Timbuktu (2014)

(***1/2 stars / *****)

Thanks to pandemic-induced run of online film festivals and a movie-passionate friend, I came upon this Abderrahmane Sissako written and directed drama, a tragic tale of extremist and religious imposition. 

What would you do if religious extremists took over your resident state and imposed extreme restrictions on your life? 

What if playing games and music is forbidden, and women are forcefully asked to cover their body from 'tempting' view? 

How stifling and caged would that life be? 

Would you flee from that place or stay and suffer the consequences?  

Timbuktu is no championed, heroic tale, but a stark true events-inspired portrayal of scrapping a crushed existence under gun-wielding extremist force.

The Mauritanian-French language tale is set in the desert-ridden, barren landscape of Timbuktu, Mali. 

Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed dit Pino) lives a difficult but peaceful life with his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki), young daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed) and a 12-year-old shepherd boy Issan (Mehdi Ag Mohamed). 

But when one of his cow's is killed by a local fishermen, things fall apart. 

The dominant Islamic religious militia interpret the religious law for their fanatic benefit. 

From children forbidden to play football, music banned as a crime, women asked to cover their body (even their hands with gloves!), and death by stoning for adultery, Kidane's fate is sealed, but there is a catch. 

Timbuktu may be set in Mali, but its derelict occurrences could be happening anywhere in the world. 

Reckless, merciless and foolish rulers causing the sufferings of millions is no longer distant fiction, but a writhing reality even in so-called superpowers like America. 

The screenplay hangs loose at times, but the hard realism, desert-sand emptiness, numbness of curtailed freedom gets through in the silent, telling moments. 

Despite some great and some not-so-great acting, sparse setting, limited-budget art, cinematography and music direction, Timbuktu is a grim yet slow-burn warning call to oppression in religion's name.

Cinema that is tragic and telling, true to life. 

Fading Gigolo (2013)

[*** stars/*****]

Fading Gigolo Story: A seller of rare books (Woody Allen) is down on business, until a revelation of need from his affluent dermatologist (Sharon Stone) leads him to offer his flower-arranging friend (John Turturro) a career as a gigolo. Things go well, as Allen plays pimp to Turturro, trying to fish in needy women. Then the gigolo falls in love.

Fading Gigolo has a flimsy premise in its midst and would have been pretty much a no show but for the chemistry and humour its cast generates. 

Woody Allen in a film not directed by him is good match for John Turturro, the film's director and main protagonist. The lonely women roles by Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara and Vanessa Paradis are part of the film's winning moments, as is Allen's legendary monologue bumbling wit. 

Turturro is an unlikely dark horse, he exudes vulnerability and eagerness for life, it is certainly a self-casting that works.

The Jewish background works incidentally as a comic statement on societal rules, it is otherwise a half-baked afterthought. The climax is unreasonably conclusive and tepid, a saving grace is the final Allen-Turturro scene, unexpected and warm to a degree. In fact, with some daft screenplay, the film could have explored the story further from where it ends. 

Fading Gigolo review: Finally, Fading Gigolo is a adult comedy that doesn't rise to great heights, but keeps it relevant and light with some sparkling moments, enough to exit the theatre with a satisfied air.   

Sir (2018)

[**** stars /*****]

Understanding and empathy in movies and 100% efficacy in COVID vaccines are a rarity, lately. 

What if you confessed your love to your housemaid? How would the housemaid react? 

How would a movie made on such a subject usually pan out? 

Bold scenes and what not? No attempt to explore characters, thoughts, hearts? 

Most probably, yes. 

Writer-director Rohena Gera's Sir is surprise, surprise, not that movie by the long shot.

Ratna (Tillotama Shome), widowed at 19, works at soon-to-be-married Ashwin (Vivek Gomber) and Sabina's spacious high-rise Mumbai apartment. 

An independent woman supporting her younger sister's education and family at her village, Ratna is asked by Ashwin's mother (Divya Seth) to rejoin work. 

Apparently Sabina has cheated on Ashwin, the marriage has been called off. 

Ratna doesn't mind working for a single man, she is unaffected by what others may think.   

Ashwin's continuing gloom over weeks causes her to remind him that life goes on despite setbacks, citing her own life as an example. 

Ratna also aspires to be a fashion designer, Ashwin encourages her to pursue her passion. He sees her as an equal, never as a servant.    

Gently, gradually like the changing of seasons, love blooms.   

Nuanced, sensitive take

An Indian housemaid is at the deep end of India's ruptured social fabric. Life is fragile, and loving someone from the so-called higher class, unthinkable. 

Gera channels this brick-hard premise through Shome's splendid, sparkling lead act, Gomber's controlled play, with some great supporting turns, Geetanjali Kulkarni as Laxmi is excellent. 

The nobility and intent of Sir won my heart.

The makers keep it real, the screenplay barely striking any cluttered notes. 

The pacing is lovely, no melodrama, understated tone elevates proceedings. 

A realistic, steady mirror to class disparities, affluent city life, dreams and passions, Sir is a rare flower, seeking-depth cinema. 

As seen on Netflix  

On the Waterfront (1954)

[**** stars / *****]

Terry Malloy: 

You don't understand! 

I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. 

I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.

 

Have you ever had that sinking feeling bursting out of you, been put down by a near one, that this life could have been lived better, that your best days are done? 

Marlon Brando immortalized that feeling forever, an unforgettable scene in On the Waterfront.  

A mobster union boss, the waterfront he rules with fearsome force, a profiting gang, right hand man and his 'has been' dockworker brother, dead man's sister seeking answers and a reform-seeking church Father.     

On the Waterfront is Marlon Brando in earnest, intense, face-as-expressive-canvas glory. 

Budd Schulberg's story and tipsy-turvy screenplay both touches and misses the bigger picture. 

The Elia Kazan direction is not consistently solid.

The setting has its atmospherics, be it the stark buildings or the dock, the story is certainly throbbing, though the love track seems forced at times. 

Kazan and the art department do triumph in the indoor settings and the cast - they totally feel like waterfront residents. 

A waterfront, for starters, is a part of town near to the river or the sea, with its own geographical dynamics, a gritty working class neighbourhood, details that the steady Boris Kaufman cinematography captures with assurance. 

The Marlon Brando show 

Brando makes On the Waterfront tick. 

He looks every bit Terry Malloy, a faded boxer whose elder brother is part of a notorious local gang. 

His new found love for Elie (Eva Marie Saint) leads him to steadily grow a conscience and set things right. But Terry's change of heart is not without tragic consequences.   

The climatic confrontation between Terry and Charley (Rod Steiger) is the standout scene, Brando and Steiger sparkle, vulnerability and rawness of the relationship bursting out between the siblings, leading to the famous Brando outburst.    

The Father Barry (Karl Malden) talk on Christian values, the Jesus analogy is another notable aspect of the story curve. 

Lee J. Cobb as Johnny Friendly almost steals the show playing a small-time ferocious, bull of a man with a murderous streak. 

The cinematography and frames could have been sharper. When the camera frames one character at a time, it momentarily dwarfs the storytelling.       

On the Waterfront is not an outright classic, there are many superb moments, especially in the final fifteen minutes that redeems the movie experience, brings the drama to a rousing end.

Watch it for Brando's towering performance, Cobb's fiendishly enjoyable villain shades and Saint's fragile romantic turn.  

The Disciple (2020)

[***1/2 stars / *****]

Marathi filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane struck film festival gold with his first full length feature, the deep, subtle, insightful Court (2014), a telling drama on the Indian judicial system. 

This time he trains a keen, settling eye on the life of an aspiring Indian classical singer. 

Michał Sobociński's cinematography casts a single-minded, wide angle view on the rigours of learning classical music through the singular experience of Sharad Nerulkar (Aditya Modak).

The quieter side of Mumbai coincides with continual tanpura (background string instrument) strains, blending with the disciple's unending journey.  

Bound by centuries old guru-shishya parampara (teacher-disciple tradition), Sharad has to ward off family, financial limitations and bodily desires to pursue his passion.   

The unending quest 

We catch Sharad first in his twenties as outwardly calm, inwardly restless soul attempting turbulently to master the eternal art from the elderly Guruji (Arun Dravid). 

In his mid-thirties, Sharad has a music teacher job to support his passion, his ailing master points out that Sharad's singing skills have a long way to go.

There are short flashbacks to Sharad's childhood too, that partly explains Sharad's interest in music, while providing a few answers to his personality.  

The most telling part features Sharad in his forties, echoes of human perseverance and courage in the most damning yet effective way. 

How does human endeavour fare largely, flashes across Sharad's face in the final scenes, beautiful strokes to sum up a life journey.

Slow burner 

The Disciple takes a while to get going, but writer-director Tamhane is surefooted and steady in chronicling various aspects of a classical singer's life. 

Underplayed drama and the three timeline variations are the movie's strength. The lead performance is too underplayed, especially Modak's lead act. 

The Disciple, not as sharp and fiery as Court, is a studied unflinching take on the lonely, hungry road to sculpting one's art, and thanks to its unblinking, uncompromised treatment, is a good watch for cinema lovers. 

Now playing on Netflix 

Batman Ninja (2018)

[***1/2 stars/*****]

The tale begins at Arkham Asylum where a time machine made by Gorilla Grodd ends up transporting the major villains of Gotham, Batman and his crime-fighting team to ancient Japan.

Batman, last to be enveloped by the time machine, arrives two years later back in time.  

The villains have wrecked havoc in the meantime, displaced the original feudal lords, built weapon-heavy super castles and are constantly battling each other for supremacy and dominance.      

Batman now has the cliffhanger test in stopping the master criminals from rupturing the past and consequently, the present. 

He then has the seemingly impossible task to taking everyone safe and sound, back to the present. 

Batman re-imagined

What happens when manga-based illustrators carve their magic to reinvent Batman and his enemies via time-travel in ancient Japan? 

You get Batman Ninja, richly illustrated, stylish Batman animation movie that is particularly good and has a lovely, beautifully orchestrated Batman-Joker finale fight that more than makes up for some sluggishness and lack of any major surprises. 

That giving up is not even an option for Batman is a lovely emphasis, as is the plot element when, in the absence of modern technology, Batman is left with only his will to overcome his enemies.  

The illustrated rich manga texture, bold colours and style, lavishly imagined battle of the castles may not be everybody's plate of Sushi, I loved it though. 

The Joker, brilliantly voiced (Wataru Takagi, Japanese version) and drawn is the scene-stealer. 

Eternal enemies 

Why is the Joker way ahead of the pack in Batman villains? Batman Ninja gave me more reason to wonder on the uncanny Bats-Joker chemistry. 

They are a perfect foil, one can sense Batman having empathy for Joker - after all the Joker is deranged and delirious, he may be less at fault as compared to other foul-minded villains. 

But the madness and the dash of unpredictability also makes him the most dangerous of the lot. 

Batman almost has his face ripped off by a Joker move and yet, Batman holds his ground, avoids killing anyone, and fights clean against all odds. 

Japanese touch 
For more fun, watch the Junpei Mizusaki-directed Batman Ninja in the original Japanese audio version with subtitles. The Batman story attains a nice, robust rural flavour in that language. 

Definitely worth a watch for fans of Gotham's eternal protector.  

(Batman Ninja is streaming on Netflix (India).)

Thazhvaram (1990)

[**** stars/*****]

There is a framed black and white photograph of two smiling friends on an indistinct wall. A hand picks up the frame, places it on the ground, picks out the photograph. 

Then with a sharp pointed knife, the photograph is cut into two. 

In the deadly silence, the photograph is further cut to the size of a profile from the chest up. We are introduced to an untidy, stubble-faced Balan (Mohanlal) looking down gravely at the photo of his childhood friend Raju (Salim Ghouse).     

Then with a view of pointed cliffs, beautiful streams and a green landscape, Balan sets out in search of Raju. 

What has transpired between the two friends? What is it a weary Balan seeks among Kerala's desolate hills and valleys?    

Friends, foes and lovers 
Thazhvaram (The Valley) is a Malayalam thriller coloured in shades of Spaghetti Western movies (The Dollar trilogy), nature of an old world tale of deceit, innocence, revenge and greed. 

It is also a fascinating study of rural life, human settlements, good and evil, life choices and consequences. 

Balan has shades of Clint Eastwood's unnamed character from the Sergio Leone trilogy on the exterior. But as the tale unfolds, we see a simple, naive village man who is undone by the company he keeps. 

The extended battle with a former friend is constantly fascinating, as Balan and Raju try to outwit each other, leading to a fiery climax featuring vultures and explosives.  

Thazhvaram is also a window to Kerala's enigmatic allure. 

The southern-most Indian state, with its isolated, resplendent unspoiled natural beauty, earthy people and snail-paced urbanization makes a far-off, abandoned appearance.   

Mohanlal, the born actor
The Johnson background score is sparsely, effectively used. Silence adds to the suspense and gravity in key scenes. 

Bharathan directs with sure-footed assurance, building on noted writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair's gritty story, using simple every day elements and mirroring basic human nature to carve out a throbbing realistic drama. 

Mohanlal is extraordinary, and Thazhvaram is further proof of why he is considered among the best actors in the world. 


Hindi movie audiences will remember Mohanlal as Mumbai Police Commissioner V. Srinivasan in Ram Gopal Varma's underworld drama Company (2002).

Salim Ghouse makes a good villain, the sturdy supporting cast includes Sumalatha, Anju and veteran actor Sankaradi as the chatty father.  

Venu's cinematography is steady, editing cuts by B. Lenin and V.T. Vijayan keep it crisp. Lip-synced songs, though brief, mar the narrative.        

Watch Thazhvaram to witness how cinema can exist in minimalism, and consistently engage thanks to sheer film-making passion. 

Cinema, down south 
The golden age of Malayalam cinema extended from the 1980's to the mid-1990's. 

Directors like Bharathan and Padmarajan balanced art and commercial elements in free-flowing narratives to create compelling middle-of-the-road cinema.

Many of these films are regarded today as iconic, path-breaking and classic. 

As a cinema lover, would love to see many early Malayalam classics restored and redistributed to a larger world audience.  

In popular culture, Bharathan is best-known for directing the Kamal Hassan Tamil starer Thevar Magan (1992), later remade as Virasat (1997) by Priyadarshan. 

The multi-talented Bharathan passed away in 1998, he was only 51.   

(Thazhvaram is streaming with English subtitles on Disney + Hotstar (India).)

The Shining (1980)

[**** stars/*****]

There is a job vacancy at the remotely-located 1909-established Overlook Hotel, Rocky Mountains. 

Wanted: A caretaker during the off-season snow-drowned winter months. 

For aspiring writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) the job might offer just the solitude he needs to work, with wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) for company.

Jack seems to have aced the interview. Manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) adds just one little detail. The previous caretaker, Charles Grady, got a wee bit restless during his stay. Grady ended up killing his wife and two little daughters in the process. 

Jack is unaffected and says that his wife loves hearing horror stories. The job is his. Meanwhile, back at Jack's home, Danny has a blood-flowing nightmare about the hotel. 

The Torrance family moves in soon after, days began to pass, snow begins to gather and things start to unravel at the good old Overlook Hotel.   

A master at work 
Apart from extracting incredible performances from the three main cast members, director Stanley Kubrick literally weaves a maze of visual and audio intricacies to terrify the audience. 

The overbearing sense of location, the maze, eye-catching use of geometrical shapes, I can't get my mind off the sublime John Alcott cinematography, the terrific score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. 

The Shining is a learner's guide to making a timeless horror movie. 

The hypnotic use of enclosed spaces, of movement, sound, colours and textures is unbelievably precise. The wolf and the three pigs story is twisted about for axe-pounding scares.   

The strong green paleness of Room 237, shroud white curtains, calculated lighting, lingering tense pace, ominous use of red...how the hell did Kubrick get Danny Lloyd to give such haunting expressions?

Nicholson's highly enjoyable act in the final parts is a prelude to his Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989). Shelley Duvall is a great horror movie face, that's how a scared-to-death woman should look.  

I saw The Shining on my cell phone screen, and its distinct imagery has stayed with me for over two days. I wonder what a late evening big screen experience would have done. 

This is a magnificently orchestrated horror masterpiece.  

If you love horror movies (otherwise the genre has gone redundant lately), among the clutter of jump scares and cheap tested tricks, The Shining is what Lionel Messi is to football...unspeakable brilliance...something else.  

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

[*** stars/*****]

What does monogamy in marriage mean? Surely fantasizing about another person is not betrayal? 

How many of us assume that faithfulness in marriage is natural ...or as Bill puts it - woman are loyal to their partner by nature?  

Dr. William "Bill" Harford (Tom Cruise) and Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman) seem happily married, and live in New York with Helena, their seven-year-old daughter. 

Then one Christsmas eve, the handsome, beautiful, and well-off couple are at a party hosted by one of Bill's affluent patients, Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack).

Bill ends up running into good friend Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), medical school dropout and now pianist. 

Meanwhile, a Hungarian businessman Sandor Szavost (Sky du Mont) attempts to unsuccessfully seduce Alice. 

Bill is flirted at by two young models, then abruptly called in by his host to help Mandy (Julienne Davis), who apparently overdosed on a drug while having sex with Ziegler. 

Mandy recovers, thanks to Bill's timely intervention. 

The next evening at home, Bill and Alice smoke marijuana, and idly discuss monogamy and temptations. 

Bill sounds traditionally righteous, that he is never jealous of other men hitting on Alice, as a women's nature is to be faithful. 

Alice laughs at this remark, and reveals how she fantasized having an affair a year ago. 

She was charmed by a naval officer whom she never met, during their summer vacation hotel stay back then. 

Alice casually admits that she considered leaving Bill and Helena for the officer.

The disclosure shakes up Bill, and in a turn of events over the next couple of days, he strongly considers having sex outside marriage, leading to dangerous, alarming events.  

Kubrick's last hurrah 
Though Eyes Wide Shut limps to its last act, turning into a mitigated, ambiguous social satire (hence the title) from an erotic mystery thriller, I was blown away by the sheer visual power. 

The Larry Smith cinematography, the Jocelyn Pook score and eerie use of classical music, including a Tamil song in the shocking mansion scenes, director Stanley Kubrick lured me unblinkingly deep into the half-baked conflict.  

Every frame is magnificent and painstakingly clean in detail, the art direction is exemplary. 

Adapted, with many major changes, from Traumnovelle (Dream Story), a 1926 German novella by Arthur Schnitzler, Stanley Kubrick last film (he died six days after a director's cut screening to Warner Brothers and the lead cast) is undone by its writing and boxed characterization. 

Prominent questions are seldom confronted or juggled around with. 

The one-track journey of Bill's search for sexual encounters, required a varied voice of Alice to build up the drama. 

But Alice's side in largely muted by Bill's journey, which, despite the shock, doesn't add up. 

Bill is played up as a Hollywood hero, rather than a person, creating a detached feel - Cruise only lacks a superhero cape.  

Eyes Wide Shut is muted in voice and reason, neither does it deliver on its dark and potentially devastating premise. 

The resultant nudity, sexual imagery and orgy scenes end up as gimmicky, having no bearing on the story. 

Eyes Wide Shut is worth a watch for its incredible visual charisma, the Cruise-Kidman and ensemble acts, despite the failed yet assured attempt at cinema immortality as in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) and The Shining (1980). 

Wonder what more lethal worlds Kubrick would have conjured, if he had lived a decade more. 

(Eyes Wide Shut is streaming on Netflix.) 

Uncut Gems (2019)

[***1/2 stars/*****]

Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a bumbling, restless, shrewd, gambling-crazy New York City jewelry store owner. 

We first meet Ratner on the brink of cracking a huge deal, in his street-smart rambling 'Sandler lazy casual-drawl' manner.

But life is not a bed of priceless gems.  

Ratner has a huge gambling debt to pay off, including over $100,000 to his menacing brother-in-law Arno (Eric Bogosian). 

But that doesn't stop Ratner on his roller-coaster madcap ride for infinite wealth...even when Arno sends over his men to the jewelry store - short-tempered Phil (Keith Williams Richards) and Nico (Tommy Kominik) to physically intimidate and embarrass Ratner before his customers. 

Things come to the head when a black opal, a rare priceless gem extracted by Ethiopian miners reaches Ratner, setting off a chaotic chain of events. 

Already, Ratner is on the verge of divorcing his separated wife, barely has time for his children, and is having an affair with his employee Julia (Julia Fox). 

Is there a rainbow waiting for Ratner as he spirals out of control, curving down his adrenaline rush for money, money, and more money? 

Fast-paced entertaining drama 
Writers Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie (also co-directors) and Ronald Bronstein churn a madcap, hypnotic, feverish drama thriller, symbolically pinning the black opal, and channeling insatiable greed through Ratner's circling fetish for gambling.

The turbulent celebration in Daniel Lopatin's brilliant background score is magnetic, as is the constant deliberate busy shift in Darius Khondji's cinematography.    

Adam Sandler is a revelation, superb and immensely compelling as Howard Ratner. 

Sandler's intonation and body language to create a man consumed and not in control of himself is unforgettable. 

A city beast throbbing in a unabated blood rush, this is a career-defining performance.

I won't ever take any competent typecast actor for granted, thanks to Sandler's wolfish, trippy act.   

Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, basketball player Kevin Garnett (as himself), Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian and Judd Hirsch make a good support cast. 

The Jewish-American community representation steers clear of stereotypes. The directors ensure that it is only incidental to the pulsating drama. 

Striking tension-induced mood settings makes up for the sketchiness, Uncut Gems is a whirlwind manic thump of a drama. 

(Uncut Gems is streaming on Netflix.)