(IMDb: 6.9, Wikipedia, Roger Ebert)

Precursor to the beauty and randomness of Waking Life

    Coming from the prodigious mind of Richard Linklater, Slacker is the forebear of Waking Life, a look at the lives of ordinary people doing ordinary things. The film does not require a description of its story, because narration is not its objective. It is not about telling a story, or teaching us morals. It is not about making us feel one way or the other. In its jumble of stream-of-consciousness, Slacker tries to escape from all expectations of normalcy and form.

    Slacker is a fly on the wall that puts us in the middle of the lives of regular joes and janes. The camera, and we along with it, flit from one coversation to another, never staying long enough to get attached. The shifting speakers show us how much happens in every single instant. We might all agree that man is a social animal, but few of us ever stop to think about the magnitude of life that teems around us. The fears, joys, and frustrations with which the world deals are lost on most of us.

    Slacker explores a multitude of ideas ranging from anarchy to new-age philosophy, from the human condition to the nature of reality. The nature of conversations is quite surreal, and one is never quite sure if the entire thing truly happened. Although just as random as Waking Life, Slacker, knowingly or otherwise, does not avoid bland conversations. Where every conversation of Waking Life at least involved us to a certain degree, Slacker does not look away when confronted with triteness. This is both a shortcoming and a success. There are many occasions when extended conversations stir nothing, and yet, remind us that we need to free ourselves from setting boundaries on art. We are chided for expecting dialogs to have punchlines, and for wanting to see more of certain characters.

    Although Waking Life is far superior in its execution and ideas, Slacker is still special for what it achieves with the filmmaker's limited budget and experience. The lack of direction (narratively-speaking), the "relay race" of the film's characters, and some interesting dialog make for an engaging 96 minutes.

Tags: movies, reviews

(IMDb: 7.3/10; Wikipedia; Roger Ebert)

Disappointing, botched, amateurish attempt at a loaded topic
    Watching this film was long overdue. I had heard of Kevin Smith's cult following and had experienced the wonderful ride that Chasing Amy was. To add to that, the concept behind Dogma was pretty darn cool. The cast was big, the canvas huge, and the agenda enormous. But none of it could salvage this sinking vessel. All the king's horses and all the king's men, and so forth.

    Kevin Smith's greatly touted skill has been his dialog. He is arguably among the finest pens that write long-winded tirades, witty comebacks, and insightful observations. Remarkably, Dogma showed an utter lack of sophistication or tact. The moments that made me laugh could be counted on the fingers. Of one hand. Of E.T. I have seen the man in action not more than two days ago, when he had come our university for the third run of his An Evening with Kevin Smith show. I just can't imagine how someone who had our rapt attention for five whole hours could come up with embarrassing dialog like in this film. The trite and corny lines almost overloaded my Cringe-o-meter.

    The whole affair had a thick coat of amateurism on it. No doubt, films such as Clerks and Chasing Amy aren't known for their polish and slickness, but this film has the sensibilities of a high-school production. Blocky edits and choppy transitions make an already tedious film all the more unbearable. The characters are mere sketches, with a pretense of a background or a personality. It almost seems like everyone's just being themselves while knocking off a few beers and reading out the lines half-assed. It is hard to believe anyone took anything seriously on the sets.

    Dogma begins with a few disclaimers about how it is supposed to be humorous and not intended to offend anyone. I seriously doubt anyone who sees the movie would be offended by it. Except perhaps fans of Kevin Smith and the discerning members of the audience. The "philosophy" presented in the movie is so thin you could have it instead of the Atkins diet. I have heard deeper words from people who have put a gallon of beer behind them. I am sure some (or most) of the ideas have come from such evenings of drunken revelry.

    This is a film without redemption. Quite unbecoming for a film that (almost) embraces the teachings of Christ.

Tags: movies, reviews

(IMDb: 6.5/10; Wikipedia; Ruthless review)

Documentary-style fiction that shows us what another 9/11 would be like
    The last few years have been some of the most fertile years for terrorism. The embers of terror and threat refuse to die down after being fanned almost on a daily basis. The incidents of that fateful day in 2001 took terrorism from the realm of a few hot spots and hit the world at its center. It would seem that from that point on, there was no place safe from the wrath of those who feel they have been wronged. The events that followed have their repercussions to this day, and there's promise of more to come, thanks to the theatrics of Kim Jong-il and Khamenei. Public outrage to the American retaliation has been on a high not seen in the last few decades. The melodrama of news networks notwithstanding, the threat to a peaceful life has never seemed more tangible to such a large percentage of the populace. At a time as volatile as this, what effect would the assassination of the President of the United States have? Death of a President, a remarkable faux-documentary by Gabriel Range, shows us just such an event but restrains himself and refuses to show us a full-blown Orwellian dystopia.

    A fictional story pitched as a documentary, this film is not nearly as gimmicky as it could have been. The feel of a documentary is meticulously retained even though the film has a larger charter. The seams of it being a fiction are seen in a few places, but they can be excused for the otherwise great detail with which everything is executed. Through carefully-paced narration, we see the events leading to the assassination and some of its aftermath. The film goes above an average documentary's mere depiction of events, and brings several related points to our notice. The thin line that public demonstrations tread, with nary a tear-gas shell needed for violence to break out is the focus of the pre-assassination part of the film. During the post-assassination hunt, we see the story from the eyes of those usual suspects, the almost voiceless minorities that are regularly the victims of witch-hunts. After the capture of the suspect, we see how even an open-and-shut case is dismissed because it is not as easily acceptable as the solution at hand.

    It will be a real shame if this is movie is dismissed for its ostensible topic - the assassination. A bigger shame would be if it is patronized by pubescent (mentally speaking, of course) for the very same reason. This movie isn't meant to take pot-shots at the incumbent president or to fantasize his violent death. This film has a larger role, in providing us with an almost-real feel for a situation that is not improbable. Where it goes from there is for the audience to decide. How right are we in pointing fingers at outsiders? How far would we take our prejudices? What will the face of the planet look like after waves of terrorism and its reprisals? Death of a President will make us ask these questions much louder.

Tags: movies, reviews
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One Night @ the Call Center (Wiki; another review)

We are a very forgiving people, a nation of generous and warm-hearted teddy bears. There is no stronger proof for this than the fortunes of dated, derivative, and sub-par pieces of work. One such master-piss of a book is One Night @ the Call Center, the sophomoric (Ed: does this count as a pun?) effort by Chetan Bhagat. The premise of the book, which I admit is pretty fertile, is God calling a group of call center agents. The execution, however, is about as barren as Homer Simpson's pate.

The call center agents in One Night @ the Call Center are a diverse bunch with the common thread being their state - a mix of misery, depression, anger, hatred, and myriad negative feelings. That is until they get a call from God. I won't divulge too much, but I will say that this is a poorly-thought piece of work, and as expected it ends happily for all involved. And I don't mean happily as in "man unites Lohan and Duff", but more of a "Mr. Universe breaks pole-vaulting record by leaping to Mars to save a kitten, comes back home before bed-time to his fifteen Rolls-Royces and personal chef". It is a saccharine ending that might as well have been penned by Suraj Barjatiya. With a literal Deus-ex-machina ending, the book ends in a flurry of action not seen since Michael Corleone's swift brand of justice.

The book assumes high moral ground as it decries call centers as sweatshops, and eating burgers as conspicuous consumption. It urges us to stop doling our cash to foreign corporations with the zeal of a back-to-the-stone-age reactionary. It assumes the readers possess a monochrome vision and must be told that eating a pizza is tantamount to treason. All of this is told in a made-for-film screenplay-like story that reads like dialog between moderately-advanced apes, with a language that is ghastly even if it is accurate. I say, call center agents would have a real problem at their hands if their language were this poor. Oh the atrocities against the infinitives! They had wives and kids to support.

Overall, an average plot-line with a pervading stench of pre-school story-telling skills, splotches of trite situations, and a tirade that does nothing to dispel the apathy. I hear Salman Khan has bought film rights for the book. It couldn't possibly have been easier to avoid the film!

Tags: books, reviews

(IMDb: 6.9/10, Review; Wikipedia) 

Run-of-the-mill story with a charming, feel-good coating

    Kinky Boots has perhaps the most charming beginning I can bring to mind. A young girl sits on a bench, bored as she waits for her father. As music starts playing in her head, she springs to her feet, puts on glam stilletos, and dances to the tune. Her angry father sees her and glowers, admonishing her with a "Silly boy!". What we just witnessed were the humble beginnings of Simon, the drag-queen. Intrigued? So was I, as a wholly unique kernel of story unfolded - a dying shoe factory is spurred to life when the reluctant owner Charlie Price finds a niche market making durable shoes for men who wear women's shoes. With the help of flamboyant transvestite Lola, the stage-name of ex-boxer Simon, Charlie tries to turn around his family business, making new friends and finding love along the way.

    Kinky Boots is heavily reminiscent of the Hindi film Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke (starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla). Both are stories of a reluctant non-entity burdened with the responsibility of the family business, facing difficulties from both inside and outside the workplace, and turning it around before it is too late. The plot isn't terribly innovative. In fact, with the exception of Simon/Lola, almost every character is someone you would expect to see - Charlie Price is the unsure, clumsy, but always passionate leader of the pack. Nichola is his uncaring, cheating girlfriend. Don is the bigoted strong-man with a heart of gold. The leading lady is the standard strong, yet supportive and loving woman, someone who had to be the exact opposite of Charlie's girlfriend.

    The driving force of the film is, without doubt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays both Simon and Lola. His incredible talents are put to good use as his character flips from overbearing to supportive, feisty to contemplative, showing a wide range of emotions as only a thoroughbred such as him can. His actions drip fluency as Lola and awkwardness as Simon, which would seem very characteristic of someone who feels out of place in his natural skin. He even belts out some saucy cabaret numbers in a transvestite club! How many actors have that on their resume?

    The film has all the trappings of a manipulative, feel-good movie that we are used to. Although it can get annoying when you realize the same old tricks are being used, the mind sometimes does enjoy being pandered to, seeing good happen to good people. It has been done before, several times over, but it takes skill to bring in a new setting, to surprise the audience with a twist or four, and to avoid the more boring pitfalls. Kinky Boots does most of these and so makes for a good watch.

Tags: movies, reviews

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie [Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie] (IMDb: 8.2/10, Review; Wikipedia)

Who knew 100 minutes could feel so long?

    I chanced upon this film when I was reading about Dinner with Andre. Like most of my mistakes, I jumped into this one without doing a background check. A wet sock of a story gets flung around for an hour and a half, long after our brains have switched off. To be honest, this film does seem like a whale of an influence to future filmmakers. However, it is definitely not something regular film-goers can enjoy. I will say that critics, film students, and completionists will enjoy this.

    Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is an absurdist, surrealist film, which is almost a film school experiment. It is a series of events that befalls a group of families as they try to have dinner together. I am not kidding - they sit to have dinner and something unexpected interrupts them. There are some really bizarre incidents that happen throughout, which will leave you confounded till you realize that none of them are meant to be taken seriously. Some of the mini-stories will make a wry smile cross your face, and frankly, some of the movie is actually enjoyable. It's only that such tricks have almost no repeat value. Fool me once shame on me, fool me seven times and you are really pushing your luck, buddy!

    The surrealist elements of the film don't crop up till quite some time. It is not immediately apparent that many of the situations are stand-ins, either satires or surrealist fantasies. The film begins as a weak attempt at mocking the shallow lives of socialites. Their posturing, assumed statures, and adherence to arbitrary customs are easy targets that the film tries to satire. Somewhere down the line it takes a turn into the bizarre with meandering storylines, inconsequential characters, and unexpected U-turns. Some of it did bowl me over as I really didn't expect anything like it. But after a time when no pattern or method was discernible, I could do no better than appreciate the creators for their ideas without enjoying any of it.

    Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a highly experimental film that needs to be applauded for its audacity, especially considering the time when it was made. I am sure it has had massive impact on a lot of filmmakers. Influences for the pointless conversations of Pulp Fiction and the red herrings of David Lynch films can be clearly seen here. However, that doesn't make the 100 minutes of the movie sitting any less excruciating.

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Following (IMDB: 7.6/10, Wikipedia)

    It is an interesting exercise to witness the early works of great artists. Sometimes, even without the 20/20 vision that hindsight offers you can see the cogs and wheels that make these people what they are. Following is one such look into the past of Christopher Nolan, one of the great time-warping story-teller of today.

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Children of Men (IMDB: 8.1/10, Top 250 #152, Wikipedia)

Start saying your prayers, friends, because the end of the world is here. In less than a hundred years, humanity will see its demise. Thanks to an unknown affliction humans are no longer able to reproduce, and all we can do is wait for the end. This is the bleak and dismal view of the future as presented by Children of Men. The film is loosely based on the science-fiction novel by P.D. James, and it paints the post-apocalyptic landscape of the world in the darkest shades of despair and helplessness.

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American Psycho (IMDB: 7.0/10, Wikipedia)

American Psycho is a dark, blood-soaked chunk of satire about a hideous beast that isn't as uncommon as we think. As what we wear and where we eat start taking priority over what we do and how we do it, this monster could very well be any of us. Based on the 1991 novel by the same name, this is neither a horror nor a slasher film. The caricatures and allegories give an entirely other-worldly feel to what otherwise seem like regular, recognizable settings.

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The Pursuit of Happyness (IMDB: 7.4/10, Wikipedia)

The Pursuit of Happiness is this year's Academy Awards entry for "Cloying, Sappy, Feel-Good Film of the Year". Ostensibly, it tries to show us the trials and tribulations one might have to face to pursue a simple thing such as happiness. The point is achieved, QED and all, by its tenth minute as the film heaps plague upon plague on the hapless protagonist. Remember The Passion of the Christ with its spiked whips, betraying best friends, and sadistic guards? A more modern setting for it might have been the "cruel" world in which our hero struggles to make ends meet. By the end of its two-hour running time, even the most naive and maudlin members of the audience will have long lost any signs of compassion and empathy.

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Tags: movies, reviews
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