RIFLE RANGE BOY

About Elly (Iranian; 2009) Director: Asghar Farhadi Sometimes, we think a white lie would not hurt. Along with the lie, we squeeze in a little mischief. We justify our lying by convincing ourselves that it is all good in the grander scheme of things. Little do realise of its repercussions. To cover the embarrassment of one's untruth being discovered and maybe to uphold the white lie, there is a need for more untruths. The trouble with truth is that it has a funny way of showing up at all the wrong times. The lattice of lies will eventually crumble. Unless the individual has perfected the art of the sleigh of hands, the bluff will fall flat. To add insult to injury, God forbid if anything untoward happened, all the blame would fall squarely on the person who initiated the white lie and the good intentions! This is precisely what happens in this story. Old classmates, three couples with their kids and another divorced classmate decided to spend a few days by the beach. Sepideh, who o...

Basic (2003) This is a John Travolta - Samuel L Jackson collaborated movie that did not stir much of attention and did not hit it big at the box office. Their first one was of course Pulp Fiction (1994). The story is told in such a complicated way, in a Rashomon manner but with characters changing names that most viewers lost it. The story finally makes sense at the end but by then it appeared too far-fetched. It tells the story of US Army Rangers who are training in Panama. A hard talking strict trainer is killed. Tom Hardy, a DEA Agent with a shady past, is called in to help out to get to the bottom of the problem. Two Rangers, who are rescued from the hurricane hit jungles of Panama where the crime took place, have different versions of what happened. Further investigation opens the can of worms of racial discrimination, camaraderie, back-biting, factions, conspiracy and smuggling of illicit drugs into the US using army vehicles. Despite the confusion, the storyteller m...