Inception

Inception is a movie that needs great attention while watching; just a moment’s distraction can make it hard for you to understand what is happening. But that is not a bad thing; the whole movie is like a cubical structure with blocks being inserted every minute. If Nolan had placed one block in a wrong way, the whole structure would have been destroyed. But Christopher Nolan had succeeded here in creating that structure with utmost seriousness and care. All the blocks are safe and at the right place. Here is a movie, with mind-boggling story, jaw-dropping visual effects, brilliance in stunt coordination and Nolan with superb skills of making a film. At the end of the movie, we are in a trance - wow - it has totally bowled us over and it is not the actions or effects that make this movie great but the STORY. Nolan has won again.

There was a Dark Knight, a few years back and the brilliance with which a batman movie was handled was greatly applauded and enjoyed. But Inception is better and has come out with double the perfection of Dark Knight. The idea for the latter is much greater. But with a great story and weak script we would have been disappointed. But that does not happen and the script is just awesome and must congratulate Nolan for developing such a fine script.

The story revolves around Cobb who is the greatest extractor ever and to help him there is Arthur. They are literally thieves who steal ideas from others when they are dreaming in sleep. Then they get an assignment to do the exact opposite they are trained to do. This time they have to plant an idea not steal it. If Cobb does so what he is offered is what he wanted the most, to go back home to his country with no charges against him. Watch the movie to know exactly what happens and what it means to him to go back home.

We have seen the skills of Nolan as a director in Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins and Dark Knight and he has gone several steps ahead in Inception, creating an astounding movie. I think this is Nolan’s best work to date. He has created here a masterpiece that should be watched in the big screen only. He has easily converted a complex idea into a great script and has transported it into the silver screen with flawlessness.

There is a scene in which Cobb, the character played by Di Caprio, explains to the Ariadne, character played by Ellen Page on dreams and creating dreams when she suddenly realizes that she is inside a dream and everything explodes. The explosion is so slow and the scene gets us a close up of Ariadne, showing her realizing that she is inside a dream. In one word, I will say this scene is just brilliant. Then there was the action scene in zero gravity by Gordon-Lewitt, another wonderful piece of direction. The movie is about an idea and is full of vivid ideas that keep the viewer so gripped into the movie. The idea for this movie will be probably Nolan’s greatest idea for a movie.

Leonardo Di Caprio was good as Cobb and was the right choice. Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard also provide stand-out performances. Joseph Gordon-Lewitt as Arthur, the second-in-line to Cobb, has also given commendable performance. Tom Hardy and Ken Watanabe are good in their respective role. Michael Caine was just a hype not needed at all. He was just there for two scenes and I felt like he was cast just for being in every Nolan film.

Inception is a MUST-WATCH. It is so engrossing and interesting. Nolan has created one of the finest screenplays. The highlight of the movie is the well executed detailed script and Nolan’s excellence in crafting a movie.

The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner

A young man who has lost his memories and parents in a car accident is guided by his charismatic grandfather to regain his memories by travelling around Europe, retracing the path the young man and his parents once took when they had illegally migrated from Bulgaria to Germany for a new life. This is the premise of this movie.

This movie was the Bulgaria’s official entry into Academy Awards 2009 and it was also shown in many film festivals winning many awards.

I simply loved this movie. With a wonderful and simple story this movie captivates the viewer with the brilliant acting by Miki Mnojlovic and his inducing dialogues. Stephen Komandarev is a wonderful director who knows how to visualize a story. But the story rises above all these and makes the movie a definite must watch.

The movie tells the story of the journey of Bai Dan and his Grandson Alex in search of the real self of the latter. In a parallel story line we witness the plight of the young Alex and his parents for a new life from Bulgaria to Germany. Both the stories go well simultaneously and do not make the viewer bored. This is because of an intelligent and well written screenplay.

I really liked the characterization of Bai Dan, an experienced man whose life is all about the game Backgammon and even his dialogues relate around the game. He once says to his grandson “life is like the dice in our hand, fate is determined by the skill and luck of the player.” He has a simple solution to all problems. He never pushes Alex to revoke his old self but with his own innovative techniques he tries to get back his old Alex. He realizes that sitting idly in the hospital can never make Alex any better and he takes him on a cross country trip across Europe and playing Backgammon occasionally.

But this is more than a tale of two people on the road to self-realism. The movie explores into the political situation of Bulgaria during the 1980s. Alex’ father, Vasko, gets into trouble with a local communist who wants him to spy on Bai Dan, his father-in-law. He refuses and worrying about the consequences he decides to leave Bulgaria and flee to Germany with his wife and son. We get to see the troubles that they face during their migration and the problems they and the other immigrants from different countries face in the refugee camp.

Backgammon had been given much importance throughout the movie. The movie starts with backgammon and ends with backgammon. Bai Dan’s life revolves around backgammon. In Vasko’s life also backgammon plays an important part. The game plays also an important role in bringing Alex back into his original life.

The movie talks about the hopes of a small family and their dreams of having a better life somewhere. It tells the forgotten memories, dreams and life of a young man who learns more things when he regains his memories. It tells about a grandfather with full of love for his grandson. It tells how a small game like backgammon can stir the life of people.

I strongly recommend this movie to everyone for the brilliant acting of Mr. Manojlovic, an interesting story, good direction. At the end, everyone wishes for a grandfather like Bai Dan and that’s the success of this movie.

Rooster's Breakfast (Petelinji zajtrk)

It was odd for me to watch this movie as I was completely unaware about Slovenian film industry and movie culture. Considering the above fact I have to say I was not much impressed by the whole affair.

The story is set in a town in Slovenia, bordering Austria and centers around the workshop of Gajas -  an auto mechanic and his assistant, David, who at the starting of the movie moves to the town in search of job, played by Vlado Novak and Primoz Bezjak respectively. The story mostly happens in the auto mechanic shop and house of Gajas and the movie is rich with different kinds of characters that revolve around Gajas.

When the story moves ahead, we find that David getting into a serious affair with Bronja, the wife of a thug-like man, Lepec, a strip club owner. Unknown to him almost throughout the movie, they have a passionate affair that suddenly turns very serious. While Gajas have a not- so- good relationship with Lepec as the latter does not pay immediately for the works done by Gajas. Meanwhile, Gajs comes to know about the relationship between his assistant and Lepec’s wife yet he does not disclose it with Lepec.

The love story is so lamely written and picturised. The director has done it in a much too cynical way. The audience does not see any connection between the couple. The only things we see between the couples are they making love that too three to four times. We don’t see them talking or we don’t see them looking at each other with understanding. Yet towards the end we see both of them completely into each other and missing each other. Even the acting of Bezjak and Zemljic was any good.

The direction also falls flat with nothing outstanding to give with a plain old story in the same old pot. Another important thing about this movie is that, the cinematography is really good and has really shown great shots of Slovenia.

But I have to say I have to say the movie was in some way watchable, thanks to Gajas and his lines. Vlado Novak’s portrayal as the aging drunken enthusiastic mechanic was a clinical one who is all gung-ho about the old days when Tito was alive. He falling for the Croatian pop singer Severina and her voice and he being desperate to meet her was all nice to watch. And his dreams and the rooster’s breakfast (watch the movie to get it) he has with “Severina” all leads to a better climax to the whole movie that the love story alone could not have done. Mr. Novak was indeed brilliant in enacting the role as the mechanic in love with the celebrity with all the great lines in the movie given to him. When the movie in the whole as David as the main character and is all about his life in the town and how it affects the life of people there, Gajas gets all the applause for his innocence and a brilliant acting.

But on the whole, the movie fails considerably as the audience has not understood why Bronja and David are in love, why nobody noticed them together when they were walking around the town all the while, why Lepec’s cars are constantly in repair.

It’s not a great movie, a onetime watchable movie just for the awesome acting of Novak and the cinematography. But as I said in the beginning I don’t know how movies are made in Slovenia and this might have biased my views on the movie.

P.S. Heard that this movie was one of the biggest hits in Slovenia and had received numerous awards. Hmmmm!!!

Pakal Nakshatrangal

When the movie was realeased two years back I was not able to see it. I had heard that it showed a novel change in the Malayalam film industry with some fine acting and good story. But it was a failure in the box office. Later I came to know that Mohanlal had won multiple awards for his performance for this movie. And when this movie was aired the other day on television I sat down to watch it finally.

Watching this movie, I realized this too was just an attempt to make a good movie where the whole crew failed to produce anything worth watching apart from the good acting by Mohanlal and a fine story line.

The main reason for this movie to fail was a weak script. This movie as a mystery never keeps the viewer guessing what is to happen next. Moreover, there are so many characters in this movie that the viewer gets easily confused who is who and how he is going to affect the story line; especially those characters that appear as the Siddarthan’s (character played by Mohanal) friends. Most of these characters seems one sided that linger around most of the movie without any impact or by providing silly comments that does not move the movie forward. They seem to be there just for being in a film and their acting seemed plain boring. Anoop Menon who had handled the writing department appears to have heightened his character with unwanted intellectual lines that he speaks.

The director seems to be nowhere, with mediocrity shown in each shot and the story never moves forward and it hangs around the same point till the end with a fine climax which could have been better.

The narrative pattern made me remember about the TV Chandran film ‘Kadhavasheshan’, with even the plot being similar to the movie.

This movie never evokes the viewer to engage into the movie due to several reasons:

Characters seemed to pop out from nowhere, speak something interesting blandly and then disappear suddenly.

I didn’t understand the purpose of many characters and scenes especially the scene in the beginning in which Nishanth Sagar speaks of his new drama. His character itself is nowhere to be found later. Then there was Lakshmi Gopalasway with no specific purpose but just to listen to Anoop Menon’s avoidable and uninteresting dialogues. There are some more scenes in which I didn’t I understand the purpose of it in the movie. 

The movie is a definite one time watch just because of a really good story, a good performance from Mohanlal, Kalpana, the actor who played the character Uthaman and Anoop Menon in parts but due to the faulty screenplay and ridiculous dialogues we don’t get to like the hang of the movie.