Rajeev Masand – movies that matter : from bollywood, hollywood and everywhere else

January 31, 2014

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard, Brad Pitt

Director: Steve McQueen

There are enough scenes of brutal violence in 12 Years a Slave to make your skin crawl. But few are as disturbing and as genuinely shocking as one in which a black slave is left hanging from a tree, grunting from suffocation, his toes barely touching the ground. Behind him, children play and other slaves go about their chores, fearing for their lives if they even look his way. The camera lingers on this wide shot for several minutes as if to emphasize the sheer helplessness of these people.

Directed by British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave takes an unflinching look at a shameful chapter in American history. This is slavery examined with searing honesty, far removed from the Hollywood sugarcoating of Gone With The Wind, or the revenge-fantasy approach of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, on whose autobiography the film is based. An educated free black man in 1841, living with his family in Saratoga, New York, Northup is kidnapped, sold, and sent to work at a Southern plantation, where he barely survives a dozen years of inhuman torture and bondage. Solomon’s first owner is a relatively compassionate man (Benedict Cumberbatch), but then he’s sold to the sadistic cotton-plantation owner Epps (Michael Fassbender), from whose savagery no one is spared, not least the female cotton-picker he’s obsessed with (Lupita Nyong’o).

Never an easy watch, the film’s unforgiving brutality inevitably inspires a deep sense of shame. McQueen refuses to cut away as men and women are lashed till the skin is peeled off their backs. Every piercing wail, every cry as a mother is separated from her children, prompts you ask aloud: How could anyone be so heartless?

The film is particularly effective because of its remarkable cast, led by Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose eyes alone convey volumes of pain and repressed anger. Michael Fassbender, terrific as his relentlessly cruel owner, evokes memories of another spiteful villain, the Nazi concentration camp commander Amon Goeth as played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List.

Nicely shot and paced, the film works because it breathes with reality. McQueen drives every scene to the core of its emotions, and their cumulative emotional effect is devastating. I’m going with four out of five for 12 Years a Slave. It’ll leave you shocked, ashamed, angry and overwhelmed.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

January 31, 2014

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney, Kevin Grevioux

Director: Stuart Beattie

The story of Frankenstein’s monster has had many incarnations on screen, but perhaps none as clunky as I, Frankenstein, in which the stitched-up soulless creature is presented as a superhero of sorts.

Aaron Eckhart stars as mad scientist Victor Frankenstein’s doomed creation, Adam. Not long after burying his creator, our permanently brooding protagonist finds himself at the centre of an ages-old war between two clans: the gargoyles led by Queen Leonore (Miranda Otto), and the demons ruled by Naberius (Bill Nighy). As the film fast forwards 200 years ahead into far more technologically advanced times, we watch as Adam foils Naberius’ plans to take over the world by giving life to an army of corpses who will vanquish the angelic gargoyles.

What’s particularly embarrassing here is the seriousness with which everyone concerned approaches this ludicrous plot. Poor Aaron Eckhart deserves a medal for keeping a straight face through the sheer stupidity of this enterprise, while only Bill Nighy, who’s appropriately over-the-top as the snarling Demon Prince, seems like he’s in on the joke. To be fair, the special effects aren’t bad at all, but fatigue does set in when you’re watching scene after scene of gargoyles and demons smashing into building, swinging clubs at each other until they disintegrate into sparks and flames.

At one point, a well-meaning female scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) catches a glimpse of our monster hero in all his shirtless glory, and sexual attraction is thick in the air. By now, it’s impossible to take this film seriously.

I’m going with one-and-a-half out of five for I, Frankenstein. It’s silly beyond belief; doesn’t deserve your time.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

January 24, 2013

Cast: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris

Director: Justin Chadwick

Very often the problem with movies about great people is that they become such reverential portraits that they rob their subjects of their very humanness. That’s certainly true of Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, based on the autobiography of South African leader Nelson Mandela. It’s an earnest, honorable effort, but does little to deepen our sense of the man, and ultimately never really crystallizes into anything more than a bullet-point biopic.

Over 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film, directed by Justin Chadwick, dutifully chronicles more or less Mandela’s entire adult life, starting with his involvement in anti-apartheid activism as a young lawyer in 1940s Johannesburg. We watch as he is arrested and convicted of terrorist activities, spends 27 years in prison, and is eventually elected South Africa’s first black president. There’s no question that the film covers solid ground. It even captures facets of Mandela’s weaknesses – the womanizing that led to the collapse of his first marriage, the distance that grew between him and his second wife Winnie Madikizela, even the difficult relationship that he shared with his son. Yet you can’t shake off the feeling that the film is just skimming the surface of events that shaped the life of this great man. Mandela was an inspiration, so steadfast in his dream that he remained an icon until his dying breath. Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom reduces this towering figure to a cardboard cutout by merely listing his achievements without a keen sense of perspective.

Leading man Idris Elba has tremendous presence, and it’s put to good use as he conveys Mandela’s charisma. His early scenes stand out — the fiery speeches, his passion for Winnie, the anger that colors his activism, and his determined fight to earn dignity as a prisoner by demanding long pants instead of shorts. As an old man, Elba’s make-up is chalky and gets in the way of his resolute performance. Naomie Harris as the controversial, colorful character Winnie, is so spirited that she breathes fire into her part. Her outrage is palpable and you’re captivated in that one telling scene where she urinates in defiance on a cop’s shoes, even though she has been tortured for days. It almost makes you wish that this were the untold story of Nelson and Winnie – a marriage unraveling just as history was being written.

In the end, Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom offers a one-dimensional, vanilla portrait of one of history’s most relevant figures. I’m going with two-and-a-half out of five. It’s a perfectly adequate summing up of Mandela’s life. Unfortunately, this real-life hero deserved so much more.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)

January 17, 2014

Cast: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis CK, Robert De Niro

Director: David O Russell

From the opening minutes of American Hustle, you get a sense of the unconventional tone of this story. There’s Christian Bale, unrecognizable as the paunchy owner of a dry-cleaning business, doing an elaborate comb-over by gluing on strands of hair to his bald pate. Moments later, he’s a suave fixer. Nothing is what it seems in this 1970s New York City-based caper. As the tagline goes: Everyone hustles for a living.

Yet what keeps you invested in these characters is what’s going on with their hearts and lives, underneath their shiny facades and home perms. Every kooky person here is bouncing off the emotional grid, crazy in their own little way. Each, after all, is involved in a wild scheme inspired by a real-life sting operation that took place in the 70s. American Hustle is the fictionalized drama based on the Abscam scandal, an FBI operation that enlisted the help of con artists to nab crooked Congressmen.

One has begun to bank on director David O’ Russell as the go-to guy for an exhilarating time at the movies. After The Fighter and last year’s Silver Linings Playbook, he now gives us giddy fun with American Hustle, starring alumni from those two films. Bale is Irving Rosenfeld, a New Jersey shyster whose legit business is dry-cleaning, but who dreams big by giving out phony bank loans and selling forged art. Into his life walks ex-stripper Sydney (a luminous Amy Adams), who is only too happy to fake a British accent and adopt the name ‘Lady Edith’ to help him rip off more people. The pair lives it up, flirting incorrigibly, dancing in ballrooms and loving it up in bed.

Complications arise when an over-enthusiastic FBI agent Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper) forces them into a partnership to trap greedy Congressmen. The other thorn in their side is Irving’s jealous, unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) who is unwilling to give her husband a divorce. In one laugh-out loud scene, Irving describes her as the “Picasso of passive-aggressive karate”.  Despite their misgivings, Irving and Sydney are roped into Di Maso’s elaborate plan to nail politician Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner). Unfortunately, the operation comes under threat because of Di Maso’s impatient ambition and Rosalyn’s big mouth.

Beneath the thrill of the tense FBI operation is the vulnerability of the four characters. This crackling screenplay feeds itself off their longing and comical awkwardness. Irving watches his life spin out of control when Di Maso falls deeply under Sydney’s spell, while she plays the FBI agent so she can get back at Irving for not leaving his wife. The sexual tension between Di Maso and Sydney virtually thrums, but you see her pain each time she throws wounded looks at Irving.

Director David O’ Russell gifts us fantastic moments in American Hustle – like that magical swish of laundered clothes forming a ring of dreamy love around Irving and Sydney. Or that hilarious running gag involving Di Maso’s boss (played wonderfully by Louis CK). The two constantly argue over budgets for the operation, even as his boss repeatedly cautions Di Maso with a half-finished morality tale on ice-fishing. The film has a nice air of unpredictability hanging over it throughout. What are the chances of a menacing mob boss (Robert De Niro in a scene-stealing cameo) breaking into Arabic in the middle of a tense negotiation? And what happens when the green-eyed wife and the bitter mistress finally run into each other in a washroom? Not what you’d expect.

American Hustle is filled to the brim with heightened emotions that seem to spill into its sexy soundtrack. The film is anchored, however, by its performances. Christian Bale is bang-on as the pill-popping con artist, on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of the tension of this operation and the stress of juggling two women. Bradley Cooper plays the goofball in broad strokes. Quick-tempered and mercurial, he’s the player who inevitably gets played himself. It’s the women, incidentally, who get the juiciest scenes. Amy Adams is in moments all heart, and at other times a cleavage-baring vixen. Jennifer Lawrence aces it as the loose cannon Rosalyn, so clueless that she manages to set off fires with basic kitchen equipment. She’s all bluster, and Lawrence plays the part in seductive, side-splitting spurts.

O Russell knows how to you hook you to his quirky characters, but also laces his film with witty dialogues, and cinematography and production design that add real texture. I’m going with four out of five for American Hustle. It’s possibly the most fun I’ve had at the movies in a long, long time, and like the perfect restaurant meal it leaves you keen to make a second visit soon.

(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)