Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

I’m quite a fan of Marc Foster, the German born Hollywood movie director and I do rate him as one of the best Directors. Even his list acclaimed film “Stay” will be on my short list of favorites. I had only one movie of Mar Foster left which I didn’t watch. That was “Stranger Than Fiction” which I watched a few days ago. And, yeah, I’ve been mesmerized by that movie also. What I love most about Marc Foster‘s work is that his movies are always captivating. Whether it’s about sensitive issues like “Monster’s Ball” or a fantasy romance like “Finding Neverland” or even an absurd flick like “Stay”, it always keeps the eyes and mind of the viewer busy, through every moment of the film until it finishes. And usually keeps the mind of audience captivated even hours after it is finished- you have to watch his film with full attention, will be moved by it if not you are a total dumb, and should be think over it, at least a couple of times.

Stranger Than Fiction is a fantasy film, but not like Finding Neverland in anyway. Stranger Than Fiction is a pure fantasy, kind of absurd screenplay with some magic realistic twist. Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is an IRS auditor. He is a number-maniac, every least detail of his life is scheduled and assigned with a specific number signifying time or count. His life is basically a series of daily repetition of same activities at the same time. His life stays so until he starts to hear a woman’s voice narrating his life. Later he came to understand that he is the main character of a novel which is being written by a woman whose voice is chasing him from the thin air. And the novel was revealed to be a tragedy ending with the spectacular death of the main character i.e. Harold Crick. The author, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), an eccentric and perfectionist writer who is known for her tragedic ends, also became upset to find out the existence of the main character of her supposedly ‘fictitious’ fiction. But it was too late, she already devised how Harold will die and wrote it in a scrap. And without this ending, the whole novel means nothing, the literary value is totally lost. So, the tension builds up, and the viewer start anticipating about how the movie can possibly end. Well, the ending was not disappointing at all, rather it was the most enlightening part of the movie. Though this was the main stream of the film, many little accounts and other interesting characters added more to the movie. The main cast are (from wikipedia):

• Will Ferrell – Harold Crick, an IRS auditor, who thinks he is hearing his life as it’s being narrated, causing him to seek professional help.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal – Ana Pascal, a baker that Crick meets when he is sent to audit her.
• Dustin Hoffman – Professor Jules Hilbert, a literature professor who attempts to help Harold with his narration problem.
• Emma Thompson – Karen Eiffel, a famous writer and Crick’s narrator who is known for killing off her protagonists.
• Queen Latifah – Penny Escher, an assistant to Eiffel whom her publisher has hired to make sure that she completes her new novel.
• Tony Hale – Dave, Harold’s only real friend at work, with whom he stays after his apartment is partially demolished.

The film is kind of an educating one. It teaches the value of little blessings of life which we tend to ignore everyday. The film is capable to inspire, to change the perspective with which we judge ourselves and react towards life.

And, an interesting thing about the movie was that the naming of the characters was connected with famous scientists and mathematicians in like; Francis Crick, James Watson, Gustave Eiffel, David Hilbert, Nicholas Mercator, Blaise Pascal, Arthur Cayley, and Gösta Mittag-Leffler.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

I’m a bit late to watch this oscar-winning movie. I started to watch it with high expectation and I must say that I got disappointed when I finished watching this movie, the same thing happened with “The Departed” last year. What happened? Is the oscar committee is not doing their job right or is it just me??

I liked the screenplay and visual style of the movie. But the rest is…. well couldn’t match my expectations probably. And the cocky acting of Bardem disappointed me big times. I liked very much what he did in “Mar Adentro“.  6/10

The Diving Bell and  The ButterFly (2007)

Another Oscar-hyped film and another disappointment. The plot didn’t seem novel, cinematography couldbe better, far far better, scenes seemed ‘not associating’ with one another. I liked the performance of Mathieu Amalric and the opening scenes were extra-ordinary. It was so promising for the rest of the film which according to me, could not be maintainted.  7/10

August Rush (2007)

Another oscar-nominated film, though not that much hyped. Another film with outstanding opening scenes….. another disappointment at last (is it really just me???).

Halfway through the film, I was so exited about this flick that I called one of my friend and recommended him to watch this movie as soon as possible. It was middle of the night.. then with the progress of the film, it slowly became a over-emotional, emotion-burdened snobby film, and I called that very film in the morning and told him not to watch the movie on my recommendation. “If you want to watch, then watch it on your own!”            6/10

Read the whole story here. 

This film won in a similiar failure poll back in 2004. For that story, click here.

So, it is pretty apperent that the Academy fails to recognize films that were later prooved to be award-deserving flicks. Now, this year, will they make the selection right?

To read my review on The Shawshank Redemption, please

George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)

Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)

Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)

Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)

Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)

Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)

Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)

Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)

Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)

Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)

Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)

Ellen Page in “Juno” (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)

Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)

Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)

Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)

Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Best animated feature film of the year

“Persepolis” (Sony Pictures Classics): Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney): Brad Bird

“Surf’s Up” (Sony Pictures Releasing): Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Achievement in art direction

“American Gangster” (Universal): Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino

“Atonement” (Focus Features): Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount): Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography

“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins

“Atonement” (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design

“Across the Universe” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky

“Atonement” (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran

“Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal) Alexandra Byrne

“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Marit Allen

“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel

“Juno” (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Jason Reitman

“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Best documentary feature

“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production: Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production: Richard E. Robbins

“Sicko” (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production: Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara

“Taxi to the Dark Side” (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner

“War/Dance” (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production: Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Best documentary short subject

“Freeheld” A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth

“La Corona (The Crown)” A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production: Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega

“Salim Baba” A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello

“Sari’s Mother” (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

Achievement in film editing

“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal): Christopher Rouse

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Juliette Welfling

“Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment): Jay Cassidy

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Dylan Tichenor

Best foreign language film of the year

“Beaufort” Israel

“The Counterfeiters” Austria

“Katyn” Poland

“Mongol” Kazakhstan

“12″ Russia

Achievement in makeup

“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

“Norbit” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount): Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Atonement” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

“The Kite Runner” (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias

“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard

“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino

“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Falling Slowly” from “Once” (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova

“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

“Raise It Up” from “August Rush” (Warner Bros.): Music and Lyric by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas

“So Close” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best motion picture of the year

“Atonement” (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers

“Juno” (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production) A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers

“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Best animated short film

“I Met the Walrus” A Kids & Explosions Production: Josh Raskin

“Madame Tutli-Putli” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

“Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)” (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse

“My Love (Moya Lyubov)” (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov

“Peter & the Wolf” (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best live action short film

“At Night” A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth

“Il Supplente (The Substitute)” (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin

“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard

“Tanghi Argentini” (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans

“The Tonto Woman” A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Achievement in sound editing

“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay

“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney): Randy Thom and Michael Silvers

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood

“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing

“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland

“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane

“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate): Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe

“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Achievement in visual effects

“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier

“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Adapted screenplay

“Atonement” (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton

“Away from Her” (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay

“Juno” (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody

“Lars and the Real Girl” (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver

“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy

“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird

“The Savages” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

Note: Many assumptions are based on wild guess.

 

Probably you have heard any of the numerous versions of the song popularly known as “Gloomy Sunday“. It is originated from Hungarian “Szomorú Vasárnap”, a song written by the Hungarian self-taught pianist and composer Rezső Seress in 1933. According to urban legend, it inspired hundreds of suicides. When the song was first marketed in the United States, it became known as the “Hungarian suicide song“. If you have already listened to this song you know that both the lyric and the tune of the song is very hard to forget and has  a distinctive captivating power. So when I’m talking about the movie with the same name as the song, you may assume beforehand that the movie and the song has a common the. But as a viewer I could not relate these two piece-ofart, though the film has a wonderful implication of the appeal of the song.  

The story of “Gloomy Sunday” (directed by Rolf Schübel) evolves through the relationships of László (Joachim Król), Ilona (Erika Marozsán) and Andras (Stefano Dionisi) in the time of Second World War. It all starts in a restaurant of Budapest in Thirties. László , the owner of the restaurant is in deep love with the beautiful waitress Ilona. He hired a pianist- Andras. Andras and Ilona fell for each other and andras composed his only creation “Gloomy Sunday” as a birthday gift for Ilona. Though He created the tune he could not understand the cryptic call of the tune, which everyone feels when listening to it. Later it was revealed that this call is to cross the border of life and numerous people commited suicide, as the popular urban legend really exists.  Caught in a triangular love-hate web, László, Ilona and Andras surely faced some complex and bitter situation but they could overcome taboos and could happily continue this unconventional relationship. The story gets a twist when Hans (Ben Becker) came to Budapest as a superior personnel of German Army. Years earlier, Hans fell in love with Ilona at first sight and tried to commit suicide being rejected. Mighty heart László saved him and they became good friends. But in this episode of the film, the characteristics of Hans got changed a lot. On the other side, Andras got more and more famous for the song and became equally frustrated as the song was identified as a primary reason of numerous suicide all over the world. The story goes on and it ended with a twist at the last.

I admit, the relationship among the main three characters of the movie with all its complexities made me think a lot. And the part of László really enthralled me. He is quite a character, quite a human character. Not any angel, he envied Andras, not a devil- he could not even think of taking any revenge on Andras and Ilona when he was left behind. Not only this aspect, I must respect this character a s it is portrayed all over the film. László is  strong, bold, has aesthetic sense, sensitive, and above all Human.

The last part or I better say, the twist of the film could not make me amused and I’m a bit doubtful whether it was really needed or not. But overall it is a good movie, pleasure to watch and have some food for thoughts. The lyrics and tune of “Gloomy Sunday” is excellent and very much appropriate to create such urban legend. I’m concluding with the lyric and a suggestion to the readers to make sometime to watch this movie.

Gloomy Sunday Lyrics

Sunday is gloomy
My hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows
I live with a numberless
Little white flowers
Will never awaken you
Not where the black coach
Of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thoughts
Of ever returning you
Would they be angry
If I thought of joining you?

Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy Sunday

Gloomy Sunday
With shadows I spend it all
My heart and I
Have decided to end it all
Soon there’ll be candles
And prayers that are said I know
But let them not weep
Let them know that I’m glad to go
Death is no dream
In death I’m caressing you
With the last breath of my soul
I’ll be blessing you

Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy Sunday

Dreaming,I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you asleep
In the deep of my heart

Darling I hope
That my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you
How much I wanted you

Gloomy Sunday……

What is the duty of a  movie? Or is there any specific responsibity of a maker? How a movie can differentiate itself from a lot of average and below average movies or a lot more trashes?

I don’t think a director has any specific duty or social responsibility which he/she may carry through his/her career. A director may make whatever he/she wishes to make. And after making a movie becomes a separate identity, it becomes a living structure of audio and visual, it would find it’s own way through the eyes and hearts of the viewers. 

American Beauty ,  the sensetional directorial debut of Sam Mendes is  a hyper-discussed film which is said to dissect the apperently ‘beautiful’ life of american stereotypical people in it’s own unique way. Well, I don’t care about america and I don’t care about their social problems. I live in a very poor country of Asia, and the socail norms and taboos of my country is nothing like America. I truly have no fascianation about the american way of life. But this film is one of my alltime favorites. And it has a special appeal to me. I can find a lot of reviews of the film by a lot of critics which analyzed all the tiny aspects of this movie, but here I would like to share some personal experiences (I better say changes) which are directly or indirectly influenced by this movie.

I watched this movie in 2001 only because I knew it won the Oscar for Best picture. I was in my high school then and I used to think that achieving an oscar can make any movie ‘a good one’. And, oh-i’m-so-glad that at least in case of American Beauty I was damn right! And I was not at all interested about film that time and I was never an avid watcher before. I felt my first beat of enthusiasm about movies after watching this film. I was got spelled- no you got it wrong, not by the story or the intelligent and dark visualisation of the film or not by the context or content of this film. I got moved solely by the charecterization of Ricky Fits. This charecter made me think, think a lot- about my life as a teen-age, about human relationship, about beauty and yes about taking drugs too. Can you remeber the scene of plastic bag flying in the wind, captured by Ricky on his handycam?

“It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… and I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”

 This scene redefined my aesthetical perspective, it was such breath-taking beauty! And can you remember this conversation?

Ricky Fitts: It’s like God’s looking right at you, just for a second, and if you’re careful… you can look right back.
Jane Burnham: And what do you see?
Ricky Fitts: Beauty.

That’s what I found in this film- beauty, beauty in those things which we notice least. I don’t care about all the social isuues, Ricky just shaped and molded my perspective towards life to a great extent.  I think I should watch this film yet again now just to evaluate it from the point of view of an ordinary viewer. And after that I may get able to give some glimpse on it’s technical and other issues.

Every year hollywood produces loads of trashes and a few good movies. Don’t get me wrong, those “trashes” are “eye-candies” for a segment of viewers, I know and I have no problem about Hollywood producing trash movies. But the problem is those few good movies often fail to maintain the fine line of aesthetics perfectly. Most of the times the movie lacks of something which can not be traced often but makes this movie ‘a little short to be the perfect’. The Shawshank Redemption, I don’t know how, seemed to have it all and became ‘perfectly perfect’ for my eyes and I usually place this movie on the very top part of my favorite list.

It is already 13 years since this movie got released, so most of the movie lovers around the world have already watched this movie and got inspired I suppose. So with a risk of making a repetition, I’m telling the story very briefly, if you already know then please skip-

Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) is a young and successful banker and his life changes drastically when he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her secret lover. He was sent to Shawshank prison, an infamous one for it’s brutal heritage towards prisoner. Here, he made friends with Red (played by Morgan Freeman), another prisoner, and some others. Dufresne never did lose hope, moreover he tried to kindle the fire of hope within Red and others. He cherished for freedom and struggled with the hardness of his prison life very calmly and kept on holding on his hope. Eventually, he made the ends on his own terms as well as helped Red to convert into a new person with new life. This story line includes many subplots which are equally important for the movie to make this so much unforgettable.

Tim Robbins gave his ‘once in a lifetime’ performance in this movie. Morgan Freeman was majestic, too. But I must mention a special performance by James Whitmore as Brooks. His character was not any leading role, but he carried out a special role with special purpose with a phenomenal performance. I loved The Green Mile too, but Frank Darabont was on his best in this movie.

Whenever I feel very exhausted, feel very lost in the lonely crowds of my city, feel like a prisoner of existence, I try to watch this movie. No, not to get inspiration, but to realize that fact yet again that every people has his own prison within himself, and to become a free man is just a matter of choice. I can be free in the darkest dungeon, if only I can foster hope, love and the sense of freedom deep inside of myself as the tag line of the movie states it nicely- ” Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free”. And, if you ask me to suggest you to name only one movie which you can watch to change/ enrich your attitude towards life I must recommend you this movie- “The Shawshank Redemption.”

“Mar Adentro” or “The Sea Inside” is a creation of Alejandro Amenábar on the life of Ramón Sampedro which is quite real.     
Ramón Sampedro was a ship mechanic and got paralyzed in a diving accident. After the accident, he has been quadriplegic for twenty-eight years and he fought in court for his right of practicing euthanasia, as he said “Life is not an obligation, it is my right.”

The movie is not only on Ramon’s legal fight and the ethical questions of choosing to die. It goes through a series of relational stages- making, breaking, reinventing; and this creates a sublime romantic storyline which has the main issue of life and death in it’s core.

If you watch film for just entertainment purpose, I would advice you not to watch this movie even you find it very available. This movie is mainly a kind of “intellectual” film, so it may seem tiresome and boring to some people.

This movie evolved around such serious matter like Euthanasia.Bbut the central charecter Ramon has a very nice sense of humor, I better say dark humor. This dark humour was expressed with sparkling (and sometimes sarcastic) comments of Ramon in many occasions in the movie. And on the two sides of Ramon there were two central charecters of the movie- Julia and Rosa, with two different versions of the same love. And as the story progress they exchange their positions, too!

Javier Bardem gave one of my most unforgettable performances in any film as Ramón Sampedro. Other actors did good, too.

Cinematography of this movie was as good as other good spaniard movies. The specialty of this movie can be it’s dialogue- so strong captivating yet lively. I can’t help quoting some-

“Padre Francisco: Freedom without a life is not freedom.
Ramón Sampedro: A life without freedom is not a life.”

“Ramón Sampedro: When you can’t escape, and you constantly rely on everyone else, you learn to cry by smiling, you know?” 

“Rosa: Love is an impulse. You can’t rationalize it.”
 

Here’s an article on Ramón Sampedro on Time magazine while he was alive and fighting for his right for Assisted suicide- Live and Let Die.

And, the last point to note, this movie is on a serious issue.. so if you want to watch this movie, please try to get some foods for thought from this movie… get inside the film. 

An additional info, at last who helped Ramon to commit suicide was named Ramona Maneiro in real, though in the movie her name was Rosa. she was arrested and charged with assisting suicide, but was released due to lack of evidence and no further charges were ever filed in connection with Ramón’s death. Seven years later, Ramona, speaking on a Spanish talk show admitted to providing him with a cyanide-laced drink and a straw. She said “I did it for love.”

And the director (as well as the writer) of this film Alejandro Amenábar was also directed The Others, and has writing credit of movies like Vanilla Sky and The Others.

So, what are you thinking? Yes you can watch the movie and it may happen to be a thought-provoking experience for you. 

 

“It is we ourselves who call forth the spirits through our own myth-making. From the matter we use, or wish to use, there arise later on obstacles to our own development and the future development.”              – Pablo Neruda  

As a matter of fact, we live in a hard and rough world. And imagination, the unique power of human mind, has made this world much more livable and vivid. Through imagination we have created innumerable elements and creatures which became very much familiar to us though these elements and creatures are actually “non-existent”. We have fairy tales, we have myths, and we have urban legends… and we live on these stories. This simple yet commonly overlooked fact is presented through an uncommon story and a vivid visual in the movie- “Big Fish“.

Tim Burton has a certain powerful ability of creating original eye-candies but I could not like many of his films. Besides Big Fish, only Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood seemed noteworthy. In this Movie, Tim Burton exceeds himself with the help of two things other than his imaginative visualisation power- a marvellous series of stories within a heart-wrenching story of relationship and perfect performance given by the actors.

The story (or I rather say the main body of the story) builds upon a bizzarre relationship between a father and a son. The son does not like his father as his father- Edward Bloom is a big mouth and used to tell fables which are amusing off course but for son- became annoying over a thousand times of hearing. To the son, Edward is mostly a fake person… but when his father is in his death bed, the son discovered those fables and completely “ridiculous” stories from a new perspective as he discovered his father as a unique person through those stories.

Witch, foretold death, hidden city, mermaid, werewolf, seamese twins, friendly monster-  this movie had every option of showing colorful cinematography, and the director utilised it as nobody could do better. But the main thing about this movie is th very ‘soul’ of the movie which will not make you cry but must move you a bit with his warm and kind touch.

Ewan McGregor is one of my few favorite actors of hollywood. And he gave yet another wonderful performance as young Ed Bloom. But who gave the dazzling performance in this film is Albert Finney , as old Ed Bloom. Jessica Lange was indispensable from his charecter too.

 I particularly like these dialogues of Will Bloom and I took these lines as the synopsis of the film-

“A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal.”

Now, let’s focus on the few problems with the movie. Though the story is unconventional in Hollywood context, it is told in a ‘Hollywood’ way- eye catching special effects, very well planned and well executed shots that somtimes it seems too perfect to be original! Well, I’m really feeling bad to find out flaws with this movie!

The tag line of the movie is “An adventure as big as life itself.” But after finishing this movie you may feel that the adventure you just experienced may be bigger than life! 

The original title of this Iranian film is “Rang-e-Khoda”, which means “color of God”. The central character of this beautifully simple movie is Mohammed- a 9 year old blind boy. He cannot see anything through his eyes as he is blind, but actually see a lot more than normal people. He want to see everything and to do make his wish true, he tried the most possible way for him- he learned to see through sounds and through touch. He learned to see the colors of God though his unconventional viewing power.This movie has a story beyond that with some twists and turns but I think the above statement is the core philosophy of the movie.

I’m not going to review the movie, actually I better not dare to do that :). I’m not gonna tell that this or that shot is marvelous or needs improvement, the story is weak or very touching… not a single statement like this for this particular movie. You must not evaluate this movie on your own eyes. Don’t depend upon any “bullshit” reviewer’s (like me) “bullshit” review… just go, collect and watch the movie. I just have two sentence to tell about the film-

First, the acting of Mohsen Ramezani in the role of Mohammad is one of the best performances i’ve ever seen in cinema.

And, last one- please watch the movie if you can. It has the capability to change you in a positive way.

To know more about the movie – imdb

About the Director- Majid Majidi