Iruvar Analysis

 Iruvar (1997)

Co-written, Directed & Produced by: Mani Ratnam
Starring: Mohanlal, Prakash Raj, Aishwarya Rai, Revathi
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan
National Award for Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor for Prakash Raj. 

It's based on the rivalry between MGR and Karunanidhi, but even without the context - it's a brilliant film to experience. For some reason, enmities always happen with best of friends or brothers and after some deep level of connection. It's probably because of the immense trust that is broken. In this film, they become friends at a young age. Young people with immense passion and ambition, to change things. The enmity happens naturally with time. Films that capture life, always have a lot of depth. There is not much emphasis even on the big events of life, which would typically be the climax of other films - like a marriage, or the passing of a partner, or getting success, becoming rich. All of these being parts of our life - they keep happening in the film and we just witness. The music isn't poignant, asking us to cry when sad things happen - it just asks us to witness life, as all of this is just life.

Prakash Raj is so intense in the film. The scene where he is sleeping on the bed with his wife, the context is that it's happening after they've had sex - it's a flat lay shot, where the camera is placed on the ceiling fan, facing downwards - and the camera keeps rotating. This in itself gives us a trippy feeling, and over this - there is some intense poetry by Prakash Raj. This is my favorite scene from the entire film. The film that I'm reminded of is the recent Ayyappanum Koshiyum - although Iruvar had some pollution with songs, which is totally understandable for the time it was made in. Mani Ratnam is a master of songs, even the dance ones; Vaan from Kaatru Veliyadai was terrific - but some of the dance songs in this film felt like they could be skipped. Santosh Sivan is the only DOP in India, with an ASC accreditation - the reason they cited for giving it to him is apparently because his films look Indian, and they have the Indian texture unlike other films which seem like an adaptation of Hollywood films. 

Easy Season 1 Analysis

Easy S1

Written, Directed, Edited and Produced by: Joe Swanberg

Streaming on Netflix.

It's an anthology, it comprises of different characters and stories set in Chicago. It talks about the modern world problems: like navigating through murky relationships, spicing up life amidst midlife crisis and it deals with the day to day activities of life. The show captures the intellectual postmodern world very well, where there is a lot of conversations that go on about purpose, absurdity, and the futility of life. In the 1st episode - they discuss evolutionary science and apply it to today's world and see what masculinity means, and it feels like we're going in loops of subverting norms. Once we break gender norms, we realize that even though we do it in the modern world - biology doesn't change and we get back to evolutionary science. It's crazy.

I could not appreciate the ones where they face midlife crisis and try to spice up things. My favourite ones would be episodes 2, 3, 5, 1 in the order. Ep-2 talks about wanting to confirm to the norms and belong. I think that's the most important story of the show. The struggle of the young people is to adhere to the political correctness, and to do the right things by choice - but we also feel tired. I miss that naivety, where we didn't try to correct everything that's "problematic" and just let things be. All of this coming through a love story was masterful writing. Ep-5 talks about something that probably every artist would've faced. Drawing from your own life to create art. You're constantly confused where to draw a line. This episode is a hilarious take on it. I'm curious to watch the 2nd and the 3rd seasons. I think this is an interesting format, where you can explore a lot of ideas within a similar tone and genre.

Normal People Analysis

Normal People (2020)

Starring: Daisy Egdar-Jones, Paul Mescal
Based on the novel of the same name.

It's a super intimate show. Most of the scenes of the show feels like a conversation that happens inside of a warm blanket. Like cuddle talk. Even the voices sound that way. This is a show which you perhaps can't watch with your friends. Because you can't watch it without having your guard down. It puts you in that spot. It makes you vulnerable. There are some amazing songs that are used in the show, you could check out for some good music recommendations. My favorite is 'Warped Window'. There's an amazing scene where she talks about her new partner is into pain and rough stuff - and he asks her to elaborate. That scene captures how you sometimes knowingly get into a spot which would lead to pain. It's perhaps because of the fear of unknown, that he wants to ask her and know everything so that he'd at least know.

The show ends at a space of moving on, the feeling of having done with a phase in your life. They talk about how good they'd have done to each other. That's the feeling that I resonate with the most. Where you cherish what you had, along with missing what you don't. The show captures something beautiful - where people talk about their feelings very well. They talk about even simple stuff. About feeling awkward that the other person didn't introduce them to their friends. Also the scene where she says that, 'I'd have liked it if you wanted to do it' - the cuckold thing. She says that I like doing things for you. All of this feels so banal, and futile - but perhaps it leads to a feeling which feels purposeful. 

The Great Indian Kitchen Analysis

The Great Indian Kitchen (2021)

Written and Directed by: Jeo Baby
Edited by: Francis Louis
Streaming on: Neestream

This is pure cinema. Rarely do we come across cinema in its purest form. Especially the editing of the film. The editing of this film could start a new editing movement in itself. The film has a very peculiar editing style: the way they generally cut songs, the way we use montages to let go of the continuity of time - that's how they cut scenes. And they do that throughout film. Every shot cuts half a second before we expect it to cut. This sort of editing could lead to a whole new style of storytelling. The entire storytelling is done through editing. For example: after the father-in-law says that as house wives, they're doing as important jobs as administrators - the scene cuts to her washing an underwear. It's like proving him wrong within a snap. With a tight slap. There's a riveting scene, where she's on bed and she's reminded of all the filth that she has to go through in the day. It almost feels like women are purposefully ripped off of their beauty. The scene where the mother-in-law eats in the plate which her husband eats and leaves on the table - that's where I started getting into the headspace of the character.

The film is a beautiful marriage of filmmaking and activism. This is what we need. Films like this have the power to inspire people to think from the other perspective. Not films like Thappad. Or the modern social justice warriors. Every shot of the film reminded me of all the mistakes I've been doing. The reason the film works is because they challenge the traditional norms with humanity, with the primal instincts of humans - when we see someone fall down, we go and pick them up, when we are in pain or when we are suffering, we seek for medicine, we want to have a good time at home, feel a sense of self worth and respect - all of these are simple needs that are stripped off with the traditional norms. The film shows how women are made to even lose a sense of their own morality. The moment the husband gets angry for something she says in the restaurant - she starts second guessing herself - if she really said something wrong. That's manipulative. And I could understand how women buy into patriarchy and the norms of it. Flat-lay photography is a key part of the storytelling in this film - whether it's the dirty table, when she's in bed, the sink and many more. The film cohesively builds up to the explosive ending. 

Krack Analysis

 KRACK (2021)

Directed by: Gopichand Malineni
Starring: Ravi Teja, Shruti Hassan
Cinematography: GK Vishnu

Read this after you watch the film. Spoilers alert.

This film could've been a phenomenal commercial film - if they fleshed out a conflict within the film better. Shankar is a cop who beats up, and brutally tortures anyone who utters the word 'background'. In the process of dealing some cases, he deals roughly with a lot of people. When he shoots a civilian by mistake, and the higher officer summons him by saying that one of the person he tortures in the cell is now dead - they could've used this conflict and amped up the drama. They could've let him be a grey character, and show us a character arc like they did in Temper. But they resolve the conflict very soon, by saying that it's someone else. But Shankar is actually a guy who beats up and tortures people. We never deal with them. Torturing suspects is like such a casual thing in movies. People should watch Visaranai.

The film is shot very well, there were some wide shots in the song where we see Shankar as the cop, and the way the night sequences are lit - I loved these parts. Some action sequences are choreographed and shot very well - especially the bus-stand fight scene, and some sequences in the beach. Katari Krishna's character development is solid - I could sense some Vada Chennai's influence over there. But this isn't used very well - Shankar comes and randomly hits him and takes him to the station. It felt like the weight of his character, is suddenly let go. The mango, note, nail thing was okay. It didn't directly help the plot, or the theme. It was just an interesting element there. I liked the screenplay choices, like the way the entire film is in the flashback through the perspective of Katari Krishna. The Shruti Hassan twist was definitely fun. Ravi Teja is a delight to watch, in such roles. It's high time we let go of songs where we put up sets, or go to foreign locations. The film is forgettable, but we could definitely give it a shot. If you do, find a mass theatre. Don't watch it in PVR.

Master Analysis

 Master (2021)

Written and Directed by: Lokesh Kanagaraj
Read this after you've seen the film.

The film opens with a solid 15 minutes - Vijay Sethupathi's character development - I was pumped up after watching this because I think this is as good as the opening scene of S. S. Rajamouli's Sye - where they show us Bikshu Yadav. This is even better I'd say - we see how Bhavani from childhood has endured all the crap in the world and has turned out physically and mentally numb. He's like a beast. His punch seems scary. The film opens with this solid of a prologue, and it takes till the interval to get back to this.

Again the same, the inciting incident happens at the interval - till then, a lot of meandering happens. We see the master being an alcoholic for the entire 1st half. At the interval, he becomes indirectly guilty for the death of two kids - and yet, the seriousness of the situation isn't there in the film. For example, in Mersal when two kids die due to the lack of a hospital, we feel the urgency of the situation. Here, we don't. This film could've had a solid character arc for the master, from being an irresponsible alcoholic to a responsible citizen with consistently proving him wrong with multiple incidents - but the film turns everything upside down with one incident, like they did in Temper and Bommarillu. Sure, it's definitely possible that we change with one incident - but we as the audience don't feel the change there.

This felt like an out and out Vijay film. I couldn't see Lokesh Kanagaraj - apart from the extensive intercutting between scenes, and his thing for lorries. When I saw that the film is 3 hours long, I had doubts if it would have the Lokesh Kanagaraj treatment - because it's not easy to have such fluid editing/ storytelling for that long a runtime. Wolf of Wall Street achieves that. In this film, we see such scenes - where the introduction of Master is intercut with Malavika Mohanan's character joining new. But we don't see much of this in the film. 

Sir Analysis

 Is Love Enough? Sir (2018)

Written and Directed by: Rohena Gera
Starring: Tillotama Shome, Vivek Gomber
Streaming on Netflix.

It has a simple premise. But an edgy one. An unusual attraction grows between a rich architect, and his maid - but social barriers come in between. The film sticks to the premise, without any meandering. The characters are fleshed out beautifully. By the difference in the way they look at things, Ashwin and Ratna - I could understand how much of a role social status plays in the way we think. Generally, privileged people are the ones who don't believe in god. They believe in free will. Ratna says when asked whether she believes in god, 'Kabhi kabhi, karna padtha hai'. Ratna is mostly quiet. I was reminded of all the maids I've seen growing up. I realized that being able to express ourselves is also a privilege. Her response to anything that's not a factual question is silence. This silence is what brings up the sexual tension in between them later. In the lift. In the house. When the both of them are quiet. Ashwin looking at her. Ratna looking down. They're a man and a woman after all. They're two souls. Fondness is likely to grow. When Ashwin says that he doesn't care what the people think, and Ratna responds by saying, 'But I do', that also tells us about how being individualistic is a different thing in privilege and underprivilege. We never understand if Ratna falls in love with him as well. Does she? Or did she just didn't find reasons to reject him?

There's a beautiful shot where we follow Ratna in a party, where she has snacks on a tray and see the world through her lens. People are talking, and they keep talking. I was taken aback by the way people don't even turn to say, 'No, thank you' and they just keep pretending as if she didn't exist. What hits brutally is that, since we know her - we root for her. But otherwise, we'd just be like those people. I was recalling if I was like that. I hope not. But I'll be reminded of this film from here on. 

Naan Kadavul Analysis

 Naan Kadavul (2009)

Directed by: Bala
Starring: Arya, Pooja, Rajendran
National Award for Best Director & for Best Make Up Artist. 

This film is set in a very dark world. It explores what humans could be capable of. I think we should watch films like once in a while, to be in touch with the brutality of life. To be grateful for the basic and good things in life - which we often take for granted. When one of the woman says that she won't beg - she is beaten to pulp and asked to beg. Physical torture is the manifestation of the worst plights of humans. The ending is so brutal. We usually don't punch down that hard. A blind woman who is sold to the Beggar Mafia - she is suffering throughout the film. We expect some sort of redemption to her, and the ending brutally spins the entire expectations - her redemption is death. Like a suffering animal. 

The filmmaking is solid, the way they introduce the world is so good. A lot of times, I could sense that I'd understand what's happening in the film even without the dialogue. Because everything that happens in the film is so extreme. They don't apologize in a subtle way, they fall on the other person's feet and beg them. The way the scenes are constructed - the way they cut to reaction shots is crucial in this film, because this film has a 'fish out of the pond' structure. It's about an aghori who comes into the normal world and everything he does is weird - and this difference generates humor and drama. To portray the difference, the reaction shots are the only way. Especially the scene where he goes home, those scenes with his mother were hilarious. Here, his audacity is what makes it funny.

It's a Wonderful Life Analysis

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Directed and Produced by: Frank Capra

Based on: The Greatest Gift & A Christmas Carol

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed

Stories which capture life are always inspiring, and bittersweet. They make us look forward to the hurdles of life. This film is such an uplifting film. It felt like the PIXAR's films have all gotten the spirit from this film. The way they torture the character. The way the film talks about order in life, and about the everyday common man. The film opens at heaven where one of the stars, Clarence, is assigned the duty to show a man George Bailey - how grave mistake he'd commit if he gave up on his life. To know that, the star shows Clarence and us - the entire life of George Bailey in fragments. The film that reminds me of Citizen Kane, and quite a few films of the classic Hollywood. How easier it was to tell stories of entire lives of fictional characters - now the budgets go sky rocketing with VFX and makeup. Forrest Gump. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I think the last film that did it decently in India was Vaaranam Aayiram - where they tell the story of an entire life of a fictional character.

The film uses butterfly effect - in a beautiful way to show how we intentionally and unintentionally end up doing a lot in our lives. Of course, they didn't focus on the bad that the character could've done. It's actually quite rare that my experience of a classic Hollywood film is as engrossing and immersive as I'm watching a modern day film. The film uses freeze frames, voice over, some interesting non-linear narrative - and I'm sure all of this would've been an unusual thing for the times the film was made in. This film tells me that even a film about family, order and the normalcy of life - could be fun and interesting. Even for a film geek like me, who is into the likes of Scorsese and the anarchy he roots for.

The Last King of Scotland Analysis

 The Last King of Scotland (2006)

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald
Starring: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy
Won the Oscar for Best Actor.

The film is about the leadership of Idi Amin - the President of Uganda from 1971 - 1979, whose ruthless regime killed about 300,000 people. This film reminded me of the most heartbreaking and horrifying film I've ever seen - 'The Stoning of Soraya M', both of them are set in different worlds, but both the films capture the horrific side of humanity, to show us what we are capable of. Though this film is set in Uganda, the film is written and made from the perspective of a young Scottish doctor who goes there - taking a fish out of the pond structure, like Aamir Khan's PK. The perspective changes sometimes, at a scene where Nicholas is enjoying the show of Amin, Sarah feels weird that he's enjoying the show and we too do. We look at this scene from Sarah's perspective. Sometimes, we have a feeling that Nicholas is entering his own pit by trusting Amin - but the situations are written in a way that his choices don't seem ridiculous to us. The unpredictability of Amin - makes the character terrifying as Nicholas later points out. Sometimes, he's funny. And suddenly, he's a monster. 

The film is shot in a way that it too tells the story, especially Amin - his first shot is an extreme close up of him shaking in excitement, and that shot rightly sums up his character. In the last half an hour, things turn so dark. Then is when we realize the horrors of the situation. The quirky behavior that we laughed at, till then - suddenly take a different turn altogether. Writing and portraying a character like Amin - it's not easy to do it without having an understanding of psychology and psycho-analysis. He's mostly a narcissist - he exaggerates the deeds of the doctor too, only to feel proud of having someone like him beside him. I was initially expecting the film to be a comedy, because of the weirdness of Amin - and I didn't know the real story behind the film - it was horrifying what it lead to. 

Big Time Adolescence Analysis

 Big Time Adolescence (2020)

Written and Directed by: Jason Orley
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2019

It's a coming-of-age film. I use this term very loosely. I call almost anything coming-of-age, because almost anything we watch probably is coming-of-age (okay except Fast & Furious - wait, even that is). This film is coming-of-age in the exact sense of the term. We see young adults fuck up. We see adults fuck up. This film reminded of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. Even though we don't see big epiphanies amongst the characters - we see them realize simple things - like how they are fucking up in life. And that is coming-of-age. There's a beautiful realization the dad has, he asks Zeke if Mo became friends with Zeke just because he let him smoke and drink? I wondered how would life have been for everyone if the dad asked himself this question a couple of years back. Imposing authority always leads to rebellion. 

This film though doesn't back doing drugs, it doesn't say that that's how life is. Unlike Another Round, which unapologetically celebrates alcoholism. It says that it's a phase in everybody's life. And that you got to move on. The girlfriend breaking up with him, sort of pulls him from the imaginary world he lives in - to the reality. She defines what's acceptable, what's not, what's cool, what's not - because she isn't his mom. She is someone who he's trying to impress, and get laid with. Her telling him that there is much more to life than this, reiterates what he's been hearing his entire life - it confirms all the doubts he's been having. The beautiful part though is that, the film doesn't condemn Zeke - that's his way of looking at life - he's content. He'll probably come-of-age later. Or should he? 

Oh My Kadavule Analysis

 Oh My Kadavule (2020)

Written and Directed by: Ashwanth Marimuthu
Starring: Ashok Selvan, Ritika Singh, Vani Bhojan
Streaming on Zee5.

This film has a lot of conflicts, and points - initially the premise seems to be - what would happen if two childhood friends marry, just for convenience and one of them realizes that they don't have feelings. Then, it spins to be - what would happen if you are given another chance in life. Both of these seamlessly blend into the world and the breezy tone of the film. I was reminded of Raja Rani, for the tone, and the way the performances were extracted. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the Thelma Schoonmaker-ish editing where they jump from one scene to another, and then go to another, and jump back and forth - very seamlessly. This was done in the scenes where Arjun and Anu don't get along well. This is also done for Vijay Sethupathi's commentary on Arjun's choices - I like that sort of distortion in the editing. The music blatantly adds to the tone of the film, although at some places the score felt too loud, and felt like it was trying hard to make us feel. 

I loved the filmmaking, but I was just wondering what the film was trying to say, if it is about taking people around us for granted - then it makes sense. But it felt like, you only get feelings for people if they play hard to get. In the second track, where he goes on a trip with her - he suddenly has feelings for her. I'm like - why? They'd have done all of this before too when they were friends. The only reason is, she isn't available. But sure, the film flows very well - with good filmmaking, and acting.

Peninsula Analysis

Peninsula (2020)

Directed by: Yeon Sang-ho

Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival 2020.

This film is the sequel to Train to Busan (2016). They are zombie films. I loved Train to Busan - for the kind of visual storytelling it had. I remember my grandmother could understand every little nuances, even without following the subtitles. That film was a well made zombie film, mainly for the acting, and the depth in the storytelling - unlike a random zombie movie - which only banks on the action. 

With this film, I was disappointed - because the film has very little portions where the film feels like this is not just a zombie film. Apart from the characterization of the kids, the initial prologue, the caged game between the zombies and the people, and the ending 15-20 minutes - the whole film is just people trying to survive the zombies. The VFX was weird at a lot of places, especially the car chase sequences. The action choreography too felt, a little over the board - this wouldn't have been a problem if this was a regular zombie franchise movie - here I was expecting some layers and nuance, considering the earlier film and also because it got an official selection at Cannes.

The way they were leading up to the ending, I thought that they would have the woman survive by her daughter - something that Bong Joon-ho usually does. The sudden flip in the ending, felt convenient. Although, because of the way Yeon extracts performances out of the actors in such scenes - we buy into it. I was also wondering why sequels of films generally have the film set in a darker/ a more gloomy world than the previous ones. It's a decent film, I expected a lot more out of it.

The Minimalists: Less is Now Analysis

The Minimalists: Less is Now (2021)

Directed by: Matt D'Avella

Written by and Starring: Joshua Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus

Streaming on Netflix.

I expected that this would further deeply explore the ideas in the earlier documentary - Minimalism: A documentary about the important things - a documentary that changed my life. It influenced my career choices, it still influences the way I spend money. It made me realize how we are constantly made to feel inadequate. But this documentary just reiterates everything that they already said in the first one. Sure, it's good to be reminded of something like this. Hence, a rewatch wouldn't hurt. But I expected more. They could've at least focused on stories of people who implemented Minimalism into their lives - instead of literally repeating a lot from the first part. 

If you haven't seen the 2015 Minimalism documentary that came out on Netflix yet, do check it out. It could be just another random watch. Or life altering. You never know. 

On The Rocks Analysis

On The Rocks (2020)

Written and Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Bill Murray, Rashida Jones

It's a buddy comedy centered around a father and daughter who tail on her suspicious husband. Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation and this film - both of them have a laidback pacing and storytelling. The characters take time to breath and speak. They feel that they deserve our time. There's no sense of rush. The tone of her films is derived from the affluent worldview of her characters - which people complain to be oblivious to their privilege - but that's how people are, and that's what makes her films seem honest and unique.

Bill Murray plays a man who tries to woo every woman he meets, and he justifies that to his daughter with evolutionary psychology - which makes the character more realistic. They explore their interpersonal relationship with the backstory - about how he cheated on her mother. The deadpan humor of Bill Murray wasn't at its best in this film, and this film felt a lot more simple - than her earlier films which had more layers and nuance to the storytelling.

The film probably talks about acceptance of different worldviews, the way she knows how her dad is, the way she's slightly annoyed at him all the time - but she doesn't reject him out of his life. They get together at the end too. This film taught me that we can express our differences, but sometimes we can embrace them too.