Hell or High Water (2016)

Director: David Mackenzie
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
DOP: Giles Nuttgens
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Chris Pines, Ben Foster, Gil Birmingham

Two brothers are hitting the branches of a particular bank for low sums of desk money and an about to be retired cop (Jeff Bridges) is investigating it with another half Indian cop (Gils Birmingham). Film is set in West Texas (actually shot in New Mexico) and it is another one of those post subprime crisis films, which can now be classed as a genre. The towns are small and there are signs of foreclosures everywhere.

We are introduced to the robbers with contrasting characters (Chris Pine & Ben Foster) straight away and their motivation for the crime is revealed only little by little. It gives almost equal billing for both sets of characters who are in the opposite sides of law. We don't want any of them to get hurt even though it is inevitable. The cop played by Jeff Bridges is always racially insulting his partner in an endearing manner. There is one conversation that they have regarding people getting dispossessed over the course of history, in reference to the colonisation of America at the expense of native Indians. The slate has been wiped clean since then and the right wing in United States sees no irony when they indulge in a nativist brand of politics. Something like that is going on with the character played by Chris Pine. He knows that he is over 40 and not going to achieve anything in life. The only thing he wants is that his sons to not grow in poverty, which he equates to a disease that is passed on from one generation to the next. All wealth is kind of predicated on some crime but he has a very clever plan to make it legitimate for his sons.

Actor turned Screenwriter, Taylor Sheridan, has called it a thematic trilogy with Sicario and Wind River being the other two. I haven't seen the latter, which he himself directed, yet. David Mackenzie is known for his films like Starred Up and Perfect Sense, both of which are very good. Hell or High Water is an excellent watch with great performances from all concerned. It is also gorgeous with some stunning visuals of the vast desert like cowboy country. All the set-pieces carry a lot of tension from the get-go and the film has a very satisfying ending.

Rating: 4.5/5

A Ghost Story (2017)

Director: David Lowery
Writer: David Lowery
DOP: Andrew Droz Palermo
Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara

The film follows the ghost of a recently deceased musician who remains in the house shared with his wife.

More apt title of the film would be 'A Ghost's Story' as it is told from the perspective of the ghost. Why did nobody think about doing that. To be fair there is a Malayalam film called Aayushkaalam, which is a remake of some foreign film, that is somewhat like this but not solely from the Ghost's perspective. We initially think the film is dealing with wife's grief but later realises that it is about the grief of the ghost as she gets over it and moves on, emotionally as well as physically. House is later occupied by a Mexican single mom and her kids, some young partying folks etc before it is torn down for a skyscraper. Ghost finally decides to end his 'life' and enters a time-warp.

It is not really a horror film but some of the scenes work really well on that regard. There is one scene where a character kind of explain the film which was not necessary. One can also interpret the last part of the film as the search for resolution by the audience for a film which ends on an ambiguous note. It is really a cool film even though it kind of ends with a very often used plot device. If you're into relationships and all that, it can be a very affecting film.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected) (2017)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Noah Baumbach
DOP: Robbie Ryan
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller

The adult children of Harold Meyerowitz reunite in New-York for their father's career retrospective.

It is not a solo show but a group display of works by artists from the university where Harold taught. We learn over the course of the film that all the grown-up characters in it are dealing with disappointments in terms of how their career turned out. Harold had gone through several marriages and have three kids from different marriages. While he carries the air of an accomplished artist, especially when dealing with his family, he is himself jealous of his more successful friends in the New-York scene. Adam Sandler's Danny is a stay at home father, a successful one unlike his father, but he is now divorced and struggling. Ben Stiller plays Matthew, a successful personal wealth manager and his father's favourite kid, and he is himself disappointed that him not being an artist diminishes his standing in the family. Harold is now married to Maureen (Emma Thompson), an alcoholic. The retrospective and father's health issues brings all the kids together and the film largely deals with that situation, after having two chapters leading up to it to establish the characters.

The earlier dialogues from the film will sound very exposition like and you later realize that it is justifiable because of Harold's many marriages and physical and emotional distance between the characters. It is a typical Noah Baumbach film and should be a great watch if you are a fan of his like I am. It has a very different look from previous films of his and it is no surprise that it is his first collaboration with Robbie Ryan.  It is also his third film with Ben Stiller and got to say it is a very Ben Stiller role for him. Good to see Adam Sandler doing something worthy so soon after Punch Drunk Love.

Rating: 4/5

കാറ്റ് (Kattu) (2017)

Director: Arun Kumar Aravind
Writer: Ananth Padmanabhan, Padmarajan
DOP: Prasanth Raveendran
Cast: Murali Gopy, Asif Ali, Shebin Benson
Language: Malayalam

Film revolves around a few people who are in the business of making fireworks and is set in late 70s and early 80s period. The only way we get a sense of the time is through the various films that they mention during the film and it is indeed the Jayan era. The settings look much older but that was a time when villages did exist in Kerala. Murali Gopi plays the role of Chellappan who is sort of a village playboy. Asif Ali is a naive and shy simpleton who is taken under his wings by Chellappan. Film is a depiction of their life and rivalries.

Arun Kumar Aravind was someone who made a very solid debut with 'Eee Adutha Kalathu', which was a very well done multiple storyline film on a meagre budget. He went on to produce the excellent adult comedy with brains 'Vedivazhipadu' and got his biggest hit as a director with the political film 'Left, Right, Left', which I think everyone overrates. That was later followed up by a Fahadh Faasil- Murali Gopy starrer film which was a disaster commercially as well as critically. Murali Gopy is a constant in all these films. Kattu is based on a short story from Padmarajan (Name is related to Queen Bee) and is penned by his son. When the trailer of the film came out everyone pointed out similarity between Thakara and the character played by Asif Ali. After watching the film I don't think the comparison holds.

Unlike the very cheap looking Eee Adutha Kalathu, Kattu is technically great and sumptuous to look at. Malayalam films are getting better and better on these things. With a running time of more than 150 minutes, one wishes they put as much care in storytelling and get a tight cut without much flab. God knows why the directors still feel the need to have one or two songs which don't move the story forward. Caste is the center of topic during the opening scene which is set in a Tamil Nadu village. But that is not explored further. Murali Gopy has finally confirmed which side of the fence he sits with Tiyaan and it is the 'Sophisticated Hindutva' side. That doesn't get much play in this film but if you do a subtle reading of it, it is basically a Christian character playing divide and rule over the Hindu and Muslim characters. How British of them!

The first half of the film is the shorter of the two and goes along quite smoothly. Second half is a bit dragged out and it becomes quite predictable. Still several characters are etched out pretty well even though all of them are male. It is paced deliberately in a leisurely manner. It is basically a character and lifestyle study and one of the better ones from Malayalam among the ones that are set in period. It is a genre which is very hard to get right within the budgetary constraints of Malayalam cinema and Kattu, despite its flaws, is a worthy effort.

Rating: 2.75/5

Solo (2017)

Director: Bejoy Nambiar
Writer: Bejoy Nambiar, Dhanya Suresh
DOP: Girish Gangadharan, Madhu Neelakandan, Sejal Shah
Cast: Dulquer Salman, Sai Dhansika, Neha Sharma, Anson Paul
Language: Malayalam, Tamil

Solo is an anthology film of four shorts all directed by Bejoy Nambiar and all staring Dulquer Salman. Four of the characters he plays are named after four names of Lord Shiva and each story starts off with a very cool graphic portrait of Shiva representing four of the five elements- water, air, fire and earth.  All four stories span over four years and thus incorporating the fifth element- time.

'Kerala Cafe', which came during the early part of Malayalam new wave, was an anthology film which earned rave reviews but wasn't a success at the box office. 'Anju Sundarikal' was another one that came out and both these had different directors doing each of the shorts. They've not been a success at box office and like most anthologies, some of the stories work very well and some are a miss. Since each shorts are smaller in length, it can tide over the ones which don't work. Each shorts in Solo are in excess of forty minutes and that puts a great amount of risk if any of the stories don't work out for its audience.

Coming to the individual stories, I thought the first two were quite alright without being impressive (Shekhar, Trilok) while the third one (Shiva) surprisingly enough was the crappiest while it had the best teaser and background score. At this point,I was quite underwhelmed by the whole experience but the last one, Rudra, redeemed it for me as it doesn't take itself too seriously unlike the other three. A common thread running through each story are the minor twists. First two are very guessable as enough hints are given while the third short is so bad that I wasn't even bothering about it. The last one had the most audacious one which has garnered such a backlash from audience to the point that the makers have tweaked it to remove the twist altogether. Glad that I saw it first day itself before the sissy bunch had its say. It is not like something like that have never been tried before in Malayalam cinema. Jaagratha comes to mind.

I'm not well-versed with the tenets of Hindu religion to catch nuances that could be possibly there. The four stories are about love, revenge, death and fuck knows what, in that order. As far as I know, Shiva was the local God here before the Aryans came here with their Vedic shindig. There was this Vishnu Vs Shiva conflict among the followers before Shiva was also coopted to the Vedic story. Anyway, the film had a very savarna Brahmanic slant to things when you consider the three weddings in it and also the fight scene. Don't know if it is a conscious decision from the director or to do with the fact that he is sort of an outsider to Malayalam despite being a Malayalee.

Overall it is a decent enough watch with the expected level of technical excellence and solid background score. First weekend collection should be enough for it to break even and that is quite something for such an experimental undertaking.

Rating: 3/5 (On the basis of original Rudra climax)

American Made (2017)

Director: Doug Liman
Writer: Gary Spinelli
DOP: Cesar Charlone
Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright

A pilot ends up working for the CIA initially as an aerial recon photographer and later as a delivery boy of weapons. He also gets mixed up in the drug business also as a deliverer using his planes for the Medellin cartel. It is a biographical adaptation of the adventures of Barry Seal, a former TWA pilot.

Film can be seen as a companion piece to Jeremy Renner starrer 'Kill the Messenger', where he played the role of a journalist who discovers that CIA is involved in a drug racket to fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua. It was a more serious film while Doug Liman goes for comedy in this one and it works very well. His last outing with Tom Cruise was 'Edge of Tomorrow' which mixed action with humour and had its lead in a  self-deprecating role. A sequel is expected to be announced with the same team.

Barry Seal was around 40 when the events shown in the film starts and they could have had Tom Cruise in an aged appearance. He looks really weird with all the plastics, just like Mammooty is these days. Domhnall Gleeson, who was great in Ex-Machina, gets a meaty role. Apart from him and Barry's wife, the only other interesting characters we meet are the brief appearances by the cartel members including Pablo Escobar. Tom Cruise is still able to carry the film through in a slightly 'Wolf of Wall Street' manner, but without breaking the fourth wall blatantly. It is a good watch overall.

Doug Liman had a brilliant start to his career with films like Swingers, Go and culminating with Bourne Identity. Then he went a bit shit with the likes of Mr & Mrs Smith. He is now back in form and his next one, Chaos Walking, looks very interesting with the likes of Charlie Kaufman involved.

Rating: 3.5/5