White Ribbon - The silent horrors

Another Cannes winner. Use of natural light and the pace of the movie makes it true to the lives and times it represent. Of so many World War movies I have seen, this makes it closest to my idea of reality then existed. It is not just photography or color treatment, but body languages of the actors and especially that of the child actors make it flawless.

The bicycle they ride and how they handle things, there so much thought that was put into each character. Story shows a puritan pastor, a doctor and the baron - how it revolves around these three poles in a fictitious protestant village Eichwald - they represent kind of sub surface aggression and nodes of societal tension in the pre-worldwar era in Serbia.

There is a narrative of a school teacher that tells the bizzare incidents taht remains unresolved

There is no closure to many things but that is not the point of this story. How everything changed and became irrelevant with imminent War. This movie depicts what was that everything that existed before war and new value system it brought in. Pastor represents the close walled religious hypocracy, the baron the disregard of the powerful to the reason and fairness towards people he rule, the malicious doctor, the widower with degenerated values.

The white ribbon the pastor asks his son to tie stand as a reminder of the innocence and purity he lost. He makes them feel guilty about natural instincts and inflicts his own values on them.

There are some scenes that transport you to that age - when schoolteacher goes to meet Eva's parents, the conversations between man and his woman - Baron and baroness post dinner, doctor and midwife, schoolteacher with Eva in carriage.

The movie was shot in color and then treated frame by frame to remove traces of modern age. it shows. Haneke is capable of handling big canvas of a village and succeeds in delivering his message. Creates the tension without much of images of violence and horror and shows that terrorism and oppresion in different age can be equally disturbing without of the actors realising that are being subjected to it.

Not so fluent

Atlantic is big but not enough. American's still have nostalgic feelings about everything British and the dynasty, Royal linen is even more for that matter.

'King’s Speech', after all the hype of last month, comes across way too short of expectations, but individual performances make it up for the lack of depth in movie-making. Or I would say, it is the subject matter that triumphs over the 3d s of story - details, dialogues and drama.

There is hardly any subtext or deeper insights into the characters and it fails to impress. Colin firth is in his usual self except for his temper which gives him this edginess; He carries that throughout the movie while it is nicely contrasted by the revering looks and nodes in the last shot of the movie. Colin is king of his craft and shows subtle changes in expressions and demeanor, steals key moments.
Worth mentioning is the role of your Highness of York, Queen Elizabeth by Helena carter, her eyes do all the talking. She was among my list of probable with Eduardo Saverin, who portrayed Andrew Garfield in social network. Both were unlucky as so were many ace actors in different era when it came to Oscars. She fits the bill for an aristocratic alpha woman and whole aura comes naturally. Churchill gives authenticity to this period movie with his stiff upper lip and hard hitting enunciations. David's character is weakest in the lot and so is Wallis. Even Doctor’ the family man needed little more build up and flesh.

There is no dramatic peak, any muted crescendo of sorts and movie just ends as expected. One of the remarkably crafted scenes is in which his daughters show mix of hesitation, respect and distance to the new Your Majesty, the only place of comfort for the protagonist.

The Fighter: Head body head...

Oscars like boxing movies - Raging bull, Million dollar baby, Cinderella man. But this time it is slightly different. "The fighter' makes it for different reasons. It is more of family drama, a family sorting out their issues... kind of movies that are coming to fore - "kids are alright" or 'american beauty' for instance. For the love of the boxing, technicality is limited to "head-body-head". That somehow seems enough too.

The surprisingly best performance is by Christian Bale. In the first shot of the movie you see him in a completely differnt look, twiching on his feet all the time, an air of spinless mercurial unpredictability. The whole style of talking and body language of a dude on crack in his 40s but still living in his past moment of glory when he knocked down 'sugar ray'. He showed his metamorphosis in machinist earlier, this is even better. This is definitely a role with more shades and dimensions than his all previous. Scene around the 'oh, they gave you new teeth!' he nails it.

Mark Whalburg has arrived. Gives a solid performance too. But movie is not about him. amy adams and christian bale takes the honors.

Edge of Heaven (German/Turkey)

So far have not watcvhed many German movies, but of those I have watched (gigantic, Im july, etc) there is always a mention and fascinating reference to India. Feels good to be perceived by a different culture this way. Reminds me of one exchange student from Germany we used to have in IDC, she was just amazed by vibrancy and clamour we live in. Being a Fine arts grad, she succinnctly put, back there in germany its all shades of gray. She liked in here. And she actually rode a bicycle with her friend from Mumbai to Kanyakumari. OK...I was digressed to some distnat memories. I was talking about movie.
'Edge of Heaven' is a movie lying on my hard disc for some time and I kept wondering what could it be about. Never wanted to land into another supernatural or crappy version of period movie. And at one assuming moment I happend to open it finally to watch it. The movie has multiple perspectives at a turkish population living in germany, stigma a migrant family generally has to go through. Migrated alienated and living in some country trying to fit in and once that phase gets over, what remains is a longing. The plot is annotated with two deaths..thats what connects the dots in this movie. In fact two chapters of the movie open with titles and like reading a novel which gives feel of "while this was happening..". Nejat (pronounced neshat), A turk who teaches German in German university who speaks less but means lot, his brutish but loving, old-school father living in Bremen who manages to save from his pensions and tips from horse racing to get another turkish "woman of loose virtue" to be his live-in wife in old days. Her name 'Veter' that means "that's enough" in turkish, being the seventh daughter in family. Veter's daughter, Aayten, a student of sociology back there in Turkey involved into political activities against the tyranny of state regards to freedom of speech, right to education. Now as the story unfolds Najat is led to his quest for Veters daughter in turkey while Aayten to germany in serach of her mother.
Its all about loving your parents, tag line go well than Johar's melodramatic mutlistarer. In new country, ties with family becomes so significant. These days near and dear are all a phone call away but that feeling is what keeps us going. When Nejat tell the story of Ibrahim and the God, the message of the movie comes to effect. Movie is about telling a story that leaves it mark than a quick shot of entertainment. If you share the same mood and expectation then this is a good watch.

'Atonement'- More than Keira in it

Why is that classic stuff is made out of tragic stories ..which makes it all the more beautiful and at the same time fragile... Keira Knightley's 'Atonement' is one such story...that even after the cinematic experience some kinda longing leaves you restless and wasted .. ... Some shots are detailed with more than one perspective which adds to the intensity of the plot. A sense of regret fills in the entire life of Briony tallis, a kid now grown up and plauged by the haunting of the past blunder. She brings the characters of her play "Two figures at the fountain' alive to some kind of redemption on her part.
The Victorian era is so well detailed in not just costumes and sets, but even in the gestures of the characters and compositions of the frame. One near the pool is especially exquisite.
It reminds me similar powerful performances delivered and that bygone era rebuild in "Sense and sensibility" ; Emma Thompson with her suppressed anguish, boyish charm of Hugh Grant, Kate Winslate with her yet another bubbly effervescence. Although 'Sense..' is backed by Jane Austin's water-tight classic, I would give 'atonement' heads up for its end-treatment wherein the inner narrative of the author comes out.