Five movies this week. I feel decadent. But the movies were all mostly good, and it was a good mix of English, Hindi, and Tamil. While Aruvi was unexpectedly disappointing, Qarib Qarib Singlle was unexpectedly good. Here’s a brief roundup.
Coco (English)
Coco was a surprise watch this week and I am glad I got to see it! Ironically, Coco is all about death, and yet it’s nothing but vibrant, refreshing, and life-affirming. The story is quite straightforward. Formulaic even.
Young Miguel is crazy about music but because his great-great-grandfather left his family in pursuit of a career in music his wife made it clear that nobody in the family will have anything to do with a single note henceforth. Miguel learns to play the guitar in secret with his idol Ernesto as his inspiration. The rest of the movie follows how Miguel yearns to take part in a music competition and how he needs to overcome his family’s blanket ban on music for the same.
We all know how that’s going to end given that it comes from Pixar’s (Toy Story, Inside Out) stable but it’s the beautiful eye-popping animation and the funny one-liners in the movie that reeled me in. I never thought I would say this but The Land of the Dead is gorgeous! Death is given a quirky makeover, and the Day of the Dead, when the movie unfurls, is shown as a day that brings family, present and past, together. Coco has got heart, heaps of it. Don’t miss this one.
Rating: 4.2/5
Aruvi (Tamil)
I don’t know where to begin describing this movie. Should I start with the disjointed story line that assailed me right from the start for the next one hour? Or should I start with the strange character of Aruvi (Aditi Balan)? I don’t know which is worse so let me just begin with the word Aruvi, which means ‘waterfall’ in Tamil. And just like a waterfall, the movie has a certain force and density that you cannot put your finger on. It is the story of the eponymous girl who finds herself growing more and more disillusioned with the way society functions. As a person, she is highly moody, going from a raging tornado to a vulnerable, wounded child, all in one minute. She ends up being the guest on a reality show, and from there the movie hurtles forward with all the speed and focus of a derailed train.
I sat down to watch this movie with great anticipation but half an hour in, and I was thoroughly lost. Its non-linear plot, Aruvi’s eccentricities, and then the multiple social anxieties it covers, even though the director decided to finally zone in on one, all made me dizzy towards the end.
I know I am very much in the minority here with the movie receiving rave reviews from all quarters. I did like a few moments, like the poignant narration of the life of “Paniyaram Kelavi.” But overall, it was all just a bizarre mess. Or maybe its metaphorical storytelling is just beyond my ken.
Rating: 2/5
Phantom Thread (English)
Another pick from the Oscar nominated list, Phantom Thread is Daniel Day-Lewis’ swan song. This fact itself has served to catapult the movie’s ratings. But does this tale of a pompous and odd couturier deserve it? TBH, I am not entirely sure. Every movie site worth its salt is agog with praise for the inimitable Day-Lewis, which I second. He is brilliant, as always, in his performance as Reynolds Woodcock, a childish, demanding, but, extremely talented dressmaker who caters to women of the upper echelons of society. He is “a confirmed bachelor” who “is never meant to marry” and we see that women drift through his life, noticed for a while like the swiftly sweeping searchlight from a lighthouse before they are gone.
But then he falls for Alma (Vicky Krieps), a waitress who seems to be a match for him in many ways. She quickly becomes his muse, and he spends hours fashioning dresses for her. But she is also a lot like a live mannequin who is there just to provide the perfect curves, and the most graceful falls for his dresses. At one point, after a particularly childish and churlish outburst, which Alma had to endure, I wasn’t sure why she was even staying there. A question she asks him in anger a little later.
Daniel Day-Lewis (Last of the Mohicans, My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood) went to great lengths, as is his wont, to essay the role of a talented dressmaker in this movie. He spent a year studying dress design with New York City Ballet’s costume director, and finished it up by making a Balenciaga sheath dress from scratch, even though barely any of his skills get to be highlighted in the movie. Vicky Krieps (Hanna), who surprisingly has not got an Oscar nomination, is superb in her role as the unsure yet inwardly tenacious girl who is coping with a love that she is still unable to comprehend completely. But she definitely does not doubt her love for him.
Alma: Reynolds has made my dreams come true. And I have given him what he desires most in return.
Dr. Robert Hardy: And what’s that?
Alma: Every piece of me.
Dr. Robert Hardy: He’s a very demanding man, isn’t he? Must be quite a challenge to be with him.
Alma: Yes. Maybe he is the most demanding man.
I am not sure if I was impressed with the movie on the whole. It’s the interaction and exchanges between Alma and Reynolds as well as their individual characters that held my attention more than the story itself. An Oscar maybe for Day-Lewis but not for the movie, IMHO.
Rating: 3.5/5
Secret Superstar (Hindi)
I had long wanted to watch Secret Superstar after reading about its premise, and I have to say when I finally watched it, I wasn’t disappointed. It brilliantly juxtaposes the dark storyline of domestic abuse with that of the light-filled dreams of a Muslim teenage girl. Zaira Wasim is outstanding as Insiya the burkha-clad Secret Superstar who has steely nerves tempered by the love of music, and the drive to set up a new life for herself, her mother, and her brother, away from her abusive father. Meher Vij as Najma, Insiya’s mother, plays perfectly up to her part as the nervous, terror-stricken mother who tries her best to create some good moments for her children.
In fact, I liked their presence on screen better than Aamir Khan who plays the irascible Shakti Kumar, modelled after the prickly Simon Cowell and his ilk, methinks. After his extremely poised performance in Dangal, Aamir goes slightly over the top to portray an eccentric, much-divorced, egoistic singer. But he balances himself in the second half when he turns out to be a man who has got his heart in the right place, and becomes a mentor and friend for Insiya.
It’s only in the very end that the movie disappointed me with a tad predictable twist, and then a very unexpected ending, which didn’t do much to cushion the disappointment. But then they say that its the journey that’s important, not the destination. And Insiya’s journey is a delight to watch.
Rating: 4/5
Qarib Qarib Singlle (Hindi)
I am a fan of Irrfan Khan’s movies. I can at least expect some great acting even if the movie turns out to be sour. With Qarib Qarib Singlle (The double ‘ll’, is not what you think it is. It’s supposed to signify two single people coming together on a dating site shown in the movie) it was a slightly unconvincing but nevertheless enjoyable watch with Yogi (Irrfan Khan) and Jaya (Parvathy), the very mismatched couple.
Yogi is charming, witty, and a sensitive poet all rolled into one. Jaya, a young widow, is still grieving, is conscious about her lack of a boyfriend, has to put up with peer pressure from friends who urge her to “get some action”, and is pummelled with happy couples and weddings all around her. The story has been explored much before in, say, Life in a…Metro but here it’s the onscreen chemistry, and the raillery between the two actors that makes it such a breezy watch.
QQS marks the Bollywood debut of the supremely talented Malayalam actress Parvathy who dazzled me first with her very assured performance in Bangalore Days and then in Ennu Ninte Moideen and Take Off. Her sensitive and aching portrayal of loneliness is done with aplomb, without ever overdoing the feeling.
Jaya tries to put up a strong front with everyone around her including her brother. To them, she is the strong, independent, sure-footed woman who is happy in her own world. But it’s us, the viewers, who is privy to her inner world where tears run down her face while driving, she lies in bed staring at the ceiling, and still has her password set as her late husband’s name. The furtive yet longing look when a woman buys condoms at the medical shop and goes with a smile to her boyfriend who waits for her, the self-conscious expression when she enters her age as 35 on the dating site and then quickly changes it to 34 but then decides against it after all, are all small details that left a huge impression of Parvathy’s immense talent in my mind.
My quibbles with the movie are few but I think relevant ones, which would have made the plot stronger. Why does Jaya go for a road trip with someone with whom she clearly does not gel well? How does Yogi have so much money to spend, and what does Jaya really do? Jaya is shown talking to the camera, to the audience. Given the way the rest of the movie is shot, this stood out like a sore thumb. And, of course, we can see the end coming a mile away.
Yogi’s character borders on the stereotypical loud, Hindi-speaking male while Jaya is the stereotypical cultured, English-speaking woman. If these characters were not played by Irrfan and Parvathy, and if they didn’t have those ready repartees, I don’t think the film would have done as well.
Rating: 3.5/5
