Intertwining like Medusa's venomous hair!

Cloud Atlas (2012)

One of my buddies recommended to me to have a peek into this movie with which he was trying to make the head from the tail in this confusing film in which 6 stories from different era all run concurrently flip-flopping between scenes.

It narrates scenes ranging from what appeared like prehistoric (it turned out to be way past heights of modernism, the nihilistic future, year 2321) to 2144, 2012, 1973, 1936 and 1849.
I thought the story would highlight how one small action in the past would change the future, sadly I was disappointed. It only shows specks of 6 small stories interwoven as each continues on. The only thing that seem to bind each other is the actors who play different plots in various stories. I thought the soul of the same actors in different stories were the same and their actions in previous lives would somehow affect their next live, sadly it was only in my imagination! Only the 2144 and 2321 stories had certain link, the Somni goddess.
The first story narrates a young man who witnesses the brutal treatment of slaves. He saves a slave who later saves his life. He stands up against his father-in-law involvement in slave trade and joins the anti-salve movement. His book on about his travels to the Pacifics is read by the character in the next story.
The second narrates a bisexual who escapes from being with his male lover to work as an underwriter (amanuensis) to a great musical composer. His own composition is hijacked by his employer, hence he is stabbed and the protagonist escapes. He commits suicide after publishing his masterpiece.
The third offering is about an investigative journalist (Lisa Rey, Halle Berry) who is in trouble with the big boys of the petrolium industry as she tries to uncover a sinister plot to accidentally cause a nuclear mishap so that petrol is chosen over nuclear energy in spite of its safety and economic superiority. She is mesmerized by the classical music piece of the second story. The link stops there.
The next piece is about a down and out publisher who become an overnight success when his rogue writer throw a critic off a balcony! When his henchmen demand his share, the publisher tries to borrow money from his brother who dupes him to be incarcerated in a old folks' home against his will. He escapes and makes it big by publishing Rey's story and a screenplay of his adventure in the old folks home. The film is watched by the character in the next story.
The following story, in my opinion, has the best cinematography and CGIs. It is supposed to happen in the future where workers are cloned and discarded like commodities. A renegade clone (Somni451, Doona Bae who acted in Air Doll) decides to expose this exploitation to the world. She is executed but is later worshiped as a deity in the next story.

The future is bleak. People are living like in the pre-historic times with bare necessities and hunting each other like savages. Zachry (Tom Hank) acts here a cowardly man with visions of a demon always on his back. He is visited   by Meronym with advanced technology (Halle Berry) who saved Zachry from savages and transport them to another planet.
That is my interpretation of the above movie. It is star studded independent movie which boast the likes of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Doona Bae and Hugh Grant in a few small roles. The make up is excellent with some Caucasian actors were transformed to have oriental features.

The official synopsis for Cloud Atlas describes the film as: "An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution

The only similarity among all the stories is that there is violence, revolution and uprising all through man's history. People are never happy with they have, they always revolt hoping that the better future. 

Swedish masala

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende, Swedish; 1955)
Written and Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

One romantic comedy set in early 20th century Sweden. It tells the story of 4 couples engaged in a twisted love affair. First, there is a 50year old advocate, Fredrik Egerman, who is married to a 19 year old Anne. He was a widower and and has a 18 year old son, Henrik, who is a confused lad who is trying very hard to be celibate to join priesthood. He is teased by his promiscuous  maid, Petra.

Fredrik and Anne's matrimony had not been consummated despite 2 years of union. Meanwhile, Fredrik meets up with his ex-girlfriend, stage actress Desiree Armfeldt.

Whilst in Desiree's bedroom, her current boyfriend, a hormoned raged soldier, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm walks to his wrath. A tiff ensues. Fredrik leaves but Desiree ends her relationship with the Count.

The enraged Count tells his ever loving wife, Charlotte, Anne's friend about Fredrik's infidelity. Charlotte then tells her friend Anne.

Meanwhile, Desiree and her mother plan a dinner for the Egermans, Count and Countess in conjunction with mid Summer night, the shortest night in summer. What happens next is a series of mix ups. Petra, the flirty maid, pairs up with Armfeldt's burly butler.  Henrik, who always the soft spot for his step mother, beds her and she is deflowered! The couple elope with the help of the maid. The Countess who made a challenge to be able to seduce Fredrik at the dinner is spotted by the Count. The Count challenges Fredrik for a duel in a deadly game of Russian Roulette.

Fredrik fires on his second attempt only to discover that he had been duped. The gun was only loaded with soot!

In the end, the Count and Countess are reunited. Fredrik continues his relationship with Desiree. Everybody is happy. The End.

Counter propaganda film

The Murderers Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns, German; 1946)
As sort of an effort to counter the effect of the Nuremberg trial which seem to paint the Americans as the saviours who were forced into a war to save Europe from a group of heartless barbarians, this German film must have been released. It goes on to show the sufferings of the average German and how they pull themselves together in a heap of rubble filled Berlin. Not all Germans were privy to the atrocities done by the Nazi regime. Many were physically and psychologically traumatized. Of course, they were some who benefited from the war and carried on with their lives as if nothing happened, turning the tide to their advantage.
Suzanne returns home from a concentration camp to a ruined Berlin to her half damaged apartment. Her downstairs neighbour, an optician, survived the war and continues his practice with whatever stocks that he could salvage. He is waiting patiently for his son to return from the war. He is kind of a father figure to Suzanne.

Living in another room is an astrologist who finds fortune by giving people hope to the uncertainty that lay in front of them.
Suzanne discovers that her apartment is occupied by a man who seem disillusioned and frustrated with life. Rather than leaving the apartment, she decides to share the apartment with him. I suppose, after being in a concentration camp, it is only normal to empathize with someone who had been traumatized by the war. This man turned out to be a surgeon, a Dr Morten, before
the war but now finds solace in the bottle and the night club nearby.
One day, Suzanne finds an unopened letter amongst Dr Morten's things address to a certain Mrs Ferdinand Brückner in case of Captain Brückner's death. Curious, Suzanne delivers the letter to the addressee, only to find that Mr and Mrs Brückner are living happily in great comfort.
When Suzanne tells Dr Morten about Captain Brückner's life, he becomes upset. He narrates his life story.

Dr Morten had been struggling to save lives before the war. He was drafted to the Army when it was war-time. The amount of violence and carnage that was going on was to much to stomach. His Captain, was ruthless ordering execution of hundreds of women and children, especially the innocent ones in Poland on Christmas Eve of 1942. Morten's pleas fell into deaf ears.
Later, the Allied Forces were about to capture them. Brückner was injured. Rather than surrendering, he wanted to take his own life and borrowed Morten's pistol.
Brückner survived anyway.
Dr Morten later meets Brückner. His pistol was returned. Morten is perplexed how his captain is able to put behind all his brutal acts and carry on life as if nothing had happened.
In the meantime, the plea of a crying mother, moved Dr Morten's aversion to blood to perform a tracheostomy on a suffocating child. This gave him confidence to move on in his life. His relationship with Suzanne also flourished.

Christmas came. So did the old thoughts of 1942 Christmas Eve in Poland. Dr Morten is decorating his Christmas tree. The sound of 'Silent Night' seem more pensive than ever in post war Berlin. In his walk-about, he sees Brückner celebrating Xmas with his workers of his factory. He talks in such a spirit giving them hope to work for the glory of Deutchland. At that juncture, Dr Morten thought that he had to shoot him with the same gun that he had lent him earlier. During the war, he had given Brückner the pistol, hoping he himself would punish himself for his atrocities. Now that he had survived that, he thought he had finish off the job. Just in the nick of time, Suzanne managed to stop him. She advised that we should leave the judgement to the higher authorities or higher power... Die Ende.

So you think your job sucks?

Nayak (Hero, Bengali; 1966)
Director: Satyjit Ray
I get quite irritated when someone mentions that his work is one which takes a lot of effort and hard work - as if anyone is going to get paid for swatting flies. Anyway, that was how a batch of South Indian labourers were hoodwinked to be bonded labourers here in Malaya. They thought their scope of job was just to shoo the damn crows from feeding the milled powdered sugar left to dry!
Someone actually had to cheek to wonder whether his halitosis (bad breath) was due to his stressful job of kowtowing to whims and egos of his bosses!
This kind of message is mirrored in this Ray's award winning film.
Arindam, is a famous actor who has to make a train trip to Delhi to receive his award. The story is essentially about his outpouring of his story of his humble beginnings to his demi god status and the insecurities that he feels inside.
Arindam is all tensed up as he gets ready for his trip. The newspapers had splashed about his drunken brawl in a bar. He is also worried about his next new movie which may be his first flop.
On the train, many are smitten by his presence whilst other could not care less. Ladies comprise the former while the educated and an elder journalist form the latter.

Sharmila Tagore

Aditi, (Sharmila Tagore), an up and coming women's magazine editor is introduced to our hero. The initial meeting did not go well with both parties and with their air of (over)confidence.
There are some side characters like the businessman who tries entice a tycoon with the help of his charming young wife; the spiritual man who is trying his introduce his business venture and the family who is travelling in the same compartment as Arindam's with a sick child.
Most of the conversations between Adita and Arindam occur in the buffet compartment in stages and interspersed with flashbacks.

Confessions in the buffet train

He started as a stage actor under the auspices of his master, Shankarda, who had adverse opinion about film acting. Shankarda forbade Arindam from getting involved in films as it was bastardization of the art of acting. However, after the master's untimely demise, the lure of better life lured Arindam into films. His first encounter with his film was with a old timer named Mukunda Lahiri who made going hell. He survived but got his vengeance when Mukunda was a down and out actors many years later after 3 flop movies and a serious drinking problem. Mukunda's plea for a role was rudely denied.
Arindam, a person very particular about public image, also disappointed his childhood friend who chose the line of politics. His plea to speak to striking workers to boost their confidence was ruthlessly not obliged.
He also narrates about his affair with a married woman who wanted a chance to act in his films.
The initially confident man crumbles after reflecting on the events that formed his life. The guilt of his past doings pricked his conscious as he tried to bury his worries in booze and sleeping tablets. As he comes around and the journey almost comes to an end, he makes peace with Adita. Adita, on her part decides not to publish his story. She rather had his good image amongst his fan continue.
A good show.

A meaningless discourse on love

Le Genou De Claire (Claire's Knee, French; 1970)

Continuing into the journey French culture, I ventured into Éric Rohmer's fifth movie in the series of the Six Moral Tales. I am still wondering how it was voted as the year's best movie for the year. Maybe I am ignorant or overlooked something, pray tell.
It tell of a 30 something old diplomat (Jerome) who is spending time in the beautiful French countryside, trying to sell off his bungalow before he settles down to a fellow diplomat who is away on tour of duty.
By chance he bumps into his old friend, Aurora. Through Aurora, he catches the acquaintances of Madame Walter, a widow and a divorcee who is about to marry for the third time as well as her daughter, Laura and her step daughter, Claire (who appears later).
Even though, Laura is just a teenager, Jerome seems to be unable to resist his attraction for her because of her complex character. Laura just puts a damper on his feelings after initially teasing him.
Then, when the physically attractive Claire appears, Jerome falls for her; not for proportionately endowed physique but he develops a fetish for her knee! -hence the title!
Whilst all these is going on, Aurora and Jerome have an intellectual
discourse on the turn of events.
One day, Jerome catches Claire's boyfriend intimate with another lady. He informs her on a boat trip and he gets his fetishism satisfied when he coaxes an emotional Claire by stroking her knee!
Time comes for everyone to leave - Jerome off to meet his beau for wedding etcetera, Laura to Switzerland boarding school, Claire reconciles with her boyfriend. Aurora revealed she is actually engaged.
The main attraction of the movie, beside the actresses was the picturesque country-side scenery.
I find the characters a bit too talkative for their age. It is not quite usual to have teenagers to be able to analyse and express their inner feelings so succinctly, especially to someone much older than themselves.

No child's play!

Fallen Idol (1948)
Director: Carol Reed

This 1948 thriller had all the ingredients of a dark noir thriller. Unfortunately, as it is told from a child's viewpoint, it must have been pressured to have a happy ending. The suspense is slowly builds up with muffled adult conversations as the main character of the film, a preteen Phillipe, an ambassador's son who is trying spend his weekend alone as he father leaves the Embassy to pick his wife from the hospital.
Phillipe is left under the care of the butler, Baines who is trying to sort out his personal problems. Baines is trying to convince his girlfriend, a typist in the Embassy not to leave her job or to end their relationship. Baines is having a troubled marriage to an ill-tempered wife who is also a tyrant trying to discipline Phillipe during his parents' absence. Phillipe is awed by Baines' tall adventure stories and bravery.
In spite of Baines being caught in a desperate situation trying to juggle his sulking girlfriend and a suspicious wife, he still manages to keep Phillipe entertained. He introduced the girlfriend, Julie, as his niece to Phillipe and asked the boy to keep it as their secret!
Mrs Baines tricks everyone into believing that she has left town to visit an ailing just to spy on her husband.
She manages to corner her husband when Julie was staying the night. A fight ensued, between Mr and Mrs Baines at the top of the flight of stairs. Phillipe, who has been peeking at the whole fiasco, bolts off via the fire escape stairs. Baines manages to pacify his wife. He leaves her to send his girlfriend away through the back door. Just then, Mrs Baines tries to spy into the guest bedroom but slips and fall to her death.
By then, Phillipe sees a motionless Mrs Baines and assumes that Mr Baines had killed him.
Phillipe walks around aimlessly in a daze to be stopped by a cop.
What happens next is the display of excellent British suspense and wit. As the police slowly moves in to investigate the death, it is the question of Phillipe trying to protect Mr Baines, Mr Baines trying to avoid Julie's involvement, Phillipe's contradictory and annoying statements and discovery of Mrs Baines' note complicates police work. At one time, it looked like Mr Baines who go in for a murder he did not commit.
Finally, justice prevails. Phillipe's mother returns and Baines and his girlfriend get together...
The main star of the show seem to be child star who appear in almost every frame of the film.
A entertaining thriller but no child play!

The cough near the stairs*

So what happens when 4 guys who met at the tender age of raging hormones meet up again 30 years later with declining testosterone and receding hairlines. They talk and talk. Gone are the small talks and gigglish teenage pranks. After embracing life in their own strides amidst its ups and downs, the discussion progressed to something intellectual and profound. Conveniently, all the four followed different paths to righteousness. Just like the saying, 'all roads lead to Rome' and 'if you don't know where you are going, any road takes you there' (courtesy: George Harrison), we had representatives from Bahai, Christian, Hindu faiths as well as an agnostic atheist.

 
Just like how Einstein's futile attempt at answering nature's favourite curiosity - Does God exist?- the quartet and wives of 2 embroiled in a stimulating discussion on God, nature, evolution, The Message, as well as bankers! Why bankers? In the new postmodern world, they rule the world, man and beyond, with their economic might and bite. In essence, they are the new God. How appropriate that one of the chaps is a banker by profession.

 
As all discussions by mortals on subjects on Divinity, the parting words were the same. Just continue with what you are comfortable with, as long as it gives you hope and something to hold on to in times of calamities. With that, we are all left to respective lives doing the same thing we were doing with the trust that we were sent, by whoever, for a reason, and it was our duty to provide for our dependents. Rather than trying to appreciate the unknown, it makes more sense to understand our juice of life - the bearer of our DNA and the contributor of the other half!

* melepaskan batuk di tangga!