Zero Bridge (2008) (India/Hindi)

Honestly I do not know if there is good acting or even good cinematography in this. Actors seem to be rather artificial or very different and cinematography is something like made by an amateur using a camera phone. But what are gripping about this movie are its mood and the story. In a way you can interpret the acting and cinematography to be one of the most natural ones. And there is a very mild script that doesn’t have much to say. But most of it is presented with action and silence. And believe me this is not a fairy tale about love blossoming amongst too people in the dream land of Kashmir. I trust it is life and hardship mix with expectation made extra sweet with a drop of love.

 

අවන්කවම මේ චිත්‍රපටියේ හොඳ රඟපෑමක් හෝ සිනමාකරණයක් ඇතිදැයි කීමට මම නොදනිමි. එහි නළු නිලියන් ඉතා කෘතීම හෝ වෙනස් වන අතර කැමරාකරණය නුපුහුණු අයෙක් විසින් ජංගම දුරකතනයකින් කරන ලද්දක් සේ දැනේ. නමුත් මෙහි බැඳීම ඇතිවන්නේ එහි කතාව සහ චිත්‍රපටිය විසින් ගොඩනගන මනෝ භාවය විසින්. සමහරක් විට මෙහි ඇති අමු රංගනය සහ සිනමාකරණය අධි තාත්වික එකක් ලෙස හැඳින්වීමටත් හැකියාවක් ඇත. එමන්ම අඩු දෙබස් පරිශීලනයක් සහිතව වැඩිපුරම රංගනය තුලින් සහ නිහඬ බව තුලින් මෙහි කතාව දිග හැරෙනවා. මා විශ්වාස කරන්න මෙය කාශ්මීරයේ සිහින පසු තල මත බිහිවුණු පෙම් කතාවක් නම් නොවේ. මා සිතන්නේ මෙය ආදරය නමැති පැණි බින්දුවක් දමා රසවත් කල ජීවිතය, එහි කටුකබව සහ බලාපොරොත්තුව නමැති කතාව බවයි.

 

I rate this 4/5

 

-Priyantha Bandara

 

Zero Bridge (2008) (India/Hindi)

Drama

 

Synopsis: A chance encounter between a teen pickpocket and one of his victims changes his plans to escape his dreary life.(IMDB)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Drama| History | War

I must have seeing dozens of very emotional and powerful movies based on the World War II and the holocaust. But to be frank this one stands out of the ordinary and simply makes its mark. There is nothing new about the era and the events that take place in this. But what’s remarkably new is its viewpoint. Choosing two kids to run the show is not an easy task at all but showing the real side of being a child and how they perceive the world is even harder. Sometimes you might put to answer the burning question of what exactly does it mean by growing up if children grow up to become adults and then devils in the process. The movie is quite short comparing the depth of its plot but that doesn't seem to have affected its effectiveness. What bring the true amusement to the show are the wonderfully talented performances by the two kids. There is plenty of space for the viewer to re live their childhoods one way of the other. Though how sad the ending might be it still leaves you with many sweet memories. Bravo movie making!!

දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධය සහ යුදෙව් මිනිස් සංහාරය ගැන ගෙතුණු විශිෂ්ට චිත්‍රපටි බොහොමයක් ඇත. නමුත් ඒ තේමාවම කැටි කොට ගත් ඉතා විශේෂ චිත්‍රපටියක් මෙය. මෙහි කැපී පෙනෙන විශේෂත්වය වන්නේ එම බිහිසුණු සහ හද කම්පා කරවන සිද්ධි දාමය සහ යුගය කුඩා දරුවන් දෙදෙනෙකුගේ දෘෂ්ටි කෝණයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමය්. විටෙක ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් වන සුන්දර සහ දක්ෂ ළමා රංගනයක් මේ සිනමා කෘතිය තුල දැකිය හැකි. එමෙන්ම සංවේදී සහ හොඳින් ලියවුනු පිටපත නිසා ඒ රංගනයන්හි ගුණාත්මක බව තවත් තදින් දැනෙන බව කිව යුතුය්. කුඩා දරුවන් සහ ඔවුන්ගේ ඇති අව්‍යාජ මානුෂිකත්ව මොනවට පැහැදිලි කරවන චිත්‍රපටියක් නිසාම සමහරක් විට දරුවන් මිනිසුන් වීමේදී ඔවුන්ගේ මනුස්සකම මැකී අමනුස්සයින් බවට පත් වන්නේ ඇයිද කියා ඔබ ඔබෙන්ම අසනු ඇත. කෙතරම් දුක්බර අවසානයක් වුවත් මතකය ඇති තාක් අමතක නොවන සුන්දර සිනමා කාව්‍යයක්!

4/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis: Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

Sunshine cleaning (2008)

Sunshine cleaning (2008)

Drama | Comedy

Stories surrounding single parents are quite common but this one got a different and surprisingly unique plot. Though there is ample room for disgusting material the movie just makes it a supporting base to build a strong emotional drama. Visually it doesn’t go where CSI goes but just give you a hint of what’s going on. And then it immediately jumps back to the story which actually matters and doesn’t let the viewer gulp on the gory detail much. I personally like the few characters. They are caring, loving and forgiving. And they are full of positive energy that actually makes you feel better once the show close. There are no hard hitting emotional hammers in this but few moments where you might actually feel a bit of pain. And there is subtle humor too amongst all that drama. How about that?!

තනිකඩ අඩු ආදායම් ලබන මවක් තම 8 හැවිරිදි පුතාගේ අධ්‍යාපනය සලසා දීමේ අරමුණින් අපරාධ සිදු වූ ස්ථාන පිරිසිඳු කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපාරයක් ඇරඹීම මේ චිත්‍රපටියේ සරල තේමාව. මෙහි ප්‍රධාන චරිත සියල්ලම පාහේ අමුතු සුන්දරත්වයකින් හෙබිය්. ඔවුන් ජීවිතය, ආදරය, පවුල සහ එකිනෙකාට සමාව දීම සහ තේරුම්ගැනීම වැනි සරල නමුත් වටිනා ගුනාන්ගයන්ගෙන් පිරිපුන්. කතාව බැරෑරුම් එකක් උවත් එය ඉදිරිපත් කරන ආකාරය තුල බලන්න තුල යම් කිසි සැනසීමක් සහ සැහැල්ලුවක් දැනීමට සලස්සනවා. වෙනත් චිත්‍රපටි වල මෙන් අපරාධ සම්බන්ධ වූ දර්ශන වලට උවමනාවට වඩා තැනක් නොදීම මේ කතාවේ නාට්‍යමය සුන්දරත්වය තීව්ර කිරීමට රුකුලක්. ජීවිතය සහ එය ජීවත් කිරීමත් ගැන කියවෙන කෙටි නමුත් සුන්දර චිත්‍රපටියක්.

3.5/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis: In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business -- a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service -- with her unreliable sister. (IMDB)

Revanche (2008) (Austria) (German language)

Revanche (2008) (Austria) (German language)

Drama

How does is it feel to love a prostitute? And what would you possibly doesn’t do to make her only yours? To start off with how does a prostitute differ from any other woman after all? Maybe these are few of the burning questions you might ask yourself while you watch this master of creative cinema. I must say this is not just a movie. Its pure art soaked in feelings. It will penetrate your skull and make a forever hurting wound in it. It is that strong and that profound in its story telling. There are no two words this is brilliant movie making from Götz Spielmann from Austria. It has a sharp tale that unfolds bit by bit slowly but steady and grabs the viewer by the backbone surprising him with each twist on the way. There is ample room for imagination but most of the time you will be dead wrong. The first half of the story runs disoriented with few story lines here and there but when the moment comes to put them in to one plot the real mind circus unfolds. Maybe until very late you will not realize that Revanche has no background music at all. I mean nil!! That vast emptiness of the atmosphere creates enough pressure for the fan to engulf in the story like it’s our own experience. Once again I have to say this is BRILLIANT!

ගණිකාවකට පෙම් බඳින්නේ කෙසේද? ඇය ඔබේම පමණක් කරගැනීමට ඔබ නොකරන්නේ මොනවාද ? ඒත් ගැඹුරින් සිතන කල්හි ගණිකාවක් අන් ගැහැණියකුත් අතර ඇත්තෙන්ම ඇති වෙනස්කම් මොනවාද? මේ චිත්‍රපටිය විඳින අතරතුර මෙවැනි දැවෙන ගැටළු ගොන්නක් ඔබේ සිතට පැන නගිනු ඇත. මෙය නිකම්ම නිකන් නාට්‍යමය චිත්‍රපටියක් නොවේ. එමන්ම එය හුදෙක් සුළු කතාපුවතක් රැගත් පැය දෙකකුත් නොවේ. මෙය වචනයේ පරිසමාප්ත අරුතින්ම විශිෂ්ට සිනමා කළා කෘතියකි. එය ජීවිතය සහ හැඟීම නමැති සයුරේ ගිලි පෙඟී ගිය අගනා චිත්‍රපටි අත්දැකීමක්. මේ කතා වස්තුව සහ එහි ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම කෙතරම් බලගතු වන්නේද යත් එයින් මිදී පලා යාමට ඔබට හැකි නොවේ. එය රසිකයාගේ කොඳු නාරටියෙන් අල්ලාගෙන සෙමෙන් සෙමෙන් නමුත් ස්ථාවරව ඉදිරියට ගලා යන්නේ ඔහුව වරෙක අතරමං කරමින්. ඔබට‍ බොහෝ දේ  සිතා ගත හැකි. නමුත් රිවන්චේ ඒ සියලු උපකල්පන සිඳ දමනු ඇත. තවත් විශේෂත්වයක් වන්නේ  මෙහි පසුබිම් සංගීතයක කෙඳිරියක් හෝ නොමැති විමය්. ඔබට ඒ බව සමහරක් විට කිසි සේත්ම නොදැනේවි. ඒ මුග්ධ නිසොල්මන අතර ඔබට නොදැනීම ඔබ තනි වෙන නිසාවෙනි.ඔස්ට්‍රියානු සිනමාවෙන් ලොවට පිදෙන මේ කෘතිය විශිෂ්ඨ සිනමා කෘති අතරට එක් වන අගනා සිනමා මිනි කැටයක්.

5/5

Synopsis: Ex-con Alex plans to flee to the South with his girl after a robbery. But something terrible happens and revenge seems inevitable.

-Priyantha Bandara

Gomorrah (2008) (Italy)

Crime | Drama

 

This movie covers a deep yet ugly reality of contemporary European mafia and its roots spreading in ultimate directions. Something’s you might see looks utterly unrealistic and it’s hard to imagine such livelihoods and lifestyles exist out there. This portray the bitter side of people who are caught up in the struggle of power, violence and corruption while points a finger at you indirectly for being blind. The intention of this movie is not to make the audience sad or make the gangsters look like heroes. But to live their lives, feel their minds and be one with a set of people who are pushed by circumstances that are so extreme.

 

මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය, දුෂණය, වංචාව, සහ එකිනෙකා පරයන බලයෙන් සිත අඳුරු කර ගත් කල්ලි ගැන බිහි වුනු සිනමාවන් අතරින් මෙය ඉතා ඉහලින් වැජබෙන බවය් මගේ අදහස. යුරෝපයේ උඩු දුවන නුතන මාෆියාව තේමා කොට ගත් මෙය එකිනෙකට නොදෙවෙනි කතා කිහිපයක සාරවත් එක මුතුවක්‌. මෙහි අරමුණ වන්නේ අපරාධ ගොන්නක් පෙන්වා ඔබව ත්‍රාසයට පත් කිරීමට වඩා බොහෝ ඔබ්බට ගිය දෙයක්. ජීවිතයේ අඳුර විසින් ගිල ගත් මිනිසුන් තවත් එක දිනක් හෝ ජීවත් වීම සඳහා කරන අරගලය ඔබේ ආලින්දයට ගෙන ඒම ඉන් මුලික වෙනවා. තවද මේ එක් එක් චරිතයක් සමග ඔවුන්ගේ හැඟීම වලට බද්ධ වී ඔවුන්ගේ හුස්ම සමග මුසු වෙන්නට ඔබට හැකි වෙනවා. අතිශයින්ම හිතට දැනෙන කෘතියක්.

 

4/5

 

Synopsis: A contemporary Neapolitan mob drama that exposes Italy's criminal underbelly by telling five stories of individuals who think they can make their own compact with Camorra, the area's Mafia.

Breaking Bad – TV series

2008 on going

Crime | Drama

Created by Vince Gilligan

This is going to be my first ever review of a TV series on this blog. And I’m certainly glad that it’s ‘Breaking Bad’. Obnoxiously disturbing at some episodes and filled with drugs, drugs and more drugs this series at times will make you disgust. But yet the plot is so strong that you will hold on it no matter what.

The plot goes like this – When an 50 year old overqualified chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with terminal cancer he realizes that all his future expectations is about to end in a jiffy. And that by being a good father and a husband and a loyal citizen has not made him to save anything for the family once he perishes. By luck or by fait he makes a drastic decision and a dramatic change of attitude. He decides to produce high quality Chrystal meth. His partner in this crime is a drug addictive and pathetic yet loyal and kind hearted small drug dealer named Jesse Pinkman who was once a student of Walter. 

The story starts right there and the series spread wide and fast just like the cancer in Whites lungs fast and furiously. There are so many twists and turns the duo faces and close calls they ditch in their illegal drug business. Without a doubt each and every episode is a new and exciting experience for the viewer and White and Pinkman both. So far after 4 seasons it’s so gripping and run the charts like hell. 

And as a series its busting my ratings of some other good shows I have seeing. If you have the spare time and the guts to enjoy this show I’d say go for it. If not the regrets are on you.

4/5

HUNGER (2008)

‘Hunger’ tells the story of Bobby Sands, who spends his last 6 weeks of his life in agony doing a hunger strike in an Irish Maze prison. This true story is based upon the events which took place in 1981 in Northern Ireland surrounding the IRA resistance and the government’s brutal effort to destroy it. 

Almost the whole movie is based upon the insides of the prison and the prisoners confined within it. While they call themselves soldiers of a freedom fight the government tags them as terrorists and vigorously punishes them in order to weaken their minds and the freedom movement spreading across the land.

‘Hunger’ is a very painful movie to watch. Even for the most strong hearted some of the scenes can come as a shock. It happens because this is not some fiction or a horror movie based on imagination, but because its real life and real human beings involved. It is quite disturbing to understand and realize the roots of some nations which condemn other nations in the name of human rights, while they themselves have made their problem resolution on violence and crimes against humanity. 

This movie is filled with practically alarming circumstances and unparallel masterful cinematography which will send some of the scenes permanently in to your consciousness.  And it speaks louder without words than any movie which speaks with a larger script. ‘Hunger’ is that much perfect. And when it comes to acting it will just blow you away by its naturalness. Some scenes are so long and uncut you might even feel that your right there seated with those men. 

It is a painful experience to watch, but if you get though you will be wiser about life than you were before.

My score 4/5

Genre: Drama, History, Biography

Director: Steve McQueen

Writers: Enda Walsh, Steve McQueen

Stars: Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw and Brian Milligan

TRANSPORTER trilogy (2001,2005,2008)

Transporter is not an alien movie series for many of you by now. It had started its first installment back in 2001 and it was quite a huge success for a mundane action flick with a one man hero approach. And then after the success of the first installment the second which is ‘Transporter 2’ was released in 2005. With bigger and better action than the first that was a memorable movie as well. In 2008 the final of the trilogy ‘Transporter 3’ was released. And by far even though it had less explosions and comparing with the first two it had quite a good action sequences. 

Transporter is based on a driver. A driver name Frank who is ex military, well trained and lethal. Who is excellent in hand to hand combat and more so in driving. He drives his own cars which are top of the range sedans by Audi in all 3 movies. His profession is delivery. Not just delivery but deliveries which anyone else would not dare to accept. He works with few rules of his own, punctual and always dependable on what he does. Thus the jobs he get often tends to put him in danger or in very unpleasant situations. But trusting his rides to be his best friend and the skills to be his savior, Frank cheats death a dozen times.

The spirit of the Transporter trilogy is the thumping action performance by Jason Statham, fast shiny cars and sexy women with short skirts. When all these 3 combined it is a high octane formula which combust right in front of the screen. 

Transporter most of the time is filled with utter bullshit and never can be true action sequences which almost all the time defines gravity and all theories of physics. Yet there is something which just makes you glue to it. Maybe it is the action, cars and woman all together or at least one for that matter. 

This trilogy is not an awesome one but it is very entertaining if you can digest some big lies. Maybe for some fans the purpose of transporters existence can be a puzzle (And that includes me). I mean who really need a external ‘driver’ with such skill to deliver a package from one place to another when there are so many other means of doing it by their own! Some food for thought any way. But then again who want to worry about those details. The movie is kick ass!!