Member Reviews

Amal Neerad and his co-writer Lajo Jose (whose story this film is based on) know how far to push the unreliable narrator trope. Not only is their protagonist Reethu (Jyothirmayi in her return) suffering from both retrograde and anterograde amnesia, but we’re seeing the film through her perspective for the most part. What makes this film even more complex is how quickly we get the feeling that we cannot rely on the people Reethu relies on to make sense of her chilling universe.

Among all the flaws a writer can imagine for their protagonist, an unreliable memory throws up quite a few fascinating possibilities. In Bougainvillea, Reethu (Jyothirmayi) is almost always unsure of anything that happens right in front of her eyes. For a fairly good period, we are also caught in a similar dilemma — as to whether what we are seeing through her eyes is for real; whether she has painted a Sunflower or yet another Bougainvillea.

The Apprentice is one of the film that no one asked for but now that its here you can’t look away from it. The direction, cinematography, lighting, sets and most of all the performances all are worth praising but the film majorly avoids taking sides. For first half it makes you like Trump and for the other the pre-existing hate returns, so it doesn’t really add to his public narrative, the reason for its existence left questioning. But the film is worth the watch for its art.

Director Amal Neerad’s latest movie Bougainvillea is a slow-burning thriller that offers more strengths than weaknesses in its entertainment value. Set against the backdrop of an unreliable memory, the film borrows elements from classics like Memento and The Usual Suspects, while crafting a uniquely Malayalam narrative.

DreamWorks Animation turns 30 this year, and its latest presentation, The Wild Robot, is a great example of what the studio gets right. Adapted and directed by Chris Sanders, the animated feature follows the adventures of Rozzum 7134 (voice of Lupita Nyong’o), who discovers a whole new side to herself after she reluctantly adopts a gosling. The family film is filled with humour and meaning, and it teaches you what it means to be kind and love another in need.

The Wild Robot was one of the most anticipated films since its first teaser dropped with the song ‘What a Wonderful World’ and the film has lived up to its hype. Not only does it offer an adorable story for kids to watch but it also comes with heavy context and geological subtext that is enough to keep the adults engaged. The film unexpectedly also offers much humour and some emotional moments but best yet has been the artwork throughout the run time. From birds taking flight and colouring the sky, to the moving leaves that breathe life into the art, the film comes with a great re-watch value ready to turn it into a classic.

Getting an audience to detest a movie villain isn’t difficult. People are cynical; all they want is someone to project their frustrations on. But getting the same viewers to genuinely empathise with the protagonist of your film isn’t as easy as it might seem. It requires them to lower their guards and shed their egos; to allow moments of vulnerability in the presence of absolute strangers. Most of all, it requires them to ignore the objectively lunatic act of developing a connection with a made-up person, as if they are real. But Vasan Bala has cracked the code in Jigra — a film that pulls off this almost impossibly difficult feat by getting you, the viewer, to participate in the grandest act of collective empathy crafted on a Bollywood screen this year.

The film’s story is pretty much what you have seen in the trailer. For those who are uninitiated, here is the plot in brief. Iqlakh (Dev) loses his job, randomly kidnaps a young girl Avantika (Aameya) from her school, and takes her hostage. He demands to get his job back. Maya (Rukmini Maitra) from Kolkata Police comes to negotiate. Even after his company’s maintenance manager (Anirban Bhattacharya) verbally promises to give his job back to him, he demands the owner of the firm Anubrata Adhikari (Paran Bandyopadhyay) to come personally. Meanwhile, in a turn of events, little Aratrika’s mother Ira (Swastika Mukherjee) hunts down Iqlakh’s house and takes hostage of his little boy.

Viswam, directed by Sreenu Vaitla, is a reminder that not everything has changed for the better with mainstream Telugu cinema. In terms of narrative style, character arcs and the plot itself, this Gopichand and Kavya Thapar starrer feels redundant. The film teems with dozen of characters and a handful of sub plots — in the name of offering wholesome entertainment — with action episodes, romance, emotional drama and mindless comedy; it can get tiresome to sit through 155 minutes of an incoherence narrative, even if one does not look for logical reasoning.