Hero Analysis

Hero (2002)

Written and Directed by: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung
Cinematography: Christopher Doyle
Most expensive film made in China till date back then.

It's a wuxia, martial arts film with a strong touch of Rashomon - the unreliable narrator. It's a war film, set in ancient China. It is shot in different segments, with different color palettes each. This film should be a masterclass in using color palettes. When they use red, they don't shoot it normally and increase the saturation of red in the DI - which is what they did in A1 Express - which is why it looked so bad. In this film, when they use red color predominantly - they use red costumes, and production design mainly, red lipstick, blood and the skin tone has a little bit of yellow and green to bring in a nice contrast. Same with blue, it's mainly created through costumes and mostly the blue is in the out of focus backgrounds. The pre-climax fight scene with the green curtains - it was a brilliant idea - it was such a cinematic scene with such a simple idea of swaying curtains around. Finally, when all the curtains fall down - it was such a visual way of showing that he has defeated the king, it's almost like he's undressed him. 

The action felt unrealistic, but I think all the wuxia films shot back then were like this - so I made peace with it midway. Because the rope stunts were clearly evident. But, the action like the arrows being tackled and the production design with hundreds (maybe thousands) of extras made it look like an extravagant saga. The film is shot by Christopher Dolye - the DoP of In The Mood for Love - and we can see his touch - wherever we see shots of raindrops in the beginning where they describe the fight, and the frame within a frame - where we see some people with an obstruction in front of them, and the usage of slow motion. The music elevated the drama so much, especially the slow motion sequences - the scenes are so high on drama already and the music takes them a notch higher. 

Kajillionaire Analysis

Kajillionaire (2020)

Written and Directed by: Miranda July
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2020. 

It's a quirky, whimsical, crime comedy. It's about a very weird parent-child relationship. A 26-year old woman is manipulated by her con-artist parents who use her as an accomplice in all their scams and thefts. Poor thing, she doesn't know what it means to be loved by her parents and she thinks this is normal. When Melanie asks her in what sense she thinks they are her parents, and her answer is that they split the money from the scams into three equal parts. It was funny and heartbreaking too. But apart from moments like this, the film overall didn't have an emotional/ a strong effect on me. Old Dolio - her character seems like she's out of place, with her extra large track suits and there's a constant scowl on her face. 

It felt like the film navigates through unpredictable territories because it doesn't stick to a theme, or structure. Maybe the only structure the film has, could be about how arc of the child-parent relationship progresses over the period of the film. The inciting incident would be when Old Dolio gets to know about the difference between how the child would turn up depending on the baby crawling on the mom's breast or if the baby is placed beside. She keeps thinking from then, and then after Melanie enters them - they sort of have a gap and the lowest point would be perhaps when she realizes that they never called her 'hon'. And again, they apologize and the reconciliation happens before they again con her. So it's like an on-off thing that keeps happening throughout the film.

Sound of Metal Analysis

Sound of Metal (2019)

Directed by: Darius Marder
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke
Won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing.

It's a beautiful film about coming to terms with loss. The structure of the film is designed using the 9 stages of grief: shock/denial - he initially is clueless and roams around trying to figure out what's happened; disorganization - he misses his routine and falls out of character; anger - he breaks a lot of stuff in his van; guilt/bargaining - he immediately starts asking his girlfriend to not leave him; physical or emotional distress - we see him crying/tearing up; depression - him not being able to feel and do normal things; loss/loneliness - he sells all his stuff and gets to an almost desperate situation to get help; withdrawal - even after getting the cochlear implant, he doesn't feel the same and he starts to lose touch with reality, especially with music; acceptance - he chucks the implant and embraces the stillness. This film made me feel the fear of losing anything. The fear of not being able to get it back no matter what. The thought of not being able to ever hear, ever listen to music, ever experience films the same way, ever listen to anyone's voices - it haunted me throughout the film. 

The sound design is, of course, the heart of the film. The sound is the story. So even before he loses his hearing, the foley of him making the smoothie, the coffee dripping - all of it is cut on action and made to seem like music to create the contrast later. Later when everything is muffled, or muted - we feel the void of all these simple sounds. Since, this is the first time we get to experience how things sound if not normally - perhaps we realize the importance of foley artists in films. A friend made an interesting observation that the reason he gets irritated in the ending is because it's the sound of a church bell and he's not religious. Another interesting aspect is that all the characters have their own reasons for everything they do, no one is written like a villain. Riz Ahmed's acting is so good - he is jittery which captures his vulnerability, the unpredictable break outs too feel justified because of what he's going through. The conversation in the ending made me tear up, simply because of the way she reacts to what he tells her. 

Kali Analysis

 Kali (2016)

Directed by: Sameer Thahir
Written by: Rajesh Gopinadhan
Starring: DQ, Sai Pallavi
Streaming on Hotstar.

It's a film about a guy who has extreme anger issues, and how his wife and he suffer because of a roadside tiff they have on a highway. The film establishes them, and pretty much nothing happens for the first 30-40 minutes and yet it feels okay because of the funny scenes. Shoubin Shahir is hilarious, the way he pats his back, it's so irritating even to us, but we later end up feeling bad for him when he gets slapped. It's so easy to generate humor out of a character like this, because anything irritating that happens to him - we already start laughing because we know the gap between this guy and what's happening is so huge. One would assume the film to be about Siddhu learning to deal with his anger, a coming-of-age film where a character overcomes his/her flaw - and here others would benefit out of it too. But the film isn't that. It's a survival thriller. After a series of mishaps by Siddhu, Anjali leaves him and walks out - he takes his car and tells that he'll drop her. From there, Wild Tales (2014) happens. Yeah, the road rage is so well done. For some reason, the tension is so much with these road rage conflicts - perhaps because the threat is so visual, and also the fear of unknown.

Sai Pallavi is just terrific. The scenes where she is alone driving, and is being chased by the lorry - and when he comes down, breaks the window and forces her to get out - all these scenes felt so so real. I remember Sai Pallavi saying in an interview that she felt traumatized after shooting for this film, I can imagine why. The beauty of this film is that the plot unfolds at every step, for example, we get to see a knife in Siddhu's hand which would be a totally different film - but it holds consistent to his behavior. Later we get to know that something else happened. There is unpredictability along with consistency in character and that's such a rare feat. There was a lot of anticipation in the ending for the very same reason. Had it been a character arc film, they would've just gone away. That's what I loved about the film. The characters aren't also like psychopaths. The thing that scares us is what they could be capable of.

Bombay Rose Analysis

Bombay Rose (2019)

Written, Edited, Designed and Directed by: Gitanjali Rao
Premiered at Venice & screened at TIFF 2019. 

The first aspect we look at animated films is the visuals, but this film made the experience immersive for me because of the excellent sound design. It turns out that the sound design is by Manoj M. Goswami (whose credits include Baahubali 1 & 2). The sounds of the crowd, her payal as she walks, the sounds of traffic/auto horns, cycle bells - all of this together adds in establishing the setting, the city in a better way. The usage of music was also adding to the tone of the film, and her character - it has a sense of romantic nostalgia to it. Whenever I watch an animated/stop motion film - my first question is, what would I miss in the film if this were to be a live-action film? Because then we know that the choice of the form had some purpose. This film first had a lot of innocence to the vibe of the film, which they achieved with the kind of imagery that is used. Also, the transitions from the reality to her dreams, where her costume changes seamlessly - all such sequences had to be done with either match cuts or jump cuts or very elaborate VFX.

An interesting learning I had from a friend is that they use different frame rates for different subjects in the same frame to convey something. It could apparently be used to show a character being internally conflicted and not being with a clear sense of identity. Small observations, minute moments feel so beautiful in animated films - for example, when Tara gets slapped by Kamala - the young boy's eyelids move from him looking away to this side - without turning his head because he doesn't want to further create problems. Just the eyelids move, and it's such a beautiful moment. Also, I've learnt that the set designs are so elaborate in detail that people can recognize locations like bars, and roads in Bombay from just watching the film. It's such a bittersweet film - I personally don't like too sweet and chocolate stuff - there has to be some pain in even feel good films. The film left me with mixed feelings, emotions, and strong images.

Sleepless in Seattle Analysis

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Co-written and Directed by: Nora Ephron
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Song for Oscar.
#10 in the AFI Best Films of all time in the Romantic Comedy genre.

The film has a very 'Kramer vs Kramer' vibe to it. Single father struggling to raise a son, along with dealing with a heartbreak. Both the sons are trying to figure out the sudden change and are resisting it. Sometimes, they're trying to help their dads too but of course, the dads won't take them seriously. The film has stories of various relationships - there is Jonah and Jessica, there is Annie and Walter and then whatever that happens with Sam - so it almost feels like the film is about this world more than just about Sam. The film being about this world and tone more than about one particular premise or character - also comes through the way they use music in the film. They're very particular about the tone/mood of the film. I think 'father and a young son' is an amazing trope to explore life - films like Jersey, Kramer vs Kramer, Pursuit of Happiness - all of them explore it very well. 

I was wondering that there's a misty, dreamy vibe to the visuals. Cinematographer Sven Nykvist who worked on 120 films, especially known for his work with Swedish legends like Ingmar Bergman and Alf Sjoberg, and he worked with Woody Allen too - he shot this film. There is a sense of visual language to the film. It has a winter vibe to it. I could relate a lot to Walter - the guy who is left out. For me, he had my attention and he had my empathies. I would probably be interested to know more about him than about Sam, or Annie. He's a common, everyday guy who is very easily ignored and overlooked - but them languishing in life and love could be very interesting to explore.

The Raid Analysis

The Raid (2011)

Written, Edited and Directed by: Gareth Evans
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video as 'The Raid: Redemption'.

The entire film is like a blast, it has action throughout. It felt like even the story wasn't relevant anymore. I couldn't follow the story. I was just enjoying the action choreography, the editing and the camera movements. Because after such a high octane action sequence, when people are talking - the shift in tone and the change in stakes is so much that the drama simply doesn't work. For example, the film opens with the guy telling a goodbye to his pregnant wife - what could create more stakes than this? The problem is it gets too high in stakes that we stop caring. The amount of reaction we have towards a death gets so low after a point that anything that happens in the film can't grab us. Also, I wish I could've felt the need and the urgency for all the action that was happening in the film. I couldn't. Having said this, the scene where the guy stabs the knife into the cardboard and it cuts through his cheeks, that scene held me by the balls. There was so much tension in that scene, because it's so visual. The same tension wouldn't have been there if there was a gun to his head. I think figuring out what creates an impact cinematically is very important in action films. Sometimes, even a head being chopped off can seem normal where a simple punch could give an exuberating effect.

The camera movement was so good, it was shaky but not in a way that we can't figure what's happening. The charge-ins happen at the right moments, they use high angle shots very scarcely - but when they do - it serves the purpose. The action choreography was so good. The film is also edited by the director - and it's also interesting that the director was also involved partly in the action choreography. The color palette is a very desaturated tone, where the costumes are also grey, brown and such colors. It's not as visually striking as 300, or Sin City but it is good enough for the imagery to have a sense of identity.

Midsommar Analysis

Midsommar (2019)

Written and Directed by: Ari Aster
Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor.

Martin Scorsese included this film in his list of his 40 favorite films of all time. Bong Joon-ho included Ari Aster's first film in his list. This made me so intrigued and curious. Two master filmmakers have put films which released in the 2018 and 2019 alongside films from 1940s, 60s and all the way back - and both are by the same director.  

Midsommar is about a group of friends, who visit a festival in Sweden by a small community - only to slowly realize that they've gotten into a cult. The film starts with a very modern setting, there's a small relationship crisis, some confrontation and there's an eerie incident which happens which is shot in a terrific way - with music, lighting and distorted imagery. I can clearly remember the drone shot which turns upside down, and the shot of the road upside down. It's now become a common way of foreshadowing that life will go downhill for all of them from here - they did this in Mahanati, and Arjun Reddy, but the imagery is strong. The setting of the film keeps unfolding till even an hour into the film, and I think that's the beauty of this film. The tone of the film is established right away, when we see the first deaths - but the world is so new and everything we keep discovering feels so eerie because of the consistency in tone. 

Production design, costumes, hair and make up play a solid role in establishing the world. They use a lot of wide shots in the film, even the suicide scene - it's not shot like they're shooting the scene - it's shot like they're shooting the reactions of the friends and the deaths just happening in the ambiance. They achieve this mostly through editing and sound. The imagery has a strong sense of identity, it's designed in a way that if you pause the film anywhere, it's likely that we recognize it's from this film. I think horror horror - like ghost stories - that isn't a great genre to explore, but mixing it with something else gives scope for a lot of quirkiness and unpredictability and it becomes a blessing for a filmmaker, specifically for an auteur.

Ed Wood Analysis

Ed Wood (1994)

Directed and Produced by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau
Based on the cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr.
Nominated for Palme d'Or.

It's a very fun film to watch if you know a bit about how the movies are made. The fights between studio executives and directors on creative control over the film. The producers wanting to make a "safe" bet and the filmmakers wanting to create "pure art". It's an endless debate. On one hand, we know of the studio executives who didn't want Al Pacino nor Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and Coppola had to even risk getting fired from the film for having them on board. On another hand, we know of the PIXAR films which are heavily scrutinized at a writer's room and they go through endless rewrites till everybody thinks the script works. This film doesn't take sides - it shows us the passion and grit of Ed Wood, but is also shows us his stupidity at times - where he would take anything he gets. So basically he isn't creating a film, he's just discovering his film on set - the exact same mistake which I too made while making most of my short films till now.

The film is very expressionist in the lighting, the music, the make up (the film got an Oscar for Best Make up for Landau), and the production design. It felt like a nice homage to films like Nosferatu, and such films of the German Expressionism. I think Ed Wood's story also captures how a lot of artists genuinely strive for excellence and the tragedy/reality of life is that everybody can't - no matter how badly they want it. It was so fun to see actor Patricia (who played the mother in Boyhood) in this movie when she was young - because we see her for 12 years in Boyhood and suddenly seeing her young made me feel so good.

Pagglait Analysis

Pagglait (2021)

Written and Directed by: Umesh Bisht
Starring: Sanya Malhotra, Asutosh Rana, Shruti Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
Music Composed by: Arijit Singh.

Streaming on Netflix. 

It's a beautiful coming-of-age story set in a super quirky world. The film is set in a funeral, after a family loses a young member of the family. They portray the pain so well. I think films like this, like 'The Sky is Pink' - to portray such pain authentically, the creators would've gone through such pain themselves. I can immediately think of Ashutosh Rana's reaction when his brother says that he thinks of himself as Adani or Ambani - he controls his tears, his voice breaks and it's heart breaking. The element that Sandhya can not feel a thing after her husband dies is sad enough, because it only goes to say that she never felt good either when he was there. She deserved to be loved, to be made feel special - it's such a basic primal desire of a human - to feel the want and to feel wanted, to feel desired and she never felt it - because he was never into the marriage. And when she gets to know that he was in love before - it's even more heartbreaking, because then she starts thinking if it's her that's a problem. Then it starts becoming a question of self worth. 

The setting comes through very well, even with secondary characters - for example, with the teenage couple. Everyone's costume - everyone has their sweaters on - and their hair is done in a natural way. The way they shoot it, it's not expressionistic and it's not in a way that the style takes the front hand in any shot - the way they shoot, edit and sound design this film is for the style to be invisible. The music was so dramatic and good though, our attention is called to the music - especially the flute in the ending, it shows the maturation and the coming-of-age of Sandhya so well. Her leaving the cheque at home, returning the photo to Akansha - all are such good signs of liberation - she became free of the shackles that men put on her through money. She became free of the insecurities she had with Akansha when she returns her photo. She's gotten over all of it now, and has come of age now. 

Punch-Drunk Love Analysis

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Written and Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Adam Sandler, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

The film has a very interesting tone. It has a psychological thriller vibe, delving into the headspace of the character. It's tough to write a logline for a film like this - because it's not about one singular premise. The film is about a lot of things - a girl in a phone-sex center he calls starts threatening him for money. He's trying to exploit a marketing loophole. He's struggling with a sense of self worth with his overbearing sister and also he meets a woman. These things are not even related. The only common thing is the character, and the tone/vibe of the film. The film is expressionist and surreal at times - the music and sound design is freaky. The imagery is also distorted at times, we see video art, and blown out highlights - just like how we'd see an exterior after being in a dark room for long. They use blue a lot, there are blue lights, his costume is a blue coat, there is blue in the production design as well - and Lena wears red, bringing in visual contrast in character - a technique which even 'Pauline at the Beach' used.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays an alpha male, he is the owner of the phone sex business - he is quite aggressive, but he gets scared when he gets to know that Barry has come all the way from California to warn him. I think someone who is not afraid is more dangerous than someone who is stronger - and Barry slowly goes down that path as the film progresses. Except for Lena, it felt like he was losing his shit and that's why he gets too protective when someone attacks Lena.

Pauline at the Beach Analysis

Pauline at the Beach (1983)

Written and Directed by: Eric Rohmer
Won the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin Film Festival. 

This film is more about the setting and the milieu (at least for me) more than about the plot and character. It's primarily set at a beach in France where Marion and her teenage cousin Pauline come for a vacation, the film starts with them talking about their past experiences with men. They meet a few men there, and things get complicated when Marion's boyfriend cheats on her and puts in on Pauline's boyfriend. Marion's ex-boyfriend Pierre is also around and he seems to be out of terms with Marion moving on and finding someone else interesting. There is some complex things happening, but it isn't treated like that - it's treated like it's part of the futility of adolescence and dating. The camera hardly cuts to close ups of the characters making it about them, and their emotions - it is about the setting, the funny little world of mess ups. Solid colors are used to differentiate between characters, Henri wears a lot of red, Pierre puts on blue and Sylvian puts on white. The ending scene is staged very well, it initially starts off in a certain way and then it turns into Pierre on one side and the rest everyone standing on another side - it shows us the shifting dynamics. 

The editing doesn't call attention to itself, the camera movement too doesn't - it just follows the subjects and stays on something as the subject moves away if they want to cut. The pans, tilts are basic, slow and smooth. The laidback casual tone of the film is achieved through the setting. Beach. Cafes. Garden. The characters are always in a position to sit and chill for a while - there is no sense of urgency or a threat for survival - which is how the current tone is arrived at. 

I Care a Lot Analysis

 I Care a Lot (2020)

Written and Directed by: J Blakeson
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage
Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical.

Rosamund Pike is terrific. There are some Gone Girl psychopathic vibes here too. It's such a pleasure looking at such grey women characters - because women are generally complex and films make them so simplistic that it almost feels like a missed opportunity. Although here, I felt the complexity in Marla's character was not coming through so well. On paper, Marla is hungry for money and success - and she is ready to do anything to go there, which reminded me of American Psycho (both are psychopaths, just at different degrees and that here she wouldn't directly kill people). There is a tone that they achieve in the performance, and they stick to that. There is a lot happening with Marla physically, she gets beaten up, she falls, she puts herself together back again and she becomes successful - but internally, I felt that she's the same except for some maturation that happens with everyone over time.

The film screams out structure at every beat. We see a solid setup in the opening 10 minutes where we get an idea about what the film is, we see inciting incident at the 15th minute, the villain getting stronger in Act 2 and the "all is lost" moment at the end of Act 2. The film has a moralistic ending, like a classic gangster movie plot - where a character goes from rags to riches in the wrong way and in the end - gets killed. This wasn't much of a problem for me, except for the predictability - I didn't see the ending coming but then all the beat points felt like we've seen such beat points before. Them getting beaten up, them taking themselves together back again. This film also reminded me a lot of Aaron's Sorkin's Molly's Game, although that film showed the character arc in a better way - about how Molly got tougher by the ending.

My Blueberry Nights Analysis

My Blueberry Nights (2007)

Written and Directed by: Wong Kar-wai
Starring: Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman
Nominated for Palme d'Or at Cannes.

The frame rate. The bold colors. The dissolves. The dyed hair of the girl. The usage of pop music. The voice over. The usage of texts. Things obstructing the actors' close up shots to create a sense of depth. The film shows off its style unapologetically. It's a Wong Kar-wai film on the face and it'd be a feast to fans of the filmmaker. Not so much for someone who is being introduced to Wong Kar-wai with this film, because this is an anthology-ish film without actually being an anthology like Chungking Express. The characters are flawed, complex and intriguing, and I could even empathize with some of their thoughts and feelings. But I couldn't root for them. This isn't much of a complain, because Wong's films are more about the things that the film and the characters make us feel than the characters themselves. In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express cater to the loneliness, solitude and the unrequited love within ourselves. Wong's films are more immersive because we don't feel for the characters - we feel for ourselves through the music, the filmmaking and all the stylistic elements I was mentioning in the beginning.

Wong Kar-wai (Hong Kong filmmaker), Hong Sang-soo (Korean filmmaker) and Haruki Murakami (Japanese author) - these three artists have a similarity in their voice. They make films about wandering souls, the drudgery of life, the food and beer, the mindless sex, the hangover of people and especially women, and all of them create art with a strong visual sense. I think Woody Allen could be too put in this category of artists. I'm yearning to discover more. Please help me if anyone can think of more artists like this.  

Wild Analysis

Wild (2014)

Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallee
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern
Screenplay by: Nick Hornby
Based on the book of the same name. 

It's a travel film. A woman decides to take a 1000-mile hike after a lot of personal trauma to redeem herself. The film has a beautiful narrative/editing style - it shows us her hike and it seamlessly cuts back to her past experiences to show us how she ended up here. No wonder the film is also edited by the director, for such a strong voice the editing has. These cuts to the flashback could be entire chunks of scenes, or even shots for a few seconds but they are designed in a way that they convey the feeling. Whether it's quick shots of Cheryl having drugs, and sex with random people - or a shot of her mother in her childhood - the choice of placement of the edits - they happen so seamlessly. Though the film isn't blatant and on the face about the narrative style, like that of a Scorsese's film or a Truffaut film - but the desirable emotional effect is achieved. Jean-Marc Vallee's films have that voice where the films almost don't have a visible stylistic approach, but there is a slight sense of style that I can feel with this film, Dallas Buyers Club and Demolition. 

The strangers she encounters and the places she goes to, they are well done. I'm wondering why travel films explore pain a lot - even Nomadland was exploring the loss of loved ones thematically, and even this film. The conversation with her mother, where she talks about how she is more sophisticated and her mom says that was her plan to have her kids more sophisticated than her - such a beautiful conversation it was. I was wondering if it'll lead to something - it does. The healing isn't too on the face, where people tell her about dealing with death or moving on - it's more visual and something which you experience with the character. 

Shiva Baby Analysis

Shiva Baby (2021)

Written and Directed by: Emma Seligman

It's a one-location film, where a young girl attends a funeral and meets people who she is romantically involved with there - amidst the judgmental and prying relatives. This film has a very interesting tonality that they arrived at, it's almost like a psychological horror film at times, but it's also a coming-of-age young adult film. I like these tones that films achieve where they mix two totally contrasting genres. My issue with the film was that it was mostly exploring her sexuality, and her affair with the guy - it could've been more than that. A large chunk of the film is about them covering up the affair, and it's funny and the writing is witty - but after a point, these scenes lose a sense of purpose. The film could've explored more facets of her life. It explores career, a sense of self worth, but I felt it could've explored friendship, passion, and finding a sense of purpose too.

The dialogue is witty, especially the way where multiple characters with different motivations talk at the same time - shot with tight closes - it creates a sense of claustrophobia - also the music and sounds like babies crying in the background. Everything comes together to create a very unsettling vibe - saying that the world is like that today to young adults. Even the last scene, where everybody adjusts and fits into the van.

Vakeel Saab Analysis

Vakeel Saab (2021)

Written and Directed by: Venu Sriram
Remake of 'Pink' which was written by: Juhi Chaturvedi

The one thing I'm happy about is, the messaging and the whole point of Pink doesn't go for a total toss. Of course, we don't get the tonality of Pink - which is the beauty of the original - where you don't know what'll happen till the last minute, till the verdict is out, till the rolling credits. The moral dilemma that's established in Pink, that's riveting. Here, with this tone of a PK, commercial, mass film, we all know what's going to happen. But, the good part is that the messaging didn't go for a toss. 

I honestly liked the flashback part, where we see why he became a lawyer. The Shruti Hassan part didn't work one bit for me. But the aspect where he realizes that protesting isn't going to help, someone has to actually study and get into the system to bring in actual change in the society - that decision that he takes - a star like PK endorsing that is inspiring - we see shots of him studying, writing exams, becoming a lawyer and people were cheering for that too, which is actually pretty cool. PK's image was properly used in the flashback, they've started bringing in his politics too. We also see glimpses of Gabbar Singh where he has that full sleeve T-shirt and he's beside Shruti Hassan. 

Some of the fights felt unnecessary and loud, the courtroom scenes also were intolerably loud - everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs (including the audience). This is where we miss the tone of Pink. But, the messaging was done well - I'm hoping that after hearing it from a star like PK, there's some change in mindset.

Minari Analysis

 Minari (2020)

Written and Directed by: Lee Isaac Chung
Won the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival
Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

It's a semi-autobiographical film, where the director recalls his upbringing. Such films are usually made in a very personal way, where the small moments are as concentrated on as the big moments. The film has a heavy Hirokazu Kore-eda influence to it, with the writing, directing and the acting. The way Kore-eda captures small moments within a family - like David telling his mom that he dreams that he's pissing in the bathroom but when he wakes up, he's bedwetting, the scene where the father asks David to bring a stick and he brings a wire, the whole interaction between the grandmother and David - there is so much of Kore-eda in everything. The sensitive way of looking at things. The way you love and nurture kids. The scene where David hesitates to tell that she doesn't look like a grandma, it's such a nice moment - because he as a kid doesn't realize that it's actually a compliment. The innocence of a kid is preserved - which is seldom missed because the writers write like themselves, and not actually like a kid.

The relationship arc between David and the grandma is interesting, he initially hates her and by the end of the film - he's the one who calls her back home and asks her not to go. The cinematography and the lighting reminded me of Parasite - and it didn't feel like a period film at all, because of the pristine imagery. It felt like the world of 2020. There's one scene in the hospital where the wife and husband are sitting, looking at the same side and discussing if they should stay back - the blocking of that scene is terrific - there's rack focus that happens in the beginning and after that it just stays like that. The tone of the film is pretty smooth, laidback, and my only complaint is that I could only see Kore-eda everywhere in this film.

Joji Analysis

 Joji (2021)

Directed by: Dileesh Pothan
Written by: Syam Puskaran
Starring; Fahadh Faasil

The most unique aspect of this film is the tonality that it arrives at. The pristine production design, whether it's the flooring of the house, the color palettes they've chosen and the lighting is one aspect. The performances, the music and the editing, all of these come together to arrive at the tone of the film. Fahadh Faasil's strength is bringing in a sense of unpredictability without breaking character, which seems almost impossible until he pulls it off. The casting choice of Bincy was terrific, the deadpan look on her face - that adds a lot to the tone of the film. The writing is terrific as usual, the dialogue is naturalistic and snappy at the same time. Take the scene where Jomon serves two extra eggs to the priest - he takes the curry vessel with him inside (which he could've kept aside as well) and that is later used to convey by a helper that the priest has left. Using natural elements in the scene to tell story, and explore character is a brilliant way to achieve seamless writing. 

Usually the lush landscapes and the greenery in Kerala, they use these locations to arrive at a slice of life tone and the beauty of Dileesh Pothan is that - he uses such locations and bends genre. I personally wouldn't have used such bright locations to tell a story like this - especially the scene where Joji kills Jomon. Perhaps they used it to create a suddenness in the scene. Or maybe it's just subverting norms. I enjoyed the tone of the film the most, I can totally see myself watching a long format show with this tone, if it is consistent throughout.