Waltz with Bashir (2008) (Israel)

Explicitly well built yet grimly presented with high contrast animation Waltz with Bashir is a documentary film from Israel. Though it is a documentary its surprisingly entertaining in an equal way to a feature film that builds a strong plot using speculation and reaches a point of realism at it’s peak. The horrifying reality about Waltz with Bashir is that its not fiction but it is the story of a dark event that took place in West Beirut, Lebanon in 1982 which later the world identified as the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Director Ari Folman is on a path of self-realization when he interviews several veterans from the period of the invasion of Lebanon. And this movie represents those interviews and the findings in a very creatively laid out animation based cinematography.  The style of animation it self looks unique and very original and when it mixes with the details of the story there is very thin line between reality and animated characters. As the story telling style is attractive and appealing the viewers are carried to a certain point when they are bombarded with a brief session of live news footage. It is surprisingly well made and the presentation of this certain event is built to last a lifetime in the memory.

Waltz with Bashir is not just another documentary about war and barbaric human behavior. It is something more that has the capacity to reach in to deep corners of the mind and haunts viewer for times to come. And when it comes to events like this being haunted is essential as nothing comes close to the true pain and suffering the real victims went through.

My score 4/5

Genre: Drama | Documentary | Biography | Animation

Director: Ari Folman

"Vals Im Bashir" (original title)

My Left Foot (1989) Ratings: Genre 4.5/5 | Overall 4/5

Deeply moving and flawlessly performed My Left Foot is a brilliant portrayal of human courage and capacity of mind beyond physical ability. This true story based on the life of Christy Brown who was a writer and a painter that was born with Cerebral palsy a syndrome causes severe disability. His left foot being the only limb he has control of Christy lived a full life defeating the odds and becoming one of the most respected individual of the time. This movie from its start to the very end is highly enjoyable though it has many moments of pain embedded. The joy of it is no doubt the success that Christy achieves but there are equally heartwarming and wonderful moments of what a truly loving family can offer as well. Christie’s dreams wouldn’t have become a success without the support he got from his family, especially his mother. 

Though performances of characters with disabilities is nothing new to the movies My Left Foot brings in one of the most challenging of roles to light. Christy is portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis and the acting is staggering. While Daniel obviously received the Oscar for best performance for this movie (And he is the only actor who has won 3 Oscar’s in the best actor category) I don’t want to forget the child actor who does Christie’s child hood part as well. Because both of them combined delivers a Christy for the viewer who is full of life and determination. Christie’s character is a symbol of how an actor should actually perform someone else’s life as if it was their own. 

The movie runs smooth moving back and forth from the present to past without hanging on to any scene for too long. It skips many years on the whole at times but makes no flaws in development of the story. The other characters including his mother, father and the many siblings of the family fits in neatly and there are no excessive drama than what it really requires. Director Jim Sheridan who is well known for his talent in making biography based movies indeed shows that he is born for nothing else but making movies. 

There are many broken dreams and hopes yet there is always joy through tears found in unexpected circumstances. My Left Foot is a must watch for drama and biography fans. 

Genre: Biography | Drama

Director: Jim Sheridan

Jobs (2013) Ratings: Genre 2.5/5 | Overall 3/5

Just like for many people out there Steve Jobs is a hero for me as well. This was the number one reason why I was eager to watch “Jobs”. Though I have not read his biography I have ready many different news, articles, comments made by others about Jobs. And here was the golden opportunity for me to witness the rise of this great man on silver screen. Was it what I expected? Let’s find out. 

I don’t think that I need to introduce Steve Jobs to you or have to write about what’s this movie is about as it’s obvious that you know. But it’s important to understand that the on screen Jobs here is quite different to the Jobs you often used to see on TV and on famous Apple product launches. The CEO who always had a smile and some exciting information about some mind blowing machine which the world most of the time has never experienced before. Jobs here is an ambitious man and severely portrayed to be a hard headed guy with steam blowing out of his ears. Most of the time that steam is anger filled frustration of not converting his ultimate objective of creating amazing technology dreams in to reality. There are many reasons that points out to Steve’s anger and attitude. Yet the key reason seems to be is his ego. Especially for a fan who has high regard for Steve as a role model this can turn out to be quite disappointing and wearisome. But it is important to understand that there are always two sides of a person and most of the time we get to witness only one side of it. Observing in that perspective maybe Jobs is a powerful representation of the unknown Jobs. But overall I don’t think that it’s entirely successful. 

Keeping the different path the movie takes trying to vaguely include Steve’s personal life in to his corporate domination the real question is if the viewer actually feels his enthusiasm and his dreams. Up to a certain extent, yes. Maybe the first half is the most interesting as it is where the Apple was discovered. But it quickly skips many years and suddenly Steve is the owner of a large organization that plays in the same field with some big corporate names. It seems like at this point the movies soul was lost (Just as Steve loses his down the line) and a different mood sets in. Personally for me the movie from there onward was more like a documentary. It failed to reach the climax I was hoping for and it failed to connect to the old Jobs who was shown at the opening scene of the movie. Thus it looks a bit disconnected within. 

It seems like the real interesting thing about Jobs is Ashton Kutcher. It was certain that he have done some deep study about Jobs and he sure kicks in some life to his role. For an actor who is known for feather weight characters his whole career this was a game changer. If it was not for Kutcher I’m failing to find a direction where this movie would head. But still overall it didn’t impress me nor it didn’t make me have some deep respect towards Steve Jobs than I already have. In that case what purpose does this biography serves is a good question to think about. 

Genre: Biography | Drama

Director: Joshua Michael Stern

 

The Wind Rises (2013) Genre: 4.5/5 Overall 4/5

For anyone who is familiar with the earlier works of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli from Japan should not be needing an introduction to this movie. The Wind Rises is a long awaited anime from Miyazaki and just as expected it is a wonderful piece of cinema where Japanese animators have yet again proven that they cannot be compared to any other animators but themselves. The Wind Rises is special in its own ways and this time more than being entirely fictional the plot follows the biography of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero air crafts. Both the air crafts were known to have played a key role in the WW2 and a pride of Japanese warfare.

The story unfolds at the time of Jiro is a small boy having big dreams of flying. But due to his issues with eye sight he decides to design air crafts instead. And this big dreamer works nonstop towards achieving his goals. The story also follows his love life with a girl he devotedly fall in love with and their short yet beautiful love story. The combination of these two one mechanic and one emotional story lines strangely yet wonderfully has woven a memorable movie together. It’s indeed fantastic to witness how Miyazaki has put these two stories in to one and give them equal capacity without harming the essence of the whole movie.

Just as all Miyazaki movies The Wind Rises has lot of laughs, fantasies, love and then brief moments of sadness and tears. All of this is depicted through breathtaking cinematography created via paintings that at times makes your jaw drop. There is no doubt that Japanese anime artist are the best environmental painters in the world and each scene shows it over and over. I had to pause the movie so many times just to get my eyes full of those amazing details on the frames. This here my friends is pure art and you cannot escape its beauty.

Beautiful story line that has a perfect start, middle and ending combined with correct flow The Wind Rises is another unforgettable anime. It is a must watch for anime lovers.

"Kaze tachinu" (original title)

Genre: Animation | Biography | Drama

Director : Hayao Miyazaki

The Monuments Men (2014) Rating Genre 2/5 | Overall 2/5

Biography | Drama | War

I’m wondering if it’s becoming a trend for big budget movies based on world war two to fall flat and unremarkable. Last year it was The Book Thief and this time it’s The Monuments Men. It’s certainly is curious to think about how a movie that has such great potential and big names in the cast fail to ignite any emotions other than disappointment.

This is loosely based on the non-fiction book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, by Robert M. Edsel. It follows a team consist of experts of art and history whose mission is to save the countless art and other culturally important items from destruction at the end of world war two. As per order by Hitler the Nazi army has robbed the greatest pieces of art from around Europe and transported them to secret locations across Germany.

 The Monuments Men does a fine job at emphasizing the important of saving these great historical pieces. In fact it’s the only positive point that comes to my mind after watching this. The rest of course is not so impressive. The character development is poor and that leads to flat emotional value when incidences occur surrounding some of them. The script looks stiff and has no effect on the actors to perform any better than they do. Though the big names like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Kate Blanchet and John Goodman sounds like a winning combination, this movie could have being easily pulled off without anyone famous appearing in the cast. Because it’s not worth of such talent and there is no room for exceptional performance anywhere. Clooney being the director/writer and one of the lead actors in here should learn that sometimes it’s better to stick to one role at a time. Because it seems like there is definitely a great deal of responsibility at all those points for The Monuments Men and he has not being able to fill in properly.

It’s quite sad to remember that though The Monuments Men was a sizeable movie that could have being on route to award ceremonies this year will be forgotten soon with many other low valued productions that fills the theaters. My advice is if you really want to know what happened to The Monuments Men turn to History Channel. 

Philomena (2013) Rating 4/5

Right at the beginning of this review I have to tell that Philomena is a beautiful and a heartwarming movie. And it’s based on true events that will make you adore the things you already have today. You will feel like hugging the main characters (Especially the old woman Philomena played by wonderful Judy Dench) and thank them for being who they are and for what they did and finding solace on a rough place of life lived with difficulty. And if you want to stop reading this review right this moment and decides to watch Philomena I will not mind at all.

Philomena is a main character of this movie. She is an orphan who has spent her life at a convent from a very young age where she has taken a sacred vow of silence following her unexpected pregnancy. Forced to go through rough labor to pay for her sins she gets to see her child only an hour a day until one day the convent decides to give away the child for adoption. Shattered and traumatized for life Philomena lives keeping this a secret for 50 years. And finally she decides that someone should know. Her emotional journey of finding her 50 year old lost son is accompanied by a freelance writer Marin Sixsmith (Steve Coogen) who has his own life difficulties to overcome. (I hope I have not given away too much of the plot)

Philomena is based on 2009 investigative book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith. It’s directed by Stephen Frears the man behind the acclaimed Queen (2006) and it is a British production. I must say that Philomena caught me by surprise. I knew little about the plot when I started watching and it was surprising to witness how interesting it’s becoming every minute. And further realizing that they are true to life raised my interest furthermore. Judy and Steve are fantastic in their roles and for a moment Philomena becomes a mystery and the next it becomes a deep heart melting drama. This has the power of storytelling and telling it beautifully from start to end. The key to success of Philomena is its emotional value no doubt.

There is something so very sweet about Philomena. She is so calm and amazingly empathetic towards the people who have made her suffer a lifetime. And it’s so dramatic to witness her keeping all that pain in her heart and still manages to keep the faith to what she believes in. She symbolizes the motherhood in such a powerful way and more than that she reminds us to be grateful for the joys of life and people we come across even how insignificant they may seem. Maybe that’s the great lesson that Philomena teaches us. 

The Grandmaster 2013- "Yi dai zong shi" (original title), Rating 3/5

(language Mandarin)

I have nothing but respect for Kar Wai Wong. His movies are deeply thought provoking and mesmerizing in every possible way that you can imagine and they are pure works of art. As a director he knows what cinema is truly capable of and touching the deepest corner of hearts for him is just magically simple. However his latest The Grandmaster is very noticeable out of his usual movie making style and it’s different. While being one of the most beautiful martial art movies I have seeing ever this gives me mixed feelings. 

To start with the plot is not an unfamiliar one for anyone who has seeing previous movies by Wilson Yip about the great master IP (IP Man 2008, IP Man 2 2010). However The Grandmaster is an exploration of master IP’s life from the early 1930s which is somewhat an unexplored era of his life in previous movies. This could be the main reason that Kar Wai Wong has spent significant time on master IP’s early life but given a short span of the movie for his life after arriving in Hong Kong. Master IP was truly known for his contribution to take martial arts especially Win Chun to a global arena and that part of his life is less explored in this movie. If anyone expects to see the same story unveiling with the great hands of Kar Wai Wong they will be somewhat disappointed. 

But The Grandmaster offers much more than just master IP’s life. For a good deal of time the viewer feels like it’s an exploration in to an era where China has gone through lot of domestic and international disturbances and the evolution and the struggle of Chinese people as a whole to keep up their life and traditions. At this point the plot spreads in few directions and master IP’s story at times takes backstage. Though this is a bold move made by the director to give the story more weight and meaning it feels like master IP’s character was not given the proper respect he deserve. For me the different story lines were a distraction and a reason to drift away from the main plot than an anchor point. Being a slow moving film the time spent on sub plots is harming the main plot. 

Performance wise The Grandmaster is brilliant. The simple yet rich performance by Tony Chiu Wai as master IP and sharp eyed stunningly beautiful Leung Ziyi Zhang delivering the role of ambitious Gong Er keeps the movie alive and warm. And the wonderful cinematography with close up and high speed camera sequences makes The Grandmaster a visually memorable one. You will witness some wonderfully crafted action sequences in this one that’s lethal yet eye pleasing. As I recall this only fall short to the beautiful cinematography of Hero (2002).

All in all The Grandmaster does not fall in to one of those amazing movies made by Kar Wai Wong. But that does not mean that he loses his title as one of the greatest directors of the contemporary international cinema. His flags are still flying high while the flag for The Grandmaster is at a bit lower level than the rest.