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Set sometime in the not so distant future, Code 46 tells the cautionary tale of a highly regulated world where every action is closely monitored by the State, especially with respect to who one can or cannot marry. A married American man, who has come to a futuristic Shanghai to investigate a possible counterfeit racket in an organization, ends up getting romantically involved with a mysterious female employee working for it, oblivious of the fact that by doing so he might be violating “Code 46”, a law considered sacrilegious by the powers that be. The film has been expertly shot – the set-pieces, lightings and shades used managed to the its moodiness, and also accentuate the themes of loss, memory and urban alienation. Tim Robbins too, as always, has done a noteworthy job as an actor. Unfortunately, the director didn’t pay as much attention in developing the characters and building the narrative as he did on the atmosphere. Consequently, though the sleekness and the visuals were good to look at, the film felt dehumanized and hollow, and thus failed to involve me, leave alone captivate me. In fact, I would go so far as saying that I found the movie a bit boring even. The two lead actors, too, were highly lacking insofar as a plausible chemistry between the characters goes.
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Genre: Sci-Fi/Psychological Drama/Romance
Language: English
Country: UK
There’s a fine line between artful eroticism and mere titillation. It sure was indeed titillating to see the gorgeous soon-to-be-50 Julianne Moore making out with Amanda Seyfried, the buxom beaut half her age; but suffice it to say, the Atom Egoyan film Chloe didn’t manage to create what we subjectively refer to as “art”. The film, which is a remake of the French movie Nathalie..., began well. The seemingly happy marriage of Catherine, a well-established doctor, and David (Liam Neeson), a respected music professor, is crumbling. The wife suspects that her husband is cheating on her with his young students, and employes Chloe (Seyfried), a high-class escort, to test her husband’s fidelity. Unfortunately, what seemed to be going towards being a gripping and intense urban examination of marriage and mid-life crisis, took a sharp turn to instead become a cautionary tale of lust and obsession – all hinging on a twist never properly integrated into the plot progression. The eponymous character of Chloe, who at the end forms the fulcrum that brings the fast-receding couple together again, wasn’t developed enough for us to appreciate the slow devastation she starts wreaking on the unsuspecting Catherine’s life. The character of the couple’s alienated son, too, was half-baked. The acting in the film, however, are good throughout, with Moore’s being standout performance.
Director: Atom Egoyan
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Thriller
Language: English
Country: Canada
Given that Zack Snyder was the person who made 300, it is not surprising that Sucker Punch too is a high-octane visual fest. The film tells the fantasy-within-a-fantasy tale of Babydoll, a cherubic, diminutive young girl who, in order to escape the reality of the dreary mental asylum she’s been forcefully admitted to, creates extravagant fantasies where she’s the heroine, and, along with Sweet Pea, Rocket and other fellow luscious and ass-kicking bimbettes, must procure a set of objects that would help them procure their freedom. The film boasts of thumping action sequences, lightening pace, and arresting and innovative visual treatments. But, like 300, it is also spectacularly devoid of any semblance of intelligence. Made principally for attention-deficient juveniles, this escapist, over-edited and CGI-infested film doesn’t just require your brain to take a nap while you’re watching it, it literally forces you to flush it down the nearest drain. However, having said that, I did like the director’s attempt to create a subversive piece of action-fantasy; and I must add, I was reasonably glued to my seat, popcorn basket and cola glass during the film’s length. So yeah, Snyder did deliver a feisty sucker punch alright.
Director: Zack Snyder
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Adventure
Language: English
Country: US
Brick is a modern day noir with a plot so labyrinthine that it might very well give Raymond Chandler’s pulp fictions a run for money. And since we are not accustomed to have young people without any creases on their faces as noir protagonists or private dicks, the director’s decision to base the story in a high school setting, peopled almost completely with teenagers, reeks with audacity. However, or perhaps because of the high school setting, the film didn’t have the kind of pulpy feel to it that the plot desperately needed to have, nor did the characters appear aligned to the film’s theme – they seemed too shallow and too young to be believable. The plot concerns a young loner, who, while investigating his ex-girlfriend’s death, infiltrates a local drug cartel and exposes those responsible for her gruesome murder. The film is dark, comprises of a well-paced narrative, and boasts of two fine performances by the actors in the respective roles of the laconic protagonist and the mysterious femme fatale. Unfortunately, because of the reasons mentioned above, and the overtly complicated plot, the movie never managed to engage my senses as much as I would have liked.
Director: Rian Johnson
Genre: Crime Thriller/Post-Noir/Mystery
Language: English
Country: US
Avik Mukherjee, one of the finest cinematographers in the country, decided to make his directorial debut with Ekti Tara Knonje. I thus had a lot of expectation going into the theatre, and I must admit the film started off quite well; hence one might very well appreciate my disappointment when the promise wasn’t realised. In a way, this movie about a small-town boy who comes to Calcutta to be in the movies and becomes an unwitting part of a crime syndicate, reminded me a lot about the disappointment I felt upon watching another movie by a renowned DOP turned director – Christopher Doyle’s Away With Words. The prime problem with this film lies in the director’s inability to rein in his indulgence into aesthetics without giving much thought on strengthening its narrative drive, more so because it was at the end of the day a plot-based film; consequently, the movie got turned into a collection beautiful but incohesive shots and vignettes. The second problem with the film lied in the director’s inability to control his urges where showing-boasting his film knowledge goes, and hence littering it with film references. Ironically, however, the film’s most memorable moment occurs when Dhritiman Chatterjee’s character enacts the “Of all the gin joints…” scene from Casablanca, followed by Shayan Munshi’s character playing out the “Someday a real rain will come…” sequence from Taxi Driver. The film has some wonderful songs though.
Director: Avik Mukherjee
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Thriller
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Jon Favreau’s sequel to his Iron Man is an equally romping, big-budget summer blockbuster, but without the breath of fresh air that made the first part such fun to watch. I’m not saying that Iron Man 2 isn’t a fun watch per se. Hell, it sure keeps one tied to his seat for the duration of its running length, but never provides the kind of wacky enjoyment that the earlier film showered in abundance. The problem with the movie lies in an over-abundance of half-cooked subplots – Tony Stark getting to know his father, the political fallout of his armour suit, Stark failing to maintain his sanity amid all the hullaballoo, dirty rivalry with a fellow tycoon, and of course, reluctant collision with his Russian nemesis in a revisit to the cold war era. Further, the movie has also criminally under utilized such actors as Mickey Rourke and Samuel L. Jackson. Apart from Robert Downey Jr.’s crackling performance as the egotistic, narcissistic billionaire genius, the few other noteworthy aspects of the movie are the reasonable humour quotient, Sam Rockwell’s ludicrous little jig before presenting his innovations, director Jon Favreau’s comic turn reminiscent of his similarly hilarious role in the Friends series and the ACDC soundtrack.
Director: Jon Favreau
Genre: Action/Super Hero Film/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Language: English
Country: US
Sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this adaptation of the second book of Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy starts off where the former movie ended. The plot is straightforward – as Mikael Bloomkvist, the co-editor of the investigative tabloid Millenium, gets interested in an exposé of human trafficking incidents, a series of murders start occurring across Stockholm implicating the emotionally scarred computer whiz Lisbeth Salander. The two start investigating their leads, ending up uncovering a dark chapter from the mysterious Lisbeth’s past. As a standalone film it is reasonably alright – it is fast-paced, has its share of thrills, twists and, ahem, sizzling moments, and the acting of Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace are impressive. But standalone film this is not, and so given that it is a follow-up to a brilliant psychological thriller, the current film feels like a major disappointment. In place of the marvelous pacing, grim atmospherics, terrific plot progression and thoroughly engaging character dynamics, all you have here is a half-baked script, thinly drawn characters and an over-edited run-of-the-mill thriller.
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Mystery
Language: Swedish
Country: Sweden
Trouble Every Day, directed by the darling of arthouse circles, Claire Denis, left me largely untroubled despite its overtly provocative content. A pervert might find the movie something of a sinful delight, while a puritan would term it disgusting and tasteless; my views about this French film are rather ambiguous – visually beautiful on one hand, yet frustratingly indecipherable on the other. Set in Paris, we are introduced to a lanky, mysterious guy, on honeymoon with his beautiful, vulnerable wife. However their seemingly romantic trysts mask a dark secret – the kind which involves a lot of blood and a trail of dead bodies. This stylized and forbidden tale of cannibalism (yes, you read that right) has, even if one finds it difficult to believe, a certain sensuality and poeticism about it that would appeal to the senses despite the graphic content, thanks to Denis’ sense of aesthetics and her experimental, meditative take on the age-old tale of vampires. However, the disjointed script, the strange flashbacks which are plain irritating, and some average performances in front of the camera make this movie appear more of a deliberate snub to the conservatives than an attempt to deconstruct the zombie genre, though the truth might very well be the other way round.
Director: Claire Denis
Genre: Horror/Vampire Movie/Experimental
Language: French
Country: France
