Fruitvale Station

Hollywood makes realistic cinema very very rarely. Fruitvale station (though produced by a relatively small Hollywood studio, The Weinstein company) is one of these rare gems. The movie style is more Persian neo-realist rather than anything from Hollywod.

I really loved this movie. It tells the tale of an African American who has messed up in the past. But he is more or less a nice guy who loves his mom and his daughter. Problems exist with his wife but he is trying to make amends. He even decides to give up dealing marijuana, most likely the screw up from his past. These provide a decent portrait of the lower middle class America but the punch of the movie is about how the police deals with the black people here. They kill them while hundreds of people are watching.

When I came out of the movie theater I was really moved. The movie begins with mobile phone camera footage showing the real like incident that happened in Oakland, CA. Before coming to America, I just would not have imagined such a thing could happen in the land of the free. Hell, even in India the police at least tries to create false pretenses by claiming that they shot only after being shot in the first place. But here you have the police officer coolly take his gun out ( he claims he was taking out his taser) and shoot a guy in the back. The guy who was shot was handcuffed, overpowered and with his face touching the ground. And all this happened in a railway station with hundreds of people watching and filming this.

The movie is a reminder that all is not well with how America deals with its poor and marginalized. Yes, a  lot of black eople commit crimes. But if you have a situation where you ghettoize a community, which has an already high crime rate you are only asking for more crime. You don't need a criminal psychologist to tell you that. Add the fact that almost most of the people in jail (read: criminals who are caught) are black and you have a recipe for disaster.

The movie itself doesn't tell you all these directly. But it is a mark of a very good political movie that it provides a lot of subtle hints that make you realize that the system is even more fucked up than a guy being shot in the back by someone who is supposed to protect him.

As with any kind of realistic cinema this is a really slow movie. It is also not very pretty. It has probably been shot with a cheap hand held camera. For added effect the cinematographer also holds it unsteadily. And there aren't too many light moments ( the father-daughter bonding is probably the only exception to this). And in the end it hits you in the feels. So to put it simply it is a serious movie that is right up my alley. Everyone should watch this. At least once it comes online!

Sweet my love, I live for thee

When you watch Maryan, the first thing that will strike you is the rawness of the movie. The way the characters look, the food they eat, the clothes they wear everything is straight out of a fishing village in southern Tamil nadu. In most of the recent, gritty realistic sons of the village movies, directors let one flaw seep in. They paint the lead actress white. Here, director, Bharat Bala didn't even let that happen. The lead actress, Parvathy Menon, with her extra-ordinarily powerful performance, is also one of the strongest suits of the movie.

Though the movie is titled after the male character, Maryan, played to perfection by Dhanush, the movie is more about Maryan's love for Panimalar. How her memories pushes him to escape his abductors and unite with her. Dhanush's choice of movies in the last five years, and his sustained performances with that fire in his eyes, deserve every ounce of praise that he has been receiving. This movie adds to his already impressive repertoire of roles.

Spoilers

The plot of the movie, inspired by true events, is mostly straightforward and extremely rich in drama and tension. The first half is essentially the story of how Panimalar and Maryan fall in love. Maryan, who knows nothing but the ocean is then forced to go to Sudan to earn a better living. As he is about to return he is kidnapped by local militia and held for ransom. He escapes from his abductors and runs across the desert before being spotted by friendly locals and taken to safety.

/Spoilers

What made this a truly nice movie to watch was the technical team. The camera work  (Mark Knocix) was phenomenal. Both the ocean and the dessert were picturised perfectly. Even at times when the movie slows down, you are watching something very beautiful and so you tend to be satisfied. The background score is also excellent. The second half is pretty much 127 hours territory and Rahman actually betters himself. Another thing I noticed was that the sound was engineered very well too. The songs are all very good as well. Especially the inspiring Nenju Ezhu and the gloomy Yenga pona rasa. Most of the songs are situational but a couple of dance numbers also exist. These dance numbers are one of the few negative points of this movie. These unnecessary songs also make the movie feel a tad too long. But even given these minor negatives the movie was an extremely satisfying watch.

I really hope we see more such movies in mainstream commercial cinema. Movies, where the masala and the action are inherent in the script! 

Milk Kha Singh!

Biographical films typically require the director to exercise his creative licence to make the dull parts more dramatic. But in the presenting the story of possibly the greatest track and field athlete India has produced, this was unnecessary. A life filled with guts, glory, determination and also immense tragedy is absolutely ripe for being made into a film. So much so, I am surprised that this movie has come out only in 2013.

The movie sketches the life of Milkha from the time he is a 12 year old around the time of partition to about the time he is just past his peak running ability. And what an amazing life it is. Watching his family butchered in front of his eyes before acting on his father's last words extolling him to run ( the title of the movie are those words), only to escape to a tough life at a refugee camp and then the hard work and determination involved in trying to become the world's best runner. The narrative is presented in a non-linear form and this keeps you engaged through the length of the movie. And though the premise seems extraordinarily serious the movie never overwhelms you. Humour and romance are used in just the right amounts.

My only gripe with the movie was that it could have been tauter and a couple of songs were completely unnecessary. The songs themselves were quite good but a couple of them did nothing but hinder the flow of the movie.

The acting of both the people who play Milkha, Farhan Akthar and Jabtej Singh (as the young Milkha) were amazing. Farhan's commitment to the movie is really quite impressive. In the course of the movie you can see him convert from scrawny teenager to extremely bulky sprint champion. And though before this, I wasn't particularly a fan of his acting, particularly his voice modulation, in this movie his perfomance was extremely well done as well. Among the technical aspects the cinematography was especially noteworthy (Binod Pradhan). I really liked the video game like rendering of the riots. The rest of the movie was also shot beautifully.

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. I hope this inspires more sportspeople in India as well as more sports based movies.

P.S: This is the 2nd big Bollywood movie about a runner in 2 years. Last year's Pan Singh Tomar being the other. Both are nice movies. BMB takes the obviously dramatic approach to tell the story of a legend. PST took a more subtle approach to show the fact is stranger than fiction of an international athlete who was part of the army and then became a dacoit. Personally I liked PST more, but BMB is extremely inspiring too.

Despicable Me 2

So it is summertime. Which means more animation. The one thing which Hollywood seems to do right. The first feature for this week was Despicable me 2 at its premiere show. And to say the least it was extremely enjoyable.

The other studios are clearly catching up to Pixar and this is wonderful for the audience. The artwork was quite good, the story engaging and above all the jokes make you laugh through the length of the movie. The movie follows the story of Gru who is now a responsible father and has stopped his villainous activities. He is extremely protective of his daughters, the oldest of whom is old enough to start dating boys. This leads to some of the smarter lines of the movie. Gru is recruited by the anti villain league (AVL) to help nab a mysterious bad guy who has stolen a potion that can convert cute things (rabbits/minions) into crazy monsters. Gru's partner from the AVL provides the romantic angle, the one thing missing from the first movie. And the minions continue to entertain with their amazing slapstick sense of humour. The minions are adorable, funny and stupid. And in addition to providing amazing entertainment, Despicable me 2 has gotten me extremely excited about next year's minion movie.

The romantic track could have been more engaging. The love ballad that one of the minions sing in what would be their equivalent of Italian was hilarious but the characters themselves don't make you root for them. Apart from that the movie gets full marks. A truly funny movie that made me leave the theater with a huge smile on my face.