Carte Blanche

(This time around I am sharing I story which I had written, long back. I had forgotten about it.)


He opened his door, did not bother to switch on the light, he preferred it dark. He saw a little boy sitting on his bed, he could not see his face…The boy asked ‘Papa where is Mama?’
In silence he went and sat next to the boy. ‘Is it raining?’ the boy asked. The man just nodded.

He was sipping his coffee, got up to splash some water on his feverish eyes. He looked up at the mirror and he knew that the little boy was lurching in the corner. He didn’t know why the boy called him ‘Papa’. Why he always had questions, why did he feel the need to answer him.

‘Papa were you listening to mama today?’
The man felt, Mama was Mama no more, Papa was Papa no more. He felt Mama stopped listening to what he stopped communicating.

He knew he would meet him at the most unexpected of the places, he didn’t know whether he liked to meet him or not, but he felt he was in his ‘likeness’…Few days he did not see him, he was quite content those days. He knew the little boy was sleeping close him and Mama and was quite restful.

He was waking down the street, waved and hopped into a cab, the boy also got in with him. Today, the man asked, ‘Not with Mama today?’
The little boy was looking outside, he did not hear his question. He felt vey awkward for having asked such a silly question, he felt foolish. The little boy was glum, he said ‘There was no room for me on Mama’s bed, she was with someone, but it was not you Papa; so I got up and came out, looking for you.’ The boy continued – ‘Where are you going?’.

[The wind was different the soil was different, the smell was different. The man was outside his house, languid. He saw the boy, it was not dark, he saw that the boy was handcuffed, and was chained…He had never noticed the boy so intently, he had never seen the boy in light before]

The man tried to sleep, next to his little boy’s Mama. He wanted to sleep there forever, he told her ‘forever’. He felt his words enveloped her.

He got up and was astonished, to find the keys to the handcuff with himself. He removed the handcuff and unchained him. He whispered in the boy’s ear, ‘Mama’s free’.

The man sat on his bed.

Shutter Island (2010)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer


Well, I am not a sucker for the thriller/horror genre. When I saw the poster for Shutter Island, I thought ‘Lost’. I had no intention to watch it, till it dawned that it was being directed by Martin Scorsese himself. But then, it lacks the charm of Martin Scorsese movie, is what I felt. May be the bias against the horror genre works against the film.

Anyways, that’s not the only bias, I still haven’t got around to believe that Leonardo can be a tough guy :)

Knight and Day (2010)

Director: James Mangold
Cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz

Comic relief, liked the parts were Diaz gets drugged esp. in Italy.
James Mangold has done Girl, Interrupted which I thought was an awesome film, before Angelina got her sex-bomb image.

Anti Christ (2009)

Director: Lars Von Trier
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Defoe
Wins at Cannes : Best Actress
Nomination at Cannes: Best Film


When Cannes gives a critical acclaim for a movie, and when its from Lars Von Trier, (considering you have been exposed to his works like Dogville, The Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves) you know what you are going to experience is not going to be something less than extraordinary. I have seen ‘The Mirror’ during a film appreciation workshop, at New Delhi. And definitely you can see the influence of Tarkovsky’ s style, I felt. But then if you call it as a ‘grotesque masterpiece’ I think for me the definition is absolutely hits the nail. There are a multiple interpretations and sub plots and references in the movie; it’s a thesis.
I was not in the frame of mind for such an encounter.

Willem Defoe – I clearly remember him from Boondock Saints. Charlotte Gainsbourg – I remember her face very well, but not as which character.

I then saw, Shutter Island the next day. Why are all the big directors moving to the horror genre? Is it the latest fad?

Gosford Park

Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Kristen Scott Thomas, Emily Watson

A plot with many subtle plots interwoven, (wounds like a typical tutorial or tute from college). Well, created and set in 1932 in England, it has an lots of characters, their inter-linkages and their development. What it initially looks to be a melodramatic tale, turn to be an murder mystery from some time on. Never the less, a lot of the finer aspects of the values, culture, morals and traditions are neatly exposed (in the right sense J)

I felt somewhere the plot got a bit side railed and lost its sting, it could have been a lot more powerful in its impact.

City Island (2009)

Written and Directed: Raymond De Felitta
Cast: Andy Gracia, Emily Mortimer

When I saw the credits roll, and Vince Rizzo, is ready to reveal his biggest secret, I realized, I am going to like this one. A story of a dysfunctional family who have been hiding the facts from each other. Though in more than one way they know that they are hiding something. An slightly over the top, last minute finale, but definitely a lot of thoroughly enjoyable moments all through.

Emily Mortimer, I have been noticing her in some movies, and always find her doing roles as women who are weak and vulnerable. Is that supposed to be a stereotype, who will break the rut?