January has seen me at the movies more than usual, and the visit to the local cineplex, albeit more of a weekend ritual to keep oneself entertained, did not disappoint. Just for kicks, I complied a list of currently running mainstream movies that you may decide to take out time to watch if you should end up at the theater (with one or two from another time and from the online universe thrown into the screening mix as well). I didn't exhaustively include all the blockbusters playing currently - for instance American Hustle, which was definitely watchable but not as impressive.
12 years a slave
A brilliant piece of cinema, also playing coincidentally at a time while we observe Black History Month. An agonizing, heartbreaking and extremely difficult to watch movie based on a real-life story, this is one of fewer films which belong to the genre that portrays the history of slavery in the United States. While it brings to light the Sectionalism and protectionism in the pre-civil war US of the 1800’s, and the stark contrasts in cultural, political and abolitionist stances of the progressive Northern states compared to the slave-trade driven cotton plantation economies of the deep South, it also delves into the depths of darkness, awakening to horrors of human indignity and to the barbarism of the times. While its being nominated for the Oscars, I was surprised at how empty the auditorium was, but later post the harrowing sit-through, I understood why. Do certainly watch, but at your own peril.
Critics Review
From The Observer:"The key to Solomon's existence is the suppression of his rage – he must feign illiteracy and subservience to survive – and it's notable that for all the anger and shame that the film stirs up about recent history, McQueen remains exceptionally even-handed and controlled in his treatment of all the key players, black and white alike. While Cumberbatch's Ford displays the trappings of civility (are his actions worse because he has an inkling of the slaves' humanity?), Fassbender has said that his way into Epps's heart of darkness was to understand that he "loves Patsey", the young woman whose body and soul he torments with fearsome self-loathing. In this key role, newcomer Lupita Nyong'o is a revelation, quite the most bold feature debut by an actress in recent memory, her performance fiery, fragile and fiercely proud."
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Inside Llewyn Davis
A nice one playing this month for the single-screen fans. This, of a time before the Village folk music scene became robust with big names like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. Cafe Reggio , Cafe Wha and the like are all too recognizable and endearing in a 60’s rendered aura. According to the critic “There’s no success like failure, and failure’s no success at all”, sums up the essence of this movie.
Critics Review
From the New York Times:
"One of the insights of “Inside Llewyn Davis” is that hard work and talent do not always triumph in the end. Like most of the Coens’ movies, this one sidesteps the political turmoil of its period, partly because it is a fable, not a work of history. (The public affairs of the time get a shout-out in the form of a goofy novelty song called “Please Mr. Kennedy,” a barely topical sendup of the space race and the New Frontier.) But there is nonetheless a strong, hidden current of social criticism in the brothers’ work, which casts a consistently skeptical eye on the American mythology of success."
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Her
A wildly futuristic movie about an (almost believable) romance between a human and an operating system (now imagine that!). Well, what can you expect from the director of Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. Joanquin Phoenix does a terrific job here - his portrayal of the human conditions of isolation and loneliness is poignant, at the same time the movie has its light comic moments. This may be a movie about machines and artificial intelligence , but at its core, its essentially a movie about human beings, their social constructs, and touches on the substance of what defines our states of consciousness.
Critics Review
From Den Of Geek :
"Her feels like a world only slightly removed from our own. Part of that comes from the setting of pristine Los Angeles, miles away from any suffering or poverty. Perhaps this is because something has happened, some sort of global course correction that has erased our connection to the past, to history. There’s no sense of legacy or history in Jonze’s Los Angeles, and I think that’s intentional. Somewhere along the line, we dove so deeply into technology that we can no longer remember the way out. The only reason people today don’t spend entire hours fiddling with their smart phones is one of necessity. We’re needed at work, we’re needed with friends. We are required via social contract to look each other in the eye. Her exists in the world where something has happened to shred that social contract. It’s not unbelievable."
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Katha (random youtube pick of the month) (1983)
A light hearted comedy by Sai Paranjpe depicting life in a Mumbai chawl - tenements consisting of multiple rooms housing families and individuals of all walks together in an old-school community-living environ. The movie portrays the nuances of life in middle-class India in the '80s - the narrative around the ever elusive job hunt, a life of simplicity and minimalism, shy and silent romances, except in the projected case of the con artist anti-hero. A far cry from today’s aggressive and upwardly mobile middle-class life in India, Katha takes you to an era most of us have never inhabited as adults, yet it evokes a nostalgia for the satisfying life of a tightly-knit village community in a big city. The caring grandmother telling stories to her grandkid, the bustling neighbors, the newly married couple, the dependent uncle with the calling bell, the elderly couple with the son in Canada showing off their 'imported' possessions are all characters to be cherished in their sincerity. The rounded cast of Naseerudin Shah, Deepti Naval and Farooq Sheikh do not disappoint. By the end of it, you may find yourself wanting a taste of life in a chawl as friendly, well-kept, diverse and charming as this.
Critics Review
From Filmi geek:
"Just as in Sparsh and Chashme buddoor, Sai Paranjpe shows her gentle touch in Katha, offering characters who are real, relatable, and engaging. In particular, just like Chashme buddoor, Katha offers adorable humor without outlandishness, real-life believable situations that make the audience laugh because it's not difficult to project them onto ourselves and our neighbors."
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Lunchbox
If you can get your hands on it, do not miss this sumptuous meal. I was enamored by how in this age of email and smartphones this movie can exist - as an island - and yet so potently that emails and cell phones begin to seem superfluous at the end of it, for where would there be any story in them. The quintessential Indian kitchen, Mumbai’s famed dabba system, the lethargic local trains convey a tinge of grinding ennui, but also hide a labyrinth of alluring possibilities.
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Dedh Ishkiya
Despite the highbrow Urdu shayari, Nawabi havelis, thumri and kathak combinations, Dedh Ishkiya is still quite Bollywoody, and positively so, what with the slapstick and sarcastic portrayal surrounding the decline of the Nawabs, their literal bankruptcy, the fraudster Nawabs, the wannabe Nawabs and fake shayars, all coming together in an entertaining comic thriller. Growing up, I wasn’t a Madhuri Dixit fan, but she’s come back with grace in this one.
Critics Review
From Variety:
"Dedh Ishqiya” ends on a note of sadder-but-wiser resignation that recalls its predecessor, but its high romantic cultural allusions convey a deeper sense of what’s at stake. The film was produced by the writer-director-composer Vishal Bhardwaj, whose own films include the admired “Omkara” (2006), a Hindi redo of “Othello” set among rural bandits. With the help of Dixit’s swirly dancing and the songs Bhardwaj has written (with lyrics by the classically minded Gulzar), Chaubey glancingly alludes to Indian classical traditions that have been all but forgotten by mainstream Bollywood.
Which is not to suggest that it’s all poetry readings and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan recitals. The movie’s structure has a class-conscious, stratified view of different styles of romance. When Warsi’s ne’er-do-well nephew Babban takes up with the Begum’s curvy right-hand woman, Minniya (Huma Quereshi), the tone gets much more frankly carnal. When he pulls a knife on her she growls, “Cut me,” a line that’s straight out of James M. Cain."
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The Wolf of Wall Street
A madcap roller-coaster ride, a pretty exuberant and nuts, though no less than stellar performance by Leonardo DiCaprio and a flamboyant show of excess from Martin Scorsese, whose direction I generally tend to find favorable. The technical aspects of the movie - the slick shots, trendy vistas and digital cinematography make it worth watching and entertaining, but more universally so than the content itself. The plot is engaging however and important in itself, especially considering it is based on a real-life story and in this age of Wall street scandals coming to light. However the vulgar obscenity comprising a lethal combination of money, conning , drug abuse and women in a bacchanal endlessness of self-inflicted overkill almost make it unbelievable (truth is stranger than fiction, one might say to that). Jordan Belfort's character makes Gordon Gekko look like a saint, and a boring one at that. Given the stakes, the ending concludes in a less favorable outcome - the obscenely despicable con-artist gets away with a pretty light sentence, and so his glory never ends. It could be argued that DiCaprio did a great job in his role - but his character is so hollow and lacking in any sort of depth that it rubs off monotonously against his persona - he appeared to have done better in The Great Gatsby earlier last year, which also had a much more romantic and civilized engagement with wealth, success and sensibility.
Critics Review
From The Observer:
While The Wolf of Wall Street slavishly apes the style and structure of Goodfellas, the dramatic magnetism that made Ray Liotta's Henry Hill so watchable is sorely absent. This is not a criticism of DiCaprio, whose full-throttle performance is both tightly nuanced and insanely OTT. Rather, it's a problem with the subject, whose reptilian repugnance and vacuum-sealed amorality Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter fail to crack. For all his motivational Gordon Gekko speeches and beamingly boisterous bonhomie, Belfort remains as impenetrably alienating as the human impersonator at the heart of Cronenberg's ice-cold Cosmopolis, a studiedly austere arthouse endeavour that was at least intentionally boring – sort of. As for The Wolf of Wall Street, you wind up realising that there's a very good reason why no classic movie ever opened with the words: "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a stockbroker… "
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