The Revenant (2015)

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Writers:  Mark L. Smith, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Michael Punke
Cast:       Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter

A frontiersman on a fur expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his  own hunting team.

The trouble with these kind of films (127 Hours is another one) is that you already know the basic plot of the film even before watching them and that is always become a challenge for the filmmaker to keep people interested in other ways. One of the ways is to set them in breathtaking locales and the knowledge that they actually went to such locations and shot the film under very difficult conditions will give the makers some leeway. I will acknowledge that it is indeed breathtaking and a very ambitious project but as a film it didn't work very well for me. It more or less felt like an extended episode of 'Man Vs Wild', albeit directed  by a master filmmaker and filmed by the excellent Emmanuel Lubezki, who won his third consecutive Oscar for this film. The backstory of Leo, regarding his native American wife and the mystique way it if filmed, came off as very pretentious. It is meant to make us really feel for the character and his son but I don't think they succeeded on that regard. I would have preferred a simple raw version without any backstory, which would have also helped in cutting down its running time of close to 150 minutes, around twenty minutes too long. I found myself looking at my watch after just 45 minutes or so.

As far as I am concerned, there is not a whole lot wrong with Tom Hardy's actions. It was the logical thing to do. And I do think the makers have also given a tinge of ambiguity to most of the characters but it is not deep enough. The captain of the expedition actually arranges a separate team to take care of an injured Leo, with rewards on offer, after he found himself to not have the gumption to shoot Leo to end his and their ordeal. You also get the token references to the plight of native Indians and the whole politics of Colonialism but they just sound a bit lame and half-arsed. So what I am saying is that the while the central part of film, which is about survival, is done very well, the other aspects that were required to make it a great film didn't work for me. 

Overall, it is a good watch and needs to be seen on a big screen. The theater where I watched it also got in on the act by putting the AC a tad too cold to suit the movie experience. As far as Oscars are concerned, Mad Max: Fury Road deserved to win both Best Director and Best cinematography award ahead of 'The Revenant'. Both Leo and Tom Hardy were fantastic and it is a deserved win for Leo, albeit in an award-bait role. I do think this one would rank as Inarritu's worst along with Babel, but that just indicates the greatness of the rest of his filmography.

Rating: 3.5/5

Birdman (2014)

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Writers:  Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Armando Bo
Cast:       Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watss, Zach Galifianakis

A washed up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself in the days leading up to opening of a Broadway play which he wrote and directed. 

It is Inarritu's way of saying 'Fuck You' to the system that churns out sequels, prequels and reboots of superhero shitfests making billions along the way. But mockery is not just aimed at the studios but also at the vanity and pretentiousness of those who also operate away from that system. Edward Norton fits perfectly in that regard. I was fearful that Birdman would turn out very much like American Hustle from last year, which was adored by the critics and I couldn't just see what the fuss was about. It was not the case for Birdman and the humor in it is very layered and intelligent. Criticism is not limited to the performance arts business but also at the vapid 'Selfie' phase of culture that we are going through right now. Michael Keaton's role in it is not very different from how his career turned out as it stands and everyone hopes he gets the kick-start he deserves at this point of time. He was in the first two batman films with the second one coming in 1992, a year which is also referenced in this film as the year in which the last Birdman film released. Same can be said about the other actors in it with Edward Norton having a reputation of being very hard top word with.

It is not a film that you would expect from Inarritu and everyone would have raised their eye-brows when they heard he is making a comedy film titled 'Birdman'. There were several writing partners involved and the film is shot as if the entirety of it is a single tracking shot. It is not a distraction since we know it is not a single take anyway because of the amount of time lapsing. It was filmed in sequence and that maybe how they managed to include that reference to Meg Ryan's plastic surgery, which happened quite recently. The performances are delightfully screen chewy, especially from Edward Norton. The soundtrack which involved a lot of drumming reminded me of the Oceans series and the vibe that this one generates is also strangely similar. I sat through the entire film with a big smile and there are plenty of lines that makes you laugh out loud with some examples being:

Lesley: I wish I had more self-respect.

Laura: You're an actress.

"Sixty is the new thirty, mother fucker."

"Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige."

A put down of that critic is also perfect. I kind of thought it was gonna go the cliched path with the actor committing suicide during the performance but it surprised me again with how it went on from there. Overall it is just great and is certainly among the best from last year. 2014 has been really a great year.

Rating: 5/5