gwat-2 Reviews

Bajirao Mastani (2015)

Wonderful to look at - a great showcase for Indian film

[8/10 · 18 December 2015]

I went to see this film while my wife was at the ballet. I don't watch many Bollywood films, and usually the lighter kind, so I was coming to this film with almost no context. Also, to me, this was a foreign language, subtitled film so I missed any subtleties of language.

I really liked it. It was a true epic, wonderfully staged with seamless CGI and a consistent mellow look and feel to it. The leads (and lots of others) were really handsome/beautiful, and excellent actors. The dancing and singing was great and the story was well told. The costumes were sumptuous - Mughal miniatures come to life.

To an Australian this was of course an exotic film, so although it was slow there was always something to be looking at and wondering about. On the con side, the Hindu / Moslem theme was hammered home rather obviously, the Brahmin priests were one-dimensionally nasty, and (apart from one boatman) everything took place in a idyllic palace bubble - punctuated by a few battles.

However I would recommend this to anyone who wants to enjoy an epic cinematic experience Indian-style.

Mr. Holmes (2015)

Disappointing

[5/10 · 28 July 2015]

I was very disappointed by this film.

As always Ian McKellan had a great screen presence, but his Holmes never came to life for me. This was partly because the jumping back and forth between an old Holmes and a very old Holmes made continuity of character almost impossible. I thought the young boy playing Roger was a bit miscast, too cutesy by half.

I also found the the plethora of mini-plots - wasps vs bees, Japan/Hiroshima, the 50 year old case, tension between mother and Holmes etc etc simply made the story difficult to follow and the whole lacked any cohesion. This also made it difficult to create a sense of place, and there was no attempt at all to develop a sense of period (esp. 1947 Britain).

The Village (2013–2014)

A Wasted Opportunity

[2/10 · 15 January 2015]

I have only seen series I of the Village, but basically it is a second rate Downton Abbey. On the plus side it has some very good acting, there are some great background views of the Derby countryside, and the script is OK.

However, on the down-side, it has almost no character development (not helped by the fact that each episode is separated in time from the next), historical accuracy is near zero, and the story lines are farcical. For instance, in one episode, when the Middletons' cereal crop is destroyed by mildew, young Bert comes to the rescue using the contents of his piggy bank! He has accumulated enough cash (by charging his barefoot school mates to see him drain the blood of an old woman who has just died!!) to buy a cow and change the farm from arable to dairy overnight!

The overall aim of the series is not clear. Some comments I have seen indicate that it is intended as a sort of "lower class Downton", while some of the advertising suggests that it is intended to be the chronicle of "The Village". However it achieves neither, and its focus is obscure. Although the Middleton family is lower class, they are generally passive actors in the "drama" and upper and middle characters predominate in the cast list, and in the more interesting plot lines.

As to the "Village" being the central character - the series gives no real sense of place. How far out is the Middletons' farm? How close is the nearest town? just over the hill or a long way away? What is the social life of the village like? Well there is the Ladies bathing parlour - which I don't believe for a minute. Also it is implied that it is mostly Methodist - except it isn't. I think that the series was written as if it were a "standard" CE village and at some point they just decided to to swap minister/vicar, chapel/church, Methodist/CE etc without changing anything else! For instance, the press pack for the series says "The Lamb pub... is at the centre of village life". Methodists staunchly supported temperance, no member of the chapel would set foot in a public house! Again, the Methodist assembly supported the war while the minister of the "Village" gives a rousing anti-war sermon, but there was no hint of division in the congregation. Like so much of this series, this is a motiveless set piece that leaves the viewer perplexed.

Finally the Minister has serious doubts about his faith, but treats it as a personal matter. In fact Methodist ministers were chosen by leaders of the local chapel-goers, he would surely have discussed it with them, for they would be the ones who would choose his successor - by interviewing candidates for the job. Methodism had a complex structure, with much power at the local level - lots of scope for socially interesting sub-plots, but the writers only deal with uninformed stereotypes.

If this series had been a serious attempt at a lower-class view of English life in the 20th century I would have welcomed it, but it is totally light-weight and generally insults the viewer's intelligence.