Movies...

Life has been good to me these past few days. No work still. Chennai cooling down. Tonnes of movies to watch. A few that surprised me..I mean you dont expect kollywood to surprise you. Mozhi being the first one. A very sensitive movie, a sensible movie and a wonderful background score.
And then there is paruththiveeran. Well at the outset it may seem to like one of those crass B grade movies that kodambakkam churns out, but once the initial 10 minutes pass, the movie grips you in a vicious kind of way. Have to warn you, the language is very difficult to latch on to, atleast initially- a very heavily loaded madhurai accent. The landscape and the colour tones are rugged and stunning. The music from yuvan, as fas as i am concerned, his best work ever. The "Ayyayyo" song rocketing to one of my all time favourites. Heard people comment that the dialogues are way too in your face, obscene or to put it in tamil "Pachcha pachhaya irukku". Well, for the uninformed, the people who are being characterised on screen, tend to speak that way in real life. And the ending seems to have put of a lot as well. Well, not going to spoil it for you, just in case, u have not heard of it and are planning to go watch it. The ending was the highlight for me. There was no more convincing way it could have ended. Any other way and it would have been just another movie. On the whole an in your face roller coaster, tinged with some original native humour. Not to be missed.

And now to the other wood that is famous - Bollywood. two movies which were made outside the standard circuit. Kabul express and Black friday. Well , yes i am still playing catch up as far as the releases go. Kabul express is a commendable effort. atleast for the way the team has tried to approach the subject. Black Friday -mmm, almost silent background for the entire movie. A chapter wise narrative and KK Menon repeating a "Hazaaron kwahishen aisi". Planned to watch it in two sittings as we started off around 1 in the night. Couldnt bring myself to touch the remote for the next 2 hours. Riveting. Period.

And of course have been gorging on hollywood fare. And the one that caught my eye was Little miss sunshine. Tired of watching movies that picture families as ideal islands of joy, here was a dysfunctional family that was trying desperately to make it onto the band wagon. The highlight being a beauty contest for 10 year olds. A road trip across the US of A and the pretences begin to fall apart. And how it all comes togethor in the end. Lampooning a lot of the things that is not correct in the US way of life. A few that i fear are making their way to the indian society as well. Full of poignant moments and humor that is different from the staple hollywood fare. Again, should have won an oscar instead of departed. But, best screenplay, well ok can make do.

Well, have to catch up on a lot more and as the prospects of me getting work anytime soon are lesser, you can expect a lot more reviews. Right now, leaving for the day. Whew! it has been a long hard day at work i should say.