it is better to break a man's leg than to break his heart...

What drives us? I have been wondering about this quite a lot in the recent months. I mean if we look at our lives in general more often than not these are the paths life is lived - fail and quit resigning to fate, fail and continue to persevere through repeated failures and find a success here and there, fail and persevere so hard that success is tasted and continue to persevere to sustain the success amidst minor failures. In all of this two things are common success and failure These two are very subjective of course. It entirely depends on the person in question. But I am in complete awe of the incredible people belonging to the persevering category. I am kicking myself for not being like these people. One thought that floats in my mind is - how we react to a failure defines our lives more than how we achieve success personally, professionally every which way. Do we lie down in the face of it or do we have the heart and the spirit in us to get up?

Seabiscuit (the 2003 film), the racehorse, who was written off by everyone including I think his horse friends as well, had lived such a persevering life during the Great Depression that gave the the Americans hope in those troubled times. Woven around its story are the stories of distinct characters of those times. This is inspired from a true story. They all have made history.

Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) is a usual cycle mechanic in the early 1900s but he is rewarded with a fortune for his adventurous and daring nature that happens upon the arrival of Henry Ford's world changing automobile. Highly successful and rich, happily married now Charles sells cars and inspires his young son to think that "future is literally the limit". Red (Tobey Maguire), called so partly because of his red Canadian hair, is a young kid who wins hearts in the way he rides horses. His parents tell to each other "he looks so perfect with a horse". Tom (Chris Cooper) a horse trainer wanders like a nomad searching for horses along the way.

The Great Depression strikes. Charles business' collapses, loses his son in an accident and his wife leaves him. Red, whose entire family reads the great works of literature dinner every night, helplessly watches his family brought to the streets and living in their car for no direct fault of their own. Red is given away by his family to a horse owner in the hope atleast living his dream. The nation is plunged into despair. I think back then the heomarraghe shattered and broke the people and their hearts more than it did to their bank balances and fortunes.

Fighting depression and their miserable lives in their own way, Charles in search of companionship, Red wanting to move away from boxing fights to horse riding to earn money and Tom, blowing along with the wind land in Mexico where there is no prohibition. Charles finds company and remarries. Having seen the horse races, he wants to own a race horse. His eyes fall on Tom who is fixing an injured good for nothing horse with unflinching care. In a remarkable scene Charles asks Tom why is he doing it. Tom says "every horse is good for some thing... you don throw your whole life away just coz' you banged up a little". Now this line means as much for Charles, Tom, Red and people then and even to us now as it does to the broken horse.

Charles and Tom now look out for a horse. Tom sees Seabiscuit, an undersized, beaten down, angry, supposedly lazy good for nothing horse. He says to Charles that the horse's spirit won over him. But they can't find a jockey who wants to ride him owing to his violent nature. Red meanwhile fights off his mates in the stables at the same time. Tom sees a parallel and Red is on board who proves him right. Red fearlessly endears himself to the horse and they develop kind of telepathic bond. Charles looks to Red like his son, who looks to Tom as his mentor. In another remarkable scene, Red and Tom though now staying with Charles hold on to what has kept them alive during the years. Tom still sleeps in the open grass in the bitter cold. Red thinks food in Charles' house is way too much and eats the same very little in fact as he did during his poverty.

They train the horse to race. Seabiscuit stuns everyone by conjuring up win after win after win. What makes him a darling of the masses are not his victories but the thought that an undersized, odd looking horse driven by very tall jockey is winning races. If he can't do it why can't we do it? People now had something to hold onto. Everything looks rosy as they are on the warpath to face the best in the horse in the country, the beastly War Admiral. But in the race which would have guaranteed a shot at the monster, Seabiscuit loses due to Red's negligence of not being alert enough of his rivals. Tom later learns that happenend as Red is blind in one eye due to boxing duels. Charles and his wife are stunned. Tom who holds truth in such high regard is seething. Charles reminds him "you don throw your whole life away just coz' you banged up a little".

Seabiscuit and Red continue to win. Seabiscuit had shown the people how to live their lives. Not to give up never ever. Repeated appeals for a title shot are turned down at which Charles quips "i would rather have only Seabiscuit than have a hundred War Admirals". Finally the gaunlet is accepted. The odds don't give Seabiscuit a chance against the monstrous War Admiral which is not helped by the fact that Red gets his foot very badly damaged due to foul play. Red is told he can never ride or run ever again. Everyone is heartbroken. But they hang on to the race. Red calls his best friend to ride the horse and trains him to ride the horse. The race captivates the nation and Seabiscuit wins the race. To everyone it was all about winning the race but to Red it was an opportunity to be with his soul mate and vice versa I would like to think.

Just when you thought its done, Seabiscuit gets badly injured in one of the races and can never race again. The soulmates finally are at home. Red catches up on his literature and reads it to be Seabiscuit who catches up on his sleep. They cure each other. Seabiscuit miraculously is ready to race again. Red is though not quite. Tom, Charles again line up Red's friend to ride. Red is hurt by the betrayal. Charles fears he will lose Red like his son. At this point Red's friend says one of the most memorable lines ever on screen for me "it is better to a break a man's leg than to break his heart". Red knows he can lose his legs. But he goes ahead and both he and Seabiscuit ride themselves to glory as he says "we are had fixed this horse but the truth is the horse fixed everyone one of us".

I was so grateful of the pacing of this movie. It is steady. It gives time to savour the scenes and stirs up our emotions. The entire movie is a triumph of team spirit including the horses. Jeff Bridges is super as the guilty father. The rest of the cast round it off very well. This movie is a must see. Whenever I'm down it's one of several I turn to and it always gives me goose bumps and raises my spirits no matter how many times I see it. The movie has got heart, spirit and soul just like Seabiscuit.

One of the reasons why many so called sports movies work is sports reflects our lives. During my engineering I was obsessed with table tennis. I used to play by bunking classes, play before college, play after college, play by pulling along my friends facing their wrath, play with anybody. I was very good at it by the way. Anyway I had a lecturer whom everyone would make fun of. But he played table tennis with us and that too quite well for his age. Once in the class he said something which I will never forget - "everyone should play sports... we will experience life in sports".

I think every one of our lives has downs from time to time. That is not in our hands. But what is, is how can we react to it. I think one should rather break one's career or life or whatever by getting up than break one's own heart by not trying.

For me the entity that encapsulates this is MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB (MUFC). They can never be a Barcelona or an Arsenal which likewise can never ever be an MUFC. MUFC's spirit and heart to face everything thrown at them week in week out and that too sometimes elegantly is awe inspiring. It is one of the reason I live for and makes me alive just like I do for my family and friends. To each his own though.

Recently Nike has a new ad called - the human chain. Its theme says "everbody gets knocked down... how quick are you gonna get up?". Though aimed at selling Nike brand which you might buy also as the ad is amazing, the ad infact parallels life and is stirring. Check it out on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPO354_ugF8

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...

it takes backbone to lead the life you want...

Isn't that true for everyone including myself? But I wonder how many of us really are living the way we want to. May be just a handful. I must confess even I am not doing it though I constantly dream, hope, pray and try to do so as soon as possible. I often wonder what's all the fuss about living life your own way, be what you want to be and things like that. Well what's so good on the other side? But there must be something that makes us think of that side. May be we can feel liberated, we can feel free , we can feel alive. There surely must be something.

In Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road(2008), set in the America of early 1950s post WWII, the young and beautiful April(Kate Winslet) is swept off her feet by the young, charming and equally handsome Frank(Leonardo DiCaprio) at a party. So are formed the Wheelers. The respectable, enviable and ideal couple in the neighborhood.

Frank Wheeler and April Wheeler stay in the much envied Revolutionary Road in a nice big house, with manicured lush green lawn living the great American sub-urban dream which many aspire but only a few actually experience its bliss. But was there or is there any thing called the American dream? If there was one what was it? If there was one was it and can it be only in America? And do people really experience this? What do we call happiness and what do we need to be happy? The movie explores all this from the point of view of both Frank and April long after their early marital bliss and it is as relevant for our time may be even more than for those those times.

It starts off with a lousy local theater play in which April plays one of the parts. The play is an embarrassment to Frank, who overhears someone say in the audience - "thank God, that's over". It is that bad. April knows the play went bad. On their way home in the car, Frank starts over whether April's fantasy ambitions of becoming an actress after such a bad show which was not his fault is realistic considering they have 2 kids now. Both of them rip each other apart in the middle of the night with their brutal talk that cuts through them.

Its evident things have gone bad since marriage for these two. The romance, the passion has gone. Frank wakes up to a clerical job he detests from the look on his face. But resigned to fate and bereft of even an iota of emotion he attends to it like a dead man lost in the maddening crowd. He has to play husband, father and family man after all. His face speaks volumes about his current state. April, meanwhile does the house, helps the kids. Her anger is more visible and palpable. Day in and day out in the same bloody house having nothing to do all day. If Frank was in April's position, even he would have shown emotion. April thinks about their current state. While cleaning the house, she goes through old photos and sees a photo of Frank at Eiffel Tower. Something sparks in her.

Meanwhile Frank, left with making sick jokes on his job, beds his colleague in a seedy motel. He returns home only to find his wife and children have a surprise on his birthday. That's how lonely Frank has become. He can't even remember his birthday. Heart strung by his family gesture, Frank feels guilty. April then pops the question to him. She asks why not they go and live in Paris as this is what Frank always wanted. Frank laughs off the idea at first, tied down by job, career, kids future, society and peers. April convinces her that he does not have spend his life over a sick job in US. He could finally take time and find what is it that he actually wants to do. She says its their life and its their right to lead the way they want to without caring for outsiders.

Frank weighs up the options and finally agrees to move out. April is delighted. They actually start living dreaming of their move to Paris. They feel happy. They start planning and go about slowly informing their neighbors. As in one terrific scene when they both drop a bombshell on their friend Chep and his wife who can't quite understand. They both feel the magnitude of Frank and April's move only after they leave when they look at their own miserable life and console each other thinking they are still better than Wheelers. And so it continues. The Wheelers are visited by their friendly neighbor Helen, her husband and their son John, mentally ill eccentric maths genius living in asylum reeling under electric treatment. Frank tells them of his move. Helen is stunned. She looked upon them as role models for their locality. John is not and asks them why. Frank says there is nothing left in the hopeless emptiness in their lives here. John connects with them and is proud of them. Frank and April feel vindicated, overjoyed and make out passionately.

As the D-day nears, April hesitantly reveals to Frank that she is 2 weeks pregnant, but literally begs Frank to continue with their shifting plan. Franks remains quiet. He pulls up a bad joke in his office which as fate would want impresses his bosses and they offer him a pay hike and a new post. Frank starts to really think now and have second thoughts. April senses Frank's getting cold feet and confronts him. They have bitter very bitter argument. Frank finds out April's been trying to forcefully flush out their unborn child on her own for the sake of Paris. Mad over this, Frank questions April's motherhood and love for her children. April begs to him she will have the child if they can have it in Paris. She asks if he has the guts to get away from his job he hates so much and start afresh. At this point Frank says "it takes backbone not to run away from your responsibilities" to which April says those words. Frank does not relent and says they can't have the baby in Paris. April, devastated, tries hard to pick herself and move on, but cries over her life. Frank agrees to take the new post.

Slowly they reinform their neighbors about their cancellation. One day Helen arrives, with her husband and John as well. Frank informs them. John is confused and he can't take it as he had admired them for their principles. He starts a brutally honest argument with Frank, rips him apart and exposes his double standards and doesn't favor April either who he thinks is equally responsible for their miserable state. Frank almost smacks John only to be stopped by Helen. After they leave Frank and April continue to fight until she runs away to the nearby woods as he threatens her and returns very late in the night.

Next morning, Frank ready for his new job is surprised to see April neatly dressed preparing breakfast for him. He is all choked up to speak. April quietly serves him. Frank loves the food and leaves for work hesitantly. April washes all the dishes and then she breaks down crying. She tries to give herself an abortion. She is admitted and finally dies leaving Frank and their two children. Frank is even more sad as he knows she did this to hurt herself and him for not going to Paris. He now works at an even boring job, looks after his children and reflects over what he has lost.

Though the movie talks about marital problems, it moved me like no other. It showed why should we live like we please and what happens if we do not. I am exactly at that stage in my life where I have to make a choice which will decide how I am going to live. I do not want to make the wrong choice. I am faced with same question. Do I choose the easy option and live a settled life or do I take the hard pill and do what I really want? I would be exaggerating to say this movie exposed the flaws of taking the former decision but it definitely ticked off my mind. I wouldn't want to look after 20 years from now and say I should have done this. I will take the hard pill. It easier said then done but I am slowly trying. Its better to fail at what I want than succeed at what I don't want. I know everyone is faced with this moral dilemma of choices all the time in their lives. Our life is a reflection of all the choices we make over the course of it. I hope people get the courage, as they say, to always take the path less traveled.

Kate and Leo are so good in their parts that it feels like they are not acting. Leo is especially amazing as the slightly coward Frank. Kate takes the hysterical nature of April to new levels. Though in just two scenes, Michael Shannon stunningly plays the mentally ill John who is the mirror to their lives. He is the catalyst. The sets and camerawork reflect the Americana of the 50's. What sets this film apart from other marital dramas is the that the lead couple either have complete love or complete hatred for each other. The fights are unlike anything I have seen. They are so frank, brutal, edgy and tense that vindicates the maxim - words can break one's heart. Worse they try to speak the truth which is always bitter. The claustrophobic nature of their lives and fights in the house is really unsettling. May be that's what happens to people who are not happy with their lives. They get desperate and start losing their sense of calm. May be it is a reminder to take stock of our lives.

To quote Robin Williams doing a John Keating quoting Robert Frost -
"Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...

malkovich, malkovich, malkovich...

Originality in present day cinema is a rarity. Adaptations and remakes and sequels and rip offs seem to the flavor of don't know how many seasons. I wonder why originals are so hard to find now in cinema. Maybe because it is so hard for us to think of mundane things in a different way let alone out of the box ideas. May be it's the business side. Who wants to tear one's head over some insane idea when there are stories ready and begging to be told. But all those adaptations, remakes, sequels, ripoffs were actually of original ideas that literally soared as the imagination of the creators went wild. An idea small or big is priceless and its power is limitless. If there is one guy in cinema who thrives on mind bending originality every time it has to be the writer and director Charlie Kaufman. HE'S THE MAN.


Being John Malkovich(1998), Charlie's first film as writer, superbly directed by Spike Jonze is a movie and dare I say, for me is the definitive original movie precious than any big blockbuster. It outrageously combines fact and fiction, real and the imaginary worlds so convincingly that there is no way to differentiate between the two. And NO - it's not the matrix kind of mumbo jumbo filled with special effects where we have to break our heads. It's purely about people and their emotions, fears, eccentricities, things they love and hate the most. It shows the real and side of people which is a bittersweet pill to swallow.

Craig(John Cusack) is a failed middle aged puppeteer. When was the last time we saw a lead role have the profession of puppetry. He is a total failure only in the commercial sense but artistically he and his ideas are the real deal. Charlie Kaufman strikes the first blow subtly indicating the ugly fate of being an original in the sea of copy-cats. Craig does not believe in theatrics and showoff. He shows true side of people and life in his performances. Probably that's why he's a failure. He despises the guy who apparently rules the puppet world and thinks the guy's performances are cheap, second rate, mundane and monotonous. But Craig is not without failings. He is desperate to show his work to people, be successful and famous. But right now desperate, married, unemployed, too fragile to believe in himself, he performs sick and wicked puppet shows on the street and gets public's wrath rather than their love and money.

His nagging wife, Lotte(Cameron Diaz), an animal lover having turned their house into a zoo with all kinds of animals in cages, is desperate to have children with him. When Craig refuses saying his priority now is his career, Lotte hen pecks him about his profession and asks if he could ever get a real job. Frustrated and resigned to fate, Craig eventually seeks out the so called 'real jobs' in the papers and to his surprise gets one quite easily. His job is of a file arranger in the very very old Dr.Lester's Lester Corp located on the 7 1/2 floor (between 7 and 8 floor) of Mertin Flemmer Building in NYC. How's that for a location which itself has a delightful background as shown by flashback. And such a floor in such a building really does exist in NYC!!!

Craig finds himself uncontrollably attracted to his colleague, the sexy Maxine. He tells this plainly to her. She too plainly refuses the offer. With things looking a bit ok at home, Craig hopelessly tries for a chance to screw Maxine. While idling around in his office, Craig stumbles upon an opening on the wall, kind of portal, behind a huge filing cabinet, that appears hidden from everyone. Curious, Craig goes in screaming into - the brain of John Horatio Malkovich(John Gavin Malkovich)!!!. Craig can feel himself inside Malkovich. Malkovich does not know this. He is like a vegetable. After 15 minutes Craig finds himself out of Malkovich' s system and by the side of a dumpster. Craig, exhilarated by the experience, tells and shows the portal to Maxine, who though doesn't take the plunge, sees an opening for both. They place an ad in the paper of 200$ for 15 minutes of being john malkovich using the portal in their own office.

People queue up in flocks. Most of them are the everyday guys. Another blow by Charlie, we are obsessed with celebrities, their riches and their lifestyle. We feel liberated reading about them and given a chance we would sure want to be like them, if not them. So Maxine and Craig hit pay dirt. Craig, overcome by emotions, tells about this to Lotte and asks her to take the plunge which she readily agrees. Before diving in Craig introduces Lotte to Maxine and Lotte dives in, giggles, chuckles and feels at home. When she comes out, she is desperate to go for another ride but Craig refuses. Does everything looks alright for Craig? Not at all.

Craig asks Maxine if he could screw her now. She says only if he was John Malkovich. Another blow - people don't want to love a nobody. That tips him off and he asks her to go on a real date with the real John Malkovich when Craig plans to arrive into John. And so, they go out on a date. And Malkovich is really smitten by her. Craig arrives in him. They go to John's place. John and Craig wildly make out with her. Craig is filled with ecstasy. Craig and Maxine keep doing this and once Lotte asks for another dive. Reluctantly Craig agrees. So Lotte's goes into John on a date with Maxine. They again make out but this time Maxine enjoys it all the more. As Lotte comes out, she tells Craig she finally found her true self, that she is in fact a man in woman's body and she and Maxine love each other and she is for a sex change. Craig, stunned, lashes out at Maxine who simply chucks him away. Maxine starts to frequently go on dates with John and calls Lotte. to get into John. Maxine and Lotte love it.

Hurt and angry, Craig devises a cunning plan in his bid to get back Maxine. During one of Lotte's rendezvous, Craig locks her up in the cage with the animals and he goes in for John that night. Maxine doesn't realize it. Craig, so angry, as they make out, does not want to come out of John. He sees it is finally possible to control John completely. But John undergoes wild sensations in his body and says weird things. Craig jumps out of John. Paranoid, John smacks Maxine for the truth. Malkovich tails Maxine and finally finds out the horrible business being run by Maxine and Craig. So Malkovich lines up in queue to go inside himself!!! Which he does in fact and what happens then is beyond imagination.

John comes out and is scared and hopping mad by what he has just seen. Meanwhile Craig plans for another night. Maxine expects Lotte, who has got off the clutches and goes to Dr.Lester for help. Craig goes in, makes out with Maxine, who now knows it is Craig and not Lotte. Dr.Lester finally reveals the ugly truth. He introduces her to a lot of very old people and tells they all are more than a hundred years old and the reason they all are alive is because of the portal. They have been jumping from one vessel to another vessel all this time. Another blow, people in general are afraid of old age and death. John is their vessel now to stay alive and that he has matured and they would have to go in on John's 44th birthday. Lotte tells him Craig has now taken over John completely. Lester and his oldies look terribly worried.

Craig, now in John's body, convinces Maxine to get married to him. Craig decides to use John's popularity as an actor to pursue his dream - puppetry. Craig makes John change his profession which stuns the world. But he stuns the world too with his dazzling puppetry and literally reinventing the art. He achieves fame and fortune. Craig's soul finally seems to be at peace. Maxine is now pregnant, but is drawn away from Craig/John and she thinks more and more of Lotte. Craig senses thid distance and as John's 44th birthday draws close, Dr.Lester with Lotte captures Maxine and threatens Craig to kill Maxine if he doesn't leave John's body. Craig refuses. Lotte and Maxine reconcile, embrace, dive together into the portal and come out. Maxine reveals to Lotte the child was conceived when she was inside John and not Craig. They decide to live together. Another blow, real love can't be stopped. Craig left alone now finally decides to leave John and is back to being a nobody. Just when John feels he is back to his own self ,all the oldies enter into John and take over him as they wait for their next vessel. Seeing Maxine and Lotte's love, Craig once again decides to go into John and make Maxine love her once again.

What happens next is like a thunderbolt. It is so bittersweet and ironic just like our lives and yet so creative and logical that when all the pieces add up that the end result is like a sumptous, delightful meal. The movie is like pandora's box. You can't guess what's coming at any minute but everytime you will feel that had to come but only after you have seen it. The ending left me exhausted and scratching my head but eventually I was supremely satisfied by what was on offer. The magic of the movie is in the hands of Charlie and director Spike Jonze who never overdoes any of the numerous twists and turns, though it would have extremely tempting nonetheless. All the actors carry their vision superbly.

For sheer originality, do yourself a favour and watch it.

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...

when was the last time you saw dave boyle?

This question asked by FBI detective Sean Devine(Kevin Bacon) to ex-hoodlum Jimmy Markam(Sean Penn) about ordinary guy Dave Boyle(Tim Robbins) from a physical point of view in the climax, haunts and scars each of the once-upon-a-time childhood buddies emotionally and pshycologically, especially Dave, ever since that fateful day in their lonely neighborhood street in crime infested Little Boston, when as 11 year olds, the three of them playing hockey, engrave their names on the cemented sidewalk as a mark of friends for life, get questioned by two guys and the little boy Dave is forcibly taken away by them in the back of the car as his two friends watch in vain.


Mystic River(2004), by the great actor-director Eastwood, an adaptation of the same best selling novella by Dennis Lehane, is a powerful, explosive and a stirring tale about fate and about all possible human emotions along with the horrors of having an abusive childhood and the consequences of not getting treatment for it.

On that fateful day Dave was picked up by two peadophiles disguised as cops and was molested by them. When he is found and returned back, Dave is left only in physical form. That was last day the three childhood friends were together. Evidently Dave, too small and too afraid and too ashamed to speak out, goes into a shell, keeping the harrowing experience to himself. All of three of them go their seperate ways from then on.

On that day on the the sidewalk Jimmy, Sean engrave their names but Dave's is incomplete and so is their tale. Now fate has decided to bring all three of them back together through a tragedy that has happened to one of them. Ex-con and store owner & local don Jimmy, the hard case of the three, an over possessive father of his nineteen year old daughter, Katie, with his late first wife is worried over her sudden disapperance on the big day of communion of his two little daughters with his second wife. Sean, the smart one of the three, now an FBI detective, and husband to a wife who with their new born baby has left him, gets the case of a murdered young girl who could be Jimmy's daughter. Dave, the quiet one of the three, in same neighborhood as Jimmy and still good friends with him, as usual plays baseball with his young boy, but has had a rough night the day before, as he returned home with blood, cuts and bruises and confessesed to his ultra vulnerable wife that he had fight with a mug and he might have killed him which send jitters to her when she looks in the morning paper but doesn't find news of any mug's body.

Brendan Harris, despised by Jimmy, son of 'Just Ray' Harris, conmate of Jimmy and traitor who had once turned Jimmy over to the cops, loves Jimmy's nineteen year old daughter, unknown to Jimmy, who when getting to know through Sean that her daughter has infact been murdered explodes in an uncontrollable rage. Sean and his partner start the investigation. Jimmy starts his own with his conmates and promises to hunt down and kill her murderer. The first finger of suspicion points to Brendan Harris by the murder weapon, a gun, used by his father during one of his robberies. Also, Sean finds out Dave was present in the bar when Katie and her friends were partying on the night of her murder. On questioning Dave, noticing his bruises and cuts and his wife Celeste, literally on the verge of a breakdown internally fearing the worst, Sean is forced by his partner to make Dave the prime suspect, which Sean isn't quite convinced about.

What follows might be a police procedural on the surface but then the layers keep getting added. Jimmy is the Godfather to Dave's son. When Celeste sees Dave, unusually calm during Katie's funeral she almost freaks out. Dave tells vampire and wolf stories making himself as the prey at bedtime to his son and relives his nightmares in darkness. Finally Celeste listening this confronts him and Dave breaks down in a terrifying outburst recounting his nightmare as a boy and how he hoped and prayed for help while the wolves were having fun with him. Celeste is stunned by this revelation and at that moment feels threatened by Dave.

Owing to his partner's over smartness and trying to jump the gun way ahead, Sean and him lose the plot on Dave as they are tangled in their own plan. Sean now demands his partner to go ahead with Brendan Harris as the prime suspect as they are not left with any choice. Jimmy, grieving incontrollably over his loss on finding out Katie was going to elope with Brendan, curses and blames himself for her death. Jimmy's partners conducting a parallel investigation tell Jimmy the cops had taken Dave in for interrogation. Celeste having nowhere to go, now and forced by her uncontrollable urge to confess, tells Jimmy she might left Dave for good and also tells the inevitable which drives Jimmy insane.

Now the cops are on Brendan Harris's trail and Jimmy and his partners are on Dave's resulting in a stunning climax of revelations of startling nature not so much about who the killer is but about about friendship, loyalty, brotherhood, guilt, power on the banks of the Mystic river in Boston. Here Sean asks Jimmy the question to which Jimmy recounts their terrible childhood incident and says now how he hoped he was the one to be taken away not Dave so that Katie would never have been born and she would never have been murdered.

Even on finding the killer there is no victory for anyone in the end. It is not so simple. Life just moves on. The killer is revealed not like a suspense trick precisely because this is not a suspense movie. It is about how twisted our decisions can be in the worst of circumstances. The movie is explosive not because of some high octane stuff but of simmering tension lying undercurrent almost from the first frame. It is really unsettling.

What makes this movie work not the screenplay, which is quite good, but the pitch perfect direction of Eastwood and the remarkable acting by his team. Eastwood, himself, having played numerous characters who don't say much, knows the power of silence, restraint and understatement, expertly allows his actors to do just that wihout ever going over the top. There is lot of grief, pain and anger in the characters but none of it involves constant shouting and crying. Most of it stirs inside them with occasional outbursts. All the actors breathe their characters because they are allowed to do if I may say so. The three best performances would be Sean Penn, as Jimmy, ruthless hard boiled ex-con on the outside, but with a soft core like a family man, superbly shows the guilt for being responsible for his daughter's death. Marcia Gay Hayden, as the anxiety prone, tense Celeste, who loves her husband Dave, but doesn't show unflinching loyalty towards him as a normal wife would do. Finally Tim Robbins as Dave, carrying the baggage of an abusive childhood, brings alive Dave and his horrors. He reminds us of missing out on youth. It is a reminder that victims of such terrible acts must be treated by counselling immediately even if they don't want to. The rest of the cast round it off superbly.

Mystic River shows us the best and worst in humans.

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...

always do the right thing...

Do the right thing. Isn't that what we all are supposed to and must do in life? How many times have we actually given thought to our actions and their consequences. Well that's what a supporting character tells the one of the principal characters - "always do the right thing" in the film of the same name. And was it the right thing to do is left to us - the audience.



Do the right thing (1989), set in an multi ethnic community in Brooklyn (one of the five boroughs of NYC) is an ensemble feature by Spike Lee(Malcom X, Inside Man - considered to be one of the truest, unbiased voices in American film). This is as entertaining as it is thought provoking if not more. Witty, humorous, sardonic, ironic, touching, superb dialogues (many tongue-in-cheek stuff) and one liners. The characters are so vivid and distinct that each one of them brings his own flavour to the conversations and eventually to the amazing climax.

The story happens on the hottest day of the summer as reported by the newspaper. The mercury soars and the weather is just right for the tempers to flare anytime soon. Mookie(played by Spike Lee himself), a lovable good for nothing grown up, survives on his sister Jane's earnings while paying visits when likes to his own Latina wife Tina and their 2-3 year old son who live with Tina's mother. Jane, Tina and her mother curse and hate Mookie for this. Mookie though looks to have calm head on his shoulders. He is not a racist, atleast on the face of it. He now works as a door-to-door delivery man in the neighborhood for pizzas of the Sal's Famous pizzeria. This pizza store, in the heart of the inter racial locality is owned by the elderly Italian Sal and Sal says "I built this place with my own hands. I have watched the people here grow on my food, my pizza, Sal's pizza and I'm very proud of that". Sal has two sons Pino and Vito who also work with him at the store and make pizzas. Vito is a friend of Mookie's. Pino detests Mookie because of his colour and race and doesn't like Vito hanging around with him. There is a confrontation scene where Mookie rips Pino and exposes his double standards. Pino keeps asking Sal why are they are not in their own Italian neighboorhood selling pizzas instead of suffering miserably in a place where people hate them. To this Sal says he has been here for 25 years and all he knows in life is to make pizzas and there is no place to go. He says Sal's is here to stay here forvever. Tempers flare and Sal calms Pino, Vito and Mookie and makes sure the business is great.

Everybody loves Sal's pizza though everyone doesn't love Sal. Sal's clientele includes almost everyone in the neighborhood. As the day gets hotter, Mookie delivers them to Senor Love Daddy the self confessed RJ, the African American teenage gang and even his wife Tina who orders purposefully so that she can make her irresponsible husband see her son at her home atleast once. Now come the troublemakers - Radio Rahim, the giant African American man, roams around blasting music from his monstrous radio box about black exploitation and hates Sal for demanding to turn off his jungle music whenever he enters his store , Buggin' Out - who wants Sal to have what he calls "some brothers on the wall of fame". Sal has adorned the walls of his store with Italian American icons. Buggin Out' demands he put African American icons on the wall as the store is in such a neighborhood and they were the ones who spend on his pizza. Sal refuses, Buggin' Out leaves threatening to stage a boycott against Sal and his store.

As Buggin Out' gathers support in the locality for the boycott, many subplots take the film to an altogether new level like - Mookie's sister Jane coming to eat at Sal's turning Sal's entire attention on her infuriating Mookie who asks her never to come at the store again. The very old wise man Da Mayor, always drunk, always humilated by the young, but having a heart of gold makes up to the very old Mother-Sister, the witness to the happenings of the area who detests Da Mayor at first but eventually realises she misunderstood him. The 4 African American teenagers ganging upon anyone they can lay their hands on. The 3 African American men under the tent some distance from Sal's all day talking on and on and on about their miserable state and fuming over the Korean Sonny's blooming store in their neighbothood right infront of their eyes. Most importantly Smiley, a total retard who goes around selling the photo of Malcom X and Martin Luther King shaking hands and telling them who they are. Smiley is insulted badly by Pino at one point though Sal loves him. That iconic photograph symbolizes what this whole film means. What a beauty? The most insane character has the most relevant message.

During one of Mookie's afternoon deliveries, Da mayor stops him and says those prophetic words to him - "remember... always do the right thing" in a very matter-of-fact and down-to-earth manner. Its almost closing time at Sal's. Sal reveals to Vito, Pini and Mookie they had a great day of business and even says he would rename the place as Sal's and sons Famous pizzeria to include Mookie as well. Just at that moment Buggin' Out with Radio Rahim, Smiley barge into the store and along with the 4 African American teenagers already present in the store for the last pizza of the day, demand Sal to put the photos of African American icons on the so called Wall of Fame. Sal doesn't budge. Mookie tries to calm them but all hell breaks loose and a nasty fight ensues. Sal's store is stormed and everything is brought down. Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Jane, 3 African American men come to the scene of the crime. The Cops are called in. Radio Rahim and Sal strangle each other to death. The racist cops arrest the African Americans but Radio Rahim doesn't crumble. They bring him down by strangling by the police cane at his throat. Little do they realise that he is dead by then. Everyone is stunned. The cops take the body and leave in a haste. Sal and family are seen as the villains of the death. The entire community stands in front of him and his damaged store waiting for the slightest trigger to chew them up alive. Mookie, the only bridge now between Sal and the community and very upset at his friend Radio Rahim's death, thinks long and hard about what to do next.

Does he do the right thing? What happens next needs to seen to be believed. That scene epitomises what all the characters and the movie stand for. I can't single out anyone for their acting as everyone from Mookie, Sal to Eddie, the kid act so well that what unfolds before us seems like our own locality. The camera work is terrific in such limited location like the use of red to heighten the blazing heat, the close ups showing the sweaty thirst hungry faces. The main reason why I think the movie works is because of its screenplay also written by Spike Lee. This is an original work. The writing seamlessly interweaves the many plots, subplots, subtexts of the many interracial characters using the American, Afro American, latina, hispanic, korean colloquialism. The dialogues don't seem like dialogues. They are exactly like everyday talk and even in the most intense of situations they don't sound forced.

This movie deserves to be seen just for its entertainment quotient. I experienced a whole gamut of emotions when I saw this. What else one needs from a movie. Once seen it will automatically force us to take a stand on what is the right thing. It won't leave you. A truly amazing work.

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...

the saddest thing in life is wasted talent...

Those words are universal in A Bronx Tale(1992), the debut feature by Robert De Niro (one of the greatest actors of his and of all times - Raging Bull,Taxi Driver) written by Chazz Palimentri based on his own play of the same name.



A gangster movie? Yes. But not the usual mafia, mobs, police, undercover cops stuff. This one is very personal and very different and very intimate and above all a prayer without ever pretending to be one.

The year is 1961. The place is Bronx(one of the five boroughs of NYC). The time in the neighborhood is turbulent with the cold war, racial discrimination, brotherhood. Lorenzo (Robert De Niro), a middle aged Italian-American working class public bus driver has a young impressionable eight-nine year old boy Calegero. He lives with his Italian-American wife in a Bronx apartment. Lorenzo is the everyday common man. He slugs it day in and day out on the job for a better future for his family and his boy, and does with a smile. He is responsible, honest, sincere and is a very proud father. Calegero looks up to him and Lorenzo makes sure he does by choice and not by force. Lorenzo takes him to the ball games, talks about them, talks about dreams, ambition, talent, gives him a ride in his bus around the neighborhood whenever possible.

So it's all one small happy family. Not quite, not quite. Lorenzo fears all that he is doing for his young son might be undone if Calegero is sucked into the world of Sonny(Chazz Palimentri) - the local don, whose den - a bar is by the turn of Lorenzo's apartment. Lorenzo and his wife try to make sure their son doesn't stray onto the other side. Too small to be aware of Sonny's background, Calegero and his young turks play before the basement of his apartment and they see Sonny and his henchmen all the time. As Lorenzo feared, Calegero is mightily impressed with Sonny, how he doesn't have to wait in the queue like everyone to get things done. He tries to watch him, imitate him, attract his attention all the time. He says "people use five fingers... Sonny uses three". But Sonny doesn't notice him.

Then the moment arrives. Right before Calegero eyes, Sonny's profession unravels. Sonny shoots a guy dead on the street in broad daylight over a parking tiff. The cops come and ask Calegero to identify the men they have caught of which Sonny is one. The young one along with his father see each man. But Calegero doesn't identify Sonny.

Calegero feels bad he saved a guilty man. Lorenzo tells him sometimes things like that has to be done to save oneself. He doesn't know his son did what he did because he likes Sonny and Sonny knows this. From that moment, Sonny befriends Calegero, calls him Si(ironically the Italian word for yes), gives him money, uses him as goodluck in his gambling inside the bar, becomes a pseudo father to him and he is different to Si compared to others. He knows he owes Si his life. He always tells Si never to leave school, makes sure he never spills the filth of his business before him. Si loves his new found life, loves Sonny, loves the things his friendship of Sonny has got him.

Lorenzo watches helpelssly as his son he believes is pulled away from him. In a terrific scene he reasons with his young son about Sonny. Si says Sonny is more cool than any other ball player and that the people love him as a hero. Lorenzo, in tears, says that's not love, that's fear and Sonny is not to be trusted and his money is venemous. He says the working man like himself are the real heroes. They are the ones that are really loved and respected. He asks Calegero if Sonny could gain such love by working like him. Both of stand their ground but Lorenzo keeps trying to hold onto his son, still calling him Calegero though everyone calls him Si. He says to his son he would understand all this when he grows up.

Time passes by and the year is 1969. Si, going to his twenties, has grown up in the shadow of Sonny who has become more powerful in the neighborhood. Lorenzo, still with his family in the same apartment, still the bus driver, still calling his son Calegero, can't take the fact that his son is destroying his life with his own hands by hanging out with his friends and Sonny.

Meanwhile Sonny who has watched Si grow up before his own eyes tells him to stay away from his young friends for his own good. Si doesn't quite understand it. Si falls for a African American girl, Jane, in his racially tense locality. He tells his father about it but doesn't get much of a response from him. He tells Sonny about it. Sonny encourages him to take her out on a date in his amazing convertible. He tells him how to judge a woman by her talk and walk. Si is overwhelmed. But his friends beat up the Afro-American boys and Jane's brother is one of them. His date goes awry. He returns the car to Sonny and walks away hurt. Sonny finds something strange in the car and pulls him Si. Sonny, paranoid, thinks Si screwed him up and beats him to know the truth. Si tells him the truth is he did nothing.

That moment opens Si's eyes to the difference between Lorenzo, his own father and Sonny, his pseudo father. The former would never give him up even if Si didn't do a thing for him and the latter would never trust him even if Si did all for him. His fanstasy world of himself and Sonny is broken. Sonny himself tells Si scenes later, he still loves him, cares for him but the only one he can trust is himself in his business. Si breaks away from Sonny.

In the climatic portions, Si's friends are out to do some real damage to their Afro-American cousins. They take him in. At that moment, Sonny like always pulls him out and tells him to stay away. His friends die in a car blast. Si thanks his lucky stars and goes to thank Sonny for his saving his life being flushed down the toilet, when Sonny's profession gets the better of him. Si now realises how Sonny's profession can pay one and also can make one pay.

Si's makes a tearful farewell to Sonny. Even Lorenzo comes to pay respect. He confesses he never hated Sonny but he was angry at him because he made his son grow up so fast. The movie ends with Calegero reciting the lines of the article title and what he has learnt from the two most important people in his life to accept people for what they are and to love unconditionally.

Being himself a part of so many gangster pics, I expected Robert De Niro's movie to be bloody violent. The movie has blood but its not violent. It really is something to have someone look after you so dearly as Lorenzo and Sonny do. Lorenzo's lines to console his son were the most touching. Though simple yet mighty powerful. "Its ok son... come on son... no problem son... we can do this son... don worry son... don't lose it son... i am with you son... i love u son...". Wish people can use such simple words to comfort others rather than giving long speeches which happens very often in the reel world and not so often in the real world.The film brings alive the era of the 60's. Robert De Niro underplays so much that we can literally see our fathers in Lorenzo. Chazz plays Sonny with style but shows his ruthless side when pushed. The boy and the man who play Calegero/Si are perfect displaying the right amount of innocence, vullnerability and the right heart.

The movie shows how the youth can be so impressionable, how they can be easy targets and is like a prayer to all the young turks not to throw away their precious lives.

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...

baanwra mann dekhne chala ek sapna...

Those lines meant for Vikram (Shiney Ahuja) in Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005) could be said about almost every Indian who lived between the very late 60's and the late 70's in which this film is set.



This film by Sudhir Mishra is possibly and probably his tribute to all the Indians who amidst those troubled times in Indian history marred by naxalism, emergency, dictatorship, dared to think, dared to dream big, dared to question, dared to revolt against the oppressed, dared to live - each of them in their own way. With this as a backdrop, we see the India of the 60's and 70's through the eyes of three principal characters resembling the times and are involved in an intricate and fascinating love triangle if one may call it say so. But bear in mind this love story could probably be unlike anything you have seen before - at least it was for me until I saw it. It breaks free of all cliches and customs probably just like those times.

Siddarth(Kay Kay Menon), a firebrand educated elite class youth and his young gang want to improve the country as he sick of watching people like his retired-judge father sit and pontificate about the problems crippling it. He wants to bring about a revolution ala Castro, he is ready to go to the villages, he believes in an ideology and is willing to go and wait for any length. Vikram is son of a middle class Gandhian father who according to Vikram thinks about the society than about his family. Vikram is desperate to just get out of his so called shit-hole and quickly get as much rich, fame, fortune as possible. He is an eternal oppurtunist and is ready to use anything and anyone and do the dirty things if need be. Geeta(Chitrangada Singh), daughter of an articulate South Indian family oscillates between Delhi and London. All three study in the same university. Geeta loves Siddarth and stands by him, his movement though she doesn't quite understand it. Vikram detests Siddarth and pines for Geeta, like one of his lifelong ambitions. Siddarth loves Geeta but takes her support for him granted which doesn't please Geeta and she doesn't like Vikram hovering around her.

The three of them are fiercely individualistic and opinionated when forced into a corner. They are like every man for himself. This trait of theirs makes them go their own ways after graduation and they don't repent one bit. After all one has got to do what one has has got to do.Siddarth finds the villages unimaginably harsh and hard than he had ever conceived and is sucked into the lawlessness and violence of Bihar. Vikram has become a fixer and strikes big deals quite often and is also married. Geeta is married to a well off but alcholic guy. Three of them remain in touch through letters (no cell phones and possibly very limited STD back then!!!!... imagine how people might have poured their innermost feelings on paper). Times have changed. Indira Gandhi's iron fist rules over India.

Geeta leaves her husband and takes the help of Vikram. He thinks this is his chance to finally make her his woman. She still feels itchy about him. Her beastly thirst for Siddarth makes her go to a village to meet him and they both have a remorseless rendezvous. Vikram bumps into them by choice. Old animosity reignites. Vikram moves on reluctantly and starts to do really corrupt deals recklessly. Geeta marries Siddarth and lives along with him in the villages. She slowly understands how, what, why on ground zero and undergoes a gradual change and sees the bigger picture.

The final nail is driven into the coffin. Emergency in India. Shoot at sight orders for anyone against the establishment. Siddarth, a wanted naxal is nabbed by corrupt,immoral police along with Geeta and their gang. They are tortured, sexually abused, even killed by the police. Geeta's first husband, now remmarried, rescues her and takes her back to Delhi in the hope of an affair. Siddarth escapes and is on death run. With his own father arrested, Vikram uses all his connections to get him out, Geeta again asks him to use all his power and wealth to find Siddarth fearing his death. Vikram sets out just for the sake of Geeta.

What follows after that till the end of the move is truly remarkable. I won't reveal it. You have to watch the movie for it. It isn't meant to be a suspense. But the profound impact about people and human nature shown in that part of the movie had on me, I hope everyone has and I don't want to spoil it. All three of them still remain individualistic but become a complete opposite at the end giving the movie an open-ended feel making it all the more poignant. We can feel, know and relate to each of their reasons for doing so. Still their love and loyalties exist but in a different way and for different things.

The narrative is as smooth as a river. English dialogues are used quite a lot but are correct as the characters are highly educated (intellectually than in posh colleges) and converse in English (another reflection of those times). The film stirs one up without being preachy or talky. Acting is astounding. Chitrangada Singh in her debut role - my eyes were glued to her. She looks amazing and portrays the bold and beautiful Geeta with great depth. Shiney Ahuja brings out the animal in Vikram and still manages to show he has a pure heart. Kay Kay makes Siddarth all fire and brimstone until the very end where he becomes vulnerable. Everything, the sets, music, cinematography takes us back to those times.

The film is perfect like a masterpiece. Disturb one note and everything would crumble. It is rare to find truly soul stirring cinema that shakes you to the core. This is one of them. It is once in a lifetime film. All those associated with the film (making it or watching it) would/could/must know this sooner or later. Pity it didn't get the support it deserved when it was released. I don't wish that I should have been there in those times but I damn grateful to see this movie showing me those times.

Till next time - movies, movies and movies...