknown men. she bring herself to break away from her cocoon of reservations and emerges out as a confident woman who develops a remarkable friendship with her three roomies - Taka from Japan, Tim from France and Oleksander from Russia. 



Eventually she gets Vijay ( her ex-fiance ) out of her system, returnsback to her old life...but a confident woman...

12 Years a Slave ( 2013 )

Originally this movie was not in my watch list but once it was in the running for an Oscar, I couldn't miss it. And I am glad that I managed to finally watch the movie.

This is not your regular family entertainer and is a very intense watch. I have read several books - both fiction and non fiction which has given me a fair idea of the pre-civil war slavery in United States. Steve McQueen has brought a near perfection portrayal of slavery with single minded determination via this movie. 

Based on the memoir written in 1853, the movie portraits the life of Solomon Northrup, a learned , intellectually endowed free man living with his family in Saratoga, New York City. As a gifted violinist, he doesn't think twice when a couple of men invite him to Washington DC for paid performance. They have a good time with him drinking and making merry and in the morning sell him to Slavery. 

Thus begins Solomon Northrup's 12 years of Slavery. He is transferred from plantation to plantation with his pleas of being a free man falling to deaf ears. 

Steve McQueen has brought to us a piece of history which brings alive the gory realities of the American Slavery. Solomon Northrup's ( beautifully portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor) 12 years of journey is tough, frustrating and violent. He not only looses his freedom but is stripped of the basic dignity that any man would want. It is unbearable to think that one human being could do this to another. The fate for the women were worse. They were brutally beaten up, mercilessly separated from their children and several were savagely raped.

In Epp's (Micheal Fassbender) cotton farm, Solomon meets Patsy ( Lupita Nyong ) who is also a Slave. She is a star performing slave who manages to  pick the 500 pounds of cotton a day. Epps is lavish with his praise for Patsy, lusts for her and repeatedly rapes her. Epps attraction for Pasty does not go unnoticed by his wife who also chooses to unleash her wrath on Patsy. 

Patsy's fate seems so much more worse than solomon's. Patsy being tied naked to a tree and whipped till her skin's is mangled is probably the most hear trenching scene of the movie. The hopelessness of the situation just leaves you with a sense of frustration.

On the whole the movie is a testament to the degradation of Sal very. Hats off to Solomon Northrup for not only surviving this worst form of human degradation but having the guts to write a Memoir and tell his story. Haven't had the time to read the book, but I sure have put it in my Bucket list.

Verdict :- 10/10. But definitely not for weak hearten. 

Philomena (2013)

For me, any movie of Judi Dench can't be bad. Apart from Judi Dench, the other attraction of the movie  was the fact that it is based on a true story and its connection to the Irish convents. The movie " Magdalene Sisters" has left me with quite an impression and I sure wanted to know more of the legacy of the Irish catholic institutions.

The atrocious practices of these missionaries of the lord is appalling. In the 1950"s the young unwed pregnant women/mothers, women that were raped...the so called " Fallen Women" were abandoned to the convents by their families. These women were subjected to back breaking chores in order for them to " cleanse their sins".

It was a gory revelation that the children born to these women were sold to affluent American Catholic couples hence separating several mothers from their children. Most of the mother's never saw their children ever again after the adoption. 

Adapted from the investigative book "The lost child of Philomena Lee" by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, the movie "Philomena tells the story of one such woman's search for her son who was given up for adoption by the nuns of the Magdalene convent where she was confined. 

Judi Dench and Steve Coogan in the roles of Philomena and Martin Sixsmith, with the script written by Coogan himself and directed by Stephen Frears does make the movie worth giving a chance.

Philomena" ( Judi Dench)  left to the mercy of the convent by her father when he discovered that his young unmarried daughter was with a child. The young Philomena is assigned to work in the laundry where she is made to do back breaking work with only a hour a day when she could see her son. Very soon her son is given up for adoption by nuns and she is forcibly made to sign the papers giving up her rights to her son.

Years later, though life has moved on for Philomena, she can't stop looking for her lost son. It was by chance that Martin Sixsmith walks into her life and supports her in her search for her son.

The unusual partnership between the two very different people adds to the Charm. Sixsmith is a high educated intellectual who went to Oxford and served as a foreign correspondent for BBC. To top it off, he is an atheist and a non believing catholic. Philomena, on the other hand is a devout Catholic in spite of every thing and has worked as a nurse her entire life. She is a regular woman who loves to read romantic fictions.

I loved the following dialogue between the two which aptly sums  up their personality -

Philomena Lee :- We come full circle.

Martin Sixsmith :- Yes...the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time.

Philomena Lee :- ah...that's lovely, Martin. Did you just think of that ?

Martin Sixsmith :- No. It's T.S. Eliot.

Philomena Lee :- Oh...Well...never mind. Its still very nice.

A matter of fact story telling. There is no unnecessary sentimentality or melodrama. The tear jerking moments were deep and real. Phenomenal performance by both Judi Dench and Steve Coogan. 

Verdict :- 8/10. A definite watch for the season. A beautiful moving story that is bound to leave you misty eyed.

March of Millions ( 2007)

March of Millions is the international English title of the multi-award-winning three hour German Television film Die Flucht ( The Flight)

War movies being my favorite genre, over the years I have watched several movies pertaining to the 2nd world war. Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, The longest Day, The pearl Harbor, Letters from Iwo Jima etc etc give you various glimpses of the world war from various parts of the globe. 

"March of the Millions" caught my attention since it was dealing with a part of the history which I was not too familiar - the impact of the war on East Prussia ( now called eastern Poland ) and the atrocities of the Red Army.

The vast and beautiful East Prussia was the eastern most part of the German empire and was quite peaceful through the war. This region was mostly inhabited by aristocratic estate owners who led the life of luxury and ease.

However, life got difficult for them when it was evident that Germany was losing the war and the Russian Red Army was fast capturing the eastern front of Germany.  The people of East Prussia were expecting the German soldiers to defend them from the approaching Red Army . They soon realized that  the German soldiers were abandoning their posts and it was unlikely  that they would standby and defend the inhabitants of East Prussia. 

It was during the Christmas of 1944, in the peak of the winter ( temperature around -20 degree C with about 30 cm of snow) that thousands of people left their homes and belonging and started the trek towards west Prussia. the atrocities of the Red Army was spreading rapidly.  This journey was particularly tough on the children and the elderly. Several children died of hunger and sickness. The dead were quickly buried in the snow and the rest of them continued their journey. 

Several hundreds could not come to terms with leaving all their belonging and fleeing. They landed up wasting precious time and the red army caught up with them. The Red Army was ruthless with them. Even women and children were not spared. Hundreds of women were raped, killed or deported. 1 out of 4 women could not survive the trauma. Several Children were left orphans. 

The " March of Millions" is the story of Lena, countess of Von Mahlenburg ( Maria Furtwangler) who is called back to her home in  Prussia from Berlin owing to her father's poor health. In-spite of the war torn Europe, things seem clam and peaceful on the surface. The only element of war was the french prisoners of war working in the estate and led by the temperamental Francois ( Jean Yves- Berteloot). 

On the outside things don't look good for Germany and there is a subtle undercurrent of unrest and panic among the people in the estate. Being close to the eastern border leave them feeling vulnerable. Given her father's poor health, Lena takes on the mantle of running the estate and standing by her people.

Lena's family is friends Von Gernstorffswith, another aristocratic family. Lena consent to marry the eldest son on the family even though she does not really him and the younger son of the family is in love with Lena contributing to some family drama.

Finally ad-mist the mounting tension, general confusion and disagreements, Lena decides to take her tribe including the prisoners of war and flee.  Her sick father decides to stay back and shoots himself before the Red Army can get to him.

 

They encounter several of hardships on the way, but Lena continues the journey with single minded determination of protecting her people and taking them to safety.

This movie is made in 2 parts. Part One is before the journey and the part two focuses on the journey. 

The movie goes to show the mental turmoil , sentiments and the fear of the people o.f Prussia during the attack by the Red Army. The vast expanse of the snow clad land and the hardship endured by the migrating population is well captured. The movie does give one a decent glimpse of this episode of history.

However, I felt that the movie dealt with the topic only on the surface. The inhumane atrocities of the Red Army was not captured in depth. The part 2 of the movie was made a little lighter with some Romance thrown in. the. story could have been told much more intensely.

Verdict :- 6.5 out of 10. Definitely worth watching at-least once.

The Good Road (2013)

The " Good Road" first caught my attention when it was pitched against "Lunch Box" as our country's submission for the best foreign film category in the academy awards. I quickly put it done in my " To watch" list and forgot about it. Recently during one of my random visits to the Music store, I chanced upon this movie. Thankfully it came with subtitles.

The "Good Road" is a Gujrati film by first time director Gyan Correa who has gathered most of his film making expertise while making commercials. But the movie surely   does not have any of the gloss that can be  associated with typical TV commercials.

The movie has three intervening story-lines which takes place in the highway 378 which runs along the Rann of Kutch.

David and Kiran (Sonali Kulkarni), a city dwelling middle class couple are on a holiday along with their son Aditya. Accidentally their son Aditya is left behind is a obscure street side dhaba while the parents continue their journey on the highway. The parents realise this miss after several kilometers and this starts a massive search.  Pappu ( Samji dhana Kesariya ), a poor truck driver is struggling to make his ends meet. He comes across a proposal to combat this. The plan is to stage his death so that he can claim the insurance money which is substantial. Poonam is a little girl on the highway trying to reach the village of her grandmother. She lands up taking shelter at a Cloths dyeing center which doubles up as a street-side brothel at night. The three stories intersect with each other at some point in the movie. Reminded me of Babel.

Aditya is found hanging around the dhaba by Pappu's boss and he forces pappu to take him along to the next diner.

Correa has experimented with several non professional actors to give an authentic feeling. Samji Kesariya who played the role of Pappu the truck driver is a truck driver in real life as well and with next to negligible exposure to the world of Cinemas. Thankfully Pappu is taciturn by nature hence his dialogues are cryptic in nature.

 The cinematography was note worthy. The beautiful arid Gujrat landscape and the rann of Kutch leaves a lasting impression.

Lunch Box was probably a better made movie, but the natural acting of some of the real life characters, Amithaba Singh's cinematography, the simple yet unique story line definitely makes the "Good Road" worth the travel.

Verdict :- 6.5 out of 10. Watch it for an unique experience.

The Song of Sparrows (2008)

 

The Song of Sparrows is a  Iranian movie directed by Majid Majidi.

Majid Majidi with the help of this movie takes you on a beautiful journey of life. It portrays a poor Iranian family, their love and commitment towards each other, their aspirations and hopes and their struggles with life. There is the presence of a quite dignity, traditions and warmth.

Set in rural Iran, the movie traces the life of Karim ( Reza Najie), an ostrich farmer. He lives with wife Narges ( Maryam akbari) and his 3 children (2 daughters and 1 son).  One day an ostrich escapes under his nose. Karim gives it a chase but the ostrich eludes him and this episode costs him his job.

Sometimes when things go wrong, it goes wrong all the way. Karim's daughter Haniyeh damages her hearing aid which cannot be repaired. A new one costs a lot of money which is scare with Karim.

Karim rides his motor cycle to Tehran to replace his daughter's hearing aid and get mistaken for a cabbie. He lands up giving a ride to a business man and in turn discovering a lucrative earning opportunity. Thus begins Karim's new life. He puts in a lot of enthusiasm in his work and fights against various hurdles. On the side he regularly starts picking up junk from the city and bring it home. It begins with an antennae for the television, a frame for the window and the pile keeps growing. 

Karim's son Hussein ( Hamed Agazi) is obsessed with growing fish. He and his friends clean up the community pool for the purpose. He is convinced that he can become a millionaire that way.

The city life catched up with Karim and he starts to get possessive and greedy....

This movie has a soul and an absolutely realistic performance.

* Was nominated for the Berlin International film Festival

* Iran representative for best foreign language film in the 81st academy awards.

Verdict :- 9/10. One of the best movies that I have watched in the recent times.

Adam (2009)

I came across this movie accidentally while scouting the list of available movies on board a long flight. There was something catchy about the excerpt and I decided to watch it.

Adam is a charming romantic movie written and directed by Max Mayer.  This is a typical boy meet a girl kind of a movie but is likely to leave a lump in your throat.  

Many a times in life you come across couples that are totally unusual but absolutely in harmony with each other. 

Adam is the story of one such couple called Adam (hugh Dancy ) and Beth ( Rose Byrne ). 

Blessed with good looks, an engineering degree, decent job and a upper west side apartment,  Adam could be any women's dream boy. But Adam suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism which has severely effected his social skills.

Adam lives with his father and leads a quite life. After the death of his father, Adam is left alone expect his only friend harlan ( Frankie Faison) who is truck driver and his obsession for astrophysics.

Adam has a new neighbor in Beth who is a school teacher and gradually a friendship develop between the two. Initially Beth is totally perplexed and wary about Adam's behavior . But gradually Adam brings her up to speed wtih  Asperger's syndrome ( It's little strange though that School teacher Beth seemed oblivious to autism ) and his limitations. slowly Beth figures out how to deal with Adam whose brains are incapable of feeling empathy and hence begins the endearing romance.





There is a bit of complications thrown in the form of Beth's parents Rebecca and Marty ( Amy Irving and Peter Gallaghar ). They get worked up about Beth breaking off with a suitable boy and is going around with Adam. There is a court room situation involving the parents that is slightly cut off from the central theme of the movie.

The movie skims through the issues faced by people with Asperger's syndrome but does not dive deep into. Instead, the focus is on relationships. Hugh is British and Rose an Australian. But both had the perfect accent and looked good together.

"Adam" won a prize at the 2009 Sundance film festival .

Verdict :- 6/10  A feel good movie and endearing lead actors.