RIFLE RANGE BOY

Roma (Mexican, Spanish; 2018) Written, Produced and Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. At first impulse, it looked like it was going to be draggy long-paused 'arty' movie. Set in the tumultuous times of the early 1970s Mexico, the story is shown in black and white against a background akin to a neorealist style with long takes and long pauses. I t looks like a reminder that history has a bad habit of repeating itself. If now, we have a citizen elected President peaceful ejected by his own in Venezuela, maybe soon to be replaced by a US back figurehead, in the late 60s and 70s Mexico, the situation was about the same. In Mexico, however, the US supported President was hated by his people. The opposing peasants and university students were labelled as communists and were systematically killed by the ruling government.  The family who eats together stays together. This film, however, has nothing to do with political injustice or revenge of the bygone era. The st...

Selma (2014) This movie did not garner much publicity even though it earned many accolades to its belt probably because it is a black movie made by blacks about something close to the blacks.  It tells about a tumultuous time in America which they have not come in terms with. The relationship between the slaves and the slave-owners which had gone through many rough patches, again and again, all through the civil war, black rights movement and even to date with the rampant cases of police racial profiling as in Ferguson incident. In 1964, the right to vote in the southern states was made extremely difficult by the Little Napoleons of the civil service. Without the right to vote, the blacks do not get a right to stand as jury in court, and without that, a black convict is not deemed to get a fair trial. Martin Luther King Jr, a Nobel prize winner in 1964 for Peace, argues with President LB Johnson and Governor Wallace of Louisiana towards this end. As a political statement, pe...

The Imitation Game (2014) The Brits, ever nostalgic over the times when the sun never set on their empire, are still not done with their success stories. This time around yet another angle of their success indecoding the unbreakable German Enigma machine. The movie did not really strike as a suspense thriller but rather as one sympathetic to the plight of the LGBTQ community. And we have been too many of that kind of late! The story is not anything new. As it is of historical nature, the outcome is well known, nothing unexpected. It tells of a Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame), a socially awkward mathematical genius who is recruited an encryptor during the WW2 era. He and his team managed to decipher the German codes and potentially shorten the war by a good two years.  Kiera Knighley as Joan Clarke The real Joan Clarke The real issue that the film makers are trying to highlight is that a man of such stature, his deed to the country is reciprocated...

Good Will Hunting, 1997 Drama An old write up. As a farewell to an extremely talented artiste who, despite his inner demons and the dark shadows of the black dog that haunted a good portion of his life, still came out tops as a world class entertainer. For the children of the 70s and 80s, Robin Williams was just part of our exposure to the world of comedy, starting with 'Mork and Mindy' to 'Mrs Doubtfire' to 'Good Will Hunting' to 'Dead Poet's Society' to 'Jumanji' and beyond. RIP. This multiple award winning film is a heart wrenching saga of a gifted individual trapped in the conundrum of poverty, unsavoury upbringing and living environment that stunts his personal development. It is set in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston where Will Hunting (Matt Damon), the protagonist is a janitor. He is also a prodigy who has a photographic memory who enjoys reading and learning multiple subjects. Unfortunately, his fate of being bor...

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) It is often said that most Academy awards films/ actors that win usually have done one of the following - lost a lot of weight, get afflicted with HIV, cross dress or appear very ugly. Living true to this mantra are this year's winners, Matthew McConaughey (Best Actor, HIV patient) and Jared Leto (Best Supporting Actor, Transgender cross dresser). Looks like Matthew McConaughey has broken away from his usual mould of showing off his sculptured six pack body. He gave a stellar performance as blue collar homophobic electrician cum bookie who was afflicted with HIV through his promiscuous way of life. After the initial denial, reality hit him. Instead of taking the standard treatment with AZT, he gets treated by an American deregistered doctor in Mexico. He is treated with non standard treatment with medications not approved in the US. As his conditions improves tremendously, he continues his treatment. Not only that, he illegally smuggles the drugs...

Nebraska (2013) You look at someone old who is not the warmest person in the world with signs of senility written all over and think that he must be the most uninspiring person with a most boring life. You keep away thinking that he may ask you for help. Then you see his wife who carries herself like she is the most painful character in the world and you start thinking, "what do these find in each other, why do they go for each other's neck but still show affection to each other all these years?" Slowly you discover that this person was also young and had his time in the spotlight. He served his country, broke a few hearts along the way, did many good deeds and had his own set of buddies. Then you realise that "he is alright" and let him have his wish. You stop telling him to do things just because you want it to be done your way but give him dignity and let him have his way. This, in essence, is the gist of this touching film. Purposely done in black and wh...

Blue Jasmine (2013) Story & Direction: Woody Allen We were just discussing the other day whether a person's work should be assessed by his work alone. Quite often than not, personal actions, inactions, mistakes and crimes are used with vile against their ingenious work of art. Just because of Hitler's nefarious acts, are we going to downplay his picturesque painting of Vienna? How about his push for advancement in German technology? Then there is Roman Polanski with the cast of black cloud overshadowing his deeds. What about all the prodigies, geniuses and the insane who are a separated alone by a fine line who had behaviours clashing with norms of society? Woody Allen, often frowned upon by the world at large for the alleged misconduct with his step daughter, has come up yet with another winner. It has all the trademarks of Allen's typical brand of comedy. Cate Blanchett, gives a Oscar deserved performance of downtrodden wife of a crooked businessman in verge of ...

The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgian, Dutch; 2012) AG thought 2013 would be the year of the Lion or Common Kestrel. With so many Belgian home grown international football players in the world arena and now a Belgian production a nominee in the Academy Awards for the Foreign Film category, it was her time in the spotlight. Now, we know Belgium has a movie industry. This melodrama combines too many ideas into one presentation. It, however, excels in the music category. The soundtrack of bluegrass country music with heart warming plucking of banjo, mandolin and fiddle really stands out like no other. You may be asking what is bluegrass band doing in a Belgian setting? Well, the main character of the story, Didier has an obsession with this genre of music and looks up at the pioneers who promoted this kind of music. He plays in a band at a local pub. He has a love (?lust) at first sight moment with an owner of a tattoo parlour, Elise. Common Kestrel (Belgian National Bird) Looks ...

12 years a slave (2013) They make us believe us that it is a darn good film and the list of nominations and accolades are testimony of that. Unfortunately, a non-artistic person like me failed to see the fantastic nature of the presentation. They say praises of Steve McQueen, the director, but it is the different McQueen than the one I knew growing up. We have seen way too many movies like this before, on the evil pasts of what the white settlers of the New World did to their African slaves, the treachery, the unmanly conduct and bullying. This time around it is the narration of a pre-Civil War free Negro who was kidnapped and sold off as a slave to cotton plantation. He endured 12 years of torture and loss of freedom to be reunited with his family, essentially losing a great deal of his adulthood. This man, Solomon Northup, later became a writer and helped slaves to escape via the Underground Railroad. We again see how man uses selected quotes  from Bible to subdue hi...

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1974 I wonder why the past few films have women themes in them, pure coincidence, I suppose. This 1974 flick was directed by the Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese. Unlike his usual cup of tea which involves a lot of violence and killings, this one is a family drama with a lot of emotions involved. It did create some noise groups for portrayal of an abused docile wife. Alice Wyatt (Ellen Burstyn) had big ambitions of being a singer. Came a man in her life, blinded by love, marriage and pop came a son, he ended up as a housewife to a hot tempered Cola Cola employee and a mother to a slightly bad mannered 11 year old boy. In spite of the strained relationship, life went on till husband was killed in an accident. Facing financial difficulties, she sells her meagre belongings in New Mexico and decide to drive back to her home town of Monterey, California with her son to continue where she stopped of what was supposed to be the beginning of h...

Sudden fear (1952) Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) is a rich heiress who is also successful play writer in New York. She is overlooking a rehearsal of her latest play, 'Halfway to Heaven' when she commented that the auditioned actor, even though presented his dialogues succinctly, was not macho enough for Myra. The said actor, Lester Blaine (Jack Palance), goes off but not without giving a piece of his mind that even Casanova (from a portrait that he saw) had a deformed face and rough features. Another actor takes over the role and the play goes on to be a hit. Myra goes off on a long train ride to San Francisco on a well deserved break. At the railway, she bumps into Lester. Even though Lester had apparently forgotten their previous encounter and had moved on with life, Myra felt that she owes him an apology. The banter goes on to drinks and laughter. Lester even extended his ticket from Chicago all the way to her destination. Jack Palance One thing lead anoth...

Argo 2012 This film won many praises mainly because it is an American movie that over glorifies the American efforts to save its citizen from its 'evil' enemies. In the process, it made genuine helpers mere bystanders. It narrates  a secret mission apparently to rescue six of their embassy staff who managed to escape their captors during the takeover of the American Embassy back in 1979.   Ben Affleck (the director and producer) stars as a CIA agent who masterminds an escape plan for the embassy staff by entering Iran as a Canadian film maker looking for a location for his movie, Argo, a space fantasy film. He manages to enter and contact the escapees. The suspense of escaping from the menacing Iranian militia amidst the last minute cancellation of their ticket and the heart throbbing excitement at the immigration exit point forms the highlight of the movie. The camera shots were not typical of a feature film but that of journalistic filming, like how it would...

Life of Pi 2012 Finally watched the coveted 'Life of Pi' to judge for myself whether it is 'cheesy, hyped and dwelling in the sentimental yearn of mystical eastern culture' as described negatively by my daughter or is it worth the accolade offered to a film directed by a Chinaman (Director Ang Lee) experimenting with Indian culture and having a Tamil song in its soundtrack! The impression I got after watching the whole film was that the story behind the story is indeed well hidden behind the story. It needs a little of literary and artistic skills to appreciate its meaning. At one look, it looks like a story of a boy from exotic India who is shipwrecked, escapes from a tiger, deserted in an island and lives to tell his story! But wait! There is more to it... Ang Lee To me, it tells that fear is one feature that drive us to go living. Fearing the uncertainty of life and what it has store for us, we hold on to believes like God and spiritualism. Even animals have ...