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Phantom Thread (2017)
A treatise on often neglected, occasionally poisonous facets of love
Romantic movies, as a genre, is fairly predictable in the aspects of love it portrays. Phantom Thread breaks those molds, and ventures into a world rarely explored in the movies, or literature. It's thrilling, humorous, romantic, scary and depressing all at the same time, and yet it feels real and rooted in a deep seated sense of neediness love infuses in everyone.
Performances, across the board, is absolutely top notch. Daniel Day Lewis disappears into the character (as he so often does) of master dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, down to the fine mannerisms (watch how he holds the pins, or the way he touches a fabric) to the physicality of the character, and is absolutely riveting to watch. I can't think of any actor who can make an act as simple as eating an omelette a very visceral and thrilling experience, and if this indeed is his swan song, then he made sure every note is worth it. Vicky Criceps is equally impressive - and that is as high a praise as it comes - as his muse Alma, and so is Lesley Manville as his sister Cyril.
It is one of those movies that would stay with you, long after you have left the theater.
Padmaavat (2018)
A soul-less poem in beautiful penmanship.
Every frame of Sanjay Leela Bansali's 'Padmaavat' is so gorgeously and painstakingly composed, lit precisely, and so beautifully dressed up, that it could be a painting that would not look out of place in a museum of fine art. The costumes, the set design, the cinematography - all of them are absolutely stunning. If visual splendor were the sole criteria, then this would probably be one of the best movies of the year.
Performances are top notch across the board. Padmavati is not entirely dissimilar to Helen of Troy. As the face that launched a thousand arrows, Deepika Padukone looks absolutely resplendent, though as far as character arc goes, she is given very little to work with. Ranveer Singh chews up the scenery, and delivers a passionate and riveting performance as Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Material often fails him, but Ranveer never falters during his manic turn as a baddie for the ages. Jim Sarbh also makes most of his character as Malik Kafur. Though Shahid Kapoor is just serviceable as Maharawal Ratan Singh, the rest of the supporting cast does a wonderful job.
But, for all the beauty and all noteworthy performances, Padmaavat is ultimately a disappointing and soul-less movie. Perhaps it is this potential of what could have been is what is so frustrating about it. Make no mistake, it is the writing that fails this movie. And the awful, cringe-worthy, groan-inducing dialogues where every line is a metaphor. Padmaavat works better as a coffee table book than as a movie.
It is almost unforgivable that the most interesting character of the movie - Alauddin Khilji (make no mistake, Sultan is indeed the leading man of this movie, this movie could have been called Alauddin instead of Padmaavat) - is almost reduced to a caricature of himself towards the end. And in Bansali's attempt to create an absolutely repulsive villain, the flourishes he gives his leading man is often unnecessary and misguided. For example, the implied homosexuality of Alauddin is not a character detail that serves the story, but a statement on how morally bankrupt the villain is.
The filmmakers went through tremendous pain to get this movie on screen, with extreme right fringe groups in India turning violent accusing the film to be insensitive to Rajput community. Screening of this movie was banned in multiple states, film sets were burned down, certification board delayed giving permission to screen the movie for a while, resulting the movie to be delayed by few months. I'm not sure what they were protesting about because every third line in the movie is glorifying Rajputs and their valor and their traditions. (Not that turning violent or trying to censor a movie maker from expressing his vision even if he was offensive to certain sections is justified in any context). If anything, the portrayal of 'brave and noble Hindus' defending their honor against 'savage and villainous Muslim invaders' should jive well with these extreme right groups, who'd like to promote that as their political agenda. While I don't necessarily agree with this portrayal, I respect the vision of the film makers. But, perhaps it was this political pressure that prompted the concluding voice over, which seemed to glorify a social evil such as Jauhar (mass self-immolation by women) as an honorable thing to do. How I wish the movie had just cut to black and be done with it, instead of giving that voice over.
In the end, Padmavaat turns out to be a soul-less and often grating poem, written in the most beautiful penmanship.
Meari to majo no hana (2017)
Animation meets Ghibli-level expectations, story.. not so much.
Studio Ponoc, heir apparent to Studio Ghibli, makes a decent start with Mary & the Witch's Flower.
Animation is lush and gorgeous to look at, and is very reminiscent of the work we're used to from Studio Ghibli - and as anyone who's familiar with Ghibli's work can tell you, that is a pretty high bar to meet. I saw the English dubbed version, and the voice acting was excellent as well - especially Ruby Barnhill as Mary. Background score was quite good too.
Story, however, was a bit disappointing. Not saying that it was bad, it just felt a bit devoid of heart and there were quite a few plot holes which were hard to overlook. Character motivations were hard to explain, and the wizarding world Mary stumbles into feels empty, though it is supposed to be a thriving world. Then again, I complain because I was expecting something of Ghibli standards.
It was a fun movie to experience, and I'm glad Studio Ponoc exists - not only because I expect bigger and better things from them in the future, but also because something as beautiful as the tradition of Ghibli animated movies needs be kept alive.
7/10
Sisters (2015)
Mindless? Check. Fun? Not so much.
Sisters has pretty much everything going for it except that one thing that you really need to make a good comedy - being funny. It's not that I expected much from the movie - mindless fun was all I was after. I did get the mindless, just not the fun.
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are about as funny as they come, and it's obvious that they have a great chemistry. Supporting cast are stellar comedic talents too. Except, I couldn't get one decent laugh during the movie. Gigs were off, writing was pretty bad, plot was meandering and the 'characters' were just vehicles for the stars to do what they thought would be funny. It's kind of sad, really - this team can do much better!