Cast: Vahina Giocante, Mohamed Khouas
This coming-of-age love story explores the emotions of a young muslim man living near the city of Paris. Growing up in a poor ghetto all his life with his single mother having never travelled anywhere else, Chimo has no hope for a better life. Days roll by as he observes and writes of the depraved existence about him. He reckons he can't do much better than his friends. His friends who slouch around making a scrap living with shifty dealings tell him no better. That is until Lila, a beautiful blonde girl arrives in their neighborhood. Provocatively dressed, Lila markedly ignores his friends but takes a liking to Chimo. She befriends him, sharing salacious stories, suggestive thoughts, and generally riling him up till he frets with not knowing how to be around her or what to say to her. Avoid her though, he can't. The closer they get, the more titillating she is leaving him but absorbed. Seeing her preference for him, his friends rankle wih rage. What lies behind Lila's provoking character or what his enraged, rejected friends get up to? The movie takes you on a vivid emotional journey through a teenager's eventful summer.
Rating: A 4 out of 5 stars.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
I've Loved You So Long (2008, French Movie Review)
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius
After a life in prison for 15 years Juliette meets her younger sister Lea who has been brainwashed by their parents to forget her and who has not seen her in all these years. Though strangers to each other, Lea is happy to be reunited with her sister. Juliette begins her life at her sister's. Lea is now married to Luc and they've two adopted children and Luc's aged father, all living in a nice home and leading a comfortable, reasonably happy life. Luc at first receives Juliette with suspicion and even fear when he learns one evening when they're out that Lea's left their kids in the care of her sister. While legal authorities try to rehabilitate Juliette with finding a job, she falls into a sort of friendship with her police report and a professor friend of Lea's. Slowly details about Juliette's past emerge. We learn along with Lea about why Juliette went to prison. We see the pain hidden away that no outside intervention can inflict or thwart. As Juliette says, death has no excuses. Kristin Scott as Juliette is simply marvellous. Her gaunt face, sunken eyes, and weariness translate her emotions beautifully on screen. Her transformation from the rigid, unrelenting Juliette to one warming up to the possibilities of life yet forever carrying the cross of the past is believable and memorable.
A poignant exploration of compassion and of the long-lost relationship between two estranged sisters.
Rating: A 4.5 out of 5.
After a life in prison for 15 years Juliette meets her younger sister Lea who has been brainwashed by their parents to forget her and who has not seen her in all these years. Though strangers to each other, Lea is happy to be reunited with her sister. Juliette begins her life at her sister's. Lea is now married to Luc and they've two adopted children and Luc's aged father, all living in a nice home and leading a comfortable, reasonably happy life. Luc at first receives Juliette with suspicion and even fear when he learns one evening when they're out that Lea's left their kids in the care of her sister. While legal authorities try to rehabilitate Juliette with finding a job, she falls into a sort of friendship with her police report and a professor friend of Lea's. Slowly details about Juliette's past emerge. We learn along with Lea about why Juliette went to prison. We see the pain hidden away that no outside intervention can inflict or thwart. As Juliette says, death has no excuses. Kristin Scott as Juliette is simply marvellous. Her gaunt face, sunken eyes, and weariness translate her emotions beautifully on screen. Her transformation from the rigid, unrelenting Juliette to one warming up to the possibilities of life yet forever carrying the cross of the past is believable and memorable.
A poignant exploration of compassion and of the long-lost relationship between two estranged sisters.
Rating: A 4.5 out of 5.
Tum Milo To Sahi (2010): Hindi Movie Review
Cast: Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia, Suneil Shetty, Rehan Khan, Vidya Malvade, Mohnish Behl, Anjana Sukhani
An older employee Subramaniam (Nana Patekar) is asked to retire from his day job as a law clerk by his law office boss (Mohnish Behl). A young army cadet Bikramjeet (Rehan Khan) gets a leave of absence from active duty to experience civil life. An ambitious account executive Amit (Suneil Shetty) hankers after closing a new deal for his company's rapacious head honcho. Popular college girl Shalini (Anjana Sukhani) is the love interest of Bikramjeet. All of these disparate lives converge into the scene at Lucky Cafe run by Dilshad aunty (Dimple Kapadia). Her cafe is a prime hangout spot for college students, school kids, and regulars alike who virtually bond like family. Dilshad's strong, loquacious, feisty temperament gives the cafe its unique flavor and draw. The plot thickens when Amit's company picks Lucky Cafe as their new target to expand their cafe franchise profits. Amit urges Dilshad to sell her cafe to his company but Dilshad resists. Amit's wife Anita (Vidya Malvade) a close friend of Dilshad's is a treat to watch but her role is limited to a couple of sad expressions. Dimple Kapadia and Nana Patekar pretty much carry the film's weight and both render their roles with flourish. Interestingly, Dimple has added considerable weight to her figure looking quite changed from the sexy vamp she played only five years ago in Being Cyrus. Toward the latter part, the plot becomes typical with the usual masala and accompanying melodrama thrown in. However, some scenes with Nana and Dimple shine through despite the wavering plot.
Rating: A 3 out of 5 stars.
An older employee Subramaniam (Nana Patekar) is asked to retire from his day job as a law clerk by his law office boss (Mohnish Behl). A young army cadet Bikramjeet (Rehan Khan) gets a leave of absence from active duty to experience civil life. An ambitious account executive Amit (Suneil Shetty) hankers after closing a new deal for his company's rapacious head honcho. Popular college girl Shalini (Anjana Sukhani) is the love interest of Bikramjeet. All of these disparate lives converge into the scene at Lucky Cafe run by Dilshad aunty (Dimple Kapadia). Her cafe is a prime hangout spot for college students, school kids, and regulars alike who virtually bond like family. Dilshad's strong, loquacious, feisty temperament gives the cafe its unique flavor and draw. The plot thickens when Amit's company picks Lucky Cafe as their new target to expand their cafe franchise profits. Amit urges Dilshad to sell her cafe to his company but Dilshad resists. Amit's wife Anita (Vidya Malvade) a close friend of Dilshad's is a treat to watch but her role is limited to a couple of sad expressions. Dimple Kapadia and Nana Patekar pretty much carry the film's weight and both render their roles with flourish. Interestingly, Dimple has added considerable weight to her figure looking quite changed from the sexy vamp she played only five years ago in Being Cyrus. Toward the latter part, the plot becomes typical with the usual masala and accompanying melodrama thrown in. However, some scenes with Nana and Dimple shine through despite the wavering plot.
Rating: A 3 out of 5 stars.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Road, Movie (2010): Hindi film review
Cast: Abhay Deol, Satish Kaushik, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Mohammed Faizal
Ever since his debut in Socha Na Tha, Abhay Deol has cemented his identity as an actor who can effortlessly portray atypical roles, and yet regardless of the box-office fate of his films carve for himself, mass appeal. This movie sees him as a young man ashamed of his father's undertaking of producing and selling hair oil. Afraid he'd end up the same, he escapes on a journey to drive and deliver a truck to a remote city. On the road, he crosses paths at various junctures with a little boy at a roadside chai stall, an old man who fixes his busted truck, and a young woman in search of water. A family of these strangers comes together as they journey on in the truck sharing their lives. And along the way, he discovers himself. That underneath it all even in the bleakest of circumstances the will to live, to take pleasure in passing moments, being able to help those people with you connects him to his self.
Satish Kaushik as the old man, Tannishtha Chatterjee as the young woman, and Mohammed Faizal as the little boy fit their parts well. Dev Benegal, director, writer, of the film has spun an allegory simple in its narrative but more symbolic than real. The effect of which leaves an impatient audience itching to wander off.
Rating: Three out of 5 stars.
Ever since his debut in Socha Na Tha, Abhay Deol has cemented his identity as an actor who can effortlessly portray atypical roles, and yet regardless of the box-office fate of his films carve for himself, mass appeal. This movie sees him as a young man ashamed of his father's undertaking of producing and selling hair oil. Afraid he'd end up the same, he escapes on a journey to drive and deliver a truck to a remote city. On the road, he crosses paths at various junctures with a little boy at a roadside chai stall, an old man who fixes his busted truck, and a young woman in search of water. A family of these strangers comes together as they journey on in the truck sharing their lives. And along the way, he discovers himself. That underneath it all even in the bleakest of circumstances the will to live, to take pleasure in passing moments, being able to help those people with you connects him to his self.
Satish Kaushik as the old man, Tannishtha Chatterjee as the young woman, and Mohammed Faizal as the little boy fit their parts well. Dev Benegal, director, writer, of the film has spun an allegory simple in its narrative but more symbolic than real. The effect of which leaves an impatient audience itching to wander off.
Rating: Three out of 5 stars.
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