The Immigrant

When i read the first page of the book, I know whether its for me or not, mostly...And if its a book I am going to really treasure, the initial chapter itself will get me glued...If I need to try hard, its rare that I like the book and its course...

The Immigrant was of the former type, three paragraphs and I knew there was something about the book I would love...I had not heard of Manju Kapoor or her works earlier. The way Nina's character evolves, and matures, the details of her travels in Delhi, the way she describes the college (she says the 'double gate with the emblem crested' )Nina’s life in and out of books, her outlook towards life, a sense of purpose, her stint with modernism, yet holding on to the ground reality, her commitment to make it happen and work it out...Ananda's sometimes callous attitude, his indulgences and straying outside marriage, his shortcomings, his lies and deceits, her adventures outside marriage, her trip to India and Hardwar, her coming to understand herself...

Manju I feel didn’t really have to justify the end by defining who/what ‘The Immigrant’ stands, it was already for me evident, at least that’s what I think…

Dog Days Afternoon

I wanted some old time action, and knowing the recognition Dog Days Afternoon got at the Academy, it was an obvious choice. There was time when I had high regard for Al Pacino, but somewhere I started to notice that the characters he was casted had a similar trait. Since then, I started losing my admiration for him, and it just happened that I discovered a lot of other actors whom I had not noticed before.


Its all a mind game, bank robbery, demands, negotiation, decisions, mob, media coverage, FBI, cops…More than anything the beauty of the film is understanding how the psyche of different persons work in different situations. I remember once in college some person had come down to speak about MBA from ISB and he was asking the students if they knew what Stockholm Syndrome was. In more than one ways, you feel so much safe inside with Al Pacino in the bank than the world outside. Just the perspective of the film changes our ethical and moral equations. I particularly like the head clerk, a lady who is so true to her character she plays. I really liked observing her reactions and responses. Could they have really pulled off the whole show had they been more careful? What does it take to out-beat the strategists who are there to out wit and tire out the miscreants emotionally and physically? Some of the tactics is used by most strategists, still the cons fall trap to their lures.

A walk on the Moon

Do you feel that some actors get stereotyped into certain roles for the major chunk of their career? Whenever I see, Jenifer Aniston, all that I can think is Friends nothing beyond, same case for Lisa Kudrow. For Diane Lane there three movies which I can re-collect and all of them have traces of similar characterization. I think whenever somebody is thinking about casting, its in favor of the actor who has done a role with similar strains. A Walk on the Moon, Under the Tuscan Sky, Must Love Dogs well all of them show streaks of a woman trying to search herself. However when we talk about versatility I believe there are some actors who have this ability to get into the skin of the character more than what one could imagine. For instance Nicole Kidman in Dogville, Felicity Huffman in Transamerica, Heath Ledger in Dark Knight. Heath Ledger in Dark Knight, hats off to Nolan to be able to see Heath Ledger as the Joker. I could not think of the Brokeback Mountain actor to undergo such a transformation.

Samsara

This film is dedicated to the unsung hero, Nalin Kumar Pandya a.ka. Nalin Pan. He has made critically acclaimed movies Samsara and Valley of Flowers. Born in remote village in Gujarat, he is a man who made his own destiny and created a niche for himself.


Link to his biography - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659023/bio


Samsara is the tale of a Lama who has been recognized for his works at the monastery but his heart wishes to renounce the monastery and go live the life of an ordinary man. Just the reverse of what Buddha did; and what he encounters on this journey is what this tale is all about. Shot in the beautiful locales of Ladakh, with absolutely alluring back ground score and cinematography, Samsara is a delight for the eye as well as the soul. With traces of spiritualism, it does not get preachy and does not delve on complex dialog constructions, instead, the movie like a fluid maneuvers its path intricately and subtly. A must see for those who have an appetite for the Buddhist philosophy and way of life.

The French Connection

American crime, narcotics, cops who want to establish their worth, suave and elusive Frenchman (Fernando Rey), hunt down, searches, escapes, internal politics, bickering, risks, partnership, well this celebrated Academy award winning film is a specimen from those times. ‘Catch it’ as they would say on the show Chicks in Flicks. Talking about the show, I feel the hosts are impeccably dressed for a show like that and they appear to read line by line from a review for researched critique.

In the Cut - “I want to do to you what the spring does to the cherry tree”

An unkempt and disorganized apartment but amidst this chaos, you see order, and then you know for sure that this is not the Meg Ryan you have seen before. Long time back when I had seen Meg Ryan for the first time in ‘French Kiss’ like any other boy, I was like wow she is a beauty. But then with time you realize, yes she is pretty but there are others too. A lot of them in fact!!! She is plays a professor with a passion for words, and lives quite a dangerous life though she does not intend to.
Mark Ruffalo, well I didn’t know a single thing about him until I saw ‘I can count on you’. I picked that move for Laura Linney, but Mark was a bonus. Both of them together give an absolutely incredible performance. Well, in ‘In The Cut’, Mark - believe me, somewhere resembles, Abhay Deol. I think its the mush. He plays a cop, a cop not everyone would like.
Overall though the plot may be summarized as a thriller, the movie operates at many levels. There is a dark element, there is mystery, there is chaos, there is danger, there is risk and a good amount of melodrama. Its based on a novel by Susanna Moore. Jane Campion who made the masterpiece ‘The Piano’; directed this movie. Nicole Kidman it is said was supposed to play the role which was played by Meg Ryan. Nicole I guess wound up as being one of the producers for the movie.

The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch from Crossword

I picked some DVDs from Cross Word in Shopper’s Stop. I went home and figured out that the region coding for the DVD is not supported by the DVD players in India. I decided to return the DVD and also my copy of the BBC version of “Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It got stuck on one particular chapter and no matter which player you tried. After a little discussion the store guy agreed to let me pick something worth the value. He not only billed me extra, he could not refund the money and gave me a credit note valid for 6 months. It just took away all the charm of picking up a book. Never the less, I feel it was worth it.

The Last Lecture was labeled as Crossword Recommends, and somewhere I re-collected that I had heard of the book. Later I found out it was my brother who had got the same book from his client and was quite impressed with it. I took time to read the book as it was really difficult to squeeze time. However there are some portions from the book which I really enjoyed. Though not for the literary content of the book, but the message was loud and clear. There are some instances which I disagree with him like wishing his wife in public, which I feel should have been a more private affair. I was quite kicked to read what he learnt during his football practice - “When you’re screwing up, and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up.”