On the Road

This is a movie (based on Jack Kerouac’s novel by the same name) that should be seen and enjoyed within its context and period. The Beat generation was defined by Salinger, Burroughs, Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac.

I admit that except for A Catcher in the Rye, I have not read any other Beat literature but the film On the Road directed by Walter Selles (The Motorcycle Diaries) compels me.

Angst, non-conformity, search for meaning, jazz, music, sex, drug use, communism et al defined the Beat generation of the 50s and so did the cold war. And its politics.

Jack Kerouac (the man who coined the term ‘Beat Generation’; doesn’t he deserve the Nobel Prize for that?) took multiple road trips with his free-spirited, hedonistic friend, Neal Cassady (played to perfection by Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund, respectively). The movie is autobiographical; he started writing and rewriting from 1948 through 1951/52, I guess. Finally, it was published in 1957.

The film was filmed in 2010 and released in 2012 but retains the period look. And what a period it was: Blissful, upbeat, beatific, and beaten up.

It makes you ponder how much of anything is enough… Everything comes at a price. And free will and choice(s)… Does that make your life richer?

Like the film shows: The best teacher is experience.

Ozhimuri (A Document of Separation)

An Excellent work. One of the best Malayalam movies to come out after the world said Y2K and forgot that more than a decade has passed by since.

Jeyamohan and Madhupal, take a bow. When is your next film releasing?

Ozhimuri is also about separation. Of matriarchal and patriarchal systems. Of transitions and transformations. Of systems, processes, procedures, and people. Of mundane and bitter-sweet lives lived among all these.

It also raises valid observations and questions on the age-old theory of Nature vs. Nurture. How your personality maybe defined by nurture but your behavior patterns maybe defined by nature…

Childhood, upbringing, selective memories all work together to create a child’s world and his memories of parents and parenting. Judgments are based on our biases and inclinations towards either one of our parents…

Why do certain people act cruelly with their loved ones? 

This movie does not give us definite answers but surely provides a lot of food for thought. The movie does not judge any of its characters and therein lies its greatest strength. It shows pretty artistically and realistically how most of us are formed by circumstances and other external factors. How we hardly choose who or what we become and how we behave. But in spite of all that, love can always find a way to our hearts though we may hardly know how to express it.

It poetically shows how empathy is of extreme importance when it comes to any relationship; how you may never be able to forgive and/or forget your parents, spouse, children and their deeds but you can surely empathize with them. And empathy comes only with understanding and openness. Comes with acceptance that your memory, vision, judgment, stereotyping, labeling et al are limited in scope. There is always some knowledge or some information that you may have missed… while you label a person ever so consciously/subconsciously.

It shows us how lifelong-held values and egos do not matter when death stares at us closely. How forgiveness and self-defense mechanisms find their way in our search for self-identity and that elusive treasure: peace of mind.

Watch it for its outstanding performances (Lal and Shweta Menon deserve special mentions) and its brilliant screenplay; also, watch yourself while you are at it.

Yeah, and do not judge the person, sitting at the aisle seat, dozing away to glory. Or, the person who proclaims that Ozhimuri was such a bore… Remember, they may have their reasons. Sometimes, reasons that they themselves are not aware of.

Ozhimuri makes you come out wiser and, more importantly, nicer by the end of the film. At least, it does try. 

It did. For me.

Baran

Baran (Persian for 'rain') is an amazing piece of film-making by the Iranian master, Majid Majidi. 

He takes realism to an altogether different level here: a construction site close to the Afghanistan border in Iran is the primary setting for one of the most silent and short love stories on film.

The 17-year-old male lead discovers love and himself in this poignant tale which is poetry on celluloid. The female lead never utters a single word throughout the movie and speaks volumes through her glances and her eyes. You can hear her humming some times; behind veiled and curtained doors.

This bitter-sweet, coming-of-age movie is also about separation of two lovers who could have led a life together if it weren't for politics, organized religion, and borders.

You must watch this movie, if you have ever loved. And lost. Or, if you are a romantic activist.

There are a couple of scenes that will surely take your breath away: one is a conversation with a shoemaker and another is a silent scene just before Baran leaves Iran for her home back in Afghanistan.

Baran’s fleeting and almost invisible smile says it all. It kind of sums up the whole film in one scene.

Anyways, at the end of it all, a footprint is all that is left behind of people, of dreams, and of loves. 

Such is life... Always.

The Sessions

This is the kind of movie experience that I live for. I die for.

The Sessions is an independent drama film written and directed by Ben Lewin. It is based on an essay by Mark O'Brien, a poet paralyzed from the neck down due to polio who hired a sex surrogate to lose his virginity. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt star as O'Brien and sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene, respectively.

Sex can heal. It can bond. It can bring two people closer than anybody's imagination. And, sharing sex secrets with a third person (who was a stranger, in the beginning, and also a priest) can make him your best friend.

Ok, agreed that there was ‘a special needs’ person involved in the above situations but still the above statements are true. 

As Mark says in the movie, sex is serious. Mark also says: “I believe in a God with a sense of humor. I would find it absolutely intolerable not to be to able blame someone for all this.”

The humor and wit in the movie may remind you of Inside I’m Dancing. I digress but, in case, you haven’t watched that movie yet, please do!

Helen Hunt just sweeps you off your feet as an actress; her range is incomparable. This movie makes me reconfirm my belief of her being the best actress ever... Over any other actress of any decade across world cinema; yes, that includes everybody’s favorite (including the Oscar’s), Meryl Streep. 

This is a bold and brave role to take on; she has delivered more than another established actress would. I am not saying bold and brave because it includes nudity or sex, but because this is the kind of role that required her to live under the skin of her character and she went more than skin deep.

John Hawkes just makes you believe that he’s Mark O’Brien himself; so flawless is his performance. The importance of sexual intimacy between two people and the importance of being kind in a relationship is highlighted so well that it welled up my eyes. 

Just like Tukaram, The Sessions was a healing experience for me.

Yes, this movie is based on a true story… Please do read:
An article on Cheryl Cohen-Greene

An article on Mark O'Brien


And yes, for a detailed movie review, please visit:
Roger Ebert's review

A Separation

What an experience.

Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian masterpiece, A Separation, is the kind of movie that makes you think long after the end credits roll up. No, not think but rather reflect upon yourselves and people close to you and those incidents and revelations when you see everybody’s true nature.

This film portrays righteousness as a value to fight for. But it begs us to ask whether the fight is worth it? Should compromise be a better solution for incidents where we don’t know the truth or only know partial/half truths?

The film starts with a simple scene that establishes the two main characters much better than other films have established in their entire lengths. They are both arrogant, stubborn, and have reached a place in life where compromise seems like a loss.

The son-father-husband and the mother-wife protagonists have to deal with an incident that happens just after they are separated. Also, there are three children who are immediately affected by the incident.

The film shows that goodness, kindness, honesty, selflessness, family, ego, and self-righteousness are different things and these values change with situations and circumstances. Sometimes these values change in front of a judge (whether human or God… because we are afraid and god-fearing). In face of a life-changing situation, some people compromise and control themselves while some people can’t. How all this further affects the future for all characters involved is captured brilliantly.

Causality... Can we really point out the cause of an effect? Do we really know the truth? Can we? Can we claim that we are right and others are wrong?

The movie really asks us for answers to these questions and more. And, just like the movie ends, I too am waiting for my answers to mull over and regurgitate again and again.

A Teaser

Zara: I love the colour red. One fine night, it was cold; the moon was glowing red. I am alone. Far, far away, a wolf howled. A blood curdling cry. I saw blood oozing out of my belly. 

Was it mine?

Anjan: I love my wife. One fine day, I came home from work early. I opened my house door. A familiar, masculine fragrance emanated from our bedroom. I followed it to its source. I saw her in bed with a stranger. 

Or, was he?

Siddarth: I love my car. One fine moment, I lost my control and swerved off the road to hit a truck... That moment killed my two friends who were in the back seat. My friends were just corpses. I was the lone survivor. 

Why me?

Reflections: An unwilled 'Thought Process' Experiment

• Why do I judge others when I myself am human?
• Have I not been mean before?
• Have I not been rude? Angry at others because they are what they are?
• Why do I put somebody on a pedestal without knowing them fully in the first place? And, when they kind of fall from those heights, why do I feel hurt?
• Is it necessary that all disciples be like their masters just because they have sat at his feet?
• Why did I confuse certain facts with knowledge and truth?
• Why do I get angry when people break into my false sense of belongingness?
• Why do I get angry at others for their bloated egos when I can’t kick out my ego that peeps through my bloated sense of self-righteousness?
• When will I accept people as they are without being angry and irritated? When will I know that the solution includes me and my acceptance and not my indifference?
• When do I fully become a witness?

The thoughts/reflections ended with that final question. There was a 15-minute blankness after this question. A void. I came out of the void and here is the post...

Well, today morning, there was a small discussion over an insignificant event at home. As a consequence, much later in the afternoon, these reflections/thoughts entered my mind. I just penned them down here as they came without giving each thought any tangent or refuge.

I guess, this ‘seamless thought process’ that occurred on it own (without my volition) was an experiment on my long way home to becoming a witness.

When you are truly realized, you realize how much of life was lost in finding faults of others. – SN Goenka

Flight (My title: Flight of the Phoenix)

This is the second film in 2013 that I watched that deals with addiction as its core subject; this time it is alcohol and drugs.

Is alcoholism or drug abuse an issue even if you are a hero? A successful and resourceful hero, at that?

Denzel Washington probably comes up with one of his best performances in this movie that has a lot going for it. As a person who has seen up close what addiction can do to people, I could sympathize with him. He is an exemplary pilot/captain of a commercial airline. One of the best ever… the movie tells us. And also shows us.

The opening flight and landing scene is riveting and is certain to bring you to the edge of your seat. Thereafter, it is complete drama. About a person’s notion and cure for his own addiction, how he is confident that he can lead his life well even if he is drunk or high. How he can discharge his duties and responsibilities at work (even a high profile and high risk job of a pilot) even if he has had more alcohol and cocaine than an average teen…

Denzel Washington plays arrogance and self-defiance very well. Like you really feel like slapping him. But then, you understand that he knows he is addicted but in control! That is the crux. He does not crumble, is not indecisive or slurrish, has presence of mind, etc.

His wife and son had left him long ago. He has no friends. He is alone.

In the hospital after the crash, where he has saved 100 lives or killed six people (whichever way you want to look at it), he makes his first real friend: a woman who’s a drug abuser. They share similar pains. They share a painful past.

The woman rehabilitates but he can’t. He is so much into it that it is like making love, breathing or drinking water. How many days can you abstain from these?

Finally, he gets redemption at a FAA hearing where he confesses (even though it has already been proved that faulty maintenance of an elevator is to be blamed for the flight crash) to have been drunk and high for three consecutive days and nights leading up to the eventful flight.

For the first time, he confesses to himself that his habit is a problem for himself and for others around him even though he has never harmed anybody even when drunk or high. For the first time, he admitted that he had a behavioral problem. Accepting one’s own weaknesses makes you stronger.

A hero who saved 100 lives does not fall. That is the day, he rises.

This is a much, much better film than Spirit, starring Mohanlal, dealing with the same subject.

Shame, 360, and Safety Not Guaranteed

Shame is a modern-day classic. One of the bravest films I have ever seen because of the subject it shows: sex addiction. Richard Fassbender (Brandon) is really brave to take on this role of a lifetime.

The film just shows us the life of a sex addict, who has an independent apartment and a good job because he is able to pay for regular sex. He knows that he is an addict and how he uses sex to abuse himself. He knows that there is no way out than indulge. He does not seek pleasure for having sex has become a necessity like eating bread daily. Just plain bread.

We see a change in his attitude when his only sister Carrey Mulligan (Sissy) visits him and stays over for a few days. She is a vagabond singer who takes up gigs. We learn that she recently had a breakup from her boyfriend. In the first scene of their interaction, we come to know that there are past bridges between the two siblings that were not healthy. Probably, they had incestuous parents and/or they themselves had an incestuous relationship.

We see how they are still redeeming themselves from their past in opposite ways: Sissy clings to him for love, attachment, proximity while he detests all emotions. He can’t emote love, he can’t make love, he can only have sex. In fact, we see how Brandon guards his secret sex life even from his boss, who has casual sex or is looking for it every time he goes out with Brandon.

The independent and individual close-up shots of the Brandon (towards the end when he is having a threesome) and Sissy (when she is singing) show their caliber. Brandon is incapable of an orgasm; he just ejaculates. We see one of the best master shots/close-ups when we see him ejaculating with fear, pain, loathe…

The movie does not preach, does not deliver hope, cure, or a solution… but we do.

To read a better review of this movie, please visit: Roger Ebert's website.

360 is the kind of slice-of-life film that seamlessly showcases lives of different characters across the globe. All the characters are either in love, falling in love, or falling out of love. They are all dealing with loss, separation, and identity crises in one way or another.

The screenplay and cinematography come out winners in this one; Anthony Hopkins shines in an amazing monologue he delivers at a group therapy session. 

Yes, I loved 360.

Safety Not Guaranteed is an unpretentious film; it knows that it is a small-budget, realistic movie about an event that may or may not happen/have happened!

Just like all the characters in the film, we too are clinging to the past in more ways than one. Somebody is clinging to nostalgia, somebody to youth, and somebody to the loss of a dear one.

Among all this, we see an eccentric, departmental store clerk releasing a classified ad seeking a partner to accompany him in time travel to the past.

The classified ad:

“WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED.”

This is where the movie starts having fun with us. I loved the film and will watch it again. J