pancholi-kota Reviews

Beyond the Clouds (2017)

BEYOND THE CLOUDS-BUT I CANT SEE THE SUN

[6/10 · 14 August 2018]

Like Children Of Heaven,this film also focuses on the relationship between a brother and his sister,the difference that in Beyond The Clouds,the siblings are grown ups.Is this a sufficiently Majidi work ? I guess child actors,focus on relationships,good photography and a feeling of overall optimism are the main features of Majidi cinema.A strong storyline has never been his forte,it is in the treatment of subject that the master scores high.In these senses,it is a typical Majid Majidi film.

Fellow Iranian Asghar Farhadi has won two Oscars in the past few years.Perhaps ,Majidi harbours similar ambitions.This is why he came to India to make a universal film,based in Mumbai slums .But not everybody can be as lucky as Danny Boyle.Majidi aimed for the transcendental in his previous film,Muhammad-The Messanger Of God,but was not able to set the world on fire.Even the setting of this film could have been anywhere.The vices shown are global,and virtues universal. Ishan Khatter plays a drug runner and an orphan ,who has a difficult relationship with his sister,played by Malvika Mohanan.The latter ends up in jail on charges of attempt to murder a potential rapist Gautam Ghose (how brilliant !) .The brother tries to keep the injured man alive,takes care of his family,tries to secure his sister's release and somehow survive on Mumbai streets.In a short runtime,Majidi manages to showcase a myriad of human emotions.IK sometimes overdoes his anger,but emotes well ,comes across as a sincere,earnest guy and dances as good as his brother.Even in a dud like Dhadak,he had managed to leave a good mark,and here he has shown through the clouds.G Ghose has been wasted in a cameo,as has been Tannishtha Chatterjee. Two child artists have been acted in the film.The thing about them is that they rarely perform perfectly,but are mostly honest in front of the camera.The director is a tad too affected,what with a lot of emphasis on motifs and symbols like pigeons and coops,marshes and streets showing the underbelly,silhouttes,colours of holi and those painted on the wall .Majid Majidi has tried too hard to make a beauty of an artwork,but unfortunately has failed to make a very good film. Watch it for IK,and understanding of relationships.Do not watch it in the hope of unearthing a Majidi classic,since it falls short.

Bose: Dead/Alive (2017)

Bose,the hero not Bose,the man

[8/10 · 25 November 2017]

Wud he have been the PM had he been alive is not a question that has a straightforward an answer.Had Netaji been alive,he wud have had to contend with not Nehru,but Patel for the post.Jawaharlal wud have been a fine choice for the external affairs minister for either of them.But that is not the point of this web series.

This series is based on Anuj Dhar's book which explores various conspiracy theories related to Netaji's disappearance in 1945.Even without the mystery surrounding his death and disappearance,Netaji's life exudes a certain kind of romance that perhaps only Bhagat Singh's can match.His escape from house arrest in early 40s is stuff of legends.He managed to overcome Gandhi and Nehru's opposition to win the elections for Congress Presidency in 1938 and 1939.His antics in college as a student leader,organizing 2000 khaki clad supporters on the streets of Calcutta in 1928,getting elected as Mayor of Calcutta ,attempt to sell Khadi to Price of Wales ,selection and resignation from ICS, his meeting with Hitler,his slogans and radio broadcasts,organization of INA ,the campaign in Andaman-Burma and NE,and his tribute to Gandhi addressing him as Father Of The Nation,are all glorious episodes of Indian history.

And this is exactly my problem with the we series.They have far too little screen time.A 21 minute episode has a minute and half of opening credits and then three and half minutes of some loud,screeching bangla rock song playing at closing credits.These feel quite anachronistic .The background score of the series is over the top and belongs in a Guy ritchie film.The total runtime of 144-150 minutes ,distributed over nine episodes is quite less to accommodate everything.Sure ,u have made a casting coup in that u have the best (most versatile) actor of the generation ,Rajkumar Rao playing Subhash.What joy is there in watching this actor at the height of his prowess.His mannerisms are perfect,his eyes convey so much.His body language is confidence personified,and RR is always in charge .Given the format /script of the show,the director has chosen to only show flashes of various incidents/events and historical moments.Its imperative then that he portrays Bose only as a hero,and not as a human.The net result is that Rajkumar doesn't get the opportunity to showcase Bose's vulnerabilities and possible insecurities.This is our Netaji as we see in posters adorned on walls,the commander-in-chief of Azad Hind Fauz,the hope of a nation. Naveen Kasturia has done some good work over the years for TVF and in Suleimani Keeda.He plays a fictional character of an Indian cop in the film,who has had close association with Netaji over the years.Although his voice-over of the series is not quite good,but he has given an honest performance as Darbara singh.Rest all characters,be it the English policemen,INA associates,Gandhi,Nehru,Bose's family members and Emily Shaenkel,have all been rendered caricatures .

A jarring note for me was how the dialogues between historical figures have been written.Jawahar might have addressed Bose as Subash,Bose or Mr Bose,but somehow I dunt buy the idea that Subhash (eight years younger) wud have addressed the former as Nehru (neither privately,nor in public).This is not how we address each other in India,not not,and certainly not then.Nehru and MKG have been spared the tags of villain,despite obvious temptations.

The series does suggest that Netaji might not have died in Formosa in 1945.He possibly didn't even board that flight.There were rumours regarding a lot of gold,and treachery by some of its associates.Maybe he was spotted in Manchuria,and went to Russia from there.The circumstances related to his death and the shabby investigation post-death don't quite add up.The truth will never be known.That is the worst part .Why could/do we not have some counterfactual history .Philip Roth wrote The Plot Against America in which he imagined a scenario in which Charles Lindberg ( a record breaking pilot and a Nazi sympathizer)becomes the US president in 1940,and a wave of anti-semitism grips America.What wud have happened had Bose,who collaborated with Nazis and the Axis powers ,survived the war .Would he have been tried at the famous Tokyo Trials ? Or with Dhillo,sehgal and shahnawaz at the Red Fort Trials ? Bose was a socialist(maybe even a communist) at heart.Would we have seen a USSR-like polit bureau system ? Would he just have collaborated with Nehru and ousted Patel and the conservative section from the Congress ?

I highly recommend this Web series.Hansal Mehta (producer) and RK Rao has given us Shahid,Aligarh and City Lights,and now I look forward to their next offering Omerta.If u cant afford to read the book,at least watch this.The script cud have been written better,run time could easily have been longer,characters cud have been rounder and music could have been less shrill.As for watching something that presents Bose,the man ,maybe we can wait a bit longer.I ,for one,am very interested in the Patel-Nehru-Gandhi-Bose interpersonal relationships.But not much has been written on it,certainly not as a complete work in itself.

The Meyerowitz Stories (2017)

Its My Protest.Like McEnroe.

[8/10 · 20 November 2017]

Dustin Hoffman plays a patriarch,an archetypal artist,a self obsessed ,judgemental and somewhat bitter man ,who has has gone through multiple marriages and fathered many kids.His children,Adam Sandler,Ben Stiller and a daughter have had difficult relationships with him,and yet there is grudging love and admiration for their old man .Dustin has a very high opinion of himself as an artist and a father,yet he regularly treads on his children's egos and chides them for not choosing art as career.This is the story of the Meyerowitz family,or rather a collection of stories ,new and selected,beautifully compiled by Noam Baumbach.

Dustin is in superb form here.He manages to inspire,yet tires out with his whinings. Emma Thomson has played his wife with aplomb.The eternal boy-man Adam Sandler has showcased only half of his usual antics and ends up gives a standout performance as a resentful son,a wistful stepbrother and a doting father.Ben Stiller plays the more successful,serious-minded and mature son of Dustin .Its amazing how despite the overachical satirical tone of the film,the director manages to tell a moving story of family members getting to rediscover their relationships .There are some over-the-top scenes,for sure.U cant avoid that temptation when u cast Sandler and Stiller together.But they serve to cement the new found camaraderie between the two brothers.

I loved the film.There is a long shot that Dustin Hoffman gets nominated for Oscar for this turn.The characters are so real and dialogues so authentic,this film can be anyone's story-yours or mine.There is a lot of truculence in Dustin's character,and he the director pays rich tributes with this dialogue-"Its my protest.Like McEnroe."

Columbus (I) (2017)

Art for Love's sake,and Love for Art's

[10/10 · 13 November 2017]

Proper art has the quality of 'stasis' - it stills the heart of the viewer into a state of aesthetic arrest The supreme quality of beauty in an art is appreciated by the mind when it is arrested by the wholeness and fascinated by its harmony in the silent stasis of esthetic pleasure.To be aware of such a work of art is a spiritual experience.Joyce's definition of proper art and beauty is apt to describe this film.

A Korean man finds himself in Columbus,Indiana to be with his architect father who has suddenly passed into coma.A local girl,an architectural nerd,strikes friendship with him.The man feels duty-bound to stay in town until his father recovers because he has no choice.The girl,who has offers to study and intern outside the town,doesn't want to leave because she is concerned about her mother.Lives are in statis,something's gotta give.

The duo discuss their relationships,career and architecture as the girl takes the man around various modernist architectural sites in Columbus.They share cigarettes and advice,and possibly some understanding about life.If the Fountainhead was Beethovan's Symphony #5 on architecture,Columbus is Fur Elise.Both the protagonists are dilettantes of architecture,the girl having taken to it as a means of catharsis,and the guy quite reluctantly as a matter of legacy.The assymetric can still be balanced in buildings,and probably that is the corollary that the director draws for life.

This is Kogonada's first directorial venture.Just yesterday I was overwhelmed while watching Bong Joon-ho's OKJA.Chan woo-park and Kim Ki-duk have churned out many such aesthetically pleasing films in their career.Columbus is a film that will stay with me for long.I wonder if I shud call this a coming-of-age drama.This is not even a conventional romance.There is a lot of love ,but this is love for art's sake and more appropriately,art for love's sake.

Rules of Engagement (2000)

An Important issue,but a low key film

[6/10 · 12 November 2017]

This is a pre-9/11 film which raises questions on the rules of engagement in civilian/urban zones as well as combat/war fields.The backdrop is the a US Marines-led evacuation of the Yemen embassy which is surrounded by protesters and is facing sniper attacks.The conduct of Samuel Jackson,the colonel leading the operation is called into question .Its alleged that his blood-mindedness had resulted in the slaughter of 83 peaceful protesters.

The director had Tommy lee jones at his disposal to make a superb courtroom drama out of it.But somehow the trial seems very low key and not engaging enough.Guy pearce,as the prosecution attorney makes a mockery of the whole show with his affected performance.Maybe he was trying to copy tom cruise's performance in A FEW GOOD MEN,but he didn't succeed.Even tommy lee jones seems surprisingly off colour .Samuel Jackson does well but not enough to save the flick.

The film is doomed,especially in the post 9/11 era because the rules of engagement have changed,if not officially,at least on ground.One better appreciates under how much pressure do state forces operate versus the non-state actors.The margin for error is zero,and the opportunity costs are very high.Middle East is no longer given any benefit of doubt as far as restraint,democracy,fair play and lawful warfare are concerned.One knows it is global jihad one is fighting against,in which the only rule of engagement is elimination of suspected terrorists.The world has seen the destruction of twin towers,embassy attack in Benghazi,drone attacks,killing of bin laden,prolonged warfare in afganistan and Iraq,arab spring,Libyan uprising,Syrian civil war and continued existential crisis for Israel in this millennium.The script of the film rings hollow and premise seems weak when seen in 2017.The special forces need a lot of immunity in these times,and international law shud evolve accordingly.

The Beguiled (2017)

Could have been more scary !!

[7/10 · 12 November 2017]

This film could have been set in any period and at any place.Thomas cullinen's novel of the same name set it in Virginia 1864 at a time when the Civil War was being fought.

A wounded soldier (colin Ferrel) finds refuge and care in a Southern girls'school,run by a stiff headmistress,Nicole Kidman.There is a second in command,Kirsten Dunst and five pupils ,rest having gone home.The soldier recuperates and tries to work his charm on a student,Kirsten dunst as well as Kidman,until his plans go horribly wrong and backfire. There is always an aura of mystery around Kidman.She runs the school with an iron fist and ends up making for her mistake of taking the soldier in by display of strength at the climax.Colin Ferrel is usually a reliable actor,although he does lose his timing a bit towards the end.Sofia Coppola managed to set a perfect mood with brilliant use of lights and costumes.The film runs at a relished pace for an hour or so,but the denouement seems a bit rushed.I wish it wud have been a tad scarier,and the resolution might have waited a bit.The script finally gives the soldier no chance of a comeback.Once he is down,he doesn't rise.

I expected a lot more from the film.Coppola won the Best Director at Cannes for this film.I am not sure if the film is that special.

Shot Caller (2017)

As Hard-hitting as it can get

[8/10 · 12 November 2017]

This is the story of a prison inmate played by Nikolaj coaster-waldau who becomes a part of a gang to survive his sentence.Once a guy gets institutionalised,anything is possible.It doesn't end at the gates,a prisoner truly becomes free only when he is dead.This is how it works.This hard-hitting drama studies how prisons are actually run,and why do even naive inmates who want to go back to their families , end up getting transformed into savages during incarceration.These are no reform institutions ,rather the breeding grounds and laboratories for creating hardened criminals.

Nikolaj goes in for causing an accident in which his friend dies,hobnobs with gangs inside,manages to get his sentence extended,and even when he gets out,is duty bound (or rather blackmailed)to perform criminal acts outside the prison to help his gangmates.He turns his wife and child away and sets about his business in calm and calculated fashion.The climax is brilliantly conceived.Nikolaj has given a power-packed performance.He is grim,intense and solid.He admirably balances his pain with his innate animal instincts.Survival is must,but shud be at his own terms.One doesn't get to choose the question life asks of you,but how you answer them shows your character.

This film reminds me of Un Prophete (2010).This is an overexploited genre,but the film works because Nikolaj and the director Ric Roman Waugh have given their sincere best. (The man can tame Cersei,and survived a dragon scare in season 7,of course he wud survive mere criminals in a prison !)

Mom (I) (2017)

watch it for Nawaz and Sridevi

[6/10 · 12 November 2017]

If u give nawazuddin Siddique an opportunity to be on the screen,he wud somehow leave behind his footprints on the sands of time.Howsoever underdeveloped or flat the role might be,with Nawaz,u know he gonna create magic.He plays a PD in this film who aids and abets Sridevi as she seeks revenge on the rapists of her daughter.Semi-bald,sporting sports shoes,driving a scooter,offering unsolicited help and all the while mouthing Jai Bhole nath,Nawaz is the best part of the film.

The film follows the usual script-a stepmom,a rape and honourable acquittal from the court.Then the stepmom seeks vengeance and in comes the PD.A conscientious cop sniffs vigilantism,but sadly akshaye Khanna doesn't have a meaty role here.This guy is really a mystery.He has quite a bit of talent but is not willing to sweat it out.He must have his reasons. The film is watchable because of sridevi.She still has the charisma to pull a film on her shoulders.I didn't find the film boring,but its not one of the best Hindi films of the year either.

Okja (2017)

The Best Film of the Year

[9/10 · 11 November 2017]

What might just be food for the consumer,and money spinner for the processor,be someone's love of life.Animals do have souls,this much must be conceded,and are capable of giving and receiving love. There must be an assembly line,where cows and pigs must line up,awaiting their turn to get slaughtered.I am a vegetarian,but am no fundamentalist.I dunt care what you eat,be it calves or human kids.But what you eat must feel the pain,if pain exists.I dunt know where does that logic take you philosophically.I also know that if everyone gives up eating meat,the planet wud end up starving.But still,the slain animals must cry out in agony.Killing them for food must affect karma.

Okja is the story of a superpig ,one of the twenty six produced in a lab in the US by a GM Food MNC and being reared in the idyllic,beautiful,picturesque mountains of Korea by a teenage girl and her grandfather.Having grown up together ,Okja and the girl share a deep emotional bond.Enter Jake Gyllenhall and his crew to fly away the superpig back to the US where the plan is to unveil it to the public as promotional propaganda and then use it in the factory line to manufacture sausages.

The Korean girl ,along with Animal Rights'activists create mayhem in the streets and malls of Seoul and later in the US,and finally liberate Okja.The film asks questions about MNC's greed,animal rights and GM food safety.Surprisingly,the director manages to not let the script degenerate into any kind of general war,and the struggle always remains personal (for Okja and the girl).

This is perhaps the best film of the year I have seen so far.It must claim Best Picture nomination ,and win the Best Foreign film Oscar.Bong Joon-ho has balanced the pitch dark satirical tone of the film with some exquisite action sequences (esp.in the first half),over-the-top performances by Gyllenhall and Tilda Swinton and subtle drama .It is a heady cocktail that works on many levels as a children's film (despite the swearings),a propaganda piece (against GM) and a campaign for animal rights,but commits to nothing .This is the triumph of technology and imagination,a movie to remember.

Simran (2017)

Kangana rocks but cant save the film

[6/10 · 10 November 2017]

If I had not known that this film was loosely based on real events,I wud have found it incredulous and just a star vehicle.The fact that a Punjabi girl did manage to pull off some of such stunts in the US is worthy of respect.I dunt know why the director switched her regional identity from Punjabi to Gujarati,and if that has worked perfectly.Sure,with Gujjus in the mix,u can drop words like investment,stocks,fafda and thepla,and u can also take liberties with the accent.Besides,Kangana played a Punjabi girl in Queen as well,and this must have necessitated a change in the identity. KR has a raw charm.She bares her soul on the camera.She is not afraid of coming across as uncouth and unsophisticated.Even when she overacts,she has the charisma to get away woth it.And of course she overdoes her part a lot of times,but it doesn't hurt the film.Its her show,and u dunt mind watching.

As for the character she plays,Lipstick Bandit is out-of-control.Its one thing to rebel,quite another to be a gambling and alcohol addict.And then to rob banks to pay off ur debts ! U might love KR,but u have mixed feelings about Simran,and that is where lies the brilliance of the actress.There is definitely a story to tell,and it is told with doable sincerity.Yet the screenplay cud have been a tad tighter,and other characters made rounder.KR floats alone amidst a crowd of caricatures.Now we know that the west is paranoid after 9/11 but then u cant just present the cops as retards.

This film can be watched for KR.Its not a boring film.But why shud HAnsal Mehta (Aligarh,shahid,city lights) waste his time here ? well,I have heard he and Rajkumar are ready with Omerta .Simran must have provided some comic relief in the interlude.

The Ornithologist (2016)

a Christian film with beautiful cinematography

[6/10 · 10 November 2017]

A bird-watcher in jungles of Portugal gets lost and embarks on a journey of rediscovery of self and religion.Apparently ,this Portuguese film is an homoerotic allegory of the life of St Anthony of Padua,who is considered the patron saint of lost things,and whose original name was Fernando.The film is shot at beautiful locations to start with and works well till the ornithologist gets lost while kayaking.Then begins the torture,as the film descends from realism into supposed transcendental surrealism.There appear two Chinese lesbians tied up in a bondage relationship,members of a cult who dance and kill a boar in the middle of the night,a shepherd by the name of Jesus who makes out with the protagonist and who the latter ends up stabbing,nude huntresses riding horses and remains of a monastery.I am not sure if this work shud be classified as magic realism.The ornithologist was on medication since the very beginning,and ends up losing his pills when he meets with an accident.It can be argued then that whatever happened after that was in his mind.I watched the film because this film was on the ' to be watched' list of a friend.Maybe the cinematography made him like this nut job.