We are losing our leaves

The Father (2020)

The good die young, they say. So we look sentimentally at the 'Club 27' and bemoan their premature departure from the world of music; we lament the loss of many of their yet composed pieces. We remember them forever as the spirited and creative maestros they were. But, on the other hand, we abhor the many who had obviously overstayed their welcome; a particular nonagenarian two-time ex-Prime Minister comes to mind. It seems the longer we seem to stay alive, the further we get away from the public likeability scale. 

Perhaps we tolerate the old because of fear of what would become of us. In the hope of hope, we think all the good deeds will somehow be recorded and duly reciprocated by the Universe! Maybe, we are struggling to stay afloat in this Ocean of Life that we are looking for support in what we are doing. With the wisdom of having traversed similar paths, we secretly wish that they would give a nod of approval to our actions. 

Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain 

27 club (has at least 10 members)

We have fond recollections of young relatives, of children who succumbed to ailments way before their time. We remember the charming smile, their pranks and good times spent together. But, unfortunately, it is not the same of a sick relative who demanded de has to endure terminal care of a protracted. Despite all the good times they had offered in their happier, somehow, the memory that lingers in our minds is the latter days of pain and suffering. That, unfortunately, seems to be the first image of them that comes to mind. 

We are familiar with movies highlighting the trials and tribulations of the caregiver or the mess that the person with a mental disorder goes through. Unlike the rest, this movie tells the narrative from the point of the sufferer. As confusing as the orientation to time, space and person can be to a person afflicted with dementia, we, the audience, also get unsettled by the linearity of the story. It keeps flip-flopping, the scenes appear repeated, the background keeps changing, and we cannot really pin down who the bad person. Actually, there are none. Everybody is merely playing their part.

We soon realise that the main character just wants to cling to what he sees as reality, convincing himself that he is not off his rockers, that his judgement is right, and he has everything under control. Despite all the abuses hurled upon her, his daughter feels that caring for her father and sacrificing all her personal desires and ambition is the most filial thing to do. 

Some like to believe that these lost opportunities and the serving are just unsettled business transactions from another lifetime that needed to be completed. Ageing is just like the shedding of leaves of a passing season. Just like a tree that sheds its blades in autumn to go into hibernation before springing out new shoots, old age and passing are inevitable. We 'pass away' into the annals of time. In Tamil, a dead person 'becomes time' - 'காலம் ஆனார்'. 

[P.S. The octogenarian Anthony Hopkin won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in this movie].

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It is the journey.

Harold and Maude (1971)

Some look at life as full of doom and gloom, as a purposeless one. Whichever path one takes, we know what the final destination is, and the path leading to it can be paved with shrapnel and pain. Nietzschean and many existentialist philosophers perpetuate this idea. On the other end of the spectrum, others whose sole purpose of life is to savour the joy of being born as a human being push it to the tilt. They view the boon of birth as a gift on a platter to enjoy with no boundaries.

The truth must be lying somewhere in between - between nihilism and hedonism. There must be a purpose in our existence, perhaps to somehow leave a tiny mark of legacy, no matter how small, in a small way to propel our loved ones, family or community forward. A community, hence a country, is, after all, is made of subunits of families. So, improvements in families will sequentially propel the human race forward. 

We should probably get our cues about life from the words of the Stoics and Epicureans. In their minds, we have only this one life to do what we can whilst finding pleasure within all of the aches and pains it has to offer.

This 1971 film, made at the end of the time of flower power, must have been an assessment of the liberal care-free perception of society versus the traditional convention-abiding outlook of the community. It was a satire of society we live in, which involves 'groupthink' as determined by authoritative figures - religion, psychology, family, military.

This cult-following offering recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is a dark comedy about a death-obsessed 19-year-old young man who falls in love with a happy-go-lucky 80-year old lady. Yes, 80 years old.  Harold, brought up in a privileged background by a narcissistic single mother, grows bored with life. He is preoccupied with death and religiously attends funerals, even of unknown people, just to be closer to death. He has a warped sense of humour, sometimes faking himself hanging or cutting off his own limb. His mother's attempts at keeping him entertained with gifts and new girlfriends proved futile.

So Harold found himself quite at home with a chance meeting with Maude at a random funeral. Her care-less attitude and total disregard for the rule of law excited him. Their little escapade turned out to be a sort of coming-of-age phase for Harold as Maude shows him all the small things that make one appreciate the reason for living. Harold looks at funerals as the final destination we are all edging to as Maude looked at them as a moment to reflect the time of their existence. I guess the film's message is to accept death as an essential and inevitable recurring process that regenerates life.

The memorable scene in this movie is the one in a field of daisies. Maude said she would like to change to a sunflower most of all as they are so tall and simple. Harold replied that he would like to be one of the daises because "they are all alike". Maude turned to Harold and explained that they are not.  

"Some are smaller, some are fatter. Some grow to the left, some to the right. Some even have lost some petals. All kinds of observable differences". Harold could suddenly see the truth in her observation. The camera pans way back to show that Harold and Maude were standing in a graveyard. The gravestones were identical to the daises in one perspective. Even though the stones were all carved to look similar, they signify different lives lived - happy, sad, abrupt, or long. But the ending, the final destination, nevertheless, is the same.

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Two sides of the same coin?

Devil All the Time (2020)

At one look, it seems that the story is going all over the place. At one time, you think that one particular character is the protagonist, but wham! she is killed off. Then another also killed off, and another yet again. There are plenty of killings and dying on the whole, but then, it all builds up to make sense at the end. There are many cryptic messages embedded within the storyline that questions the perception of what evil really is. Our divinity and evil part and parcel of the same continuum, not in contradiction but a mere extension of a spectrum? 

One complements the other. Just like how light is appreciated in darkness, evil is necessary for us to appreciate goodness. Like how it is a necessity that Tom never catches Jerry for the excitement to continue. Will E Coyote will never have the Road Runner for dinner for Coyote may become mad if, one day, he gets up in the morning to realise that he has nothing to do. Satan can never lose if Goodness were to be appreciated. The fight (if there is one) has to go on as long as life exists. All the events that happen in the name of God and the Devil are the ones that give meaning to the journey of life. We kid ourselves that everything is a mission as willed by God, even though we wonder why He who heals the wounds also send the flies.

After much beating around the bush, the viewers would realise that the movie is basically about a boy and a girl pair (Arvin and Leonora) who end up in the same foster home. Since both grew up together from a young age, they are close. Together they both carry the heavy baggage of sins of their parents. Arvin's mother succumbed to cancer whilst his father, a WW2 veteran, commits suicide after failing to revive her despite offering a sacrifice to God. Leonora's father, an evangelical preacher who was not right in his head, thought he had an audience. He believed God's orders were to kill his wife and resurrect her from death. He attempted, failed, bolted off and only to be killed by a husband-wife pair of serial killers.

Leonora grows very religious like her mother and is taken for a ride by a visiting preacher. She kills herself after finding herself pregnant out of wedlock. Arvin avenges her death and lands up with an encounter with the serial killers.

The complicated plots are set in the heart of the Bible Belt of America, where everyone is Christian by default. Everyone has their vision of how religion should be. Some expect something divine to be one that is kind, loving, tender and all accepting. Others justify violence in the name of the law to ensure the tenets of the religion are enforced. Many endure sacrifices for salvation. We use the name of the original sin as a get-of-jail free card to excuse our follies. We follow the same ill-fated paths that our fathers followed and say it is genes or 'sins of our fathers' in theological terms. 

Simon of  Cyrene to Jesus' aid to carry the Cross

As seen in the film, many seemingly unrelated events happen in our lives, but they do affect us in mysterious ways. Are these mere coincidences or sleight of hand of the Maker himself? Are they of no causal relationships as insisted by Freud or meaningful synchronicity as described by Jung?

Perhaps blind faith does not do anybody any good. True, religion forms a platform upon and above which intellect should complement the scriptures. This is best described by the painting of Jesus' long journey to Golgotha. A battered son of God could not carry the Cross. A random passerby, Simon of Cyrene, was summoned to aid in the task. In the same vein, one should not just depend on the Grace of God; we should make an effort to do it ourselves as well.

A gripping movie with Tim Holland of 'Spider Man' fame as Arvin. 

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A future full of happy morons?

Idiocracy (2006)

This science-fiction film is no masterpiece, but it portrays a pretty close prediction to what Nietzsche predicted the future would be like. He envisaged a dystopian tomorrow where mediocrity is held in high esteem. Emphasis is on triviality and popularism. Evidence of this already gaining traction. Just look around us. People are frequently numbed by visual gratifications. Nobody thinks anymore. Intellectual discourse is just too energy-consuming; blind acceptance is becoming the norm. Astronomical science is centuries old, but many still swear the Earth is flat. Sowing wild oats without a care about the offspring that springs out of such an unholy union is defended as one's right to empowerment. 

Investing a wealth of time in something as ludicrous as catching 'Pokemon Go' is a legitimately approved pastime for a modern full-grown adult. Intellectual achievement is un-cool (and is becoming increasingly expensive for the average Joe). The people who least can afford to finance to provide for their children are the very people who have more than they can care for. Instead of using effective contraception to keep the aftermath of their carnal desires in check, they merely embrace their handiwork as a 'gift from God'.

Gluttony is hailed. Gulping tonnes of junk food is accepted as a lawful sport. Society is deep into consumerism without care about how the bill is going to be paid tomorrow. Living on credit is the modern way of living. Being prudent or thrifty is so yesterday. Speaking and writing well is vilified as queer. They lace their speech with profanity and hail it as a creative licence. The audience thinks it is a comedy when one spews obscenity in his conversation. Comedians get standing ovation when they curse or denigrate own's religious belief. 

The film imagines what the world would be like in 2505, and it does not look pretty. Earth is one big rubbish dump. Upkeep of high rise erections and structures is neglected as people are no longer interested in science. The world has lost its lustre in inventing and discovering. Corporations are bending over backwards to keep clients (i.e. everybody) happy, rewarding them with meaningless pleasures. People are lazy, indulging in purposeless cybergames consuming gallons of soda. It seems water is impure and is only helpful for sanitation. For all intents and purposes, it is Gatorade. The people of the future even water their crops with Gatorade with disastrous outcomes.

Everyone is required by the law to have a bar-code tattooed on their arm for identification, tracking and ease of business transactions. Society has become much dumber to indiscriminate breeding. Everyone is a happy moron craving for carnal pleasure and fantasy lacking in agency. Thinking is done by the powers that be.

The protagonist, an average Joe US Army Corporal, is transported five centuries into the future in a failed Army suspended animation experiment. The fellow subject in the experiment is a prostitute who was running away from her boyfriend pimp. Our subjects land in a lot of trouble with the law, but being the most intelligent person of the time, he is picked out by the POTUS office. Together, he tries to start crop planting, and he eventually takes over the post of President!

Not quite the wacky movie that it portrays, but it makes one think. Interestingly, after making the whole movie, the producers decided not to have the film release on a big scale to fear upsetting the multinational companies supporting Hollywood. Quite openly, the movie had condemned 2505 Starbucks and McDonald for stooping so low as to pander its crass customer desires.

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Play ball or be cancelled!

Falling Down (1993)

Thanks, Danny, for showing the existence of this film.

We are constantly bombarded with the notion that we should follow the weather-beaten path, and everything will be alright. Do as I say, not as I do. Follow the dotted lines, and you will be taken care of. We are expected to act in a particular manner as it is how a civil society behaves. Keeping your emotions under check denotes maturity, and everybody will play their part.

We do our share of our bargain diligently but then, we realise that we had been taken for a ride. The promise turned out to be an empty one—a dream not, but a nightmare. And we flip. The system to whom we had been loyal all these while turns around and say that we are the evil one. The significant others whom we saw as the scourge is now the protected one.

Foster must have found himself in the same kind of predicament. Working diligently as a faithful servant in a defence facility, he realised one day that he had neither a job nor her family to go to. His employer had terminated him, and his wife has a restraining order against him. He is stuck in a bad traffic jam, his car air-conditioning has failed, and it is scorching hot outside. He had it. He decided to abandon his vehicle and walk-on home. Then it dawned upon him. He is the bad guy now. He is chided for leaving his car in traffic; he is threatened by ruffians when resting in an empty plot - is thought to have nefarious thoughts; guns and weapons are at everybody disposals, but was told that it was for peaceful reasons; he had to conform to pre-set orders on the menu; that people are outwardly pleasant masking a suppressed hatred; the immigrants who scaled the country in poverty are now dictating terms. Foster is now hunted as a villain because he deviated from the socially accepted norms.

Even his wife does not think he is right for her anymore as he has deviated from the societal pre-set rules. There is no place for self-expression; conform or be shipped out! (Hey, this is #cancel culture!)

In contrast, another character, a policeman, despite the curveballs that life has to offer, he is accepted as he plays ball. Like a domesticated cat, he conforms to the home environment.

A thoughtful offering on the pressure cooker state that modern man has to endure to stay relevant in modern societies. His wings are clipped, and his testosterone slowly dwindling in an environment that continually looks at him as toxic.

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Of time, space and life...

Tenet (2020)

This is another movie in which one may go in and come out of the theatre asking, "what was that all about?" It is about time travel and would make sense if one has a little background about time, space and bending time. Viewers of Interstellar should be at a better place understanding the flow and the plot of the story. They would not find it too confusing.

Time and space have fascinated man since the beginning from the Hindu tradition to the Greeks right down to modern thinkers. Time is just an arbitrary human construct to keep track of earth's rotation around the sun as to plan seasonal preparation of agricultural activities. It went on to permeate all over our day to day activities. Our mass occupies space and seems to move together with time. Somewhere interspersed in all these is life. And it is all moving forward in an ever-expanding universe, or is it?

In an alternative universe, time could be moving backwards as seen here in Tenet, the movie. A palindrome in its title (and some of the characters) suggests that events in life can be altered by moving forward or backwards as and when the situation warrants. In this film, Armageddon is averted when the Protagonist travels through time to get hold of an algorithm that can potentially destroy the world. 

This is a cerebral offering for those who are looking for something beyond poetic justice and lovey-dovey display tear-inducing display of emotion pathognomonic of Tinseltown. 

(P.S. A curious mind would still be puzzled. If an alternate universe where everything moves backwards and the Protagonist had to don an oxygen mask as even respiration is reversed, wouldn't all bodily functions be changed? Heart sucking blood into the heart, bile fluids retrograde into the liver parenchyma and reverse peristalsis in the human body just like the bullet being sucked back into the pistol barrel!)

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It takes one but which one?

Untouchables (2019)

The start of the fall of something big is always the same. The journey to the top must have been an arduous and an honest one. It would have been avant-garde or revolutionary then. Everyone would have liked it. Given the herd mentality that we all subscribe to, the response would have been palpably obvious with praises and felicitations that would rocket them to high heavens.

The fame would have gone to the head of the progenitors. They would think that they are God-sent avatars beamed on Earth to change Mankind. They could do no wrong. 

Those suppressed demons suddenly spring out. The rapacious appetite which was instrumental previously in launching their earlier fledgeling career now seems to have been diverted to satisfying their own primal decadent desires. The unabated admiration showered to them now is used paradoxically against the very people who put them up on a pedestal.

Everyone can see their nefarious activities but are fearful of spilling their beans as they hold a powerful position in society. It is their tiny squeak against the mammoth establishment.

It only takes one exposè. One squeal that reverberates so long that it takes down the kingdom of the evil. 

Repeatedly we have seen such occurrences. We fail to realise but continue doing the same, burning our fingers, apologising and repeating. Look around, see it done in politics, businesses and creative industries.

Harvey Weinstein

This documentary is the narration of the life and times of Harvey Weinstein, his brother Rob, their production company, Miramax, their rise to stardom and Harvey's subsequent call from grace. This film puts the accusers in the centre stage to allow them to tell their side of the debacle. As we know, Weinstein's trial opened the similar stinking bag of worms the world over. Through the #metoo movement, victims from Hollywood all the way to Bollywood, victims started voicing about their assaults. 

But beware! The #metoo movement was also fraught with conniving individuals who maliciously used it as a victim card to mar the image of people in authority. Empowerment given by resurgence of women empowerment had been misused as a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card.

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Start a revolution from my bed?

Hunt for Red October (1990)

Many keyboard warriors are so convinced by what they see online. They fail to understand why others are so dumb (in their eyes, of course). To them, truth our there is as clear as day. And everyone else just ought to follow, no questions asked. What these modern warriors or influencers, as they are referred to these days, need to know is that sometimes we become too blinded with our beliefs that we fail to practice mindfulness. They should wear another hat and maybe a different colour lens, other than rose, to get a different perspective on things. A revolution cannot be started by an army of one. It begins with the revolution of the collective minds and hearts of the people. This change is difficult, more so in modern times, as we are so divided by ideologies, cultures, faiths and identity.

This film is based on Tom Clancy's 1984 novel which in turn was loosely based on Soviet Union's 1975 attempted mutiny aboard a warship. In the 1975 revolt, a brand-new Russian frigate, Storozhevoy, is hijacked by its Third Rank Captain, Valery Sablin. He was convinced that Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union had lost its original Leninist's visions. The system was plagued with corruption and lies. Sablin wanted to use the hijack as a political statement to stir the Russian to engage in its Second Revolution. His plan fell flat, and he and his fellow men were incarcerated.

Storozhevoy

In the book and the film version, the warship was changed to a spanking new state-of-art nuclear-powered radar-escaping submarine. A rogue Russian Captain uses the invincibility of the sub to defect to the USA. The problem is the US Navy does not know of his intention and are wary of the intrusion of a Russian submarine in international waters. At the same time, the Russian authorities realise the rogue Captain's plan. The Russians are at wit's end to stop the Americans from laying their hands on Russia's highly advanced submarine. 

The highly suspenseful drama describes how the US Navy manages to save the day. They help the Russian crew to defect, rescue the submarine and embarrass the Russian at their own game.

It is naive to believe that truth will always prevail in the end. Things in real life are much more convoluted than that. The power brokers, financiers, the leaders, big pharma companies and the media moguls have the final say of how history ought to be written. Poetic justice and honesty are left to pacify the romantics. It is the rule of the majority. Annoyance from the minority can be easily boomeranged back to the senders by the powers that be (spoiler alert). 

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We want to dominate

Ford vs Ferrari (2019)

The Ford Motor Company is said to be masters in taking up challenges. In its giant plant, Willow Plant with its one-mile-long assembling line, the company managed to produce B-24 Liberator bombers at the rate of one plane per hour. This was their contribution to the World War 2 efforts to liberate the American soil and their European cousins from tyranny. The company established a reputation for themselves as "the arsenal of democracy" by transforming their production lines to make aeroplanes, tanks and trucks for the armies that defeated Adolf Hitler. They were a pioneer of sorts as women worked in the assembly line and were paid equal wages with men. It, wittingly or unwittingly, to also become "the arsenal of fascism." for its substantial business deals in Nazi Germany. But that is another story for another time.

By the end of WW2, Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II had taken over Ford Motors. He adopted an aggressive business style. When his bid to buy over Ferrari met a dead end, he went ballistic. He made his personal mission to show his dominance in the motor industry.

In the early sixties, Ferrari was overrunning the racing tracks. For six years, back to back, from 1960 to 1965, it won the Le Mans 24 hours endurance race. 

Ford II, through his agents, went on a headhunt to recruit the best racers to beat Ferrari in Le Mans and show them who the boss was. That is where this film fits in. It narrates the story of two American racers - Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby- in a dramatic twist which saw Ford Motor Company finish the Le Man Race in a podium finish.

This film is not just a run-of-mill offering that depicts the expected David vs Goliath scenario where David comes out tops despite all the disadvantages, and everybody is happy. It offers much more than that. The characters are rich. The chemistry between Miles, a war veteran British émigré who is a lowly mechanic because of his short fuse, and Shelby, a sports car salesman who himself was a race winner, is phenomenal.

What makes it more interesting is the controversy surrounding the final outcome of the race and the mystery surrounding Miles' crash during practice at the end of the film.

They say jealousy and greed are unfavourable traits. Clearly, this is not always the case. Many innovative inventions and groundbreaking feats have been achieved through our rapacious desire to dominate and tower over our fellow brothers. 

For background on the history behind the story, see https://time.com/5730536/ford-v-ferrari-true-story/.

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Of hopes, dreams, obsessions and nightmare...

Judy (2019)

When the mythical Pandora Box finally opened, all the evil virtues flew out, leaving only hope. Well, one can assume that when everything is gone, and one is down and out, there is always hope for one to start over. 

But then, conversely, one could ask why hope is there in the first place among unsavoury traits like jealousy and gluttony. Is it that sometimes, even hope gives a false sense of surety that masks the situation of the ground? Could hope, after the initial useful jumpstart progress to some kind of obsession? The dream to excel becomes so essential that one forgets to slumber. One needs to sleep to dream but then what ensues is just a nightmare when several self-defeating means are deployed to hope against hope to keep the dream, which is now only a delusion, alive. 

‘Judy’ is the story of a child prodigy, Judy Garland, at the tail end of her sad life. Coming from a showbiz family, she and her two sisters were in a vaudeville called Gumm Sisters. Judy skyrocketed to stardom at an early age. (who doesn’t know Dorothy Gale in Wizard of Oz?).  In the dog eat dog world of Hollywood, staying afloat is no easy feat. Drugs and intoxicants, which kept her stay relevant through the years, finally reared their ugly heads in her later years. With poor business management, bad life choices and spiralling legal fees, Judy had to fight a losing battle to win custody of her two children. 

Her labile temperament and frequent absences from shows made it even more problematic. 

I thought Rene Zellweger gave a stellar performance as a 40-something Judy as she tried to redeem herself as a singer in the London clubs before her demise due to barbiturate overdose.  

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