Paradise Now

To start with, I would like to apologize to my friend, PRC, for keeping him waiting on this review.  Sorry machan... just been either totally swamped or forgetful enough to not get this written up when I did have the time!  :)  

Alright folks, I watched Paradise Now, yet another movie recommended by PRC, about a month ago and was simply blown away by the film.  To put it in one line, the story is based in Palestine and narrates the experiences of a couple of suicide bombers during what would be their last days of life, or would it?!  There is more to this simple story line, I must say, but I wouldn't want to divulge any more details; will let you watch the movie and figure it out.  

Hany Abu-Assad, the director of this film, has managed to capture the emotions of people living through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict admirably well.  Be it the locales, the people, the costumes they wear or the way they converse, you can feel the tension right through the film.  To acheive that sort of consistency in every frame is no mean task and the director needs to be applauded for his effort.  And those stationary frames... ah!  I just love them! 

Kais Nashef and Ali Suliman who play Said and Khaled (the suicide bombers), respectively, have done a splendid job.  I was particularly impressed with Kais Nashef.  He manages to emote a range of feelings without even uttering a single word and does it in such a subtle way that you don't even realize he's actually enacting a scene... a complete natural!  Ali does a good job himself especially in the latter half of the movie.  The other actors do a decent job as well; the most impressive part being the ease with which they fit in to their roles, hand-in-glove types!  It will take a while to detach them from the characters they play in this movie, if at all you end up watching them in any other flick!   

Music... well, again, this is the third movie on the trot that I watched which had almost nothing in terms of background score!  Though I have managed to come to terms with this kind of cinema, I must admit that this transition has taken place with no compromise on my side in terms of feeling the intensity of the films; not one bit, really!  I personally prefer listening to a nice soundtrack along with any movie I watch, but I must say 'silence' has it's own appeal.  You would agree with me after watching this movie!  

The movie's screenplay is simply rivetting, keeping you on the edge of your seats for most part of the second half.  One would expect films with such themes to feaure a lot of preachy stuff bordering on sentimentatility; The Terrorist, for example.  Even though it was a well made film, acting was stereotypical and dialogues were cliched to the core; but trust me.... you wouldn't notice that in Paradise Now.  

Please rent the DVD at your earliest convenience!  

No Man's Land

"During the Bosnian war, two soldiers - a Bosnian and a Serb - find themselves pinned down in a trench, while a wounded grunt lies prone one a land mine that could blow them all to smithereens."  

This is what the Netflix sleeve, that the DVD came in, read.  As I went ahead and played the film, I just kept thinking what could be in store for the next hour and 38 minutes, and more importantly, what's so special about this war story that took this film to Oscar glory back in '01 beating our very own 'Lagaan' in the process! :D

But then, over the next couple of hours, I happened to experience myriad emotions - happiness, sadness, contentment & disappointment.  

- Happiness... due to the surprisingly great amount of humor in an otherwise seriously-titled war movie!

- Sadness... well, because it was a war movie!

- Contentment... because it was a brilliant movie!

- Disappointment... because I was just too late catching up with this movie in spite of knowing it released in 2001! 

The plot of this movie is, in my opinion, a figment of the wildest imagination.  Two soldiers from opposing camps are trapped in no man's land, with neither wanting to get rid of the other!  Add to this the complexity of another soldier lying on a land mine!  How the UNPROFOR comes to the rescue of these three individuals and how the perpetually self-centered Press covers the entire episode forms the rest of the movie.  

The film openly endorses the fact that War is never started by the men who are actually in it.  Struggle for power has always led man to wage wars; but alas, the guy in the front line is just a normal man at the end of the day, yearning to get back to his family, confused as to why he's doing what he's doing.  The protagonists in this movie, Ciki & Nino, pretty much extend from the same theory; they initially accuse each other and their respective nations for having started the war but towards the end prove that they are just normal individuals; they eventually discover common interests and also work towards getting each other safely out of the trench!  However, events take unexpected turns; I will let you watch the movie to figure it out! 

As I mentioned above, the film is laced with humor throughout, but never forced upon any of the scenes.  This aspect was a huge surprise for me, and a pleasant one at that.  The opening scene provides a couple of guffaws, sure, but the biggest surprise was how well the laughs continue till almost the end in spite of all the seriousness the onscreen events were supposed to generate!  Shockingly, but not surprisingly enough, the whole segment of Ciki and Nino going, "You listen to me... because I have the gun and you don't" in turns, has been blatantly lifted by Trivikram Srinivas for the movie 'Jalsa' starring Pawan Kalyan and Prakash Raj.  What a shame!  When will these guys ever come up with something original?!  

Getting back to this movie, most of the film-making aspects were just top class!  Be it direction, cinematography or screenplay.  Except for a couple of instances where one might notice flaws with continuity, every scene has been etched with reality and passion.  The whole story spans for just a period of a few hours.  Kudos to the entire team for maintaining the look and feel of both the film and it's characters throughout the film making process which might have taken days, who knows?!  No wonder this film won an Oscar!  

This is the second film that I have watched in a row which had no background score, the other one being 'The Piano Teacher'.  Again, not one scene lacked in intensity or depth just like the former.  At one point, there was this trance number that started playing out of the blue!  I, in fact, paused the movie on my computer to check if any of the open web pages was the culprit; but no, the track stopped with the movie!  It turned out to be the music player of one of the characters onscreen, probably bored with the proceedings!  But trust me, the movie was never boring!  Not for one bit! 

Writer/Director Danis Tanovic has brilliantly used this film to remind us all that even the worst situations in life can provide a chuckle or two.  It is just up to us to realize that and conjure up that smile... :) 

A must watch!  

The Piano Teacher

It's been quite a while since I last blogged.  So thought I will start it back up with a movie review! 

Upon my friend's insistence, I went ahead and watched 'The Piano Teacher', a French film that rocked the Cannes back in 2001, with much reluctance.  This is my second French film, after 'The 400 blows'.  The reason I mention reluctance is because of the lasting effect '400 blows' had on me, even for days after having watched it.  I started associating French films with weirdness, and dark thoughts, not to forget brilliant film making technique, amazing screenplay and world class acting, after the blow '400 blows' left on me and this film didn't disappoint me one bit!  

'The Piano Teacher' is a film about the life of a, well... you guessed it right, a piano teacher - Erika Kohut, played by renowned French actress Isabelle Hupert.  Erika, in her mid-40's, is a head strong woman with a mountain of an ego, and sexually repressed - one of the reasons why she always seems frustrated with life.  Her role has been well etched with many scenes depicting the 'weirdness' in her character.  The opening scene shows her quarrel with her over-dominating mother, going to the extent of beating her up, for a reason I'll let you figure out!  As a piano teacher at a music conservatory, she's sternness personified, with her constant ruthless commentary acting as the accompaniment to her students' practice sessions; something no musician would prefer, in my opinion!  She frequents porn shops and voyeuristically screens parked cars in drive-in theaters for sexual activity, giving vent to her sexual desires in the process.  She comes across a young engineer, Walter Klemmer, played by Benoit Magimel who is smitten by her as well.  The story unfolds with the two discovering their passion for each other beginning with music, swiftly moving in to sexual revelry, albeit a tryst too brief.  

The French are almost unabashed in their depiction of lust, desire and passion in their movies.  It sometimes makes you shirk with embarassment while watching the goings-on on screen.  But you got to give it to them for being 'bold' in the true sense.  They are apparently renowned for their love making, but to bring it on screen in all it's glory and at the same time be artistic is commendable!  

The film making is simply brilliant with so many extended scenes, some going on for almost 5 minutes at times, executed with perfection.  At one point, I wondered if this was a movie or a candid camera show that I was watching.  The camera might be stand still, but the amount of planning, rehearsals, takes and re-takes that might have gone in to each scene is simply mind-boggling.  One particular scene with a stationary camera set in Erika's room while her mother prepares dinner in the adjacent room was the standout.  Erika switches the light off in her room and moves to the dining table with her back facing the camera.  But there is no attempt made to follow the character.  The camera stays there, with 2/3rds of the frame being dark (due to the light being switched off in that room) while the action continues in the space that is lit; it was almost a frame of art, I must say.  There is something about stationary shots that fascinates me.  Take the opening chase scene in 'Slumdog Millionaire', for instance, where, amongst constant motion, there is one stationary shot that shows the kids running madly atop a gutter, or the scene in Swades where , amongst all the commotion, a stationary camera captures Mohan Bhargav's caravan driving in to Charanpur from inside a hut!  

Each of the main actors in 'The Piano Teacher' play their roles so convincingly that they stay on your mind for at least a couple of days, if not more.  I hated Erika from the core of my heart by the end of the movie and I still do, but such an impression being created in me is nothing but Isabelle Hupert's triumph!  Benoit Magimel as the confused lover plays his part extremely well, especially in the final scenes.  Annie Girardot, who plays the mother is adequate and so are all the other actors cast in small roles.  

There wouldn't be a film named 'The Piano teacher' without music playing a major part, would it?  But guess what... background score is almost non-existent in this movie!  The only scenes where you hear music is when musicians play/sing on screen; I must mention that both the lead actors were exceptional pianists themselves!  (When will Indian movies portray such realism?  Sigh!)  On a couple of instances, the on-screen music piece does flow in to following scenes but they are cleverly placed to go well with the mood in subsequent frames.  This is probably the first movie I have seen with such minimal background score, but never did one scene lack in depth or meaning.  

Overall, I had the satisfaction of watching a very well-made movie with strong performances and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for cinema with realism in it.