Submarino (2010)

Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Writers:  Jonas T. Bengtsson, Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg
Cast:       Gustav Fischer Kjaerulff, Sebastian Bull Sarning, Mads Broe Andersen
Language: Danish

Two brothers are haunted by the death of their younger infant brother for which they were partly responsible through negligence. Having had a substance abusing and alcoholic mother, they themselves are on a self-destructive path in their adult lives. In terms of personalty they are mirror images of their childhood selves with the elder one having a stronger but impulsive character while the younger one being bit of a meek.

The film largely goes along predictable lines but we care for the characters deeply enough to be continuously in a sense of foreboding. Substance abuse is obviously a big problem is Western World but it was a surprise to see that the younger brother's son was not taken away from him by social services. The social services in Scandinavia is famous for being overly paranoid about abuse/negligence suffered by children and Thomas Vinterberg's recent film 'Jagten' kind of handles that subject. 

Film is an adaptation of Jonas T. Bengtsson's  novel of the same name and it was funded by broadcaster TV 2 which insisted that at least half the cast and production crew would be first timers. This has given the film a very raw feel of the social class that it depicts and one would also be reminded of 'Requiem for a Dream' as well. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Ustad Hotel (2012)

Director: Anwar Rasheed
Writer:    Anjali Menon
Cast:       Dulquer Salman, Thilakan, Nithya Menon
Language: Malayalam

An urban chef from a rich family is stuck in his grandfather's old restaurant 'Ustad Hotel' as his passport is confiscated by his businessman father when the son tries to leave India against his wishes. His father wants him to manage a five star hotel whereas he wants to work and settle in Europe where he did his studies. Film goes along all the predictable lines reminding one of the Malayalam saying:' Kala vaal pokkumbozhe ariyam'.

The film was a huge box office as well as critical success upon its release. I had previously tried to watch it some time back but stopped after the first half hour as it went along the cliched path. This time around I stuck with it the whole way through and have to say what comes after the first half hour is even worse. At least there was some freshness in how it was presented at the beginning (especially the story moving opening credits). It would have been a watchable film if it just went along the predictable feel good path with binary characters, but it decides to ramp it up further with the laughably bad and manipulative charity preaching that it does in its last act. It was a cringe-fest.

The songs were good and the different Muslim setting might have given it a veneer of being something different. It is anything but.

Rating: 1.5/5

Peeping Tom (1960)

Director: Michael Powell
Writer:    Leo Marks
Cast:       Katlheinz Bohm, Anna Massey, Moria Shearer

A young man with voyeuristic behavior murders women using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of fear.

The Peeping Tom character 'Mark Lewis' was used by his scientist father as a guinea pig for his studies on fear and nervous system. He never experienced privacy during his childhood and this experience growing up has led him to invade other people's privacy subjecting them to the terror he faced as a child. He falls in love with a young woman from the floor downstairs to his home and while this does not stop him from his usual activities, he cares about the girl and actively tries not to capture her on camera and thus end up killing her. 

The film at the center  of it has a character who do terrible things but for whom we feel sympathy for. Not surprisingly it got widespread criticism upon release. Directed by Michael Powell of the Powell-Pressburger duo, it is said that Peeping Tom was a huge setback for Powell's career as a director in England. Over time it has gained a cult following and people like Scorsese consider it as a masterpiece and rightly so. One will be reminded  of Hitchcock and can positively say that this film would have influenced several Polanski films (Apartment Trilogy). Considering its release year of 1960, it is kind of a bridge between the Hitchcock films before 60s and the much more surreal fare from Polanski in the 60s.

Rating: 4.5/5

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer:    Noah Baumbach
Cast:       Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black

Margot is a successful writer who is intelligent and can be very condescending. She is visiting the home she grew up in with her son to attend her sister Pauline's wedding with whom she has not talked for some time. She is  not impressed by the groom and starts what others consider to be meddling.

The film's tagline is : 'One Family...Infinite degrees of Separation'. They had an abusive father which could have affected their personality growing up. The short stories that Margot writes tend to be autobiographic which is one of the reason for her troubles with Pauline. The very condescending nature of  Margot is evident when she dishes out suggestions to what others should do and she considers herself impervious to irrationality and feelings. There is a scene in which she is having a talk about her book and when the interviewer asks how autobiographical it is about the abusive father in the book, she starts talking about her father. The interviewer then interrupts and says that he meant her as a parent upon which she breaks down realizing how she has come a full circle. The film kind of reminded me of About Schmidt even though the protagonists are complete opposites.

This was Noah Baumbach's second film after his debut feature 'The Squid and the Whale' for which he was nominated at the academy awards. He managed to get the star cast working below their usual pay to do this film. I actually liked this film more than the much more acclaimed Squid and the Whale. 

Rating: 4/5 

Trivandrum Lodge (2012)

Director: V.K. Prakash
Writer:    Anoop Menon
Cast:       Jayasurya, Anoop Menon, Honey Rose
Language: Malayalam

The film revolves around the inmates of a dilapidated 'Trivandrum Lodge' located in Fort Kochi/Mattanchery area.

The film when it got released divided the audience over its frank treatment of sex and lust in the script. The language used was also controversial but I was getting only the fucking beeps since I watched it on a TV channel. The hoopla over it shows how hypocritical Kerala has gone about this subject over the years. This is an industry which came out with even bolder films like 'Arapatta Kettiya Gramathil' and 'Thoovanathumbikal' decades ago.

The film has numerous characters and the makers manage to quite pull off almost all of them well in an interesting way without too much contrivance. The least interesting parts in the film are Anoop Menon-Bhavana story arc and the eviction problem faced by the tenants. It felt like a badly executed effort to justify the title for the film and a cheap plot device to reach a logical end-point. Apart from these, film was a very enjoyable watch and probably just for one time. I am not entirely sure about the nod given to 'Thoovanathumbikal' through the cameo appearance of the character 'Thangal'. Its very brief and so it was not too cringe worthy and the repeat of: 'Thanthayilla chatthu poyi, thallayund' is a favorite line for me from Thoovanathumbikal mainly because of how it is delivered by Babu Namboothirippad. However the nod to 'Beautiful' was a bit too much. That is reserved for greats like Kubrick & Tarkovsky and no marks like V.K. Prakash shouldn't be attempting it. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Director: David Lean
Writers:  T.E. Lawrence, Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
Cast:       Peter O'Toole, Omar Sheriff, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

A flamboyant and controversial military figure and his conflicted loyalties during his World War One service in the middle east.

The film is close to three and hours long and it completely justifies that because of the  complexity of its main character. I felt like watching a prequel version of Apocalypse Now (Heart of Darkness) essentially depicting character's descent into madness. Rather than the war leading him into darkness the character from the beginning itself is questionably a bit crazy. There is a hint about homosexual orientation in the character's portrayal. The fate of the Arab World portrayed rings true even now as the basic problem there is the tribal culture and warring between groups.

The film was shot mainly in Jordan, Morocco and Spain and some of the characters are amalgamation of several different characters from history. Cinematography is excellent and it is amazing to think that they were actually able to make this film in those days. It completely justified its epic status and the only minor quibble would be every character speaking English. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Le conseguenze dell'amore (The Consequences of Love) (2004)

Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Writer:    Paolo Sorrentino
Cast:       Toni Servillo, Olivia Magnani, Adriano Giannini
Language: Italian

Titta di Girolamo (Toni Servillo) is an introverted man living in a hotel for the last ten or so years. He is an insomniac, regular irregular heroin user (its complicated) and there is something dark about his past. He falls for the hotel barmaid which has its own consequences.

This was the first film of Sorrentino that I watched some years back and I loved it then but maybe for different reasons than for loving it again during my second watch. Sorrentino is someone who can make any scene amazingly stylish with some thumping soundtrack and the presence of his protagonist in slow-mo. The film starts off with the line: 'A person who likes to spend a lot of time alone should be very imaginative'. Servillo's characters in both this film and 'The Great Beauty' are people with whom I can identify a lot with. A life in a hotel would suit me fine as well. 

For me the film's title is a deception. The suicidal action taken by him is not necessarily due to him falling in love with the barmaid. It just acted as a trigger for him reacting to his bosses for taking away his freedom and there is great deal of build-up to it. His conversation with his brother sums up how people like me feel when idiots like them try to offer advise. People have different personalities and things that make you happy won't be necessarily what certain others would enjoy. So don't invite people to do things that you would enjoy as a privilege without due consideration about what they would prefer. 

Titta: In the world there's a certain kind of cult, with men and women of all social classes, of all ages and of all religions. It is the insomniacs cult. I'm part of it. For ten years. Those who don't belong to the cult sometimes tend to say: "If you can't sleep, you can read, watch TV, study or do something else". That kind of phrase is deeply annoying to the members of the cult. And the reason is simple. Cause the insomniac has only one obsession: to sleep.

Rating: 4.5/5