Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

Starring: Tom Cruise

I didn't watch the earlier part, so my reading of this film is limited to this film standalone. I enjoyed the conflict of how a son wants to take the place of his father, and how he's affected by the trauma and doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes. It's a very subtle ideological difference in the way they approach things. But I felt that the conflict was too thin. Perhaps, in the first part it would've been more strong because his best friend died because of his aggressive way of functioning. But this film was a derivative of that trauma. I felt like in the whole film, this was the only dramatic angle that was there and I felt like it wasn't enough to carry an entire film on itself. 

For a while, I was intrigued by this whole world of fighter pilots. But after a point, for some reason, I wasn't enjoying it as much. Probably because the action felt similar throughout the film, which I think can't be done much about considering it's action within fighter planes. The opening scene was beautiful. I could feel the tension, the way it was shot and edited. But after that, tension was created in similar ways. Like whenever there was trouble, I felt like the characters would get out of it someway or the other. And the way Maverick keeps breaking rules all the time, it felt like no matter how much you suppress him, he'll break them and go over. So there was not a strong force of antagonism. I don't know, it could probably be just me. But I felt a little let down by the film. 

This Is Us

This Is Us (Season 1)

There was a research done with a huge sample space, spanning over years - about what makes people happy. And the singular conclusion to this very broad question turned out to be - people and the relationships you have with them. Period. Everything else is negotiable. Yes, they found that poverty leads to misery and a certain amount of wealth is needed to erode that. But beyond a certain point, any amount of added wealth doesn't really add up to the happiness. I wrote about this because in the day and age of individualism, ambition and liberty, a show like This Is Us is a gentle reminder about how beautiful it is to have a loving family and a community around. It inspires us to value people around us more. 

One of the most interesting aspects in this show is how the characters feel so much for something we'd naturally not feel so much. For example, if a character's mother dies in a film and the character is crying their lungs out, we understand that. But what makes the characters in This Is Us even more adorable is, the father cries his heart out when one of his three babies is stillborn. This is not a situation that would move everybody. I was thinking, big deal, they have the two other babies. But the father cries his heart out for the life that the baby could've had. This is what makes the show beautiful. It reminds us to not lose our heart. It reminds us to be more loving and compassionate, again and again.

The non-linear structure of the show enriches the experience of the show. It's not just used for style. For example, when we get to know that Rebecca married Jack's best friend Miguel, it's heartbreaking whenever we see Jack and Rebecca being happily in love. We know that this isn't forever. We know that the poor guys didn't know that this wasn't meant to be forever. And in the scene where Jack and Miguel go to watch Rebecca perform, it's just a simple scene based on the setting, but just the sheer placement and the timing of the scene hits us so hard. It talks about how everything could change in a matter of time.

Jack & Rebecca - the story of this couple is so beautiful. Both of them are madly in love with each other, and it's always endearing to see a married couple express love like this day and again. Because, in pop culture, usually romance films end where the couple gets together. So all the romance exists only before they get together. But doesn't the actual story begin after that? Whenever Jack tells Rebecca that she's the most beautiful woman in the whole world, the way he says it, I buy it. I know that Jack means it with all honesty. This inspires us to fall in love and be courageous enough to love with our everything. For me, the best moment was when Jack tells Rebecca that he discovered his purpose in life - which was to make her happy. I could never be that guy, but it's endearing to see one. 

And we see a perfect couple like this go through some shit in their marriage. A couple who we thought could never fight. But then you realize that couples don't fight because they love each other lesser than usual, but because they love each other more than usual. For Jack, when his purpose in his life is to make her happy, he's obviously going to be shaken up with the idea of the marriage falling apart. This is precisely why Jack gets entirely shaken when Rebecca goes to on a tour with her ex-boyfriend. A strong man like him becomes this angsty kid who starts fighting, until he sees Rebecca and settles down. He needs to see her, be safe with her, and know that they'll be fine. That is all he wants. It's so endearing to see a man madly in love with his wife. This is precisely why I really enjoyed Ricky Gervais' After Life too. 

This show depicts different facets of love, one of which is the selfish love. Rebecca says, I cannot lose my kid (Randall). I cannot. You don't how to feel about this. Do you feel good that she feels so much love towards an adopted kid? Or do you feel bad about why even after having 2 kids of her own, why is she being too possessive and selfish about the 3rd one? It's so confusing. You don't love the characters nor hate them in situations like this. You just sit in wonder. 

The Office

Goodbyes stink! I’m not someone who revisits shows, so this is it I guess with ‘The Office’. God! How do you articulate what a show like this does to you? It started off as a silly comedy meant to be a getaway. And as I slowly started to understand the characters, and how broken deep down everyone is, it became a deeply moving experience. I discovered a Michael Scott within me – with his desperation to be loved. I enjoyed parts of Dwight too, and I want to see a bit of him in me – the relentless enthusiasm towards life. Jim & Pam’s story is such a bitch – it gives you hope that even if things are a bit shaky right now, they will eventually fall in place and workout. Is hope, good or bad? Guess we’ll never know.

This show has been my companion over thick and thin for a while now. Irrespective of how I was doing mentally, I’ve always enjoyed watching an episode. I like the dry, cynical, pragmatic worldview towards life that this show offers. This level of honesty and self-awareness is quite rare in today’s pop culture. I like how they don’t shy away from addressing that Kevin looks unattractive, and it’s tougher for him find love. I love the cynic that Stanley is. And I can’t help but love Michael Scott. I’m afraid of how much I love him. In his desperation to be loved, Michael Scott ends up being the most loving guy of all. In his desire to get love, he ends up giving a lot of love – warranted or otherwise. And the world needs more people who have a lot of love to give – to get it back or otherwise.

Michael Scott would be one of my favorite characters of all time, simply because of his ability to show up to work everyday, carry the same enthusiasm through thick and thin, make people laugh (at least he tries), and how without even being aware, he ends up becoming the most loving person of all. He's, indeed, the World's Best Boss.  

Nimic (2019)

Nimic (2019)

Written and Directed by: Yargos Lanthimos
Starring: Matt Dillon
Streaming on MUBI India.

There's a beauty to abstractness. Simply because it's food for thought, and it provides good meat for conversation later. I think the best possible dinner date would be after watching an abstract film. It need not be completely esoteric, but some sprinkling of abstractness is always interesting. This being a short, they sprinkle it all over the film. It's a thriller, horror on the surface, but it's very apparent that it's deeper than that. I like the way they use abstract sound and music to create an eerie-ness. Strangely, this gave me a very similar experience to 'You Were Never Really Here' by Lynne Ramsay. Though the style was different, the space and the tone was a bit similar.

I'd read a few write-ups on the short, as I was gathering my thoughts around it and the one that struck me the most was about how the film is about identity and about how replaceable we all are in this big dooming world. I'm sure we'd all like to believe that we are unique and irreplaceable, but at the end of the day, no matter who you are, if you disappear one day suddenly, the world will mourn depending to how useful you were to the people around, but after a point, the world will adjust and will definitely continue to go on. No one's absence would stop the world. I don't know if this was something the film was trying to say, but this is what I pick even in general with the idea of a doppelganger. Although I wish I could even vaguely pick what the film was trying to say.

You Were Never Really Here (2017)

You Were Never Really Here (2007)

Written and Directed by: Lynne Ramsay
Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Actor, Lynne Ramsay won the Best Screenplay at Cannes.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

Lynne Ramsay has a terrific voice as a filmmaker. There is a lot of rage in her films, which is expressed in a poetic way - which creates a very peculiar tone. It's beautiful and ugly at the same time. It's comforting and discerning at the same time. I really enjoyed her film before this, We Need to Talk About Kevin, too. The thing with thrillers is, except for auteurs like David Fincher or Bong Joon-ho's work, or unless there is a strong directorial voice, I find thrillers to be pretty boring. For me, it either has to basic to the bare minimum, like a survival drama or it needs to have a subtext. In this film, the best part is that, the conflict is simple and basic. A man is hired by a politician to save his daughter, who is underage and is kidnapped for a racket. It's straight on our face. We can see a simple action drama over here. But what makes it more interesting is the character Joe. The demons he's fighting with. The way he's dealing with his own set of trauma. How it keeps coming back to haunt him no matter how what. And how all of this is expressed through abstract imagery and sound design is what makes it interesting. 

In the modern consumerist world, we find ourselves feeling that the things that we think matter, don't really matter. And for once, we'd want to take a break from everything that doesn't really matter. A film made like this, which is treated in a real way delving deeply into the psyche of the characters - it lets us forget everything that doesn't matter and really focus on what matters. In this film, the only thing that matters is the safety of that girl and the sanity of Joe. It doesn't matter how cool Joe looks, it doesn't matter how rich he is. Nothing else matters.

Incident by a Bank (2010)

Incident by a Bank (2010)

Written and Directed by: Ruben Ostlund

Streaming on MUBI. 

The film is based on a real robbery that took place in Stockholm, and the film is a recreation of that event. It's a single-shot film, there are no cuts. And it's an ensemble piece done by over 90 people. Firstly, it even looks very challenging simply because the sheer space of the frame is so huge, that I was wondering how they managed to co-ordinate every person at the exact timing throughout the film. And there's action too. It's not like a talkie drama. It's a robbery. Though the film is a single shot thing, the frame keeps changing as the camera keeps panning and zooming in. I don't exactly know how to feel about this, because at one point it feels good because the frame is dynamic, but on the other hand, I ended up thinking, why do a single shot in the first place if you're panning and zooming in any way, if not for the technical style. 

As far as the act was concerned, it was beautifully choreographed and acted out. It just felt like a bystander was recording the whole thing on a handicam and we were looking at the footage. It felt really authentic. The last time I felt the same while watching something was in a fight scene in Asghar Farhadi's A Hero, it felt so real. The fighting. This film definitely held the authenticity. It's interesting to see a filmmaker who's done multiple feature films, do a short. I think there's a lot of difference in writing and making a film, and a short. Because the medium of shorts, opens up a lot of creativity. You can break a lot of rules, simply because the time of investment is less. I hope there come more anthology segments so that we can see all the big filmmakers trying the form of a short. 

Saani Kaayidham

Saani Kaayidham (2022)

Written and Directed by: Arun Matheshwaran
Starring: Keerthy Suresh, Selvaraghavan
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

Sometimes as a creator, you have a lot of emotional energy within. And you just want to let it out. That's the primary goal. More than telling a story. Saani Kaayidham feels like a film made with a lot of rage from within. And it works for what it is. This is film which one would enjoy when they're experiencing some sort of a rage from within. The film and the characters act as a surrogate for us to let out our rage. The story is pretty simple, the characters are pretty simple, and it's a simple, straightforward film. The film doesn't make any nuanced social commentary or anything of such sorts - which to be honest, I wasn't even looking for in this film. After watching the trailer, all I expected was, a well shot, violent revenge drama and the film has that. I absolutely loved the trailers and teasers of Rocky, which I didn't get a chance to watch yet. I feel like he makes these simple revenge dramas, with a lot of aesthetics, and he shoots the violence so damn good. If the violence is sloppy in this film, then it's of no use. He exactly knows the right amount of violence to shoot. 

This film takes the genre to a little extreme - like after a point, you feel a little exhausted watching the violence. But I feel like such extreme films have to be made. Just to set a benchmark. So for that, even the film crosses a line, I feel like it's okay. For example, Tarantino has set a certain benchmark for violence, a benchmark is created when there's a balance of good storytelling too. You could definitely pick some gross films like, A Serbian Film and call it the most violent film - but nobody cares about a film like that. Violence seeps in, when you strike a balance - in a way that a lot of people would want to watch the film, and then you push the boundaries. And Saani Kaayidham does exactly that. If you're pissed off about something in life, watch Saani Kaayidham instead of indulging in substance abuse. Or maybe do both together.

Meet the Parents

Meet the Parents (2000)

Directed by: Jay Roach
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller

Streaming on Netflix. 

I really enjoyed watching this film. It had the vibes of a well made Telugu film in the 2000s. Of course, there is the scene that inspired the famous poetry reading scene by Prakash Raj in Nuvvu Naku Nachavu, but in a way this film feels like an inspiration for Bommarillu too. Jack played by Robert De Niro, is a perfectionist father who wants everything right for this daughter. Sounds like the father's character in Bommarillu, doesn't it? In order to get his approval, Greg goes and stays with them for a while. To me, the reason to watch the film was simply Robert De Niro, and his image. We've seen him play the bad guy in a lot of Scorsese's films and to see him play a very toned down version of it was so funny and endearing. Every time Jack warns Greg about something, I'm thinking, woah, he can do worse. He's being nice Greg. I just couldn't let go off his persona. When you have an actor like Robert De Niro, it makes the writers/directors job so easy because the conflict here is so obvious and on the face. You need not write another scene to establish how gritty and dangerous Jack could be. It's obvious. It's Robert De Niro.

I really enjoyed the structure of the film. The way Greg keeps fucking up. I wasn't really enjoying the comedy all the time. Most of the scenes, I was in a zone of just watching it and let it pass by. But I really enjoyed the low point in the film, when Greg leaves the house and sends Pam his score. Because of Jack, their relationship has now become shaky. And that moment hit me. Again, this is so similar to the sequence in Bommarillu. Post this, I liked how Greg mans up and tells Jack that he has a problem with his behavior. He learns to take a stand and own up to himself. Jack learns to loosen up a little. Or does he?