Ripples on the brain

I have been watching quite a few movies these days (weekends actually), but was too bored to write my impressions about them. I though I would just scribble down my thoughts on these before it gets too late.

The Namesake directed by Mira Nair
A film about a particular kind of people will be appreciated better if it appeals to any kind of viewer. In this case, I could never relate to the family of NRI’s and their American born children. Though some of their travails were understandable, the sentiment about Gogol throughout the movie wasn’t something that moved me. Not even after the reason behind it was revealed. To me, it appeared to be dragging too early into the movie and I had to force myself to sit till the end. Also, I don’t understand the all the attention that Tabu got for her role. I think she was actually okay, but not too great. Irrfan Khan was his normal self.

The only thing I liked in the whole movie was the way the family’s visit to TajMahal was picturized. Though we get to see the Taj so many times in the media, some shots of it still appeared very refreshing to me.

Spiderman 3
I have little more to add to what most of the prominent bloggers have already said. The screenplay looked straight out of a Tamil movie with a love story, apparently unsurmountable obstacles and multiple villains for the hero to tackle, the hero’s friend mistakenly seeking revenge, the hero not heeding to the heroine and mending his ways towards the end, the friend undergoing a change due to an evidence that his house-keeper thatha chooses to reveal only towards the climax of Spiderman 3 when he could have done it far earlier and ending his life to save the hero. I was actually expecting the hero and heroine to garland the photo of the friend (Harry) and then perform wedding rites in front of it in the climax .

Lack of logic in a fantasy film is understandable, but lack of consistency is not. If the symbiote could attach itself to Peter’s competitor, I don’t understand why it didn’t attach itself to Mary Jane herself when it had so many chances? The screenplay writer seemed to be taking easier way out to dispose off the alien symbiote and the sandman (atleast temporarily).

Nevertheless, Spiderman 3 is, obviously, creating records at the BO in the strength of its predecessors. Anybody who had watched the first 2 movies in the series wouldn’t want to miss the third inspite of the not-so-good reviews.

Chennai 600028
It is good to see recent Tamil movies coming out of the compulsions of love (one-sided, mutual, triangular, etc.), revenge and retribution, chastity, amma/thangachi sentiment as their themes. Though some of these are not entirely absent in this movie, they have been dealt with less importance than usual.

A director undertaking a movie of this genre is on a knife-edge. While on one side he has to ensure that the plot is light on the viewers, on the other side, the movie can end up being without a premise if the plots/sub-plots are loose. I think the latter is a serious problem in the movie. While the director manages to evoke instant laughter through some unexpected light moments throughout, almost all the threads in the movie are incomplete and this leaves the viewer to doubt the sincerity of the director. As a viewer, I felt that the director only had the ending in mind (an unexpected and appreciable one, I must admit) and the rest of the scenes were just padded up after the theme was decided, for most of the scenes in the hour before the climax didn’t seem to have a bearing on the course of the movie.

While many reviewers called this a risky venture for a newcomer to invest (his time or money) in, I beg to differ. The movie had 11 low cost heroes and 2 ultra low cost heroines. Most of the scenes were either shot in the Corporation playgrounds or some TNHB (or other equivalent) apartment complexes. Camera work and music also do not offer much to write home about. In most places in the movie, the intention of the director to keep costs down (by avoiding retakes, shoddy camera work etc.) is very apparent. The producer had upfront sponsorships from Radio Mirchi, Raaga and other such corporates and made it a point to feature their names prominently as much as possible. After all this, I think he had very little to lose if this film was a failure. A name such as this, the theme (galli cricket) and multiplexes would ensure first week viewership and the rest is a bonus.