Skip to main content

Recent

'Sara'S' review: Anchored by a powerful script, this simple film breaks the conventions of the feel-good template

By
Jude Anthany Joseph's third feature, after Ohm Shanti Oshana and Oru Muthassi Gadha, released on Prime Video at midnight today. This seemingly feel-good film, also seemingly made in limited spaces and with a shoestring budget, tackles a concept and issue never tested before in Malayalam cinema  circles. In Sara'S, we follow the life of Sara Vincent (Anna Ben), a young, bubbly, yet unapologetic filmmaker who struggles to make it big in the industry. She continuously assists male directors and is in the scripting works of her dream film. Sara has decided, from her school days, that she would not bear any kids. This is when she meets Jeevan (Sunny Wayne); her relationship with him subsequently brings her ideology and decision into a confrontation with the established norms of society, family and child-rearing.  Anna Ben in Sara'S The best aspect in which Sara'S has excelled, without doubt, is its hard-hitting taut script. Debutant Akshay Hareesh deserves praise for managin...
Post a Comment

91st Academy Awards- Green Book emerges unexpected winner

Image
By
It was a night of inclusiveness, celebration and most of all, surprises. The wait of moths for cinephiles all over the globe culminated today at the Dolby Theater, California, the venue of the 91st Academy Awards. The ceremony, which was already mired in controversy thanks to Kevin Hart's withdrawal as emcee, witnessed the most prestigious film institution honor the best films, artists, and technicians of 2018.

At the end of the announcement of the nominees, it seemed that two brilliant film- Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favorite and Alfonso Cuaron's Roma- would vie for the biggest honor of the night, with a whopping number of 10 nominations, while A Star Is Born and Vice landed up with 8 nominations each.

 Speculations aside, the event saw unexpected winners, most interestingly Peter Farrelly's Green Book, which beat the award favorites to bag the Oscar for Best Picture. The event also witnessed films with interesting yet relevant themes being heavily honored, like Green Book for instance, MCU blockbuster Black Panther (which depicted themes of Afrofuturism), and BlacKkKlansman (a real life account of an incident in Colorado Springs).

Viggo Mortenson and Mahershala Ali in Green Book

Undoubtedly, it was Green Book that gave movie buffs the biggest surprise. The movie, set in 1962, at the height of racial discrimination in the US, portrayed the real life incident and long lasting acquaintance between Afro-American pianist Dr. Shirley and Tony Vallelonga, who served as Shirley's driver and bodyguard. Viggo Mortenson's and Mahershala Ali's protrayals of Vallelonga and Shirley respectively, were the main highlights of this film, apart from strong screenplay and hard hitting dialogues, that gives any person who watches it a kick to his conscience. The film also bagged two more important awards- Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Original Screenplay.

Alfonso Cuaron accepting his award for Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron, for Roma, bagged his second Oscar for Best Director, after his achievement in the same category for 2013's epic space film Gravity. Roma was also one of the clear favorites in the race to the Oscars. In the end, the Netflix produced Spanish film went home with three wins in it's belt- for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film.

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody
As expected and hoped, Rami Malek bagged the award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his powerful and unforgettable portrayal of legendary singer and showman Freddie Mercury in the musical hit Bohemian Rhapsody. The biopic of Mercury also went home with the most awards of the night, with a total of 4 statues, including Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

Olivia Colman
Olivia Colman was the clear favorite to take home the award for Best Actress, and the voters didn't disappoint either. Her portrayal of Queen Anne in the acclaimed black comedy The Favorite was one of the best of the year. The Favorite, however, failed to bag any more awards.

Mahershala Ali accepting the award for Best Supporting Actor
This was Mahershala Ali's second Oscar win, after he won the statuette for his performance in 2017 winner Moonlight. Ali had portrayed Doctor Shirley with full charisma. His monologue in the rain to Tony Vallelonga was one of the best moments in the film. 

Regina King accepting the award for Best Supporting Actress
 Regina King was another surprise in the award night, as she bagged the award for Best Supporting 
Award for her energetic performance in Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk. Her performance had won her acclaims from critics and audiences alike. 

A still from Black Panther
MCU's Black Panther, considered by many as the beginning of a new movement in cinema, won three statuettes- for Best Original Score (Ludwig Goransson), Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. Black Panther, which earned the distinction of the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture, also became the first film from the colossal Marvel Studios to bag an Oscar. 

Adam Driver and John David Washington in BlacKkKlansman
Spike Lee's wait for an Oscar came to a close today as his biographical comedy BlacKkKlansman won the Best Adapted Screenplay. Examining race relations and xenophobia through the lens of a African-American detective and his Jewish counterpart, this movie was indeed a treat to watch, with it's quirky dialogues and powerful screenplay.

A still from Spider-Man:Into the Spiderverse

It was another big night for superhero films as Sony's animated outing Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse took home the award for Best Animated Feature. Touted as the best Spider-man film, the film brought in visually dazzling animation along with a heart-touching relatable story.

Lady Gaga bagged her first Oscar for her song, "Shallow" in the Bradley Cooper film A Star is Born. The Best Documentary Short award was bagged by a couple of talented filmmakers Rayka Zehtabchi and Guneet Monga, for their powerful documentary surrounding the problem of menstrual taboo in India- Period. End of Sentence. The Neil Armstrong biopic, First Man won Best Visual Effects award while Vice bagged the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

This year's Academy Awards will be remembered for the surprise it gave cinephiles for it's choice of Best Picture, but it was a worthy honor to Green Book for it's powerful theme and spectacular performances. 

And hopefully, for the next edition, we will get a host (not Jimmy Kimmel again).

Stay tuned in our Facebook page and Instagram handle for more updates on upcoming movies and film reviews.

Reviewer-The Blog©

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dora and the Lost City of Gold- when children's beloved character comes to life on-screen

By
  Nickelodeon's iconic character, Dora the Explorer, is coming to life on screen as Paramount Pictures readies the worldwide release of the live-action film based on the beloved character, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, due to release on August this year. The distributors, Paramount Pictures released the official trailer for the movie, promising the fans yet another treasure hunt, accompanying Dora The Explorer. The makers have released the official synopsis for Dora and the Lost City of Gold- Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure ever – High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego (Jeffrey Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant (Eugenio Derbez), and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents (Eva Longoria, Michael Peña) and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Raat Akeli Hai' review: A murder mystery powered by an almost-perfect cast and tonally perfect making, but fizzles out in parts

By
Honey Trehan's debut film, Raat Akeli Hai , released digitally on Netflix on the 31st of July. Starring a talented crop of fine artists such as Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia and many others, Raat Akeli Hai was touted to be a film in the crime thriller genre, with many already labeling it as an Indian Knives Out. Here's our review on the desi crime thriller. A dead man, that too a powerful patriarch/politician, shot point blank in a sprawling mansion in the rural hinterlands of Gwalior, a posse of family members with unclear intentions who have not heard a thing or the commotion that ensued before it, and an unwanted newcomer to the family whose origins and backgrounds are shadier than those of the family members combined. Add to that a cop, like in other similar movies of the genre, hell bent on digging up the truth. What debutant Honey Trehan and writer Smita Singh orchestrates here is the perfect setting for a gripping whodunit. Whethe...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Dil Bechara' review: Sushant Singh's final outing is also a refreshingly fresh adaptation

By
Dil Bechara, Sushant Singh Rajput 's final screen outing before his untimely demise last month, released yesterday on Disney+Hotstar. Directed by debutant Mukesh Chhabra and starring Rajput along with Sanjana Sanghi, Dil Bechara is the Indian adaptation of the popular John Green novel,  The Fault in Our Stars , which had it's own Hollywood adaptation in 2014. Dil Bechara is currently streaming for free on Disney+Hotstar . Like it's parent novel, Dil Bechara follows the life of Kizie Basu (Sanjana Sanghi), a cancer patient, who falls in love with a cancer survivor, Manny (Rajput), who infuses in Kizie an infectious but joyful energy to "seize the moment" and to make the most of her life. Kizie meets Manny for the first time, as he effortlessly sways to the title track, a peppy urbane 'Dil Bechara' by A.R Rahman. Kizie and Manny bond over Kizie's infatuation and fascination over an incomplete song, penned and composed by a mysterious musician named Abhim...
4 comments
Read more