The Lobster : A methaphorical concept oozes uncontrollably out of bounds

Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek mastermind,  is a fantastic visualizer, He has stepped out of zone where the mainstreams directors have comfortably rooted their feet in and created a dystopian world where being a loner is perceived as an awful crime. Loners are taken to a hotel where they have to find a partner within 45 days, failing to do so will result them in being turned into an animal. His fecund brain has taken us unpredictably to places we cannot imagine. However, this fantasized dramatic world possibly oozes out of bounds in the latter interim and that is where my problem as a viewer starts.

The Lobster begins with David (Colin Farell) being betrayed and cheated on by his wife. A bespectacled, thick mustached man, devoid of emotion, his speech and his blank look overly reflects the same. He doesn't cry, he doesn't smile. He is a whimsical and quirky in front of this tyrannical absurdist backdrop. He, along with his collie-turned-brother, is taken to the hotel to find a partner for himself. With the narrative of Rachel Weisz, this film assimilates the viewer and keeps him wide-eyed gripped to the marvelous plotline.

The canvas is ready and you see the characters flooring it with their eccentric behavior and the vital additions to set the screenplay going. There is group of people who throw a degrading glance at the loners and there are rebels who oppose this very idea of forced relationships. 45 days before one is transfigured into a beast can be extended if one tranquilizes the loners who have escaped into the forests. Amidst all this satirical madness, David ,too like some, escape into the woods to meet up with radical group led by Lea Seydoux. The radicals think exact opposite of the Hotel consider singlehood as an ornament to be worn with dignity and relationships as a blemish. The first half ends and that is when monotony begins symbolizing that director possibly ran short of ideas.

As a viewer and lover of satires, I always wanted to know what happens to David after 45 days. I always imagined the hotel to be the reference point to the entire story and not David. However, profuse exaggeration and predictable cliches formed the foundation of the second interim and what formed my sheer discontent. The characters speak with sheer lack of expression  and you begin to think ' Will the future actually end up being so colourless?' Rachel Weiz, whose narrative was the strong foothold since beginning of film, is brilliant in her own ways and gave a terrific performance; my favourite apart from Lea Seydoux.


6 on 10

An irrefutable triumph in storytelling and imagination, Babel is a unique film

Once there was a time when all had a common language. This defied the very odds God had set for man to overcome. So, he decided to confuse them with babel. Babel is confusion; an ambiguous situation when different people speaking different languages cannot communicate through words. Alexandro Inarrtiu's masterpiece was a triumph in the creation of this world; a world of chaos. Babel is not just a cinema. It is a deep insight into raw naked human emotions and portrayal of harsh reality. It is a story spanning Morocco, United States of America, Japan & Mexico where one naive thoughtless act of child creates an an unavoidable chain of events leading to disastrous results worldwide.

Putting the pieces of story together, a Moroccan goat herder gives a rifle to his sons to practice shooting jackals. In a playful bet, the younger one ends up shooting a tourist bus. Meanwhile Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are on a vacation in Morocco to cope with the sudden death of their son. The couple are travelling in the same tourist bus which gets shot at. The shot hits Susan in the shoulder. America unhesitatingly brands this as an act of terrorism. The rifle used is traced back to a Japanese hunter who is struggling between some difficult times in his life, fighting the sorrow of his wife's death as well as the sexual longing of his daughter Chieko (Rinku Kikuchi). Susan is taken to a local village where the villagers try to get the best medical aid possible. Morocco refuse bringing an ambulance as they don't perceive it to be a terrorist act. Richard calls the nanny, who is looking after their kids in America, to cancel her son's wedding so that she can attend to the kids during this emergency. The nanny, hopeless and desperate to be at the wedding, asks her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) to drive the three of them to Mexico. While their return from the ceremony, the inebriated Santiago breaks the police barrier at USA-Mexican border when the police try to arrest him for drunk-driving and carrying the kids without the permission of their parents.

It is indeed a chaotic world where each culture tries to quell the violent outbursts of circumstances leading to a scarring misdemeanor. Rinku Kikuchi plays the role of prurient adolescent who is going through hormonal changes. She desperately tries for a sexual encounter even if it means trying to seduce her much older dentist. The climactic scene where Chieko stands on the commodious glass balcony, naked and vulnerable, is touching and remains as a depressing picture in your mind. While Pitt's Richard acts as a catalyst for the film playing a uxorious husband as well as taciturn human being sometimes to the very hosts who are helping Susan to recover, and we cant actually blame him for being afraid for his wife.

The film is so designed that every other individual creates a mark of his own. Alexandro handles the horror & emotional tension between the changing time-frames, carefully creating a surreal and imagination-rich experience. A network of different cultural backgrounds woven together by one tragedy, Babel is Inarrtiu's anomalous creation.

9 on 10

Fan : The king card played very well by Maneesh Sharma

When the first trailer of Maneesh-Shah Rukh collaboration FAN was out, it strongly tried to state a story wherein a crazy obsessed fan idolizes a superstar enough to go to any unimaginable heights to meet him and maybe he even does. But, the second trailer gave away a novel concept, something which compensates for Khan's last masala movies, which critics didn't approve of. Shah Rukh Khan gives out a salute-worthy performance in a duo role of a superstar and his dangerously obsessed doppelganger.

The film begins with the archival footage of Shah Rukh khan's resurgent life with portrayal of a fan who considers himself the star's biggest follower. Possessing an unbridled love for superstar Aryan Khanna (played by Shah Rukh Khan ), look-alike bourgeois fan Gaurav Chandna ( again played by Khan himself) sets out to meet his idol amidst the shouting and screaming mob outside his sea-facing mansion. When his plans to meet the star are thwarted much to obvious reasons, Gaurav tries to bend things his way to attract the star's attention, instead pulling his frown. Aryan Khanna summons cops to knock in some reality into the little fan. What he fails to realize is that if a fan can create a superstar, he so much can bring him to the ground of apocalyptic failure. Distraught Chandna sets out to haunt the star he always loved, making him a living nightmare for the Aryan. The acts which Gaurav never understands the enormity of it being internecine.

Fan isn't a perfect script. But Maneesh's execution amalgamated with Shah Rukh Khan's never-seen-before acting glue together its torn parts. SRK is excellent and laudable as he evidently blurs the lines that separate the arrogant Aryan with spooky Gaurav. He has created a discernible behavior for both and you can vividly notice the way both Shah Rukhs run, walk and talk. Fan is a victory, for the reasons it has no unnecessary romantic angles and songs which have likelihood to deviate the plots. It shows colors of thriller and emotion on the celluloid and the credit goes to Sharma's efficacious mindset. He makes Fan, a germane thriller and a conspicuous winner.

7 on 10 stars

Painted with blood and snow, Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' is a perfect portrait

Tarantino's 8th movie ' The Hateful Eight' is a inveigling tale of eight gunslingers trapped in a Wyoming cabin to evade blizzard in the mountains. A film which hugely relies on Tarantino's expressive story-telling as he toys with the idea of cowboys and lawmen indulging in a verbal and pistol-cocking blood-splashing duel. It is a nihilistic picture of betrayal and bloodbath with 187 minutes of promising aeonian experience.


A blizzard is chasing a carriage; a carriage with two occupants and a driver. Inside the carriage, John Ruth (Kurt Russel), the hangman is handcuffed to the prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh)  who he is taking to Red Rock to hang. The carriage is stopped in its tracks by bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel Jackson) who is looking for a lift to Red Rock. The carriage (later occupied by sherrif Chris Mannix) is taken to Minnie's Haberdashery, a lodge inhabited by four strangers; someone among who Ruth believes to be a traitor sent to free Domergue.


Tarantino has scripted the story amazingly as he helplessly crams the racial political tension into the extravagantly smooth dialogue. However he has managed to achieve some nail-biting moments without viceral music. For instance, Domergue is handcuffed to the poisoned Ruth as she helplessly tries to grab a gun far away from her reach to defend herself from her attackers.


As a director, Tarantino makes the unputdownable film etch in your mind even as you walk home from the theatre. He has managed to bring everyone into the spotlight, armed with smart dialogues and credible acting. However Samuel Jackson happens to be the show-stealer as he overshadows his costars with his gritty and piquant portrayal of Major Marquis Warren.


A quirky story post The Civil War, The Hateful Eight can be relished and digested by hardcore cinephiles. For masala movie-lovers, Kindly avoid.

7 on 10 stars

Wazir: An idea with loopholes however the performances save the day...

Bejoy Nambiar's Wazir trailer had sparked an interest about what the film really stands for. A malevolent Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is an invisible horror; a dread which the two protagonists feel is what I understood from the trailer. The questions popped deliberately in my mind after seeing the trailer were answered by the film but not to my total satisfaction. Wazir is like an incomplete meal. You are not starving but you aren't contended either .


Danish Ali (Farhan Akthar) an ATS officer, rebellious and brave, devoted so much to his duty to even care about his little daughter while going on a shooting spree with the terrorists. Ruhana Ali (Aditi Rao Hydari) holds him to responsible for their daughter's uncalled death, punishing him with solitude and depression. The void in Danish's heart is filled by Omkarnath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan) when they both realize that they share the same tragedy. They meet, talk and drink over the game of chess and this happens on a regular basis and they bond so much so that Danish absorbs himself completely in Panditji's problems. That is where Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh) jumps in; an entity who lurks in the shadows spying on the protagonists, sending them death threats; something that showcases more of masqueraded theatrics than terror.


Wazir boasts of strong and intriguing performances by Farhan Akthar and Amitabh Bachchan and you slowly realize that its the acting that has kept you gripped more than plot which is thin, loose and predictable. Scenes are linked logically but gnawed at some places with chess becoming the soul of the film for no apparent reason and excessive usage of chess metaphors adhere to the fact.


Wazir is a psychological thriller with a sprinkle of emotional flavour to nourish it. Not the best one but certainly not the worst.

6 on 10 stars