Real Cinema

It has been a while since my last update and I have seen some good flicks in the last few weeks. But I want to get the commercial movies out of the way, and none are more commercial than Episode III.

1) Star Wars, Episode III: Rating 8/10

Well I held out for 13 days before I succumbed to the final episode. And I was pleasantly surprised. The movie is miles better than Episode I and Episode II. No doubt about it. The movie does a great job of tying up all the story pieces and makes it much more enjoyable to watch Episode 4, 5 & 6. Once again, the biggest weakness in the movie is the terrible dialogue. Also, the love story is so amateur that it is embarrassing. I really wish Lucas would have sub-contracted the dialogues and love story to someone else, but this is his story and his project. So he can do as he pleases. The story is complete now, finally. Will we have ever see Episodes 7, 8 & 9? Time will tell.

2) The Interpreter (directed by Sydney Pollack): Rating 8/10

It was a rainy night. There was no decent movie playing anywhere in the city. But I had a feeling a movie with Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Keener couldn’t be all that bad, could it? Well I am glad to know I was not wrong. The movie is not bad at all. In fact, it is a very good movie. Well made and quite absorbing. The story starts off in the fictitious African country of Matobo. A jeep of three men head off to a soccer stadium for a meeting. One camera man stays behind and the other two enter the stadium. But the two don’t make it out alive. The movie then picks up in New York, where the crust of the action takes place. The important scenes of the movie are shot on location at the U.N headquarters, and those scenes give the movie its authenticity. Nicole Kidman is an interpreter working at the UN. One night she over-hears an assassination plot to kill the head of Matobo who will be visiting the UN in a few days time. Since only few people know this language, so what are the chances that the only person in the UN who can understand this language overhears such a plot? That is the FBI’s problem when they come to investigate Kidman’s confession. And the case takes on an interesting twist when Kidman’s past reveals her hatred for Matobo’s leadership.

The only problem with the movie was some of the contrived Hollywood scenes regarding some of the movie’s main action points. Also, Sean Penn’s character was a bit too clichéd – once again he played a sulking brooding man. And there were a few scenes where Kidman’s accent changed quite a bit. One good thing about the movie is that it is not reduced to a love story and Kidman’s relationship with Penn’s characters is very natural and compassionate. The movie also does an excellent job of taking African and current Middle Eastern politics and wrapping it around a U.N setting. Worth seeing.

3) Chunking Express (directed by Wai-Kar Wong): Rating a very solid 9/10

Long before ‘In the Mood for Love’ and ‘2046’ was Chunking Express. And when this sweet movie came out, it won rave reviews (especially from Quentin Tarantino). The movie has two separate stories connected by a loose thread – the take out place where not only quality food is served but dreams are dished out as well. The first segment involves an inspector who has broken up with his girlfriend. He is lonely and miserable, so when he misses a blond femme fatale, he falls for her. The femme fatale is a self-described cautious person, who always wears a raincoat (just in case it might rain) and sunglasses (just in case it might be sunny) while donning a blond wig. She runs a drug operations using Pakistani immigrants as drug mules. She has a one night stand with the inspector and leaves him in the morning. Disappointed, the inspector heads to his favourite take out place. He brushes against a new employee there but he passes on the chance to ask her out. Instead, the new employee falls for another inspector. Both stories have a prominent song which plays continuously and sets the mood for each story.

A simple yet beautiful movie! And one can see the seeds of ‘In the Mood for Love’ and ‘2046’ in here.

4) Bad Education (directed by Pedor Almodovar): Rating a perfect 10/10

I am big fan of any movie by Almodovar. But I was told by a lot of people that Bad Education misses the mark. It is too much to endure and hard to sit through. Maybe in a theatre it is. My verdict on this movie: Perfect, Vintage, and just magnificent. I saw the movie without knowing the story. And that is the best way to watch this movie. So I won’t give anything away.

5) Stella (1955 movie directed by Michael Cacoyannis): Rating 4/10

Supposed to a classic movie but maybe some movies lose their impact with time. And so it is with this one. I just didn’t find anything enjoyable about this one. The end is quite interesting but I was bored long before that.

6) Stachka (English title ‘Strike’, 1925 movie directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein)

Rating: Interesting watch.

This is a classic movie in a lot of ways, not only regarding when it was made but the different techniques used. Cinema was definitely much more creative in the initial days when directors were experimenting and learning to use their new found tool of movie making. The movie’s story involves around a Russian factory revolution – workers are plotting to strike and the owners hire spies to foil the workers plan. If Eisenstein would be making movies today, then we would be truly lucky.

7) Gothika (Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz): Rating 6/10

Kassovitz has been responsible for directing powerful movies like Crimson Rivers and Hate (La Haine) and starring in hit movies like Amelie. But for some reason, I had not seen Gothika when it came out in 2003. Seeing it two years later, I can safely say that there was nothing I had missed in not having watched this movie. It is shot well but I just wished the story had more depth and did not go for the obvious angle that run of the mill Hollywood flicks take.

The movie starts out with Halle Berry listening to her patient, Penelope Cruz in the mental asylum. Cruz claims that the devil raped her, but Berry does not believe her. Driving home on that rainy night, Berry sees a girl standing in the middle of the road. She swerves to avoid hitting her and crashes her girl. When she gets back to the road, she inquires to see if the girl is all right. But the badly scarred girl suddenly bursts into flames. And just then Berry wakes up, only to find herself as a prisoner in that same mental asylum. How did she get there? It is an interesting setup but as the movie progresses, it just gets worse and worse. And the ending is very disappointing.