Ichi the Killer

When it comes to movies depicting gore, there are mainly two kinds – one that contain visuals for the sake of shocking the audience and the other that attempt to set new boundaries in the portrayal of violence in film. Japanese auteur Takshi Miike’s Ichi the Killer belongs to the second category. Based on Hideo Yamamoto’s manga series of the same name, Ichi the Killer is an ultra-violent saga set in the seedy underworld of Japan. An antithesis to the Japanese art of understatement, the movie is filled with blood-spatter, severed body parts and one mutilation after another.

The movie starts with an underworld boss’ gruesome murder by Ichi (Nao Omori). After a cleanup crew clears all traces of the murder, the gang is led to believe that the boss is on the run with a huge sum of money. Everyone buys this story too, except Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano), who believes that his boss, Anjo, has been kidnapped by a rival gang.

By the time Kakihara realizes that the Yakuza is being manipulated to turn against ne another, he is so impressed with Ichi’s level of sadism that he can’t wait to meet him. Kakihara hopes that Ichi can help him recapture the exquisite pain he experienced when his late master tortured him. Meanwhile, it turns out that it’s an unassuming character that has been pulling the strings all along.

It’s a long ride to the final confrontation, and the period between is filled with extended scenes of torture, murder and mayhem. But that isn’t all. Surprisingly there are several scenes which just might make you laugh out loud. And that’s where the genius of Miike comes across. I discovered this director when I randomly decided to watch a movie called 13 Assassins (the review for which is coming soon). That movie exceeded my expectations like very few movies have. That’s where I decided to explore the legend of Takashi Miike, who time and again pushes the envelope when it comes to deciding what the audience can watch without getting overly disgusted with the visuals.

During the course of the film you just might lose track who is the cat and who is the mouse in this game that’s unfolding before your eyes. That’s where I feel lies Mr Miike’s shortfall as a great craftsman. Though this film made him a cult figure, it falls just short of being a masterpiece.

Rating: 6/10

Safety Not Guaranteed

Well here’s a movie about time travel that does not involve any time travel, well… sort of. That statement might not be quite so confusing if you took the time out to watch the delightful Safety Not Guaranteed, directed by Colin Trevorrow. That’s right, before he took over dinosaurs in Jurassic World and power struggles in a galaxy far far away in Star Wars: Episode IX, Mr Trevorrow made this film which has way more soul than flash.

Very rarely does a film do a great job of blending sci-fi, relationships, fantasy and romance as Safety Not Guaranteed does. Jeff (Jake Johnson) a newspaper reporter comes across an ad in a newspaper asking for a companion to travel through time. After getting an approval from his editor, Jeff gets two interns, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni), to tag long to Ocean View and track down this seemingly insane person, all in hope of getting a great story. But surprisingly, the man who posted the ad is an extremely normal looking grocery store clerk called Kenneth (Mark Duplass).

After Jeff makes a bad first impression, it’s up to Darius to strike a chord with Kenneth by posing as a volunteer for the time travelling mission. With Jeff not interested in anything more than hooking up with an old sweetheart, Darius takes it upon herself to complete the story. That’s where a huge revelation dawns upon everyone. Kenneth might be a loner, he may be that quirky but vulnerable guy who lives in his parents’ house in the woods, but he is dead serious about his ad and traveling back in time.

The other thing you realize is that this isn’t one of those dialogue heavy indie flicks we are used to. A lot is said in the movie without too many words. The characters have depth and get us to care about them. Also, without giving anything away, this movie has one of the finest endings you may have seen in a long time.

After a recent binge watch of Parks and Recreation, I loved the fact that Aubrey Plaza doesn’t once again play the eye-rolling, sarcasm spewing girl we are used to. There’s a reason for her initial disinterested behavior and you learn to empathize with it. Jake Johnson does a great job of being the narcissistic reporter whom you eventually like. The movie is so good when it comes to character definitions that you end up caring for a typical Indian-American sidekick, Arnau, and cheer for his life-changing experiences.

But the performance you need to watch out for is Mark Duplass’. In the last few years, Duplass has emerged as one of the most engaging actors in movies like The One I Love and People Like Us. The character of Kenneth is something I would think is an extremely tough role to play, but Duplass pulls it off with elan.

Though the movie might start off slow, my suggestion to you is stick with it… the payoff is worth it.

Rating: 7/10

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

This one goes out to all the disgruntled 90s kids out there. If you were in your teens during alternative music’s golden age, there’s better than a good chance that you adored and dedicated a lot of your music listening time to the music created by Kurt Cobain, the frontman of grunge superstars Nirvana. Also, if you are one of those people whose music taste evolved but stayed true to its roots, then you probably consumed every bit of documentation about his life that came your way; be it in the form of books, documentaries or the tales spun at marijuana laced listening parties.

If you nodded sagely at the comments above, one might think that there isn’t much about Kurt Cobain that is not known. That’s where Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck proves you wrong. The first documentary shot with unconditional support from his family and friends (Frances Bean Cobain is one of the executive producers), the film departs from the usual representation of Cobain as the unofficial spokesman of the disillusioned youth and lets you in on the side of Cobain you never knew – as the son, the friend, the husband and the father.

With the title taken from one of collage tapes Cobain created, Montage of Heck has some excellent footage from his growing up years. Unseen home videos, personal recordings, scribbles from songbooks and other such unseen material tracks Cobain’s journey from a musician who’d call two people watching them perform “a gig”, to the megastar headlining stadium concerts. Interviews with Cobain’s parents, stepmother, siblings, a longtime girlfriend who supported him through his struggling years, bandmates and wife shed a light on the man he was in his personal time and make us see him in an entirely new way.

But what makes the documentary a personal journey is footage from family videos when Cobain was a toddler. You get the chance to watch him grow, play, laugh and be the most adorable child you may have ever seen. You also realize why Cobain was a genius who was, at times, a pain to hang out with by discovering the effect his parents’ divorce had on him, a devastating story from his teenage years and other personal anecdotes narrated by Cobain himself that you were not privy to until now.

In all my years of watching music documentaries, I think this was definitely one of the most intimate I have ever seen. The movie sticks to its subject matter without once giving in to the temptation of becoming a documentary about Nirvana. It sticks to that commitment so hard that the entire film doesn’t have even one hint of Smells like Teen Spirit’s legendary riff. Though an interview with Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean, and Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl, are sorely missing here, the rest of the cast does a well enough job of portraying a side of Cobain they want the world to see. I’ll leave judging the honesty of their statements out of here because while I was watching the film I was happy believing that Cobain was the anti-celebrity celebrity who had greatness thrust upon him even though all he wanted was to collect enough money to live a peaceful life with his family as a junkie.

Rating: 8/10

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

United Network Command for Law and Enforcement – that’s what U.N.C.L.E in The Man from U.N.C.L.E stands for. Now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about Guy Ritchie’s big screen adaptation of the 1964 TV series of the same name. A breezy spy action comedy about an organization trying to end world peace with a nuke. Though the movie isn’t a complete disappointment, it fails to hold up against the Mission: Impossible’s and the James Bond flicks we are used to watching these days. Even the Guy Ritchie trademarks (which are sorely in short supply here) fail to keep us engaged until the end.

The film is set in the 1960s, when the Cold War was at its coldest. An American secret agent, Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and a Russian spy Illya Kuryakin (Arnie Hammer) are forced to team up and track a former Nazi-scientist, with the knowledge to build a nuclear bomb, who has gone missing. Their only lead, the scientist’s estranged daughter Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander), has to be freed from East German surveillance before she can join the agents in their mission. The agents and the seemingly innocent Gabby have to bust a plot of world domination by a billionaire fascist Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki).

Let me be honest, the only reason I trekked to the theater to watch this movie is because it’s a frikkin Guy Ritchie movie. Moreover, he has teamed up with Lionel Wingram to write this movie. This is the team that gave us two delightful Sherlock Holmes movies that propelled the legend of Robert Downey Jr to another level. Luckily the movie delivers on the expectations we have from it. With some fine attention to detail and some sort of unpredictable twists, it has all the elements we have come to expect from our favourite British director.

I am yet to meet someone who has seen the TV show. But from what I have read about it, Robert Vaughn and David McCallum were fantastic as Solo and Kuryakin. Their roles here are taken over by Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, who look and shockingly act like a couple of male models who are more concerned with looking good than saving the world. They look so uninvolved with the proceedings that a feisty Alicia Vikander manages to upstage them time and again.

The movie is obviously created as an indulgent fare instead of being aimed at someone who is looking for a serious spy drama.

Rating: 6/10

Cinema Paradiso

There’s a scene in this movie, where the protagonist Toto, née Salvatore, uses the money his mother has given him to buy milk to instead buy a movie ticket and watch a film. It instantly reminded me of an instance from my life where my grandfather had given me money to buy new sneakers and I used the money to travel across town and watch The Matrix instead.

Cinema Paradiso, a well known Italian classic, is full of such events which will ring a nostalgic bell for people who share a significant bond with cinema. The wonder, the awe, the pain and the joy a true cinephile experiences while discovering films are etched out beautifully and it becomes a little impossible to not fall in love with the idea of cinema all over again.

The movie starts with Salvatore (Jacques Perrin), a successful filmmaker, receiving word that Alfredo has died. This obviously heartbreaking moment for Salvatore hurls his mind back to a post-war Sicilian village where he grew up. As a little boy, Toto (Salvatore Cascio) fell in love with the movies at the only theater in his village where the projector was operated by the philosophical Alfredo (Philippe Noiret). While Toto may not be an efficient altar boy, he is an extremely alert helper at Cinema Paradiso, a role Alfredo tries his best to talk Toto out of but grudgingly accepts eventually. There starts the tale of a wonderful bond between Toto and Alfredo, where Alfredo eventually takes on the role of the father figure in Toto’s life. He guides Toto through all of life’s ups and downs with sage advice and when needed, tough love.

While the movie’s main focus is Salvatore, his life, its lessons, its joys and heartbreaks; it’s the atmosphere of the titular theater you fall in love with. The priest, who acts as the censor board for the town, the patrons, the friends, the lovers… all united in their love for movies (it’s set in the pre-television age after all). The most magical scene in the movie is where Alfredo projects the movie out of the window in his booth and across the town square for the images to float on a wall. It truly exemplifies the magic those moving images create and the love people like you and me have for them.

Director Giuseppe Tornatore does a fine job of crafting this homage to cinema and the act of watching films on the big screen. Though the world’s viewing habits have changed and the screens have become smaller, this movie is a wonderful reminder of that phase in our lives when we fell in love with films; when watching a movie would be a special occasion and not a part of our routine. A fair warning – the movie has its share of melodrama and you need to have a taste for such histrionic to completely understand what the big deal about Cinema Paradiso is.

Rating: 7/10