Review: Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2 (2012), A Must-See Hindi Crime Epic

The illustrious exponents of the gangster genre are Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola. Now you can add Anurag Kashyap to the club.

Gangs of Wasseypur is a sprawling gangster epic, a crime saga, a detailed chronicle of revenge, a non-stop relentless assault on the senses. It spans 3 generations over 7 decades with a runtime of 5 hours and 20 mins split into 2 parts. The missus and I did the impossible – we watched both parts back to back. Originally, I thought she wouldn’t be able to take it all in at one go but when part 1 ended she declared, “Let’s do it”. I sincerely believe that’s the way GoW should be devoured – in one sitting. It just works amazingly well as 1 single 5+-hour movie with a short toilet/snack break in the middle.

I will dispense with a synopsis because I really find writing synopsis the most boring part of a review because I can’t wait to delve into the merits (or sucky parts) of any film. But seriously, in the case of GoW, I don’t know how to do it. It has 4 distinct yet overlapping narrative threads with the revenge theme as the rind that holds everything together. Giving a passable synopsis will take too many needless words. Instead, I rather tell you what it did for me.

GoW is one audacious film. It would certainly spell career suicide for the director if any one narrative thread fails to hit its mark and to even attempt it on screen is mind-blowing. I have a vision that Anurag Kashyap has a giant board on a wall where he runs threads everywhere because even remote scenes that last a few minutes in part 1 becomes the anchor of important scenes in part 2. Kashyap also has a take-it-or-leave-it attitude with his storytelling – he doesn’t let the scenes breathe, doesn’t let scenes unfold at a comfortable pace. Many of the initial scenes in the first hour have shots that never linger a second longer than its welcome. Important characters parachute in with a freeze frame and a placard proclaim the fella’s name. And how about this for an attitude – right at the final 30min, a major character gets thrust into the story! The whole film is very tightly plotted. In the first hour I made the mistake of not giving respect to the film and allowed myself to be distracted for a few minutes. WTF I was lost and needed some quick clarification from my wife. On paper it looks like it is one crazy movie that wouldn’t work but the surprising thing is that it worked remarkably well.

IMHO the reason the movie works so well is because of first and foremost the brilliant cast. Part 1’s central figure is Sarda Khan (Manoj Bajpayee). He is a slimeball, an A1 asshole. He treats his 2 women like dirt and his 5 sons worse. Sarda vows that he will only let his hair grow out after he has avenged his father by killing Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia). At the end of his arc, he remains bald, not because he has no chance to kill Ramadhir. It’s because by then he has let power and greed consumed him and he figured that tormenting Ramadhir is a better revenge. Revenge movies seldom allow their character to grow and everything is characterized by whether the revenge is finally undertaken. The fascinating thing with Sarda is not just the revenge element but that he is a God awful slimeball, a terrible husband and a total narcissist. He can throw homemade bombs in crowded places and kill someone with an ice-pick in broad daylight, but yet acts like a mouse with his woman. You will hate him but you will also feel for him. Manoj Bajpayee’s portrayal of Sarda Khan is absolutely compelling, illuminating and all around him becomes blurry. Part 2’s main dude is Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), Sarda Khan’s weed smoking son. His broody mien is riveting and he owns every scene he is in. Like his father, he is a mouse with his object of desire but absolutely no holds-barred when it comes to taking a life. A truly amazing actor. The film that got me noticing him is Kahaani but GoW will make people remember him. It’s not just these 2 main actors that are awesome, everybody plays their role outstandingly. I particularly love the master manipulator, Ramadhir. He has a brilliant monologue in part 2 where he expounds on why he has survived until now. The reason is he doesn’t watch Bollywood movies which will dilute his drive and inject the dreaded romanticism into him. I thought that was brilliant.

The other element that made GoW stand out is the visual style. Right from the opening sequence, the camera work makes me an on-site observer and even a participator in a mass assassination attempt. I love the shots of the slum-town. Brilliantly shot and all the rustic and grittiness really enveloped me. There is also a never-ending shot of Faizal escaping an assassination attempt that was fantastic. Technically not easy because the shot even had him leaping across to a different building – impressive. History is as important as the story and I love how the film uses articles, movies of its time, household items, posters etc to situate the story within the historical context. The music is also cool – the songs and tunes that use a range of musical influences like folk, rock, pop, electronica and even reggae. Even the music score is solid, bringing montages to hit you at a higher level.

Though awesome in its scope, GoW is not for the faint-hearted. It’s not because of just the runtime (which is the least of its presumed impediments) but the unapologetic hyper-violence. If you have a strong stomach for violence, I urge you to join the fraternity of cinephiles who have watched this epic – to me, all who have seen this and love it are my brothers! I probably can write another thousand words to tell you how superb this is but what you probably want to know is whether it is a cohesive piece of work. The answer is ‘it depends’ but I can tell you I wouldn’t shave a single minute off from this epic. Anurag Kashyap has crafted a crime epic that has pushed the cinema of Bollywood to a new exhilarating frontier.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 4, 2022 0

Review: Happy Old Year (2020), A Charming Little Story About a Woman Doing a KonMari on Her Cluttered Home and Love Life

Being a creative writing teacher, I am a firm advocate that the beginning and ending of any narrative piece is crucial. This little English lesson has also permeated into many areas of my life, including my love life: how one begins and ends a relationship is also significant. I was at the tail end of a seven-year relationship with a girl who two-timed me. I knew it was game over and I had a choice: I could make it really bad for her or I could let her go gently. I chose the latter. I was not under the illusion I was a saint – when a relationship breaks down, both parties have a part to play. On our last date, I brought her to the exact spot where I confessed my love for her seven years ago, a bench outside a lecture theatre at National University of Singapore, and we had a heartwarming time chatting and reminiscing the great moments we shared together. Thinking back, I thought it was the most fitting way to end a relationship that both of us have put in so much and it was a good emotional closure for both of us. It was a farewell that gave us hope and set us free to love again.

In the Thai movie Happy Old Year, while Jean (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) is doing a major decluttering of her house to convert it into a home office, she finds some items that belonged to Aim (Sunny Suwanmethanont), her ex-boyfriend. Three years ago, Jean just packed up and left the country without giving Aim a reason. Their relationship never did have an emotional closure. It may be time to do the right thing now.

Watch the trailer first:

You wouldn’t be faulted for catching some zany rom-com vibes and you would be utterly wrong. Just like writer-director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s Heart Attack (2015), Happy Old Year is marketed like a rom-com, but it isn’t in the strictest sense.

The movie is divided into chapters, each detailing an aspect of decluttering. The KonMari’s method seems easy on paper: anything that doesn’t spark joy just say “thank you” and throw it away. It is easy when the things are irrelevant, but it gets tough when they are tied to a memory. This is where the movie soars – its examination of the elusive concept of memory, its selectiveness and how it is tied in an ironclad bond to histories and emotions. Thamrongrattanarit shows us the different ways we deal with painful memories through Jean, her mother and all the other myriad characters. Jean seems ruthless, wanting to follow a strict timeline to get everything out and give the home a minimalist look, while the mother is resolute with her selective amnesia in not wanting to change the status quo. The scene where Jean and her mother get into a heated argument is especially poignant and heartbreaking.

How expositions and plot details are doled out is immaculately handled. Even the music has a minimalist feel which ties in to the theme of minimalism. The possibly rekindled romance is but a part of the whole story and I wouldn’t even say it is the spine. The typical rom-com arc of “will they or will they not” takes a backseat as the scenes of Jean and Aim play out in surprising ways.

The topic of memory is prone to be mishandled, but Thamrongrattanarit’s hand is assured as he delves into the different notions of the elusive concept. Through all the storytelling, he even gives the movie a spellbinding minimalist vibe and makes it compellingly relatable. The characters feel lived in and authentic. I was rooting for Jean to get the emotional closure she doesn’t know she needs, just like me.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 4, 2022 0

Review: Her (2014), An Emphatic Reflection of Social Dislocation in the Techno Age

Not a single false emotional note, visually arresting and totally beguiling. But the caveat is that you really need to be a person in a special place to ‘feel’ this one.

Theodore is a lonely man in the final stages of his divorce. When he’s not working as a letter writer, his down time is spent playing video games and occasionally hanging out with friends. He decides to purchase the new OS1, which is advertised as the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system, “It’s not just an operating system, it’s a consciousness,” the ad states. Theodore quickly finds himself drawn in with Samantha, the voice behind his OS1. As they start spending time together they grow closer and closer and eventually find themselves in love. Having fallen in love with his OS, Theodore finds himself dealing with feelings of both great joy and doubt. As an OS, Samantha has powerful intelligence that she uses to help Theodore in ways others hadn’t, but how does she help him deal with his inner conflict of being in love with an OS?

The love between a dude and his computer idea is not new. 1984 gave us Electric Dreams. I love everything about that movie then but Her whacks the idea so far into the heavens that I can’t see the ball anymore and it made Electric Dreams feels like a cheap chick flick.

I don’t know how to begin to pen down my thoughts so this will just be a stream of consciousness post. Pardon me if it’s not coherent.

The setting is of course the future but the future is not those dark dystopian ones. Everything is bathed in gold – feels like Spike Jonze shot the film for only one hour everyday during the golden sunset. The future is absolutely believable – the meticulous set-designs (which never screams out at you “Hey you sitting there! Look at me!!”), the gadgets, the social disconnect… All so today. It’s a future that will happen next week.

Her is about loneliness. It is not the type of loneliness that is depicted by stereotypes – loner, no direction in life etc. It’s the deeper type of loneliness – you can have a great time with buddies but guffaws and laughter are masks, you can be sleeping next to a warm body (hopefully it’s your spouse 😊) but yet feel so distant and removed. It’s that type of loneliness. The depiction is spot-on and it does have something worthwhile to say about it.

Her is about love – it’s transcending nature and it’s accepting quality. Here is where Her kept surprising me with its development. It is so sensitively written but yet so twisted because in the back of your mind you have to constantly remind yourself that Samantha is an OS. Jonze made the ridiculous entirely plausible and possible. OMG… How do you have sex with an OS? Somebody once asked me for my favourite sex scene and I always find it such a dumb question because there are no lousy sex scenes😎. But I do share with them the saddest sex scene that I love – Iain Softley’s The Wings of the Dove (1997). This has finally been deposed by Her. Like the 1997 film, a profound sense of melancholy wraps itself around the core like a rind.

The acting is nuanced and sensitive. The academy seldom ever rewards nuanced performances with a nomination. To get one, your character must be in constant turmoil and pain, give some inspirational speech, be an alcoholic, lose a few marbles in the head, lose some part of the body, lose a wholotta weight and so on. Phoenix’s turn as a lonely lost soul seeking for intimacy is superb, I feel. But of course, Scarlett Johansson is truly the soul of the film. She never appears in the flesh but every single time she speaks I could literally ‘see’ and ‘feel’ her presence. And oh man! The words that spew out of every character are pin-point perfecto to the heart.

Have I left anything out? A lot…a lot. This is just one perfection of a perfect film IMHO. It’s the type of film that speaks about the human condition and it’s constant need for affirmation and intimacy. It’s delivery is a kind of retro-sci-fi but yet so relatable. The idea is not so original but the execution is pure masterclass and it’s never too clever for its own good. It’s the type of film I want to stand on my 8 floor balcony and scream out to people to watch and be blessed. However, I have a feeling this is a film that rewards a certain type of person judging from my experience last night. A group of six youths sat behind me giggling at the wrong spots and chit-chatting through the poignant ones. Frankly they didn’t spoil the movie for me but it made me realize that some movies do seek out a particular type of cinema-goer. You really need to be in a special place in your life to ‘feel’ Her. It’s alright… The film is patient, it will wait for you to grow up. My wife mentioned last night that the reason I can feel so much for the movie is because I have loved too many girls and broke up so many times. She may be right 😎.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

His House Review (2020), Genuinely frightening, an Amazing Debut

Horror is the most versatile genre, but the great ones are a needle in a haystack. His House knocks on the anteroom of great horror films, offering solid scares, an emotionally powerful story and a pair of emphatic characters. I watched part of this with my fingers stuck in my ears so you know I was petrified.

A refugee couple, Bol Majur (Sope Dirisu) and Rial Majur (Wunmi Mosaku), makes a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, but their daughter Nyagak drowns in the midst of a crossing. The couple is housed in a detention centre and being “one of the good ones” the authorities decide to give them a temporary house to live in while their citizenship is processed. They struggle to adjust to their new life in an English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface.

At a lean and mean 93 minutes, the movie never overstays its welcome and it is an amazing debut by Remi Weekes. From the synopsis I thought I was going to see a mashup of social problems polemic and haunted house tropes, and boy do I love to be surprised. Yes, it does cast a light on racism and xenophobia issues, but the narrative is not interested in making a commentary. It uses it to show how unsettled and isolated they are. Watch out for a frightening scene where Rial is lost and she asks three boys of colour for help. The fear is palpable, something you can eat off a plate.

The movie is buoyed by a pair of masterclass performances which underscore nuances and pregnant silences rather than cheap histrionics. The sound design is clever and effective. The scares are inventive and the supernatural imagery disturbing. There are jump scares but they are not there because the storyteller just wants to insert one; the scares are earned.

Above all, it is how the pair of characters is drawn that makes this a good horror flick, and not something you will forget in a jiffy. Steeped in melancholia, their harrowing back story is gradually teased out and hits you in the guts. Survivors’ guilt, shared trauma and guilt-ridden conscience define them and they both experience the dire consequences differently. Bol sees his manifested in monstrous details, while Rial has hers speak to her. The way they are drawn is a masterstroke. You will care what happens to them.

The coda in the end is a good reminder that human beings are forgetful and selfish creatures. Asking for forgiveness is just another self-interested thing to do. We think we can receive absolution and move on. But there are some things that are unforgivable. We all have a duty to use our life well and bear the heavy cross on our back. It is only by listening to our innermost self and making the right choices that we can whittle away at our pain and redeem ourselves. The guilt will become our very flesh and also become the proof that we are good people. I woke up this morning wondering how Bol and Rial last through last night, but seeing how they are gradually sealing up the holes in the wall and making the house their own, I feel a lot better. Oh boy… I am preaching here in a musing on a horror movie. But this, in my humble opinion, isn’t just a horror movie; a movie that can make me muse about life has got to be something else.

“This is our home”, four simple words uttered at the end, but with so much conviction, emphasis on the pronoun “our”. Draw the curtains, turn down the lights and power off your devices, it’s time to check into His House, I pray you will never leave.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

Hitman: Agent Jun (2020), A No-Frills Half-Baked Action-Comedy that Entertains

When the kids in my writing classes are bereft of story ideas, I always remind them to think of an actual incident they have experienced, do a slight (or hard) left turn and let it ripped from there. In Hitman: Agent Jun, webtoon artist Jun (Kwon Sang-Woo) is at his wits’ end. Nothing he draws worked and the threat of being fired is looming. In a fit of drunken stupor and righteous anger, he draws his personal stories using actual names with no intention of uploading his secret past as a NIS secret agent and “Ace” assassin up to the internet. But the shite hits the fan when his wife accidentally uploads it. His webtoon becomes the talk of the town and before long his enemies and friends who thought he was dead come rampaging into his life and make it a living hell.

My wifey and I actually had the entire cinema to ourselves. Unbelievable! The COVID-19 thing is really killing a lot of F&B and entertainment businesses. No matter what, the show must go on and we laughed our heads off at the antics and hilarity of it all. It’s such a shame that nobody was there with us. A cinema filled with raucous laughter would have done everybody some good.

Okay this review is going to write itself and I suspect the novelty of having an entire cinema to ourselves earned the movie another half star.

Like many Korean movies, Hitman: Agent Jun has an interesting premise, but building upon it is a different ball game. I can detect a lot of True Lies (1994) vibes, but this isn’t even remotely in the ballpark of James Cameron’s classic action-comedy. Hitman: Agent Jun coasts along with the affable charm of Kwon Sang-Woo and its intriguing premise.

There are lots of people dying but the deaths are portrayed in a cartoonish manner. The hero is practically bulletproof and irresistibly winsome, but his arc doesn’t go anywhere remotely memorable. His superior behaving like a child, screaming his entire dialogue grates on my nerves. The villain is the baddest guy on the planet because he has a humongously scarred face with one eye and he snarls through all his dialogue. Basically, the characters are drawn in convenient broad strokes and you will know how the plot will progress from a mile away. Finally, all the parties collide in a climax that is an over-long overkill and ends with a coda that is utterly useless, with me silently praying “no sequel please.”

Director Choi Won-Sub’s strategy is to machine-gun the whole canvas, but nothing hits the bullseye. To be fair, it is successful at some moments, bringing on mad laughter from us in an empty cinema (that’s not an easy task), but inventiveness and depth are not his forte. Jun’s daughter and wife story arc would have made an amazing story spine, but I guess that would scream True Lies in my face. That’s a shame because the scene of daughter rapping is particularly memorable and fresh, and the scene of the wife going wide-eyed in slow-motion and mouthing “where the f**k are you going?” as Jun careens his car in a new direction instead of saving her is hilarious. All in all, it’s not a bad way to spend 110 minutes, just leave your brain at the door.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

I’m Livin’ It (2020), A Sympathetic Story About the Challenges Faced by the Homeless of Hong Kong

There’s a game I love to play when I am out galavanting. If I chance upon an item that has no rhyme or reason strewn on the street, I would ask my wife to tell me the story of how that thing (be it one side of a slipper or a bouquet of flowers sitting on top of a dustbin and so on) landed up there. We would both take turns to extrapolate a story and usually it will be a sad one. The game takes on a different dimension when we see an interesting looking person exhibiting an unusual behaviour or carrying an eye-popping object.

I’m Livin’ It has lots of despondent characters whose lives are at an impasse, living on desperate straits; they are just not livin’ the dream anymore. And when you see these homeless people, the game is not fun anymore. Trivialising their hard life is wrong. Nobody wants to live in abject poverty and the circumstances that drove these folks to spend every night in McDonald’s, sleeping while sitting down, is what I’m Livin’ It is about.

Let’s get something clear from the start – there is no redemption arc here. This is no The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). Not every character makes it out of the “tunnel of hopelessness”. No one will, in one moment of crystal clarity, discover a steadfast willpower to lift themselves out of the mire. They are all stuck on the hamster wheel, running tirelessly because they think that if they stop, they die. It sounds like the bleakest of stories but credit has to be showered on first-time director Wong Hing-fan who has crafted a film that humanised the motley crew of characters, making them memorable.

Bowen (Aaron Kwok) is the de facto leader with the street smarts. Once a top finance honcho, he was arrested for embezzlement and after his incarceration he could not find a job. He galvanises the plethora of “invisible” folks with well-meaning ways, but he himself is crippled with utter shame that stops him from going home. Family honour is a running theme here.

The motley crew consists of a teenage slacker (Zeno Woo) who is addicted to his handheld game and ran away from home after a banal argument; an elderly man (Alex Man) who occupies the same seat and has a different reason why he is there every night; a motor-mouth caricature artist (Cheung Tat-ming), a young mother (Cya Liu) and her young daughter whose sob story will probably be hard to comprehend by western audiences. Rounding up the group of pathetic souls is Jane (Miriam Yeung), a has-been small nightclub singer, who carried a torch for Bowen from way way back.

This is a greatest hits compilation of sad stories and demolished hopes. It can easily be episodic as it goes from character to character, but Ja Poon’s screenplay traverses the boulevard of broken dreams with ease and with an eye out for details. In the storyteller’s measured strokes, the movie doesn’t become cheapened with cheap histrionics. There is a sense of realism in the characters and you would remember them long after the movie has ended.

Aaron Kwok stands out in a self-effacing role and he looks believable in the part of a man imprisoned by his own guilt. Miriam Yeung is also a stand-out and she embodies the everyday woman who has seen better days perfectly. However, for this reviewer, the chemistry between them lacks spark. What should have been subtle fluctuations and evolving graduations between the two leads is somehow missing, at least for me.

Movies about poor people are usually of two types – they are often about how non-poor people are redeemed by coming to the aid of poor people or they are about how poor people, in a twist of fate, change their destiny through sheer will. I’m Livin’ It doesn’t do either. It lays out the harsh reality that most of the time poor people continue to be stuck in quicksand and die comfortless deaths. The ending here, though hard to watch, is right on the nose. Don’t be poor, is probably one of the more important messages here, but I feel it is more important to think about what can be done to address the plight of the homeless.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019), A Rousing Finale Befitting a Kungfu Master

Back in 2015, I sat beside a Malay lady in a darkened cinema anticipating for Ip Man 3 to begin and I was curious to find out if she had wandered into the wrong cinema. I remember asking: “You like Ip Man?” Her reply was an animated affirmative. When the movie ended, she was sniffling away, tears glistening in her eyes. In that moment I felt proud to be a Chinese. I looked up and noticed something – there was even an Indian couple among the audience. That was when I realised that there is a universality to Ip Man and in him we see the embodiment of the best of Asian values.

12 years a martial arts exponent, 4 movies, 3 spin-offs and it all comes to a rousing end. No, there’s no coda suggesting a forced extension of a successful franchise; there’s no passing of the mantle. Instead, there’s a finality to everything. There’s no more dignified way for a hero’s exit than this. Leaving the cinema, teary-eyed, I realised 12 years have whizzed by.

Ip Man 4 finds our eponymous Wing Chun hero receiving some bad news, which set up a chain of events that will make Ip Man (Donnie Yen) journey to San Francisco (in real life it never happened). There, he will hook up with his disciple Bruce Lee (Kwok-Kwan Chan) and look for a school for his wayward son, Ip Ching. He will need a recommendation letter from Chinese Benevolent Association chairman Wan Zonghua (Wu Yue) who is a Taichi master. Ip doesn’t look for trouble, but trouble will find him in the form of the Taichi master and white racists who detest Chinese martial arts but somehow are alright with Japanese karate.

Ip Man 4 reunites director Wilson Yip Wai-shun with action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, and tells a rather unnecessary and contrived story. You know when a martial arts franchise is running out of ideas when the action centres on caucasians, worse when you see the foreigners try to speak mandarin.Thankfully, the appearance of caucasians don’t feel out of place here and no one tries to speak mandarin, but they do get the short end of the stick with convenient heavy-handed racist white-wash.

But seriously, nobody goes to see a Ip Man movie looking for a compelling story. From the previous movie in which Donnie Yen fought Mike Tyson, you know a plausible plot is no longer important. One goes to a Ip Man movie to see Donnie Yen, with a mien of pacificism, wipe the floor with arrogant martial arts exponents who think Wing Chun is a joke. In this aspect, the movie hits a home run. The fights are gorgeously choreographed. Every entry has a few memorable fights and I am sure at this point you are already visualising the “I want to fight ten” dojo fight, the round table top fight with Sammo Hung, the 3-minute Mike Tyson one and for me, the staircase fight with the Muay Thai fighter. This final film has some memorable fights with a Taichi master, a karate master and a crazy drill sergeant played by Scott Adkins who seems to be channeling the one in Full Metal Jacket. It is a memorable final fight that juxtaposes brute strength with graceful agility. One already knows who will come up tops, but it is still a thrill to see it.

The franchise knows Donnie Yen, cutting a figure of humility and superhuman fighting ability, is the main focus, so much so that Bruce Lee is relegated to one pedestrian street brawl, a demonstration of the one-inch punch and the two-finger push-up. The role fits Donnie Yen to a T and it made him a global superstar. Quiet and understated in nature, Ip Man doesn’t scream jingoistic slogans, but when there is a need to educate the masses in Chinese pride, he is the perfect teacher.

Not counting the TV series, there are three actors who have played the Wing Chun grandmaster, but the role belongs to Donnie Yen. Ip Man 4 may feel unnecessary, but just to be given a chance to see Ip go mano a mano against other kungfu masters, I totally embraced it. The story here may be contrived, the plot predictable and the characters crudely drawn, but when the camera is on the titular hero, he fills the frame with his quiet humility and resolute spirit. He will be sorely missed.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

Marriage Story (2019), A Devastating Break-up of the Poignant Kind

The thought that their marriage will crumble down the road never once invades the minds of any newly-weds. Every couple walks into a marriage with their hearts full and both eyes clear on the future. Among my close friends, I have seen three divorces. One friend was keeping a stack of receipts on the advice of his lawyer. Another has his wrapped up in a long-drawn tussle between the Lawyers that stretched for a few years. I notice the only winners are the lawyers. I myself have been through a couple of break-ups and I don’t think back on them fondly. Most times, I wished them to have a fun time rotting in their private hell. I am sure the feeling is mutual. Netflix’s Marriage Story is a keenly observed and incisive study on the breakdown of a marriage and it is a timely one. It’s this millennium’s Kramer vs Kramer (1979) without the schmaltz.

The movie opens with a heartfelt voice-over. An avant garde theatre director and soon-to-be ex-husband Charlie (Adam Driver) shares what is so unique about his soon-to-be ex-wife Nicole (Scarlett Johansson):

“She makes people feel comfortable about even embarrassing things. She really listens when somebody is talking. Sometimes she listens too much for too long. She’s a good citizen. She always knows the right thing to do when it comes to difficult family shit. I get stuck in my ways and she knows when to push me and when to leave me alone…..”

The table turns and we are privy to what Nicole notices about Charlie through another voice-over:

“Charlie is undaunted. He never lets other people’s opinions or any setbacks keep him from what he wants to do. Charlie eats like he’s trying to get it over with and like there won’t be enough food for everyone. A sandwich is to be strangled while devoured. But he’s incredibly neat and I rely on him to keep things in order. He’s energy conscious. He doesn’t look in the mirror often. He cries easily in movies…”

Wait a minute! They can’t be getting a divorce. I can’t believe it because those are words that can only be written by two persons in love. Except that it’s true… they are separating and a mediator wants them to read their lists to one another in a bid to keep the divorce proceedings civil in the hope of reaching a settlement. However, Nicole refuses to participate.

Herein lies the magic of Marriage Story – Charlie and Nicole are made for each other. I came away with the knowledge that when a marriage is at its end, it may mean the end of their love for each other, but they can and should still have genuine care and concern for each other. It is lugubrious to see the story unfold because it couldn’t have happened to the nicest people.

Divorce is like “a death without a body” as put forth by Bert Spitz (Alan Alda), a family lawyer engaged by Charlie. Noah Baumbach has crafted a deeply humane and compassionate study of the death of a marriage and a family trying to stay together. It would be so easy to have a villain and have us take obvious sides, but Baumbach takes a different route, allowing us to survey the devastating emotional battlefield. There are no winners in a divorce, except perhaps the lawyers. It may be a hugely pessimistic domestic drama, but it manages to find humour in the most unusual of places.

This is a true actors’ movie, cast wrong and the message is lost, but cast right the movie is transcendent. Driver and Johansson gave the performances of their careers. It is hard to see any other actors in the roles after you have seen them here. They are so good I didn’t see Kylo Ren and Black Widow. Each of them is also given an individual scene to shine – Johansson in a speech to family lawyer Nora (a superb Laura Dern) and Charlie doing a Sondheim number in a bar. Then they both have a one-shot scene together that is definitely my second favourite Scene of the Year (the first goes to For Sama). It is the one where they spew out the stuff you never and shouldn’t say to a partner, but yet they do and from that moment on, nothing can ever go back to what it was. The aftermath is miraculously sublime – they both understand where those hurtful words come from, a no-holds-barred release from riled-up tension created by their lawyers who character-assassinated both of them.

Baumbach has crafted a family drama that is masterful, giving us an intimate look at the destruction of a marriage, the legal minefield and the emotional devastation. The principal cast, down to even the supporting cast, lay down a high watermark. It is able to find nuances and dark humour in surprising places. Baumbach’s love for Charlie and Nicole shines like a lighthouse in a perilous stormy night, guiding us to the safety of the shore. This is the work of a storyteller at the top of his game. This is almost a blueprint on how to end a life partnership and suddenly I don’t wish the worst for CT, SL and Valerie anymore. Like Charlie and Nicole, I hope they have a bright future.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

Movies Recommendations During the Covid Lockdown Part #1

The movie selection was an eclectic mix with lots of classics and arthouse films interspersed with some mainstream fare. So, why not serve up a “greatest hits” of sorts? And that’s what these series of posts will be: a carefully curated quick musing of movies, old and new, of movies that had wowed, frustrated and moved me. So with the hip words of Blue’s Fly By… System up with the top down, got the city on lockdown, movies here I go…

Nashville is a 1975 American satirical musical ensemble comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman. The film follows various people involved in the country and gospel music businesses in Nashville, Tennessee over a five-day period, leading up to a gala concert for a populist outsider running for President on the Replacement Party ticket.

Robert Altman’s movies are acquired taste and I usually have respect for people who get his movies. I can finally scratch Nashville off my list. What a movie! This one defies easy pigeon-holing and it totally went against the grain of Hollywood’s storytelling stylistics with a joyful bounce in its step. Nashville offers a panoramic view of America’s political and cultural landscape, weaving through 24 main characters. It is funny, poignant, tragic and despicable, sometimes in a space of a few minutes cycling through the different feels. It sounded crazily impossible on paper, but Altman made it work, creating a wild tapestry of quirky characters in crazy situations. The camera can focus on one character and in the next second focuses on another, and you will never be befuddled. Because it is so vivid, your eyes will concentrate on the random happenings. I came away from this getting a keen observation on American life and its eccentric byways. My favourite scene is Tom (Keith Carradine) launching into the Academy Award winning song I’m Easy while the camera glides and segues to three women sitting at different spots in a pub, all thinking the song is about them. One of the most brilliant scenes in cinema I have ever seen. This one has a life of its own and one can see it again and pick up new details.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 American black comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols in his directorial debut. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is an adaptation of the play of the same name by Edward Albee. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and Richard Burton as George, with George Segal as Nick and Sandy Dennis as Honey.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is one of two films which was nominated in all the major categories and most deservedly so. A landmark film of unflinching honesty and seething anger. It’s about a bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of one distressing night. Wow! Incredible film, a true actors’ showcase. I felt like I was in a masterclass of amazing acting. All four actors dissolved into their roles. Emotionally charged with breathless vitriol, this is killing each other with words. All four character arcs are wonderfully realised and I sat in my seat completely enamoured with some of the finest acting ever. Elizabeth Taylor is stunning and fully deserved her award many times over. She can be a conniving bitch, vomiting hurtful words and yet can be vulnerable in the next moment. Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Me, and you should be too. Emotionally, I was totally spent after the movie. This was a perfect film.

Three Identical Strangers is a 2018 documentary film directed by Tim Wardle and starring Edward Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran. It examines a set of American identical triplets, born in 1961 and adopted as six-month-old infants by separate families, unaware that each child had brothers.

Wow! Just freaking WOW! This is a true rollercoaster of a movie and it’s all freaking true! The first 15 minutes is the ultimate feel-good arc and then I was thinking “wait a second. That’s the end of the story. It can’t be topped.” Topped, it does, so many times over. This one has so many twists and turns, but through it all it never loses its authenticity and emotional fidelity. I am being intentionally vague here because it is better to go into this one blind.

Dekalog is a 1988 Polish drama series of films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski for television and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew Preisner. It consists of ten one-hour films, inspired by the decalogue of the Ten Commandments. Each short film explores characters facing one or several moral or ethical dilemmas as they live in an austere housing project in 1980s Poland. This is not a TV series that one should binge-watch, each episode is thought provoking and invites many hours of debate. None of the episodes sprints out of the blocks from the get-go. They take their time to slowly unravel the character’s agendas and motivations. Each episode grapples deftly with complex moral and existential dilemmas concerning life, love, hate, truth, jealousy and death. At first, we were trying to study how it is related to a particular commandment, but after a while we realised Kieslowski doesn’t want us to conveniently pigeonhole any of them. In fact, some episodes delve into two or more of the commandments. As I am typing this, some of the stories are still lingering in my consciousness and I particularly love one, five, six, nine and ten. Episode five has the longest murder scene depicted on film and it is a masterpiece in its astute study of unlawful killing and justifiable killing. It isn’t easy to watch and not something you can check your social media and munch on popcorn while watching. The drama demands your undivided attention. Taken altogether, Dekalog is an intelligent exploration of the unknowable forces that shape all our lives. I am going to go through the wealth of special features one of these days.

After we binged Netflix’s Unorthodox, I was pondering over what to follow the excellent 4-episode series and I decided to use Berlin as the setting and watched Wings of Desire (1987), a romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its human inhabitants, comforting the distressed. Even though the city is densely populated, many of the people are isolated or estranged from their loved ones. One of the angels, played by Bruno Ganz, falls in love with a beautiful, lonely trapeze artist, played by Solveig Dommartin. The angel chooses to become mortal so that he can experience human sensory pleasures, ranging from enjoying food to touching a loved one, and so that he can discover human love with the trapeze artist. Inspired by art depicting angels visible around West Berlin, at the time enclaved by the Berlin Wall, Wenders and author Peter Handke conceived of the story and continued to develop the screenplay throughout the French and German co-production. The film was shot by Henri Alekan in both colour and a sepia-toned black-and-white, the latter being used to represent the world as seen by the angels. The cast includes Otto Sander, Curt Bois and Peter Falk.

I was a big Wim Wenders fan years ago, but have yet to see Wings of Desire. I did see Angel, the Hollywood remake of it and adore the idea. Wings of Desire is nothing like the remake. There isn’t much of a plot. The part where the Angel gives up his immortality comes very late in the story. I find the movie alluring and it gently seduces you, and lulls you into a gentle lullaby. It resembles a symphony of a city made up of damaged and hurting souls. The world through the angels’ eyes is black and white; they linger and listen to the thoughts of human beings. Sometimes they will lay a hand on a hurting person to comfort him but they can’t influence him. I got a rude shock when an angel touch the shoulder of a young man about to commit suicide and “talks” to him and at last the man still jumps to his death. So the angels are the eyes of God, depicting His loneliness as mankind sway further and further from His ideals. The whole film feels like a tapestry of sounds and images, arresting and beguiling. Masterpiece. Visual poetry.

Netflix’s The Half Of It wears its heart on its sleeves, delivering “a different kind of love story”. Actually, I just wanted to put the movie tagline in a sentence and I wouldn’t say it’s something you haven’t seen before. The beauty of it is not the constituents because they all come from a familiar place, but the sum total of it all is the beauty. It’s a coming-of-age tale, a YA genre that even adults will understand because we have all been teenagers in love before and a classic romance story. The spine is definitely taken from Cyrano de Bergerac, but Alice Wu in only her second movie puts a refreshing spin on it. If you don’t know the classic story of Cyrano de Bergerac…

Soldier and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with Roxane, but he’s too ashamed to admit it because of his big nose. When a cadet, Christian, falls for Roxane, he asks for Cyrano’s help in sharing his feelings. Cyrano writes love letters signed with Christian’s name, and Roxane doesn’t realize that it’s Cyrano’s words she falls for. She marries Christian, and Cyrano continues to keep the other man’s secret, even after tragedy strikes.

There’s a Hollywood remake called Roxanne which is also worth a watch, but I digress. Alice Wu delivers the classic story with some cool swerve and verve that makes it so relevant in today’s teenagers’ world. Thank goodness, I am out of it. It’s so messy out there on the football field of love. I particularly enjoyed catching all the pop, literary and cultural references like Casablanca, The Philadelphia Story, City Lights, The Remains of the Day and oh my goodness…. Wings of Desire which I only just saw last week. The breakout performances are great and the writing intelligent, and it’s so heartwarming. It isn’t something that is going to win the Oscars, but it will definitely occupy a warm corner of my heart.

If you are surfing Netflix and wondering what to see, The Half Of It earns an excellent and hearty recommendation from me. Snuggle up, break out the drinks and chips and get ready to feel young again.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0

Movie and TV Series Recommendations During the Covid Lockdown Part #2

The Story of Qiu Ju (秋菊打官司) is a 1992 Chinese comedy-drama film. The film was directed by Zhang Yimou and, as in many of his films, stars Gong Li in the title role. The film tells the story of a peasant woman, Qiu Ju, who lives in a rural area of China. When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice. I read somewhere that other than 3 professional actors, the rest were just playing themselves. Zhang shot everything using a hidden camera. In so doing, he came out with a film that is shot in natural light and people in their comfortable behavioural patterns. Humour comes in unexpected circumstances. Gong Li as a helluva stubborn woman has not one tinge of glamour on her. The narrative got a little repetitive in the middle act because we all know she will keep on going up the hierarchy to get justice. Then in the third act something tumultuous happens that sends her stubbornness crashing down. It was all going towards a happy ending and then Zhang gave us one more gut punch. An instantly memorable film that lets you see a China like never before.

Wildlife is a 2018 American drama film directed and co-produced by Paul Dano (in his directorial debut), starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal. The screenplay, written by Dano and Zoe Kazan, is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Richard Ford. I like this a lot. It is your basic disintegration of family values, erosion of one’s moral core and the death of the American ideal narrative, but done without the histrionics. It has a rhythm and tempo that is distinctively its own. The acting is nuanced and finely calibrated. The ending is heart-achingly bittersweet. A superb directorial debut by Paul Dano, and you can feel it is a very personal project.

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the 1926 play, also titled An American Tragedy. It tells the story of a working-class young man who is entangled with two women: one who works in his wealthy uncle’s factory, and the other a beautiful socialite. The film was a critical and commercial success, winning six Academy Awards and the first-ever Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. In 1991, A Place in the Sun was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. This is one lavishly mounted production and exquisitely acted. Montgomery Clift was superb in the role of a nobody becoming a somebody. He communicated so much with his posture, gait and mannerisms. Truly masterclass acting. You should be hating him from the get-go, but I am sure you will sympathise with him when he gets himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Elizabeth Taylor is stunning. From the first frame she appears in, I was seduced by her classy beauty. The film doesn’t even feel dated at all. We followed this up with another George Stevens film…

Woman of the Year is a 1942 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film’s plot is about the relationship between Tess Harding—an international affairs correspondent, chosen “Woman of the Year”—and Sam Craig—a sportswriter—who meet, marry, and encounter problems as a result of her unflinching commitment to her work. In 1999, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. This is the first of nine collaborations between the two leads and their chemistry is electrifying. The black and white cinematography didn’t bother me one bit because I was entranced by their antics, believable situations and the numerous quotable lines. If you are getting married soon, you need to watch this to get the essence of what constitutes a marriage. Better to get in with your eyes opened and not closed thinking it’s going to be spring every day. There are so many hilarious scenes and for me the standout appears near the end. Tess finally understands why she needs Sam and wants to win him back… through his stomach. The prolonged sequence in the kitchen is filled with so many nail-biting gags that we laughed till our eyes streamed down.

Coming Home is a 2014 Chinese historical drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Chen Daoming and Gong Li. This is Zhang Yimou’s minor masterpiece. It’s a weepie but there is an epic sweep to the proceedings. It’s one of Zhang’s fave narratives – how the communist government in one fell swoop changed the lives of people, but this time he chooses to study a married couple. It’s emotionally devastating to see this. At the end of the first act is an incredible sequence – upstairs, downstairs, in the driving rain, up the bridge and down the bridge… beautifully choreographed with a Hitchock-ian movement of suspense. The ending is a downbeat but it’s also a testament of everlasting love.

Carlos, also known as Carlos the Jackal, is a 2010 French-German biographical film/miniseries about the life of the 1970s Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez), covering his first series of attacks in 1973 until his arrest in 1994. This is a 5h 30min mini-series and I almost sat through in one sitting. It moves at a brisk pace and it’s not boring. Édgar Ramirez puts in a calling card bravura performance. Oliver Assayas’ direction is uncompromising and propulsive. It is essentially a fictionalised version of a terrorist’s life, but he kept to the timeline of the events, giving you a terrifying portrayal of an egotistical and cold-blooded terrorist and Europe was his playground. It is an astonishing film from start to end, it’s a history lesson based on thorough research. The cigarettes, women, explosions and guns… brilliant. If not for this lockdown I wouldn’t have taken the Criterion blu-ray out for a watch, but now I am scouring my shelves for gems I have picked up.

No Mercy is a 2010 South Korean action thriller film written and directed by Kim Hyeong-jun. Sol Kyung-gu won Best Actor at the 18th Chunsa Film Art Awards for his performance. In addition, the film has been picked up by audiences due to its shocking twist. Sol Kyung-Gu plays a staff member of the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (NISI) in South Korea. He attempts to uncover the identity of a mysterious serial killer who decapitated his victims. Ryoo Seung-Bum plays an environmentalist who holds clues to unravel the mystery. I thought I had seen all the best stuff from Korea and this totally flew over my radar. It’s riveting all the way to that final twist that made my jaw drop. The only weak spot is the villain(s) is/are not well-casted and well-developed. This one falls just a rung below Oldboy and that’s the biggest thumbs up for it.

Barking Dogs Never Bite is a 2000 South Korean independent dark comedy-drama film. The film’s original Korean title is a satirical take on A Dog of Flanders, a European pet story that is very popular in parts of East Asia. It is also the directorial debut of Bong Joon-ho. Barking Dogs Never Bite tells the story of an out-of-work college professor who is irritated by the sound of barking dogs in his apartment building, and eventually resorts to abusing and kidnapping them. Meanwhile, a young woman working at the apartment complex decides to investigate the matter after she starts receiving notices from the tenants about the missing dogs. Lead actress Bae Doona stated in 2019 that the film contained the most memorable scene of her career, in which she is being chased by a homeless man throughout the apartment. Let’s put this perspective, 3 years from this movie, his directorial debut, he went on to make Memories of Murder and the rest is history. This one has his usual themes like ambition drives Koreans till the point they succumb to corruption and the ineffective government. All ingredients for an interesting movie, but this one flounders around with little bite. Other than a few surreal and hilarious scenes, nothing coalesced to something potent. It’s good to see where Bong Joon-ho began but other than that novelty there isn’t much reason to see this.

The Captain (中国机长) is a 2019 Chinese drama film directed by Andrew Lau and is based on the Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 incident. Ever since Wolf Warrior 2 I shy away from jingoistic China is #1 movies, but a pal’s wife saw this at the cinema last year and she came out in tears. Yes, she is from China. It got me curious so I gave it a shot. The first 10 minutes practically shows you that China is way ahead with its airlines in terms of every aspect. It was like I was watching a James Bond movie with Q showing off the gadgets. The movie doesn’t waste time with a lot of expositions and when the accident happens in mid-flight my mouth hanged agape. I thought “sure die” but the pilot is calm and knows exactly what needs to be done. I am being intentionally vague about the problem because telling you will rob you of the excitement. How he manoeuvres the plane back to the airport is incredible. The movie does a decent job of showing you the perspectives of passengers in the plane and the ground personnel. It’s like Apollo 13 all over again and this is about people doing 110% of what they are trained to do. In my book, he beat Captain Sully. Okay… I have to admit the last 10 minutes is chest heaving China Number One territory and it’s absolutely skull numbing. Just subtract that last 10minutes and this is one sleek movie and what the Captain did deserve my highest respect. Oh… I get why she cried… I was on the brink of tears too but that last 10 minutes sucked all the tears back up.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a 2019 French historical drama set in France in the late 18th century, the film tells the story of a forbidden affair between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait. The movie has minimal dialogue but an emotional ache that just intensified till the final scene. It’s love, but it’s between two girls. Exquisitely composed and impeccably acted, like layers upon layers on an acrylic oil painting. As final scenes go, this one is up there with the best.

Written by Daniel Chiam

February 3, 2022 0