15 Films I desperately want to watch this year

This is not a list of the most anticipated commercial films of the year. This is a list of films that I fear might never release in India. And I desperately want to watch them.

15) 50/50

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard, 50/50  is a bittersweet 'cancer comedy' that has garnered some glowing reviews at TIFF. The film is loosely based on the life of its writer Will Reiser.


14) Drive

Everyone wants to watch this one. Everyone will riot if it doesn't release in theaters. Director Nicolas Winding Refn, who made the popular 'Pusher' films and the underrated 'Valhalla Rising' took the Cannes Film Festival by storm when he bagged the best director trophy.



13) Shame

Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender, who brought us the devastating 'Hunger' reunite for a controversial NC-17 rated new film. Fassbender just won the Best Actor trophy at the Venice Film Festival for his role of an NYC man who has trouble controlling his sexual compulsions. Also starring the lovely Carey Mulligan.


12) A Monster in Paris

The trailer itself excited me. But this review of the film positively made me drool. The animation looks stunning. But when was the last time a French animated film made it to Indian theaters?


11) Martha Marcy May Marlene

This film has been under my radar for a good six months now. I first heard about it when the movie blog Slashfilm lavished praise upon it in a videocast. 'MMMM' is supposedly a very complex thriller, here's the trailer, tell me if you aren't intrigued.   


10) Carnage

A black comedy, directed by Roman Polansky, starring Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly. The folks at the Venice film Festival didn't dig it so much, but that didn't reduce my interest in the film. What's more, the Guardian loved it. 



9) The Descendants

It's been six years since we saw director Alexander Payne's excellent 'Sideways', and it looks like his new film starring George Clooney is well worth the wait.


8) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas star in Lasse Hallström's latest. As per this review, 'Salmon Fishing' is "a peppy, quick-witted British comedy filled with great performances, clever dialogue, and the mature development of a romantic relationship". Good news for Hallström fans who were let down by his increasingly disappointing films over the past ten years.


7) Coriolanus

Ralph Fiennes directs the violent, modern day rendition of the Shakespeare play of the same name. Indiewire has called it 'well acted and challenging', and the trailer looks great.


6) A Dangerous Method

David Cronenberg is back with another polished thriller, starring Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung. Cronenberg started off as a more intellectual companion to horror maestro John Carpenter, but while the former has slumped to making dogs like 'The Ward', Cronenberg has evolved as an Oscar hogging legend.

 
5) God Bless America

Bobcat Goldthwait's follow up to the critically acclaimed (and my personal favourite) pitch black comedy 'World's Greatest Dad' is a mixture of 'Super', 'Kick Ass', 'Defendor' and 'Taxi Driver'. Loads of positive reviews leaked out today, and I can hardly wait to watch this.



4) Rampart

Director Oren Moverman reunites with his 'The Messenger' stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster for this corrupt cop drama. Harrelson plays twisted policeman Date Rape Dave, and according to this review the film is "a wildly ambitious slow burn that succeeds immensely, powered by one of the best performances of Woody Harrelson’s career".


3) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 

This one is based on John le Carré's novel of the same name, and comprises of the strongest male cast since 'The Departed' - Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong. Oldman plays George Smiley, a legendary spy recruited to sniff out a Russian mole lurking in the agency. Everyone at Toronto loved this film, and I doubt that I won't follow suit.


2) The Raid

A Welsh filmmaker and a Thai producer saw 'Tropa De Elite' and thought 'heck, we can do better than this'. Behold 'The Raid' - an action film that has been described as as a nonstop action bonanza that will kick you in the head and make you like it. Martial arts actor Iko Uwais could just be the next Tony Jaa. Still not convinced? Watch THIS trailer and have your mind blown.


1) The Artist

This one is my second most anticipated film of the year. Second only to 'Tintin'. Michel Hazanavicius' 'The Artist' is an ode to the black and white silent film era, and it has opened to overwhelmingly positive reviews. But you don't need to read reviews, you just need to watch this beautiful trailer and pick your jaw up from the floor.

Honorable mentions: 'We need to talk about Kevin', 'Beginners' and 'The Skin I Live in'

Honorably not mentioned: 'Trishna'. Because The Hollywood Reporter liked it.

The 'That Girl in Yellow Boots' Review

 That Girl in Yellow Boots is undone by a filmmaking methodology that's just unimpressive enough to alienate the mainstream audience, while ringing clichéd to hardened indie-heads. As a colossal fan of visionary director Anurag Kashyap’s previous work, it pains me to digest this fact.

Everyone involved in this film seems better than the material. The meager plot is nothing more than a clothesline upon which to hang some heated scenes and ugly Mumbai imagery. TGIYB is gritty and graphic, with artsy takes where the camera holds on motionless actors. It's not that the film's subject is too abstract to be understood by the ‘mainstream Bollywoodians’. It's that there doesn't seem to be much point to the whole thing, other than the usual real/reel gambit. Indie it may be, but art it isn't.

There isn’t much of a story here – a girl named Ruth (Kalki) searches for her estranged father in Mumbai. She works at a dingy massage parlour where she offers certain pleasures (‘handshakes’, she calls them) to her clients for some extra dough. With a distinct lack of pacing, Kashyap resorts to far too many close-ups of his star until, as good-looking as she is, you tire of them. There's also something patronizing about the zeal with which Kashyap wallows in the Mumbai muck, especially since his characters' lives revolve entirely around the same.

In trying for realism, Kashyap only achieves dramatic inertness. He also doesn't seem to have a particular cinematic destination in mind for his supporting characters – the gangster Chitiyapa (a splendid Gulshan Devaiya) makes a solid entry but then just keeps popping in and out of the plot; a mysterious man (Kartik Krishnan) keeps taking bribes from Ruth, but it is largely unclear as to who he is; Ruth’s boyfriend (Prashant), though integral in the first half is curiously ignored in the second. Naseeruddin Shah and Puja Swarup are the standouts, but are given thankless roles. Shah in particular drifts through the film with no purpose other than to fill gaps in the long runtime. One scene involving Shivkumar Subramaniam and Kalki at a bar is perhaps the ultimate expression in upscale slumming passing for avant-garde art.

The video work is suitably grainy and rough, but at times is dependent on being overtly naturalistic rather than carefully lit and set up – which is very frustratingly unlike an AK film. Naren Chandavarkar’s moody, minimalistic electronic background score is excellent but the lone song that plays in the film is gratingly upbeat, and seems out of sync with the humourless, somber tone of the movie. But the technical snags don’t hurt the film as much as the annoying red herrings do. Dabbling in laughable red herrings in a modern, idealistic, subtle film just defeats the purpose.

Only in the second half does the story begin to move toward its brutal, hopeless conclusion. The climax is devastating, but the art house nuts will complain of the slim dramatic rewards it offers. There aren’t many allegories here, and they don’t amount to much. But suckers will still go hunting for meaning in the trite metaphors, interpreting the ‘handshake’ act as some kind of philo-babble about the human race or the world in general. For the rest, it just makes for a movie that is more interesting to read and speculate about, than to actually see.

That Girl in Yellow Boots is a disappointing film that's less than the sum of its sporadically involving parts. It is unlikely that even the most sophisticated or jaded of festival audiences will endure the onslaught of gloom on display. Several of Kashyap's earlier films were hailed as the works of an artist. Sadly, TGIYB plays like the work of a dilettante. This is definitely not the explosive birth of the indie revolution he no doubt was wishing for. 

First published in Mumbai Boss

My favourite films of 2011 (so far)

13) Wrecked

By far the most underrated and overlooked film of the year. The whole world went gaga over '127 Hours' and 'Buried', and no one bothered to look at this excellent single-location psychological thriller. Features a stunning performance from Adrien Brody.



12) 13 Assassins

Takashi Miike takes a break from the dementia of 'Audition' and 'Ichi the killer' and delivers a good ol' fashioned Samurai epic. The epic final hour of battle makes up for the feeble character development in the preceding hour.



11) Submarine

Comedian Richard Ayoyade makes an absolutely brilliant debut with this quirky, bittersweet British dramedy. Not enough can be said about the young Craig Roberts who comes across as a younger avatar of Dustin Hoffman.


10) We are what we are

This one came out of nowhere. 'We are what we are' is a gripping, devastating story of  an urban Mexican family with a dark, horrifying secret. Effortlessly mixes dread and drama.


9) Insidious

James Wan and Leigh Whannel, the geniuses behind the original 'Saw' dole up an exceptional homage to 'Poltergeist'. Creepy as hell. Does away with most of the horror film cliches. What impressed me the most was that it was made for just over $1 million, yet looked like a big budget thriller.


8) Source Code

The first (and frankly the only true) summer blockbuster of the year. Duncan Jones practically shouts at our faces that 'Moon' wasn't a fluke. Smart, taut thriller that exudes very high repeat value.



7) Cold Fish

Watching this film feels like sticking one's head out the window of a speeding bullet train. Shion Sono, the madman behind the classics 'Suicide Club', 'Strange Circus' and 'Love Exposure' doles up his most accomplished, most fucked up film to date. Stay away if you've a weak stomach. 



 6) Rango

What a magnificent piece of cinema. Spits in the face of 3D. For the first time in a decade, a Pixar product didn't turn out to be the finest animated feature of the year.


5) Confessions

Don't be fooled by the unassuming poster. 'Kokuhaku' (Confessions) is a goosebump-inducing, electrifying, visceral trip that sheds a light on the increasingly disturbed minds of Japanese kids. Some of the plot twists in the film are downright unsettling. 


4) Senna

A glorious ode to one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers. The best documentary I have personally seen since 'Man On Wire'. Director Asif Kapadia conjures some fascinating footage of the underbelly of F1. Whether or not you are familiar with F1, 'Senna' will shatter you with it's final scene.


3) Incendies

Vivid. Stunning. Haunting. Masterpiece. Features a plot that is as powerful as it's imagery. Blew me away.



2) Tree of Life

A visual, aural, narrative triumph. Terrence Malick's latest transcends magnum opus status.



1) I Saw the Devil

You need an oxygen mask to watch this mother of all serial killer movies. 'I saw the devil' is one of the bloodiest, most violent films ever made. Korean maestro Kim ji Woon directs the gore and savagery with artistry and style, never once stooping to the decadence that is generally found in extreme European films. Choi Min Sik, the protagonist of 'Oldboy' plays the hair-raising villain with primeval ferocity. As of now, 'I saw the Devil' stands as the best damn Asian thriller since the 'Vengeance trilogy'.

The 'I am Kalam' Review

 I am Kalam is a charming, heartwarming story that captures the conflicted emotions of a poverty-stricken kid with real sensitivity. The film is inspirational, moving, funny, and gives you a young hero to root for.  It's the kind of hopeful, kid's-eye-view Indian dramedy that hasn't been made for a while. 

 

What makes I am Kalam such an unexpected treat is that debutant director Nila Madhab Panda crisply separates the film's emotional core from a plethora of mawkish classism. There is no sloganeering or preaching here - Panda finds a very subtle and moving way to illustrate the film's "schooling for everyone" message.  He does away with the melodramatic gas and delicately weaves the theme of educational growth against incredible odds. Writer Sanjay Chauhan doles up a very realistic depiction of rural India’s education and lack thereof, and the struggle of learning in a community that places it as a last priority. It makes for an excellent film, mainly because its lead character Chotu (Harsh Mayar) is not only down to Earth and awfully familiar, but he never becomes a caricature or a gimmick.  

Here we have Chotu, an uneducated, though quick-witted 10-year-old who works with Bhati (Gulshan Grover) at a tiny highway dhaba in Rajasthan. Chotu dreams of attending school; he even calls himself Kalam after learning that like him, the then-president too used to be a child laborer forced to support his family. Chotu becomes friends with the rich young Prince Ranvijay (Husaan Saad) who introduces him to his school books, and musician Lucy (Beatrice Ordeix) who promises him that she’d take him to Delhi for his studies. Writer Chauhan mines the location for drama, giving Chotu static through his unsupportive mother, the nasty dhaba assistant Laptan (Pitobash), and the rejection from his rich friend’s household. Panda positions the barriers well, keeping the viewer hopeful that Chotu’s dream will indeed be realised.  

Most of the characters are stock types - the discouraging mother, the upper-class snobs, the inspirational friend - but they are given a bright re-envisioning. There are a few moments where I am Kalam dive bombs into hammy subplots - the worst offender is the prolonged exposition of Bhati’s crush on Lucy.  The climax is a tad schmaltzy too, but it becomes easy to overlook the contrivances, seeing as the film's heart is so wonderfully in the right place. The lion's share of the credit for the film’s success goes to young Harsh Mayar who holds his own against veterans like Gulshan Grover.    

I am Kalam is a delight to sit through. It is one of the bright spots in a dim period for half-witted commercial films. Don’t miss it.   

First published in Mumbai Boss