Just Watched: Contagion Over the years, Steven Soderbergh has time and again given us films that are gritty and of extreme social significance, with the exception of the Ocean’s Trilogy (Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen). He has, ever since, been come to be known as a thinking man’s director. It had been quite a while since I had seen any of the man’s films. The last film of his that I happened to see was The Girlfriend Experience, which showed a lot of promise but was, at the end of the day, a very underwhelming story about the life of a high-end escort. In fact, I wouldn’t hesitate to call it a failed attempt at prospective smut. Contagion looked promising primarily because of the cast. It was the first time in my living memory that three Best Actress Oscar winners from within a decade were doing the same film (Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard and Kate Winslet). The film didn’t let me down at all. In fact, considering that I went in with lowered expectations, I was more than satisfied by it. Contagion is about the outbreak of a deadly disease and how the people affected by it deal with the infection. Told in a very docu-drama format, it goes into how doctors and other health officials handle the delicate situation to how desperate people can get to find a cure. With a grand ensemble cast, no one gets a lot of time on screen, except for maybe Laurence Fishburne, who is very restrained yet effective in his role. For me, the two actors who performed the best were Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon. Cotillard pitches in a remarkable performance as a World Health Organization (WHO) epidemician sent to track the origin of the virus. With the limited time she has on screen, she excels in each and every frame. Damon, on the other hand, plays a man who has to come to terms with a lot and still be in a position to weigh his reponsibilities. Kate Winslet was fabulous in her role and Gwyneth Paltrow was very good in what was probably the most important role in the film. Jennifer Ehle was the film’s surprise package for holding her own amongst such seasoned performers. The performance which annoyed me the most was Jude Law’s. I think he should stick to playing the pompous jackass in all his future films. Maybe that was the point of his role, but I was a little too annoyed by him overdoing things. It was also good to see Bryan Cranston in a major film after having been used to him in Breaking Bad. Demetri Martin being in this film was a pleasant surprise as it was good to see that he can do more than just stand-up comedy. The final scene of the film that shows us how the infection started is rather chilling and is a very realistic look at how doomsday may come upon us, without all the mind-boggling drama. Soderbergh, once again, proves that when it comes to showing social behaviour in reaction to an event by cutting across various lines, there is no one better than him. For him, it is a journey that has come full circle — from Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Traffic to Contagion. This film shows that he’s come of age, and is hence highly recommended. Personal Rating: 8.6/10
Pop-upView Separately

Just Watched: Contagion

Over the years, Steven Soderbergh has time and again given us films that are gritty and of extreme social significance, with the exception of the Ocean’s Trilogy (Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen). He has, ever since, been come to be known as a thinking man’s director.

It had been quite a while since I had seen any of the man’s films. The last film of his that I happened to see was The Girlfriend Experience, which showed a lot of promise but was, at the end of the day, a very underwhelming story about the life of a high-end escort. In fact, I wouldn’t hesitate to call it a failed attempt at prospective smut.

Contagion looked promising primarily because of the cast. It was the first time in my living memory that three Best Actress Oscar winners from within a decade were doing the same film (Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard and Kate Winslet).

The film didn’t let me down at all. In fact, considering that I went in with lowered expectations, I was more than satisfied by it. Contagion is about the outbreak of a deadly disease and how the people affected by it deal with the infection. Told in a very docu-drama format, it goes into how doctors and other health officials handle the delicate situation to how desperate people can get to find a cure.

With a grand ensemble cast, no one gets a lot of time on screen, except for maybe Laurence Fishburne, who is very restrained yet effective in his role. For me, the two actors who performed the best were Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon. Cotillard pitches in a remarkable performance as a World Health Organization (WHO) epidemician sent to track the origin of the virus. With the limited time she has on screen, she excels in each and every frame. Damon, on the other hand, plays a man who has to come to terms with a lot and still be in a position to weigh his reponsibilities.

Kate Winslet was fabulous in her role and Gwyneth Paltrow was very good in what was probably the most important role in the film. Jennifer Ehle was the film’s surprise package for holding her own amongst such seasoned performers. The performance which annoyed me the most was Jude Law’s. I think he should stick to playing the pompous jackass in all his future films. Maybe that was the point of his role, but I was a little too annoyed by him overdoing things.

It was also good to see Bryan Cranston in a major film after having been used to him in Breaking Bad. Demetri Martin being in this film was a pleasant surprise as it was good to see that he can do more than just stand-up comedy.

The final scene of the film that shows us how the infection started is rather chilling and is a very realistic look at how doomsday may come upon us, without all the mind-boggling drama.

Soderbergh, once again, proves that when it comes to showing social behaviour in reaction to an event by cutting across various lines, there is no one better than him. For him, it is a journey that has come full circle — from Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Traffic to Contagion. This film shows that he’s come of age, and is hence highly recommended.

Personal Rating: 8.6/10

Just Watched: Black Swan There are times you are forced to watch a DVD screener of a film despite the fact that you are a sucker for good quality prints, and if the film you watch like this is something that has been brilliantly made, you start cursing yourself inside your head, to no avail. Something similar happened to me when I watched a screener of Black Swan two months back, only because Arko insisted I had to. I just wasn’t able to watch it at a stretch because of the fact that the print wasn’t as clear as I would like it to be. Obviously, I would have loved to watch it on the big screen but that wasn’t possible then, and then we have the wonderful Indian Censor Board which simply doesn’t understand how aesthetic sensibilities work. So when the film was released in Ahmedabad multiplexes right after Natalie Portman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her fantastic performance, Arko and I had to make a run for Ahmedabad with Rohan (Thomas) and at the end of the film there was only one thing to agree upon – you haven’t seen anything unless you have seen it on the big screen, censorship notwithstanding. Darren Aronofsky has been one of the three most enigmatic filmmakers in the modern era for me, the other two being Wes Anderson and a certain Christopher Nolan. With Black Swan, Aronofsky creates a world of strange horrors which are bound to make you feel claustrophobic and, worse, schizophrenic. Therein, however, lays the beauty of this film. Based on the famous ballet Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, this film about the extreme emotions of a ballet dancer under stress is without a doubt one of the very best films to have come out last year. Natalie Portman is superb as the troubled Nina and honestly I don’t think any other performance deserved the Oscar this time. I can say this confidently despite having seen only one of the other films nominated in this category. Mila Kunis is wonderful too in a rather restrained role. It’s a pity that she didn’t get a best Supporting Actress nomination. Vincent Cassel is very good too and so is Winona Ryder, who, thankfully, retains most of her usual grace. Barbara Hershey is almost terrifying as Nina’s mother, and that is a compliment of sorts. Raising her daughter the way she does in the film is very scary considering the lengths she goes to ensure that her daughter becomes nothing but the very best. The music by Clint Mansell is brilliant. Too bad that he didn’t garner an Oscar nod as he had attempted to make radical changes to Tchaikovsky’s original ballet. Oh, well. Aronfosky has, once again, managed to come up with yet another masterpiece with this ode to the passion for perfection. Gujju audiences need to use their heads though, and that isn’t something I am hoping to see in the near future. Looks like the applause after Inception (Click here for my post after watching Inception) only happens once in a very long time. Till then, we can all continue to aspire to be perfect, as long as we are able to set the limits. Personal Rating: 9.0/10
Pop-upView Separately

Just Watched: Black Swan

There are times you are forced to watch a DVD screener of a film despite the fact that you are a sucker for good quality prints, and if the film you watch like this is something that has been brilliantly made, you start cursing yourself inside your head, to no avail.

Something similar happened to me when I watched a screener of Black Swan two months back, only because Arko insisted I had to. I just wasn’t able to watch it at a stretch because of the fact that the print wasn’t as clear as I would like it to be. Obviously, I would have loved to watch it on the big screen but that wasn’t possible then, and then we have the wonderful Indian Censor Board which simply doesn’t understand how aesthetic sensibilities work. So when the film was released in Ahmedabad multiplexes right after Natalie Portman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her fantastic performance, Arko and I had to make a run for Ahmedabad with Rohan (Thomas) and at the end of the film there was only one thing to agree upon – you haven’t seen anything unless you have seen it on the big screen, censorship notwithstanding.

Darren Aronofsky has been one of the three most enigmatic filmmakers in the modern era for me, the other two being Wes Anderson and a certain Christopher Nolan. With Black Swan, Aronofsky creates a world of strange horrors which are bound to make you feel claustrophobic and, worse, schizophrenic. Therein, however, lays the beauty of this film. Based on the famous ballet Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, this film about the extreme emotions of a ballet dancer under stress is without a doubt one of the very best films to have come out last year. Natalie Portman is superb as the troubled Nina and honestly I don’t think any other performance deserved the Oscar this time. I can say this confidently despite having seen only one of the other films nominated in this category. Mila Kunis is wonderful too in a rather restrained role. It’s a pity that she didn’t get a best Supporting Actress nomination. Vincent Cassel is very good too and so is Winona Ryder, who, thankfully, retains most of her usual grace. Barbara Hershey is almost terrifying as Nina’s mother, and that is a compliment of sorts. Raising her daughter the way she does in the film is very scary considering the lengths she goes to ensure that her daughter becomes nothing but the very best. The music by Clint Mansell is brilliant. Too bad that he didn’t garner an Oscar nod as he had attempted to make radical changes to Tchaikovsky’s original ballet. Oh, well.

Aronfosky has, once again, managed to come up with yet another masterpiece with this ode to the passion for perfection. Gujju audiences need to use their heads though, and that isn’t something I am hoping to see in the near future. Looks like the applause after Inception (Click here for my post after watching Inception) only happens once in a very long time. Till then, we can all continue to aspire to be perfect, as long as we are able to set the limits.

Personal Rating: 9.0/10

Just Watched: Harry Brown I have always loved British films, or atleast films that have a prominent British setting. Guy Ritchie has been a favourite for long. When it comes to acting, however, Sir Michael Caine is one of the finest that Britain can give us. In this film, he plays the title character, a widowed war veteran who decides to avenge his friend’s gruesome death by using his own methods, as he has lost faith on the criminal justice system. There isn’t much to the story and this is one of the film’s greatest strengths. The performances by the supporting cast are commendable but all one can remember after having watched the film is Caine’s sheer brilliance. I personally feel that he deserves an Academy Award nomination for this towering performance as the aged yet stern vigilante. This film is easily one of 2009’s very best. Highly recommended. Personal Rating: 8.6/10
Pop-upView Separately

Just Watched: Harry Brown

I have always loved British films, or atleast films that have a prominent British setting. Guy Ritchie has been a favourite for long. When it comes to acting, however, Sir Michael Caine is one of the finest that Britain can give us.

In this film, he plays the title character, a widowed war veteran who decides to avenge his friend’s gruesome death by using his own methods, as he has lost faith on the criminal justice system. There isn’t much to the story and this is one of the film’s greatest strengths. The performances by the supporting cast are commendable but all one can remember after having watched the film is Caine’s sheer brilliance.

I personally feel that he deserves an Academy Award nomination for this towering performance as the aged yet stern vigilante. This film is easily one of 2009’s very best. Highly recommended.

Personal Rating: 8.6/10