dvd picks

Movie review by guest writer Seema Misra who blogs at La La Land and Reel Life & Seema’s Art Corner

“Others will dream that I am mad,

and I of the Zahir.

When all men on earth think day and night of the Zahir,

which one will be a dream and which a reality, the earth or the Zahir?”

-Jorge Luis Borges

José Luis Guerin, a Spanish filmmaker and educator, is amongst the most innovative European filmmakers. In ‘In the City of Sylvia’ he portrays a young man in search of a woman, Sylvia, whom he met years ago, a dreamlike memory of his, almost frozen in time.

The protagonist referred simply as ‘He’ waits in a hotel and sketches the people there. His sketch pad is a myriad of frenzied capturing of expressions, hand movements, lips, napes, jaw lines, face cuts, body movements, almost making the people faceless. Snippets of conversations and fleeting images of people, through his gaze, an artist’s gaze — one that lingers a little longer than necessary, makes up most of the movie.

And in this possessed search for his Zahir, a woman in red ‘Pilar López de Ayala’ appears in his view, refracted by a mirror…and thus begins a chase through the winding city streets of Strasberg. “Laure Je T’aime”—a bit of graffiti keeps anchoring the viewer and reminding us of the circularity of the search. Also, he keeps running into the same people … giving us a very small town feel. He calls out to her once, and she just moves on faster, keeping us guessing till there is a confrontation in the train, that runs through the city and had earlier threatened to separate the two.

Devoid of any language this movie is haunting and appealing on a very sensory level, at the same time an intelligent portrayal of the human condition. One example would be the old lady sitting by the road side in dirty tatters and the beer can rolling out of her hand – the sound of its rolling motion continuing long after the can was out of view. It is such detailed attention to the city sounds and other visual nuances that appeal on a subliminal way to the viewer. This movie is like a painting, which flows beautifully into many colors, many emotions … it’s an artist’s perusal of his muse; it’s the unforgettable fragrance of love…

As an interesting companion to the movie José Luis Guerin has created a photo exhibition called Unas fotos en la ciudad de Sylvia in which beautiful black and white digital cinematography alternates between moving and still images, stitching together a cinematic sketchbook for In the City of Sylvia.

J. Hoberman aptly says “In the City of Sylvia is pure pleasure and pure cinema.”

The flight had turned out to be uneventful. Good! I had caught up on my sleep while the man on right finished watching a movie on his laptop – as I gathered seeing him shutdown his lappie. He seemed pleased at something as he turned towards me and started this conversation.

Man on right- yes! I got it.

Me- huh?

MoR- Hello I am one of the bhai of Ram-chee brothers. I am sure you have heard of us?

Me- Uhh… the horror movie producers?

MoR- well not exactly but coincidentally we are movie producers too and we are planning for an ORIGINAL experimental piece which will be a horror plus romance mix. And guess what? I found just the thing in Hollywood on which my ORIGINAL will be based.

Me- eh? Ok. And which is that great inspirational movie?

MoR – Being John Malkovich!

Me- (shocked) but that isn’t a horror movie. You can call it Drama, Fantasy, comedy even, but horror?!! I don’t think so. I have seen the movie and it has no horror element at all.

MoR- (agitatedly) there you are! The typical Bourgeois with no imagination at all.Its a horror movie all right but you don’t have the insight and creativity to realize it. (Bloody educated logical person)

Me- I heard that… and anyways it isn’t horror if you are speaking of the Spike Jonze directed, John Cussack, Cameron Diaz , Catherine Keetcher and John Malkovich starred movie.

MoR- yeah Yeah same movie. I know even more about it. 3 oscar nominations and 45 awards in total. See? Just the right movie to base my experimentation!  Sigh I might even get an Oscar like Slum Dog Millionaire.

Me- (or a razzie. Huh! Moron! Horror indeed!

MoR – I heard that. So you still disagree. Ok fine. Lets recap the story together. You first tell me what it is and I will explain the symbolisms after all horror movies are all about symbolisms like Ring, Reaping, Signs…

Me- ok ok… The story is a bit meta physical and tells about the struggling Pupeteer played by John Cussack who is out of job and his wife Cameron Diaz  who share a dry and insipid marriage and finally he takes up a filing job in a very Harry Potterish  office at the 7 3/4^th floor of a building. There he develops a strong emotion for his co worker Maxine that is Catherine Keener who is not that much into him and…

MoR- wait a min! Are you a writer by any chance, especially do you write reviews?

Me- slightly astonished- Yes! How did you guess? I mean I do attempt reviews now and then.

MoR- you were so boring in your narrative…no offence please he he ! Anyways yeah, please continue and get it over with fast! We will be landing soon

Me- And while on an errand he comes across a secret port, a small door which – ha ha! This one is a laugh, yeah a portal that leads to the mind of John Malkovich a successful actor played by Malkovich himself, and whoever enters that portal can be Malkovich by being in his body and mind for whole 15 mins before being ejected out through a turnpike. Now don’t ask me the logic behind this whole thing. In fact after this, the movie becomes weirder with almost all the characters on sight clamoring to experience this phenomenon after Maxine collaborates with Cussack to commercialize it. Diaz too uses the portal to be in Malkovich’s mind just at the same moment Maxine happens to be there in Malkovich’s company and they i.e. Maxine and Diaz in Malkovich’s body develop a kind of Oh My God! Attraction? Chemistry? Because Diaz inside Malkovich’s body is a different Diaz itself He he he!!  You can say Diaz and Maxine fall in love. After this the movie turns complex with  Cussack entering Malkovich’s mind  and figuring out how not to be ejected thus capturing Malkovich ‘s mind body and soul and making use his puppeteer skills to use Malkovich’s resources to his advantage and also gets married to Maxine after removing Diaz, now his rival in love. After that what happens is weirder.

MoR- wait a min! wait a min! So what did you say? Capturing Malkovich’s mind body and soul-!  Bingo! Do you know what it is known in Horror Movie Parle- Possession!  Ultimately it is a movie about possession.! A man possessed by another.. Black Magic!  Veerana! Raaz. Can’t you see?

Me- you are crazy! You have completely confused the underlying message?

MoR – oh is it? Well let me hear you out then?

Me- of course it raises serious ethical issues of …

MoR- Ah! Fancy terms! Typical writers! Making mountain out of mole hill. Is it necessary that a movie or for that matter a book should have some kind of message always? Why can’t you all educated folks accept a movie by just what you get to see? Why do you search for an under lying message?

Me- But It does have a message, about the voyeuristic instincts of man. Of the Psychological play! Of manipulation etc Of Identity issues. (Stop after I see him literally ROFL) oK then what is your take?

MoR- It is a simple horror story of a Possession and a love triangle and a social cause movie on the cause for Homo Sexuals  that ultimately it is the soul inside and not the body . There is no male or female soul. See? Its simple. This is what the aam aadmi will see if they watch this. If I can rope in Aamir , Kareena and Sharukh and make them act even half like Cussack, Cameron and Malkovich It will surely add some more awards for acting.

I almost choked on the drink and felt thankful that we were about to land or I might have ended throwing up or throwing him down from the Plane.

But was this guy totally wrong? He did have a point at times to be honest. The movie was critically acclaimed but the aam admi? Were they impressed?

This story is about a high school kid, from West Virginia who dares to dream big. This was the time when Russia made history by launching the first satellite Sputnik in 1957, but for this kid this sight of a satellite moving across sky came as a big aspiration, a moment of connection with oneself when one realizes what exactly one is supposed to do in his life. The village was called coal wood owing to the main profession being mining coal and as the norm all kids were supposed to work as miners after their necessary schooling. As he watched the satellite streak across the sky, he had a dream of building a rocket which could take that satellite and put it in its orbit. The aspiration was so profound that he went a long way to hold on to it and make things work. They were a group of four friends, managed to procure the material for their experimental rockets from unused rail tracks etc. They made numerous unsuccessful attempts trying to fly a small sized rocket. They used all lengths, all sorts of fuel etc. The rockets either flew to short distances or catch fire and burst. Failures are the stepping stones of success indeed. These experiments lead them to understand what makes a rocket actually fly. Apart from experimental failures, he had to abandon his rocket flying aspirations, as his dad got seriously injured while working in a coal mine and he had to work in coal mine for keeping his family financially well. Those innocent eyes always looked up the sky when going down in a coal mine elevator. In spite of all these hardships, due to the help and encouragement from his teacher he participated in a science fair, demonstrated his rocket building, flying fundamentals and won first prize too. This involved many schools and he came out in flying colors with that first prize and getting scholarship offers from various universities.

I was especially moved by the advice his teacher gave him- “you don’t have to prove anything to anybody, now go launch yourself a rocket”. Some quotes or dialogs are so profound and life changing, that you may live your entire life based on their implications and often quote them with your friends or family. .This kid was Homer Hickam who went to become scientist at NASA. He dreamed big, worked hard towards it despite all hardships, faced the numerous failures in experimentation with his rockets and learnt how to fly rocket correctly. Thus the orbit of Sputnik became the path of his destiny.

So, a big dream needs lot of hard work- probably replaced by term smart work these days often, patience and recovering from failures too!  Probably this movie redefines the term ‘rocket science’ to mean – Awesome! usually rocket science implies a tough thing or nerdy science.

.

This elegant movie, though cannot be classified as science fiction precisely, sets itself apart owing to its unique simple elegant & wonderful concept. This is really quite unusual, simply lets you appreciate your own sense of logical reasoning, guiding or rather misguiding until the point where you are completely involved & lost.

It’s just a discussion on the comfort on a couch on lazy afternoon, among group of intellectual professors, an assorted collection of logical & intellectual discussions happening somewhere sometime…..

There is this young history professor, John who is kind of famous among his colleagues and favorite with the students, for his profound knowledge, suddenly and mysteriously disappearing or leaving the town. His colleagues, who are also his good friends, are very much concerned about him and curious to know the reason behind this decision, drop by his house, also to wish him good luck.

Upon being asked several times for his decision, he refuses to reveal the reason and instead just replies that he likes to move on in life. His colleagues who are quite experts in their respective domains like Anthropology, religion, biology, philosophy etc are simply not willing to let him go without telling the reason behind his moving from there.
An artifact, a stone found in his home leads to discussions on an interesting topic that how would a man be if he is not ageing, say from Paleolithic time. Just consider the possibility that somehow some mechanism kept him alive: A perfect detoxification mechanism & perfect regeneration of his body cells & organs, recovery mechanism from various diseases. He should have learnt to fight the predators & just simply keep moving on in life without emotional attachments. He would have seen civilizations born, flourish & get extinct, he would have wandered over mountains, valleys, learnt a lot of languages, seen different tribes, of course protecting his life somehow against all the possible dangers.

John claims that he is this man who has lived from 14,000 years. Of course no body believes him, but the topic is so interesting that everyone starts asking him questions on various topics likes geography, religion, beliefs etc. this leads to a series of logical arguments & surprisingly John is having an instant convincing answer every time. They all realize that that there is no way to prove or disprove his hypothesis, instead go with the flow of his story asking his experiences in his lifetime that stretched over vast bounds of time & places. His arguments can be obtained from any history book read in school & that’s what John exclaims that when he read the book, he correlated with his own life & understood the reality. This fact is simply difficult to digest that such a thing could have happened with him, he just simply lived endlessly !! Considering this scenario, the knowledge of such a man would be tremendous. He says he traveled a lot just like any normal man would do. He learnt a lot & was considered God by some tribes owing to his non ageing feature. He once met a man who he felt was like him never ageing to die but no way to prove the same, lost contact with him & moved on in life. He is just logically correct all the time in his arguments. He even proclaims that he was with Buddha, & goes on to say some things which offends them. He crosses the line by proclaiming himself to be someone with  some facts supporting the argument,  which shatters the listener’s religious beliefs. He learnt a method to slow down the body processes so that he suppressed pain & preached good things like humanity & brotherhood etc; he recollects the important historic events so well in their original form which can be possible by a person who has actually lived in those times.

He says that he has kept moving on in life overcoming his attachments & emotions, & that is why he is moving on now. They discuss various subjects like science religion, medicine, etc & are just taken by & lost in the arguments. His friends are very much disturbed by his arguments, lost in their logical reasoning to an extent that they want to believe him but that’s just not acceptable to their senses. You have go to watch the movie so see how it twists & turns the nerves. Is  John is a cave man surviving from thousands of years ?

Probably this movie in some way teaches that unlike John, we have a finite lifetime. ….& we should enjoy to the fullest.

What could a prehistoric man make of when he looked up at the sky? The vast stretch of darkness, the twinkling of stars etc would have made a great sense of mystery engulfed by his thoughts about his own consciousness.
Probably he believed there are gods & demons up there, helplessly trying to let go of feelings which never seemed to find an absolute answer. He can’t make up his own mind that what he is seeing is an illusion or reality when the concept of real & virtual itself is unknown to him.

cast: Ewan McGregor (The ghost writer), Pierce Brosnan(Prime Minister Adam Lang), Olivia Williams(The PM’s wife, Ruth), Kim Katrall (The PM’s secretary, Amelia)

Director: Roman Polanski

Based on the Novel “The Ghost” by Robert Harris

Running time: 128 minutes (R)

A body washes up on the shores of Massachusetts. The body of a successful, former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang’s aide. When he was found dead and washed up in what was construed as an apparent accident, he was working the memoirs of the Prime Minister Adam Lang.

Due to his untimely death, he is replaced by the unnamed protagonist of the movie, the ghost writer, played by Ewan McGregor. As the ghost writer starts to redact the manuscript left by the now departed aide, he finds that Adam Lang has been treading in murky waters and seemed to have dark connections with the CIA when in power and had presumably commissioned the torture of suspect terrorists.

To expedite his work, as the ghost writer stays with the Prime Minister in his idyllic Massachusetts abode by the sea side along with the Prime Minister’s neglected wife, Ruth and his secretary (and mistress) Amelia, it transpires that the Prime Minister didn’t really have a political agenda during his formative years in college and nor did he identify himself with any political group or ideology. So why in the world would a happy go lucky Cambridge student without a care in the world go on to become the Prime Minister of a country?

Deeper digging reveals that there is certainly something sinister stewing between Ruth, Adam Lang and Amelia. As he gets closer to uncovering the truth about Adam Lang’s involvement with the CIA, Adam Lang is assassinated and the truth apparently dies with him.

However, the manuscript left by the previous ghost writer, the Prime Minister’s aide, reveals that it wasn’t Adam who was directly involved with the sanction of torture but surprisingly, his wife Ruth who was a CIA agent for much of her life. But before he announces this startling denouement to the world, the ghost writer is killed in a “freak” traffic collision.

The overall cold and gloomy atmosphere of the film lends to the overall murkiness of the characters involved. This is quite a good movie for a lazy sunday afternoon. Although not necessarily an Oscar contender by any means, this does throw some light, albeit fictional, on the unpleasant underbelly of world politics.

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce

Director: John Hillcoat

Based on the Novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy

Running time: 111 minutes (R)

“The Road” is a post-apocalyptic drama centered around the trials and tribulations of a father son duo.

Friends, Bloggers, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to praise Poltergeist, not to bury it.

The good reviews that movies get, lives long after their release;

The bad ones are oft deleted along with their authors;

So let it be with Poltergeist. The noble Spielberg, its writer n producer

Hath told us that Poltergeist was an ambitious project:

If it were so, it was a great vision

And greatly has Poltergeist been received.

Here, under leave of Spielberg and the rest—Director Tobe Hooper, cast, crew and other learned critics,

For Spielberg is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men–

Come I to speak in Poltergeist’s 25^th anniversary edition DVD pick celebration

It was my expectations and dreams being crushed before me:

But Spielberg says it was an ambitious project;

And Spielberg is an honourable man.

The story speaks to us about the couple – Freelings who were leading a happy life in a suburb home

Whence, bizarre and inexplicable incidents begin to happen there

The little daughter hath declared that she could speak to ghosts through a television set. A television set?
Did this in Poltergeist seem ambitious?

Then maybe to make it seem more ambitious, the little girl had been showed to be kidnapped by the ghosts through a closet door, – a portal

Or was it this that seemed ambitious?

The Couple were then shown to consult Parapsychologists to rescue their daughter who now spoke to them through the television set!!!

And When that the ghost had been shown appearing in their hi tech equipments as techni-coloured ray like beings, I had wept in frustration,

I had wept further more when the parapsychologist roped in a medium too who spoke at length about confused spirits not finding the portal to the next dimension and a bad spirit, called the Beast, and wept the most at the outrageous climax of corpse and skeletons exploding from the swimming pool.

Ambitious horror projects should be made of chillier stuff:

Yet Spielberg says it was ambitious project;

And Spielberg is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Oscars

In three sections, it was nominated (not in the major categories)

And In which thrice it was refused, was this ambition that Spielberg spoke?

Yet Spielberg says it was an ambitious project;

And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Spielberg spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love me once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then, to mourn for my state?

O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin away from the DVD of Poltergeist,

And I must pause till it come backs upon me to complete watching the rolling credits.

GC verdict: Alright! That was quite harsh on my part and my due apologies to The Bard of Avon, Shakespeare and Spielberg, but I think I had raised my expectations too high on hearing it to be from the house of Spielberg. Secondly as the movie was made in 1982, by the time I saw it i.e now, the special effects, this must have been special back then, had paled in front of recent ones like Grudge, Gothika etc. It did not even have the subdued menace and chill of old timers like Exorcist and Psycho, hence I did not find it impressive in spite of its box office success and critical acclaim.

.

Here I am back again with my DVD pick and its Rosemary’s … wait no not Rosemary. I CHANGED my mind. It is Changeling the Clint Eastwood directed movie based on the real life events in Los Angeles in the year 1928 famous as Winevile Chicken coop murders.

I could never visualize Eastwood as a competent director but I CHANGED my opinion after watching this movie.
I had always thought that Oscar nominated movies and award winning movies needed high level of concentration to be understood, but I CHANGED my opinion after watching this movie as the flow in this movie is quite smooth and narration so gripping that I understood the meaning of the words “gripping tale” in the real sense,  for the first time. You really don’t feel stressed trying to absorb it or to feel involved in it.

I had always believed that LAPD was very efficient and corruption free to an extent, but I CHANGED my opinion after watching the way they had functioned back then in 1928 where the movie is set.. They were none better than our own Indian police force.. Rife with corruption and wholesomely inefficient, they are shown in the movie as making a mess of the case of kidnapping of… Ok let me explain it to you properly before you CHANGE your mind of reading this.
If you thought only Ekta Kapoor incorporated incredible twists in her story line, you will CHANGE your stand halfway through this movie.

The story begins when Christine a single mother returns from her job to find her little boy Walter missing from home. She reports it to the LAPD and after months of negative results and after incessant pursuing by Christine played by Jolie and hounding by the Local Pastor Revd Gustav, who supports Christine in her search for her little boy, the police force declares one day, that they had found her boy and arranges a public reunion between the mother and the boy as a face saving act. When Christine meets the boy she realizes that he is not her son, but the little boy insists he is indeed her Walter and the police chief too psyches her into believing that he might be her son.- Now isn’t that incredible? Reluctantly she brings him home, but gradually she starts finding physical evidences of him being an imposter. Then follows a deadlock with Christine refusing to accept him as her son and , the little boy insisting her to be his mother and the police force trying to prove that Christine is insane . So what is the truth? Is he an imposter? Is it a conspiracy? Is this a psychological thriller ? is Christine insane? What happens when Jolie decides to fight it out against the LAPD? Is it an easy fight? Well , I kept on CHANGING my inferences quite a number of times during the process.A parallel story unfolds to intersect in the main story line later- as a detective is shown visiting a Wineville Ranch in connection with a missing child report., where some horrifying discoveries are made about a Gordon Northcott, who it turns out is involved in the kidnapping and killing of many children. Is there a connection bewen Walter’s disappearance and Gordon? This was just part of the plot and a mere chit of a review can hardly do justice to the movie. But if you think this to be a thriller, then please CHANGE your stream of thought, because it is not a thriller, rather it portrays a mother’s angst of losing her son and a fight against a huge corrupt system to know the truth and have her son back. It’s about faith, courage and about hope.

Jolie –Ah Angelina Jolie. Well I CHANGED my opinion of her being not that a great actress after seeing her portray a character totally different from the Lara Crofts .

Rest of the supporting cast does a decent job though they may not linger on in your mind. Pace is just as it should be, the drama subtle but intense (credit mostly to Jolie) and of course Harner as Gordon Northcott is very impressive.
If you had decided to get this movie, don’t change your mind please even if you don’t like this review.

Once in a while you come across a movie which elicits the following response-“What the …hell! What was that?” spoken maybe with utter disgust or with wonder and amazement. Well Bark our DVD pick today qualifies as one such movie. Oh no Please don’t assume the first option and leave and even if you leave, at least hear this out. -  Imagine this scenario- The ultimate male fantasy- His wife and girlfriend living under the same roof happily with no conflicts at all!!! Well, Bark lets you have a glimpse of this. Now you will be doggoned. Isn’t it? Let’s do one thing, why don’t we settle comfortably and get on with it rather than standing in the threshold wondering whether This Dog deserves a good bone or not? All right! Here we go!

Pedigree- This  Kasia Adamik directed movie, won a special mention in the Warsaw International  Movie festival and nominated for  the Grand Jury Prize for best direction in the Sundance Film Festival- this despite, the movie being a low budget one starring  Lee Tergeson, Lisa Kudrow and Heather Morgan who is incidentally the writer too. (Yes! No Big Shots here.) Just shows that Every Dog has its day. The movie has been promoted as a comedy but yes, a big BUT the movie is not a comedy. It just has a comical theme and expecting a comedy will be like Barking up the wrong tree.

Dogmas- As I said the movie has a comical theme or story and the plot is about a very much in love with couple Peter and Lucy, where one fine day the wife starts barking like a dog never to stop!!! And behaving like one too for no apparent reason.  But this is not about animal instincts, nor the retrospection of why she suddenly turned into one. That is quite possible in this Dog eat Dog world. But rather it questions the ethics of the treatment of the borderline psychiatric cases. In one line it can be simply summarized as the movie trying to project that Barking Dogs seldom bite. Lucy or the wife though behaving like a dog is otherwise harmless. Everything about her behavior turns dog like, but is that reason enough to commit her to a mental asylum? Is it necessary to do so if she is not grievously injuring anybody and if her husband has no issues in accepting her the way she has become? Is it necessary to drug her heavily just to make her seem human, when all you are doing is turning her  to a zombie , without getting to the core of her problem? There are other misfits who come together at Peter’s hour of so called need and bond in a strange way. The weird vet played by Lisa Kudrow who becomes involved with Peter., the kleptomaniac best friend, the reluctant shrink coming together and bonding well to show that misfits can fit in too. So rather than this being a comedy movie it is an exploration of the ethical issues of Psychiatry.

Leashed unleashed- The pace is slow. Tagline not powerful enough – it’s “Who is walking whom”. And it has been promoted as a comedy confusing the audience in the process. Not at all a commercially viable movie. Script is just acceptable. But again as they say –A reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog, it keeps him from brooding over being a dog.

Dog-eared- Theme is unique and well projected. The actors seem credible. Heather Morgan Looks convincing as the dog wife and if you keep your expectations to a minimum you might find it quite a pet.

Dogged pursuit of this movie- is not recommended. As I am not sure of your psyche I will therefore not advise you to purchase the DVD or rent it, but borrow it, if you come across the DVD for its unique projection. You will enjoy it if you are a Psychology buff.  Otherwise take a dose of Antirabies vaccine after reading this.

But again -”An honest man is not the worse because a dog barks at him.