Banlieue 13 ultimatum - Jumplingam

Parkour [ டுபாக்கூர் இல்லைங்க‌ !]

In my early days, I used to wait for 'Fights' in the title card and walk away if I don’t see the same. I convince sometimes 'Stunts' or 'Action' in the title card too. I was happy to see Judo rathnam, Hayath, Shyam Sundar (shetty), Kirubaa, Vikram Dharma in the title card. We used to fight with sound effects [ Dishkaal ] with our friends :). In Telugu films, I never wait for the stunts in title card - because by default the film starts with a fight. Our super advertiser Kalaipuli Dhanu advertised for his Vijaykanth starred movie "Nallavan" that 'South India answers to Jackie Chan :) [ எல்லான் ஒரு வெள‌ம்ப‌ர‌ந்தான்ணே ! ]

Then it's the days of Jackie Chan - he is the real master in fights which are choreographed almost like a dance with perfect timing. Bruce lee fights more like a monk. The later arrivals like Jetli and co spoiled my interest towards the fight movies and also the Chinese movie Crouching tiger, hidden dragon.

After a long time, I interestingly watched the chase n fights in 'Bourne identity' series. Then came the superb chase n fight sequence in 'Casino Royale' - that's the real fight in Bond movies - a classic 8 mins chase. First time, Bond ran for a full length jumping n diving without an ultra modern car. The fight was a real treat to watch. Later, I liked the fights in 'Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu' [ Stun Siva ] and Ayan. Ayan had this good fight sequences in Congo. Though the stunt master is Kanal Kannan, 2 South African stunt coordinators were used in Ayan. Seeing the response, Sun pictures has hired them in 'Aadhavan' [ the new Surya film ] too. Watch the title cards in the ads.

Our gentleman Kathir told me that it was Parkour and introduced this new form of sport ! Parkour came from a French word parcour meaning 'go fast'. Parkour is a free style running, jumping, climbing, diving immaterial of the place where they do it. It requires a very high standard of physical flexibility and mental fitness. No wonder, British and US marines introduce parkour as part of their military training. The different between a normal chase and parkour chase is that the normal chase ends when a dead end [ a locked high rise fence :) ] comes up but the parkour chase has no obstacles.

Banlieu 13 ultimatum

The story starts after 3 years from the first part. The government authorities try to settle down the area called 'District 13'. Not many changes happen to the place; instead the place become more worse with guns, drug trafficking, garbage and violence. Also they have so many groups divided by the races and nationalities [ underworld gangs ]. Arabs, Chinese, African American, Mexican and native French warlords share the place.

There's a good guy from the cops and one from the local rogue gang. They team up against all the odds to save the district 13 from troubles. For a parkour stunts based movie, the plot is more than enough to run, dive, jump, twist, swing, climb, roll, drop, leap and what not !!

View

Just take away your age, go back to your school days and enjoy. The film has the perfect elements of fights, suspense, 2 unstoppable and physics defying heroes with a mission. Also, they are accompanied by the perfect teams of small groups and their heads [ typical supporting roles that you find in Telugu movies ]. What you get is 'Gilli' like action packed thriller. The music played a very good match [ rythmic beats ] just accompanying the tempo of the movie.

David Belle has acted as the local rogue - You know what.. He is one of the founders of Parkour and is a treceur. This is actually the second part of Banlieu 13. There are more movies based on Parkour sport. Yamakasi [ உத‌ய‌ம்‍க்கு அடுத்த‌ ஸ்டாப்புங்க‌ளா ?! :) ], Bourne ultimatum, Die hard 4.0. The good part is that all the stunts are original and not cheated with rope stunts or computer graphics. True fight film freaks never liked those cheap n rope techniques for fights.

Thanks to my friend Crankx who suggested this movie. His comment to this film was ' Just dub this in telugu and release it directly '. I second him.

:)

-Toto.

No Man's Land - Universal issue.

No man's land.

" The war was never a good subject for a feature film. But frankly, my deepest opinion is it's not the subject that matters, it's the way you treat the subject that matters." - Director Danis Tanovic.

History always have specific pieces of land in dispute, where in two countries/states claim the ownership. There are so many examples like Kashmir, Kachatheevu, Sikkim, Belgaum [ inter states ]. This is common and every nation has its own no man's land. This film is based one such NML in Bosnian and Serb border. I would like to use the famous dialog of 'Flags of our fathers'

"Every jackass thinks he knows what war is.. Especially those who've never been in. We like things nice and simple, good and evil, heroes and villains. There are plenty of both. Most of the time, they are not who we think they are "

May be, whenever I come across any war based movies, I quote this dialog. Because the truth is war is just one more genre of movie for us. However, the movies make us to think more than when we read a news/book or going through a debate. There are 2 sets of people involved in the war. The authorities who decide when n where to attack and the other set of people who just follow the orders in the name of country/God/King.

The other important aspect f this film is land mine. [ தின‌த்த‌ந்தில‌ வ‌ருமே.. இளம் க‌வ‌ர்ச்சி க‌ன்னி வெடி ஸ்ரேயா‍‍ன்னு.. அதில்லை.. இது கண்ணி வெடி. :) ]. The total land mines planted in the world as per a reading are around 100 million. Don't worry, if you don't understand where Bosnia is and Why they fight with Serbs; it doesn't matter. You can think of any two fighting organizations and watch this movie. After all, we don't worry much about who dies at the end. Also, don't anticipate this as a documentary explaining why they fight and expect the fight to conclude at the end with 'Malarodu malar ingu' as in BOMBAY.

No Man's land/2001/Bosnian
Written & Directed by Danis Tanovic.
Music : Danis Tanovic

Story

A group of Bosnians travelling to their other camp, miss thier way out and get trapped in their enemy territory. After a clash, one of the Bosnian [ Chiki ] of them escape and hide in a trench. To confirm the finish of intrusion,2 serbs are sent to the the trench. They find one another Bosnian [ Cera ] and capture him inthe trench. To play, the serb plants a 'bouncing mine' under Cera. The idea is if Cera moves or moved, then the mine will explode making an impact within a greater radius. This depicts a problem and the personnel hiding in the trench. 2 Bosians and 2 Serbs with guns. Each one of them believes that they are right. What do they do is the first part of the story.

The next part involves UNPROFOR [ United Nations Protection Force ] and a news channel's English reporter who anticipates for some breaking news or live event in the unmanned place. What happens is the story and to my surprise, it has the utmost turns and twists, maximum possible with this minimal scope of the story.

View :

It is very easy to turn this script into a commercial action thriller types with Will Smith or some hero successfully completes the mission [ in the end kissing the news reporter :) ]. That might have entertained us but never makes us to think or read further. The thin line diverting from action thriller makes this war drama a memorable one. The movie questions a lot. A good cinema makes the audience to think or refer something after watching the movie.

The director is from Bosnia and surprisingly this doesn't lead him to make a biased movie. Instead, he shows how UN works. He treated the subject with humor sprinkled in the movie. Every scene has an interesting twist or at least a lead to something else. The pain, pride, friendship, enmity among the soldiers are shown visually and with dialogues. Things which the Serbs do [ planting mine under Cera ], lead to many complications. The involvement of UN soldiers, their restrictions in unknown fields and their bureaocratic leaders sitting in high command offices, making their spontaneous decisions [ passing the buck ! ] are subtly inserted in the story.

The Global News channel reporter is fantastically captured [ couldn't resist thinking of our NDTV/IBN/Times reporters anticipating breaking news or live events ]. As a news machine, she wants to tape everything on the war ground. For media, it's just the news. The involvement of layers like army superiors, UN army, UN superiors, news reporters change the course of action. So whatever we see or read as the news is definitely not the truth or as it is exactly happened. It is applicable right from the life of Kings to the recent happening in Srilanka. We assume that we know the truth which actually may not be.

Though the movie depicts this situation with humor, I would not want to divert the readers that this as a lighter movie. It's a kind of black comedy [ Ex : enna elavu kazhuvara keiyila thinganum.. avlo dhaan - Esakki in Devar Mahan ]. The Bosnian and Serb soldier confront in many places and sometimes find common things between them.

The arguments the soldiers have, the problems of Cera lying on the mine, their wish to smoke, Cera trying to take a leak, cold-blooded UN operations, inhuman hunger for news by the media and so many other aspects leave us stunned. Cinematography and sound editing are the notable work in this movie. Sudden gun shots, bombing walking on gravel - all such minute sounds are perfectly used.

Conclusion

This movie won the academy award for the best foreign language film in 2001. As I mentioned, the war concept shown is universally true and people from any part of the globe can relate the story with the war, they know - this can range anything from Hogenakkal water issue to Israel-Palestenian conflict.[ Pazham vere.. aana prachnai onnu dhaan :) ].

A wonderful war drama which has to be defintely in your list of movies.

"கொலை குத்த‌ம்னா.. யுத்த‌மும் குத்த‌ம். Isn't it ?!" - Sriram Abhayankar. [ If you ask me who's this, I'll better stop writing about cinema !!! ].

-Toto.

Kikujiro - A touching travel.

Kikujiro na natsu [ Summer of Kikujiro ]

Play this music in the background while reading this blog [ Oru effect dhaan ! ]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa0JAvjx05c

" After 'Hana-Bi', I couldn't help feeling that my films were being stereotyped: So I decided to try and make a film no one would expect from me " - Takeshi Kitano.

Once a creator reaches this idea, the next project would be one of his best. A creator has to disconnect from his previous work and the next one [ Remember Minnale and Kaaka kaaka; Nayagan, Agni Natchathiram, Geetanjali and Anjali ]. Variety keeps the art live.

Few things about the director.. Takeshi Kitano is an all-rounder; he started his career as a standup comedian as two beats in Japan [ reason for his other name Beat Takeshi ]. He is a multi-skilled personality; actor, script writer, director, editor, painter and has good knowledge in music. Due to a conflict while acting in a film 'Violent cop', he turned as the director for the movie, accidentally. Till Hana-bi, he worked with the same type of gangster stories with enormous violence and different method of storytelling. Kikujiro is a different craft from his shop. After a fatal accident in 1989, Takesh started working more extensively [ realising 'Life is beautiful' ! ]. He's also a visiting professor in one of the Japanese universities.

Kikujiro : This film needed 4 important elements. Masao [ 9 yrs old boy ], Joe Hisaishi [ Music director ], Yanagishima [ cinematographer ] and Takeshi Kitano [ Editor & Director ]. All of them blended well and the final product is just awesome.

Kikujiro na natsu [ Kikujio's summer ] - 1999/Drama/Japan
Cast : Yusuke Sekiguchi, Takeshi Kitano
Music : Joe Hisaishi
Cinematography : Katsumi Yanagishima
Edited & Directed by : Takeshi Kitano.

Plot :

Masao, 9 years old n sensitive boy lives with his working grandma in the sub-urban of Tokyo. He doesn't have a father and mother stays in a far away town, whom he never met. Summer vacation starts and all the friends of Masoe leave the town for holidays. Masoe is left alone. He finds his mother's photo and address while searching for a stamp. With little money and little knowledge on directions, he walks out of the home and heads towards the address. Takeshi is an irresponsible, loud mouthed person and his wife was a neighbor once to Masoe's family. They find this boy on his way, to go out of the town. Thinking about the risk, she asks her husband Takeshi to accompany the kid to his mother's place and gives some money. The highly mismatched friends start the journey. Takeshi's wife later convinces Masao's grandma that they are taking him to the seaside.

Takeshi has the least interest in taking the boy to the address and starts spending his money in useless ways. The film is all about their journey and the colorful characters they meet, the strange circumstances they undergo which comes out as a wonderful experience. Both end up their search, in a different and unforgettable way.

View :

- It's an elliptical style narration. I mean, the film starts and ends with the same shot [ Masao running in a bridge ]. Watch out for the first 7 minutes titling and theme music [ Fabulous one from Joe Hisaishi ]. Look for the bell sounds in between and it has a meaning. [ Mani sathathula ennadaa meaning.. Unnai keppaare illaiyaa :) ]

- The characters are introduced very rapidly with fewer dialogues. For ex., Takeshi's wife says 'we were neighbors’ to justify her concern for the boy. Takeshi is introduced with his brash attitude and his wish to grab easy money. Masao talks less and filled up with unknown sadness. The alienation of Masao is picturized by a long shot in a soccer field with him, a ball and an empty ground. Class !

- The journey begins with an irresponsible Takeshi and a sad n eager boy, where the chemistry between them doesn't work out at all. The friction is carried out through out their journey and events slowly change the relation.

- The story focuses on the alienation and the nuclear family structure in Japan. The story is narrated with different headings as found in the Masao's diary.

- In a highway motel, Takeshi breaks the glass window of a truck for not getting a lift. That follows a fight sequence. The entire fight sequence is shown in a long shot without any music. A simple and ideal fight which is never shown in that angle. Takeshi never shows the actual fight but he shows the consequences [ Remember the hospital fight in Anjathey :) ].

- The characters : a juggler, her boy friend, a story writer, 2 bikers get introduced and mingles with the story fluidly. Takeshi's comic acts balance the kid's sadness.

- The camp they setup in a riverside and the games they play were really touching one. All the grown-ups just return to their childhood and entertain Masao. Those sequences are interesting and I couldn't accept when they depart. Also, when Masao runs in the end with joy, it leaves an emotional feeling about that kid. The emotion we get when we finish the vacation - a strange feeling which I undergone after the news break in the Sunday evening TV films [ next day school-la enna nadakumo :) ]. Like the feeling during the return journey after a get-together [ ம‌ச்சான்.. நான் அடையார்‍ல‌ இற‌ங்கிக்க‌றேன்டா.. அதான் கிட்ட‌ :) ].

- Takeshi, meanwhile remembers his mother and that sub-plot is a poem by itself. The cello music used in this episode [ The track is named 'Mother' in the soundtrack of this film ] is directly used in the movie "Anjathey"'s climax :) . In Nandalala, it comes with a song, I guess.. [ அம்மா ஒன்ன‌ப் பாத்தா.. வார்த்தை வ‌ல்ல‌ மேல‌.. -Check the song 'Thaalatu Ketka naanum' by IR ]

- Joe Hisaishi - The music director is basically a pianist who has done his part extremely well. The theme music is used in various part of the movies with various instruments [once in violin, cello, just piano etc., ].

- The visuals/lighting elevates the movie to another level. The colors used in the journey are excellent.

Conclusion :

I would recommend this movie for the entire family. Similar to 'In the mood for love', this film also talks about the loneliness and alienation in life. It's a delightful story with an intelligent script, brilliant cinematography and an enchanting score. No wonder Mysskin's office contains only one portrait, where Takeshi Kitano smiles.

Looking forward eagerly for the Tamil movie Nandalala, inspired from Kikujiro.

-Toto.

Paradise now & RONIN.

RUSH Films.
Endorphin rush - PARADISE NOW.

Of late, I came across the term 'Endorphin rush', which is induced by physical exercise and it leads to the state 'sense of accomplishment'. Why do I attach endorphin rush to a film ? [ ippadi dhideernu kettaa eppadinga.. Eppadiyum link panniduven :) ].

Though I am film freak, I used to know about history/life. more through films. 'Hotel Rwanda' showed me the recent Rwandan genocide [ 1994 ], the fights between Hutu and tsotsi. 'Road to Guantanamo' documentary helped me to understand the way Gitmo works. 'The Pianist' painfully registered the holocaust in Poland. Similarly, we have this 'Israel-Palestine' conflict. If a film can get a bit of pain, what they undergo there, I think it's the success of the creator.

Paradise now - 2005/Arab
Written & Directed by : Hany Abu-Assad

Said and Khalid are friends working in a Palestinian city Nablus. Said has a girl friend 'Suha' and her father was a martyr. Said and Khalid are selected as suicide bombers to plan an attack in Tel Aviv, by their friend Jamal. Before that night, Said meets Suha to return her car keys, and has a chat with her about her father's religious death, and what options the Palestinians have in their handling with Israel.

Next day, they speak about their mission to their family and gets the bombs strapped to their body. Either they have to die or come back to the camp to defuse the bombs by the expert. They get into Israel.. What happens then is the emotional story of these 2 'human' bombs. I used the word 'human' because they think about the impact and their act.

The film easily conveys the message of the story. The characters are very few in the movie and it shows the bigger picture of the missions they carry out.

I was touched by the final speech given by the victims. He says after the speech to his mother to buy something, revealing beyond country, religion and others, they love the family.

The arguments made by Suha are worthy to watch. Of course, her dialogue justifies the title. 'Paradise is myth.. it's here.. it's now and there's no paradise up in the sky'.

The film ends with a shot leaving the imagination to the audience.. What happened is up to the audience. I remember 'Terrorist by Santhosh Sivan and 'Uyire' by Manirathnam Sir are of the same category.

This is the first Palestinian film nominated for the academy award. There are around 40 other films made on this Arab Israeli conflict. [ Remember Spielberg's MUNICH ]. This film gave the sense of satisfaction that I didn't miss a nice drama.

===

RONIN

We come across one more rush called 'Adrenaline rush' in life reacting to stress. It secretes when we are excited, riding in roller coaster etc., I watch action movies to change the mood from the classics - I appreciate any good movie of any genre.

Seven Samurai - a Japanese movie came in 1954 and this movie made an tremendous impact in the west [Magnificent seven, etc., are based on 7 samurai]. Ronin is one such movie. Different talented and unrelated guys form a team for a common mission. Ronin means a Samurai without lord or master. The interesting thing in this film is the body language of the ronin - they don't get into action just for heroism. The masters do it with less words spoken.

Film : RONIN [ 1998/Action ]

Cast : Robert de niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone

Direction : John Frankenheimer

- The story is simple. A team of different experts formed to steal a mysterious suitcase from another gang with all possible twists and turns [ both in story and in locations :) ]. The first 25 mins prepares you for the 'adrenaline rush' later.

- This movie is meant for the deadly car chases in the narrow roads of Europe [ Paris, Nice, Arles ].

- The other important characters are the cars.. Audi S8, Peugeot 406, a Citroën Xantia, a BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 . :)

- Robert de niro is like Kamalhassan - he justifies whatever the role he plays. You believe him as an ex agent ; that's the power of his performance. For his best, watch 'RAGING BULL'.

Just chill out with RONIN. Action oriented entertainment guaranteed.

-Toto.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso - My hometown theatres.

I wanted to rebuild what the cinema hall used to be once; a sacred place where people used to know each other, to spend time together, to smile, and dream - Director Giuseppe Tornatore.

I started watching films in my school days at an above average level. I watch any kind of cinema starting from Telugu dubbing Chiranjeevi movies, MRRAdha's classic 'Rathak kaneer' to 'Schindlers list'. But I had the passion to watch them in theatres alone. I watch DVDs with a heavy heart that I could have enjoyed them much in theatre.

Once I remember my father dragged me out of Tamil exam in 4th standard to watch 'Salangai Oli' in Muralikrishna. My mother took me to 'Sakalakala vallavan' twice. Obviously, when I watched 'Cinema Paradiso', I just easily fixed me in that character where the boy's life is just made up of cinemas, he watched.

The other thing is friendship with a father-like senior [ Like paruthi veeran ] and this film deals with that bonding between a 6 yr old boy Toto and his father-like friend Alfredo.

Nuovo cinema paradiso [ New Cinema paradiso ] 1988/Drama/Italy

Music : Ennio Morricone

Written & Directed by : Giuseppe Tornatore.

Plot

The famous Italian director Salvatore gets a call from his mother with a news. He neither called his mother nor visited her for 30 years. But the message takes him back to his hometown. With that his childhood story comes in flashback.

6 years old Toto [ nick name of Salvatore ] helps the local pastor in the church and very passionate about movies. The small town has only one theatre called 'Cinema Paradiso'. He develops with a middle aged theatre projectionist Alfredo. Though Alfredo initially rejects him in the projection room, due to a deal he allows him to work with him in free time. They develop a strong bonding over the time and due to an issue, a new cinema paradiso is built with Toto as the projectionist. The story then flows with the adult Toto.

Toto falls in love with Elena in college and tries to develop the relation. Alfredo doesn't want Toto to fall in love and end his life in the small town. Somehow, the love doesn't become successful and they are separated. Alfredo strongly advices Toto to leave the town and never ever come back for any reasons to pursue his career. Meanwhile, Toto learns to shoot amateur videos.

The 3rd part of the story is the old Toto visiting his home town and spending time with his mother. Toto also finds Elena in the same town and they meet once to talk about their past. Alfredo's wife gives a parcel and film reel as a gift from Alfredo. Toto watches the reel in his personal projection theatre and runs with tears. He watches the best in that cinema reel which he was passionate in his childhood.

View

- As any good cinema, this starts from the first shot as you see 'FRANCO CRISTALDI PRESENTA'. The mesmerising piano + violin music prepares the audience to just attach with the story. As a good narration the movie starts with a flashback, where the movie director rewinds his childhood days in his native.

- The very first scene explains the characters that are introduced. The kid is introduced sleeping in a prayer session where he is supposed to help the pastor. A clever n mischievous boy who is enormously interested in cinema.

- Ennio Morricone needs a special mention for his sparkling score for this movie. He was involved in the movie right from the scripting phase and hence he lived with the story. That is proven in the music. One of the best theme music and soundtracks, in my collection.

- Editing games - Every scene connects with the next scene in a poetic manner.. For ex., The lightning in the first scene changes into the sunlight in the church, the scale blows by a teacher change into the leveling of film reel, small church bell turning into big school bell.. Even when Toto's mother cries about her husband, the boy is attracted towards a cinema poster.

- Alfredo - A perfect father who is tough in outlook but so soft in nature. He advices Toto not to enter projection operator job but wit a ideal he teaches him. His dialogues are almost made up of cinema dialogues as he watches every film almost 100 times.

- The scene where Alfredo talks to Toto was a fantastic piece. Go away and never come back to this town. This is an important dialog to a person who lives in a small town [ Remember the same dialog in 'Men of Honour' for Crawl Basheer from his father.. The intention is not to make the junior to suffer the same as they did in life ].I could understand the reality by being coming from a little town. Little town takes out the energy. The relation between Alfredo and Toto was amazing. A fatherless kid and a childless projectionist.

- The first love is of course shown as just an attraction at the first sight. The girl is not so attractive in this movie, I guess [ otherwise I would have written 2 paragraphs about her :) ].

- The best scene is after 30 years Toto tries to contact his ex lover and the conversation is shown in a single shot.. Zoom in shows the Toto in a public booth and zoom out shows Elena in a silhouette in her window.

- The dialog between Toto's mother and him after 30 years was a touching one.

- Cinema hall - It's a part of the people from that Sicily town.I couldn't resist thinking about my hometown theatres. I am one of the freaks who couldn't digest cinema theatres changing into malls and marriage halls. My hometown got only one theatre now. :( . The various characters in the movie are excellently portrayed including the theatre owner, pastor, his assistant, a prostitute and whom not.

- The morning school and the forenoon school shots are a beautifully communicated with a noisy children crowd and a silent horse walk.

- The adult Toto tries to impress Elena and the dialogues are nice. Also, the scene which old Toto meets Elena was poetic.

- Most of the dialogues uttered by Alfredo are from old movies and his life style was depicted neatly in the film. He heats his lunch in the old projection light box :)

- The cinema hall itself is a character in this movie. The stages it come across and it's end. I attach with the great theatres that were demolished in my time. [ ex : Ananda theatre in Pondicherry :( ].

Conclusion

I am fortunate to see the directors cut [ 173 mins ] of this movie - it was a treat to watch. I wondered how an Italian cinema has the traces of my childhood. I used to play marbles [ Goli ] in exchange for film stripes and marbles too.. [ Rajini films were costly :) ]

By seeing the cut films Toto adds the dialogue to that and also he collects those films in a box. I see myself in that character and hence my name :) .

- Toto.

Visual poem - In the mood for love

தனிமை.. த‌விப்பு.. த‌ய‌க்க‌ம்

Can anyone be able to express freely to the other person honestly ? We have so many filters, we rehearse the dialog before we let it out. There are very few places that we let out whatever that comes to our mind like close friend, in prayer etc., Once Kamalhassan said that he likes the Villain character in any story because he is honest - if he wants to rape a girl, he does it straight forward :). We the normal people hesitate, oscillate, falter, boggle.. at least within ourselves before we express out. This film is about those minute emotions.

Have you heard of the song 'Oru naalil vaazhkkai' in Pudhupettai ? The most philosophical song that I have heard of late. That touches upon the loneliness,hesitation,unexpressed emotions of self. How about an entire movie talking about the same. A normal form of cinema deals much with the story like Bhim singh films.. Another form of cinema mostly deals with the visualization of a simple story. The second form is slightly tough to get attached with. But he Wong Kar-wai made it very simple so that we understand what the characters feel about. The beauty is without dialogues and with the help of cinematography and music.

Film : In the mood for love [ Drama / 2001 / Hongkong ]

Director ; Wong Kar-wai

Music : Michael Gallaso / Umebayashi

Cinematography : Christopher Doyle [ Remember.. Rabbit proof fence ].

Plot :

The story is set in 1960s. Two couples move to adjacent apartments simultaneously. The first apartment has Tony a journalist whose wife mostly comes late or travels. "So" is the other lady who stays in the next apartment and her husband travels most of the time. She works as a secretary in a company. They are accompanied by a friendly house owner lady. Though the apartment is a lively place with people our 2 main characters don't mingle with the crowd, much. Wife of Tony and husband of 'So' don't respond to their spouses properly. Tony and 'So' hardly meet each other. they slowly come across each other in the hallway, restaurant, a rainy day.

One day they have dinner in a hotel and in their conversation they realise something. This disturbs them a lot. they slowly develop a friendship but very cautious about their limits. Tony starts writing about martial arts in the paper and So helps him. he stays in hotel for writing without any disturbance. she meets him in the hotel. Time pass on and on a rainy day Tony says to her that he is slowly loosing himself towards her and nothing good is happening. he says that she anyway cannot leave her husband and things won't change.. also he thinks that they also may end up in a relation. Hence, Tony leaves to Singapore..'So' tried to stop him but not. She weeps.

After 3 years, Tony gets a blank call from 'So' .. he realises that it is her. Tony does a confession at the end. Something happens ..

View :

- The story might look vague but the emotions it leaves us is a simple heartbreak. Director Wong doesn't much believe in script. He shoots through the year and cuts as he needs them and mostly the story is formed in the editing table and given life by cinematographer and the musician [ of curse , less dialogues ]. The true form of visual communication.

- The music makes the movie lively. Their loneliness, hesitation, sadness, compassion, unexpressed love is expressed in music. Just a cello talks to the audience instead of the characters and they use mostly slow-motion.

- Their interaction is poetic and they take their own time to interact with each other. It's not like they dash in the hallway and the next moment they sing and dance in Swiss, half-dressed.

- The story has very few characters and they are neatly used. House owner, maid, ugly friend in press, lonely manager in shipping company.

- The first lengthy conversation they make is brilliant as it reveals their personal sadness. The beauty of this cinema is they never show 'So's husband and Tony's wife. they just exist in the story, invisibly in phone / conversations.

- Some single shots express the feelings magically. An empty football ground, a boy, a foot ball from a top Angle shows the summer loneliness of a boy in Kikujiro. Similarly, Jason Bourne [ the master action hero for me ] enters New York in a ship - the shot is just shown with Statue of liberty on one side and his ship on the other side. here, Wong Kar-wai uses rain to show the loneliness. It rains heavily on the lamp post and road in the lonely street at night. Both Tony and 'So' mostly exchange silences in place of their dialogues.

- Michael Galasso, Shigeru Umebayashi and Christopher Doyle are definitely the masters who made this visual poem lovely to watch.

- The way the movie ends in Angorwat is lyrical. Just a simple beat and a cello. He talks to the hole in the temple wall and closes. A monk just observes from the top side of the temple. I admire the characterization of Tony and 'So' - the casting is perfect with actors having sympathetic faces.

Conclusion

Some movies just pass by with some questions to us. If they lived together this movie would have become one another adultery movie. But the thin line between the hesitation and the romance makes it interesting to watch.

Emotional journey of loneliness and unexpressed love.

-Toto.

Life is beautiful - for those who faced the hard !

"There is no bigger tragedy than to remember the happy times during the misery." - Unknown quote.

Life is beautiful - for whom ?

Life is beautiful movie was awarded best foreign language film by the academy in 1998. Do you know the other 2 good nominations in the same year ? Answer at the end of the review.

Life doesn't become beautiful for all. In fact, for those, who met with a tragedy, it becomes one. You might have come across the horror movie series SAW.. the serial killer is a 70+ years old cancer patient and sees the other people, how they waste their valuable life.. Also, he kills them for their unimportance about life :). A small tragedy opens up the door.

As I mentioned in 'The counterfeiters' review, there were 300+ movies made on Holocaust, till now. The difference in Life is Beautiful is that it involves a kid and the hero is clownish. A father can take his 4 year kid to a park or a zoo. This father in Life is Beautiful happens to accompany his kid to the concentration camp. We do answer our kids about any damn question, they ask for. How can one explain about mass murder to a kid ?

Every director has their dream to direct a movie based on God Father in their own variation [ Nayagan, Devar magan, Sarkar ] Similarly on holocaust, everyone has tried their own version and Roberto Benigni overtakes others by mixing the right flavours of emotions.

Life is Beautiful [ 1997 / Italian / Comedy-tragedy-war ]
Cast : Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini
Co-written, produced and Directed by : Roberto Benigni

Plot

The film begins with this dialog in the voice-over. "This is a simple story but difficult one to tell. Like a fable, there is sorrow, and like a fable, it is full of wonder and happiness." - It's a fable which one can't forget easily !

Before the World War II in Italy, Guido [ Roberto Benigni ] and his friend travel to the city to find job.Also, they plan to open a bookstore. Meanwhile, he works as a waiter and he comes across a school teacher named Dora [ Nicoletta Braschi ]. Guido’s funny behaviour and charm eventually make Dora to fall in love with him. They marry and lead a peaceful life. Later, they have a son named Joshua [Giorgio Cantarini]. 5 Years passes by. Till this point, the movie is just a funny flick.

The big game starts. Since Guido is Jewish, and he and his son are forced to settle in a concentration camp; Dora, though she is not Jewish, refuses to separate and is sent with them. Trying to protect his son from the horrors others are undergoing, Guido creates a fiction for them to live inside: they're playing a game, a contest, and they must play it to the hilt in order to win the first prize: a real, live army tank. A tough time for a father to hide out the tragic attributes of a camp and interpreting the entire setup as a game to his son. He makes his son to believe too.

What happens then ? You know for sure that it's not a feel good story.

View

- The film symbolises a journey and through out the journey, Guido is able to sustain his faith in humanity and a hard desire to survive in life.

- At no point, the holocaust's horror is cheapened by the humour of Guido. The sense of horror is actually intensified as the audience is left with a joke and they can't laugh for it.

- Benigni's father spent 2 years in German concentration camp. He shared his experiences to his family members in a comical way so that the kids are not frightened. That's the knot and essence of the movie.

- Benigni was initially a stand-up comedian in his initial stages of his career. [ like Woody Allen ].

- The film starts in a lighter way with some slapstick moments.[ break less car, girl falling from her house, dashing on someone ]. The director cleverly prepares the audience for a dangerous ride in the later part of the movie. [ Sethu follows this technique ! ]

- Benigni's original wife played as his wife in this movie. [ May be because of the concentration camp :) ]

- One of the touching scenes is that a person who is supposed to help Guido talks about something else, when asked for help, in the hotel.

- Guido mocks the soldier's walk - at first we smile on it.. but during the second time we can't. the wink they make at each other stumps the viewers.

- Here Guido's life and his unconditional love is shown with respect to holocaust and not in the reverse. It's about to what extent can a person go to save his beloved ones in crisis times.

- Though it's a drama to keep a kid in the concentration camp, the impact it makes is tremendous.

-Life is Beautiful does not detail on the horrors of the camp, nor it ignores them. The second half of the movie is more emotional and emphasise love and the power of desire to survival at the best.

- I need to appreciate Benigni for casting himself for the Guido character - it's tailor made. He chose what comes to him, best [ Like MGR.. MGR never chose a character which doesn't fit him - a retired officer ! ] Also, selection of the boy character is a fantastic move. His innocence can never be forgotten.

Conclusion

Comedy is used to emphasise the tragedy and the director Benigni wins. He crosses the thin line of making concentration camp as a funny place.

A father of a girl child can't digest 'Mahanadhi'. Similarly, a boy's father can't digest "Life is Beautiful" [ Of course, a father is a father ! ]. Great films n stories deal with unconditional love [ Hotel Rwanda, Kikujiro, Anbe sivam - Mother superior, The way home, Schindler's list ] and this film does the same.

அன்பின் பாதை சேர்ந்த‌வ‌னுக்கு
முடிவே இல்லைய‌டா
ம‌ன‌தின் நீள‌ம் எதுவோ அதுவே
வாழ்வின் நீள‌ம‌டா !

Life is Beautiful won 3 academy awards [ best foreign film, Best actor, Best original score ]. The other foreign movies nominated were Children of heaven [ kaaviyam ! ] and Central station [ Brazilian version of Kikujiro ].

Jibeuro - Tale of a grandma [ the way home ]

Name : The way home [ 2002/South Korea/ Drama ]
Director: Lee Jehong
Music : Kim
Actors : Doesn't look like they are actors :)

We, in tamil films, can't digest a single scene where the word love doesn't pitch in. We, in fact, changed the dictionary meaning of love - we understand it can be used only in the most dramatic sentence 'I love you' :). There are a handful of movies for other sort of relationships. Grandparents, Friends, Master-student [ "my tutor" illeenga :) ]. Also, we don't have good cinema for children. I still don't understand why 3D films are stopped being produced. [ I saw MDKuttichathaan in Ega theatre :) ].

We do have rare films deals about grandmothers [ poove poochoodava - U know PC Sriram was the cameraman for that film ]

This Korean movie deals with the summer holidays of a 10yrs old city grown kid, spending time with his grandmother in a remote village. The characters are very natural and their character biography is uncomplicated. But the happenings make the story close to us and interesting.

Plot :

It's about a 10 yrs boy [ San ] who comes from he city (Seoul) to a remote hill town in South Korea. San and his mother reaches a remote village to spend his summer with his grandmother [ 78 yrs, mute but not deaf ] and his mother leaves. San got packed junk foods and video games. He seldom respects the grandmother and of course, criticizes her as 'retard'. He gets 2 friends and they don't want to play with San, for his mischievous nature.

San's video game player runs out of the battery and he roams to get batteries. He asks his grandma for KFC and grandma somehow understands that he is asking for chicken. She manages to buy a live hen on a rainy day and cooks that in country style [ plain - boiled ]. He doesn't accept it as KFC and of course grandma doesn't understand what he exactly asks for.
Out of all the conflicts, the only thing he helps his grandma is to thread the needle. One day she takes him to the market, buys noodles and new shoes. On the way back, he cheats his grandma and comes back alone in the bus, leaving grandma without a nickle. She walks all the way back home without frustration.

Grandma's unconditional love slowly makes some change in the boy. End of the summer, he develops affection towards his grandma and teaches her simple greetings with cards. His mother comes and takes him back to Seoul, He departs with tears. Grandma is back to her simple life with greeting cards from her grandson.

View :

Of the few characters, I liked the grandma very much. Whatever the kid does, she never gets irritated [ just like any other grandma ]. With whatever available with her, she leads a peaceful life and on top she helps others. The only thing she depends on the boy is to run thread through a needle because of her low eyesight and that she waits patiently.

The boy expresses his unwillingness very naturally. The film doesn't end too dramatically making the boy crying for his mistakes .. ha.. !

The shot where he eats chicken in the night is showed in the shadow form on wall [ Thiruttu thanam - Remember Alaipayuthe marriage is shown in silhouette :) ]

I liked a touching dialog - a friend of the old lady ends their conversation like this."Come by again before one of us dies."

The film hardly has 5-7 characters and very less dialogues.

Conclusion :

The movie is dedicated to grandmothers in the world - what an apt thing to do. This is not a stunning or complicated movie but simple n neat one.

An old joke

1 : ப‌ர‌வாயில்லையே‌.. ம‌க‌ளிர் ம‌ட்டும் மாதிரி ப‌ல்ல‌வ‌ன்‍ல‌ "ஆயாவுக்காக‌"னு கூட‌ ப‌ஸ் விட்டுருக்காங்க‌ளே !

2 : யோவ் ! ஒழுங்கா ப‌டி.. அது "ஆயாவுக்காக‌" இல்லை.. ஆய்வுக்காக‌. !!

No Knowledge is useless : even forgery !

No Knowledge is useless : even forgery ! [ enna dhairiyathula nee title elllaam vaikara !! ]

The counterfeiters [ 2007 - Drama / German ]

Directed by : Stefan Ruzowitzky.

Plot:

It's a fictional flick based on 'Operation Bernhard'**. The film opens with a Jewish counterfeiter [ SME named Salomon - Sal] spending n enjoying life in Monte Carlo. He builds relation with a new girl and she finds a tattoo [ prisoner of Auschwitz ] in his body which unveils the flashback. [ a good technique : always needed to grab the viewer into the film ]. Back in 1936 : Sal is arrested in Berlin for forging currencies and passports [ he runs a workshop ] and moved to a local concentration camp. He uses his talent for his survival - he draw portraits of the jailers. They treat him better. After 5 years, Sal is moved then to 'Sachsenhausen' concentration camp where they run a forgery workshop.He gets assignments for forging pounds and US dollars. He gets a friend who ideally opposes to help Nazis for this operation.

The film questions more about the personal morale about survival and loyalty. How Sal completed the work ? How he manages his loyalty to his friends ? How he survived ? What choice(s) did he make ? The story ends back in Monte Carlo beach. the ending dialog was a good one.

History :
** Operation Bernhard : It's a secret German plan to shake the economy of the other countries especially British and US. The largest counterfeiting operation ever happened in history. This 130 million pounds, cash swindling operation happened during the world war II.

View :
The hero is not a Rambo kind of person rather he is short and thin. This war movie is interesting instead of getting into emotions. The picture handles the mentality in camp about survival, choices etc., The guards spit on him and abuse him. He withstands all of them without giving up his skills. His friends urge him to give up forgery as they indirectly help Nazis to get empowered.

The way the film starts and end is too good for a darker flashback. Unlike the other concentration camp movies, this shows a luxurious set of prisoners who get proper food and care. The arguments between Sal and his friends are interesting as both of their stands have justifications. The police inspector who arrests Sal first, is the commandant in the Sachsenhausen camp. His character was also used properly.

Very interesting movie in the holocaust series and also, it won the academy award for the best foreign lang picture in 2007.

Other Holocaust movies I watched [ Let me be little humble here - because till now, there are 343 movies made, based on Holocaust !! ]. I had been to Holocaust museum in Washington DC, once [ seen the original wooden wagon used for transportation ].

1. Schindler's list [ I watched it in Sathyam :) - Class ]

2. The Pianist - Good one

3. Life is beautiful - Excellent one.

4. Downfall [ German - Good one ].

Happy watching. Small n first step in writing my reviews !