UDAAN (2010)

DIRECTED BY: Vikramaditya Motawane

STARRING: Rajat Barmecha AS Rohan

                      Ronit Roy AS Bhairav (Rohan’s father)

                      Ram Kapoor AS Jimmy (Rohan’s uncle)

                      Aayan Boradia AS Arjun (Rohan’s Half-brother)

When I saw this movie I decided to not to write a review on it because if I would not write correctly about the movie it will be injustice to movie and to readers, but I realized that many of the readers might not even have the knowledge of this movie because it was not released on the big scale,I thought that this should not be missed so i am here. I saw it because of Anurag Kashyap. Anyway this movie should not be missed for many reasons.

The story is backbone of this film and performances are soul and music energizes the whole product. It is about a boy’s journey when he got abandoned by his father for 8 years and he has to return to his father after getting expelled from his school. He came to know that he has a half-brother whom he didn’t know. His disciplinarian father has his rules for the life and he controls the life of his two sons, he has his own strange ideology which according to him is perfect for the life. He wants his sons to pronounce him SIR not ‘papa’ or ‘dad’. Where as on the other had Rohan has his dreams and desires, his own ideology. His dream of learning literature and becoming writer gets garbage like response from his father. The story moves with Rohan’s fight against the odds and his mental state.

The debutant director has done tremendous job. He has narrated the story so effectively that despite of its slow pace one remains connected with film very well. Rohit Barmecha as Rohan is outstanding. Ronit Roy as a authoritative father is excellent and doesn’t go over. Ram Kapoor as understanding uncle is also very good. Real surprise comes from the kid who plays Arjun-Rohan’s half brother- he had very limited dialogues but he impressed with his facial expressions, superb. Music as I told energizes the whole movie is soulful and one would love to enjoy it even after.

( special mention to UTV and Anurag Kashyap who regularly brings something different and innovative to the audience. Great work)

On the whole a refreshing experience. Good story with excellent performances. Don’t miss it.

12 ANGRY MEN (1957)

Directed By: Sidney Lumet

Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall

     Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, John Fiedler

     Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Joseph Sweeney

     Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber

12 angry men released in 1957 is directed by Sydney Lumet. The story is surrounded by a court jury of 12 men who are to consider a case of 1^st degree murder and the defendant’s (an 18 year old boy) fate of if they found him GUILTY or NOT GUILTY.

The jury consists of 12 different people from the society with distinctive mindsets. Movie starts with a judge instructing jury after the hearing of case about the verdict to be decided by them and as it was 1^st degree murder case the decision of jury must be unanimous and all the members must be of the same conclusion at the end.  After that the whole movie is shot in one room except 2 scenes (one in washroom and one in the climax which is of outside court).

Now as the jury started with their 1^st vote count JURY#8 votes NOT GUILTY and so they have to discuss the whole case and things went through the court-room. The whole movie shows 12 men with different personality from different fields, who think differently, who have nothing in common and even don’t know each other are to decide the fate of the defendant. Two of the jury are rude old men who have their personal bias opinions for slum people and children of young age (the defendant was from slum). Two-three were not much interested in the case they just wanted to finish the things and get out the room to enjoy some baseball match. Others would believe that what ever witness told was true. But as the discussion of case goes on they required to re-think on all the possibilities and why the witnesses would be wrong in testifying.

Sydney Lumet has narrated the script so well that it left the viewer spellbound during 96min of drama. Whole story focuses mainly on behavioral aspects of humans. It has brilliant performances from all the actors and Henry Fonda( who played JURY#8) deserves special mention.

From my point of view the movie was engaging as well as a learning experience (especially for those who are studying Human Behavior or who are interested Human Behavior’s different aspects).

A must watch for classic movie lovers.

       

APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Martin Sheen

Marlon Brando

Robert Duvall

Laurence Fishburne

Dennis Hopper

Harrison Ford

Movie is set during the Vietnam War. Story is about two US army officers Capt. Willard (Martin sheen) and Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Capt. Willard is given a special mission to assassin Col. Kurtz. Martin Sheen is given mission by intelligence officers to journey through the Nung River into the Cambodia and find col. Kurtz who according to them has gone out of control and commanding his own troops in the jungle. They also tells him that he was once top ranking officer and considered future General.

The movie starts with a scene of Jungle and a song in the background called “this is the end” with series of explosions in the jungle and then shows face close up of Martin sheen who is not feeling good with civilian life and drinks extensively. This is the kind of start which impressed me and which I found quit unique than the other war movies. Movie I felt engaging despite of its slow pace because of Coppola’s way of narration of story, like how Sheen’s character keep on understanding the character of Brando from documents given to him,One after one posts which he visits and how he lost his crew members one by one on his way to hunt Kurtz, And finally the view around the Kurtz’s outpost,The scene in which Sheen meets Brando.

Movie is a unique experience for war movie lovers because this is not usual war movie where bombing and firing happens on two fronts and scenes where soldiers loose their life and others show extreme emotions on the loss of fellow soldiers. NO, but this one has something different to offer. After watching one will find why this movie is considered a CLASSIC.

Definitely WORTH experiencing.

The Brothers Bloom(2008)

I know Hollywood has churned out many con movies. Still this movie has something in it for you to like. For starters, you have a cast like Adrian Brody, Mark Ruffalo & Rachel Weisz. The director, Rian Johnson, tries to set up the plot nicely. Opening of the movie shows how the two brothers entered the world of con wherein Mark Ruffalo is the one who strategizes everything and Adrian Brody just playing the part as decided by his brother. Though Mark Ruffalo enjoys his every encounter, Adrian Brody is full of guilt. Everytime he tries to leave, Mark somehow pulls him back to the trade and they pull off a great con. Eventually they try to fool a wealthy girl Rachel and somehow things get murkier. A great climax to the story stating "there is nothing like an unwritten life, just a badly written one." I've been mesmerized by the performances of Mark in Shutter Island and this one. He is so subtle that you just love it. Adrian Brody proved his mettle in The Pianist (won an oscar) so as to firm the claim that he is a performer of the greatest quality. Nathan Johnson's score compliments the movie well.

For me, a movie's score holds a lot of importance so readers please excuse me if you find me mentioning the same in each of my posts.

I find this movie to be an outright entertainer which vindicates, "a perfect con is one where at the end, everyone involved gets the thing he wanted."

The Usual Suspects(1995)

Boy, this is good. Its real good. Will make you scratch your heads but if you are with the movie throughout, you'll know its of great quality. 5 criminals woven together for crimes that few can pull off. Greed of money keeps them together. Till one incident happens where a boat is burned with with huge amount of dope and cash on it. Kevin Spacey is caught for the crime and he weaves a great tale of deception to escape the clutches of policemen. Throughout the movie, the director Bryan Singer manages to capture your full attention. John Ottman's score couldn't have been better. Equal credit needs to be given to the writer, the editor and other technical crew members who managed to carve out a perfect thriller full of ambiguity where the suspense opens up beautifully in the end.

A must watch for classic cinema lovers as this is the movie that made Kevin Spacey a star.

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM (1987) starring:Robin Williams

Directed By: Berry Levinson

Starring: Robin Williams

               Forest Whitaker

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM is a comedy-drama film Starring ROBIN WILLIAMS as Adrian Cronauer. Film starts with the arrival of Robin Williams in Vietnam as he was appointed the new DISK JOCKEY at AFRS-armed forces radio services in South Vietnam during 1965.

Cronauer is like live-wire, full of energy. Very soon he becomes hugely popular among the American troops. He has great sense of humor and his style makes him instant star in radio space, which his immediate bosses don’t like. They don’t even find him funny but Cronauer is unstoppable, he speaks whatever he thinks fit. Soon in Vietnam he makes friends and also see the dark and dirty side of war and how people of Vietnam gets to suffer because of the war.

As the story goes ahead we get to see different shades in the character of Robin Williams. Especially after the scene when a bomb blast happens at a restaurant where he used to have fun with friends. And when he gets to know a very dear friend of him is actually a terrorist. Williams makes excellent mark in the movie not only with his humor but with his emotions.

I had decided to watch this movie because I am big fan of Williams and I am glad that I watched this not only because Williams was brilliant but also the story is good and the way story is woven makes it a joyful ride.