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Two movies
May. 5th, 2013 11:05 pmNow that I'm done with grad school (except for that little bit of an incomplete), I have real leisure time. So I watched some movies.
Barfi! (2012)
This is a very sweet and funny Bollywood movie that very much recalls the humor and cleverness of classic silent films, especially those of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, as well as other classic sight gags from later films. The title character is a young man who is hearing and speech impaired. He fall in love with Shruti, a young woman who is soon to be married. Although she returns Barfi's feelings, she acquiesces to parental and societal pressure and marries her fiance. Barfi then meets and forms a bond with Jhilmil, an autistic woman. When she goes missing, Shruti is pulled back into the story, and a suspenseful mystery and unexpected love story unfolds.
I really loved how well-balanced this film was. It is funny without making buffoons of anyone, sentimental without being smarmy, and romantic without being swoopy. Barfi and Jhilmil are always treated as full people, with the complete range of emotions and the ability to direct their own lives. They are not there as props for anyone else's epiphanies or fulfillment. Also, Priyanka Chopra, who plays Jhilmil, gives just about the best portrayal of an autistic person I have ever seen, rivaling Dustin Hoffman in Rainman.
Brick (2005)
This strange film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who I like quite a bit) as Brendan, an adolescent loner who works his way into the criminal underground to find out what happened to his ex Emily when she goes missing. It's a gritty and dark film noir set among the high school crowd (not exactly set in high school, since most of the movie occurs outside of classrooms and hallways). The mystery seems straightforward at first, but gradually becomes increasingly complex as Brendan tries to find out not just what happened to Emily but why it happened.
Brick works really well as a film noir. There are shady characters, including two femmes fatale, more going on than is immediately apparent, attractive surfaces that hide a wealth of darkness, and lots of manipulation. It draws on and references other films in the genre really well, and even includes a nod to Twin Peaks. Setting this within the social scene of a high school almost fails but kinds of works. Nobody goes to class or even really acts like a teenager, but the setting does act as a nice set up for some of the ways characters communicate and interact. The juxtaposition gives the whole thing a slightly surreal quality, never letting the viewer settle into the familiarity of either the noir or the high school drama aspects.
Barfi! (2012)
This is a very sweet and funny Bollywood movie that very much recalls the humor and cleverness of classic silent films, especially those of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, as well as other classic sight gags from later films. The title character is a young man who is hearing and speech impaired. He fall in love with Shruti, a young woman who is soon to be married. Although she returns Barfi's feelings, she acquiesces to parental and societal pressure and marries her fiance. Barfi then meets and forms a bond with Jhilmil, an autistic woman. When she goes missing, Shruti is pulled back into the story, and a suspenseful mystery and unexpected love story unfolds.
I really loved how well-balanced this film was. It is funny without making buffoons of anyone, sentimental without being smarmy, and romantic without being swoopy. Barfi and Jhilmil are always treated as full people, with the complete range of emotions and the ability to direct their own lives. They are not there as props for anyone else's epiphanies or fulfillment. Also, Priyanka Chopra, who plays Jhilmil, gives just about the best portrayal of an autistic person I have ever seen, rivaling Dustin Hoffman in Rainman.
Brick (2005)
This strange film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who I like quite a bit) as Brendan, an adolescent loner who works his way into the criminal underground to find out what happened to his ex Emily when she goes missing. It's a gritty and dark film noir set among the high school crowd (not exactly set in high school, since most of the movie occurs outside of classrooms and hallways). The mystery seems straightforward at first, but gradually becomes increasingly complex as Brendan tries to find out not just what happened to Emily but why it happened.
Brick works really well as a film noir. There are shady characters, including two femmes fatale, more going on than is immediately apparent, attractive surfaces that hide a wealth of darkness, and lots of manipulation. It draws on and references other films in the genre really well, and even includes a nod to Twin Peaks. Setting this within the social scene of a high school almost fails but kinds of works. Nobody goes to class or even really acts like a teenager, but the setting does act as a nice set up for some of the ways characters communicate and interact. The juxtaposition gives the whole thing a slightly surreal quality, never letting the viewer settle into the familiarity of either the noir or the high school drama aspects.
