Reviews

Making viewers actually 'smell' a movie just by the visuals is probably an impossible task. But in this movie, 'Perfume' we see a brilliant effort to do the same.

Based on Patrick Suskind's best selling novel, 'Das Parfum', this movie is a brilliant visualization. It is about a person who has an extraordinary sense of smell and thus focuses on smell, its effects and the sensation that it arouses. Director Tom Tykwer has used visuals and sounds brilliantly to make his viewers get a very realistic feel of this theme. The colour scheme, textures, dresses, locations, lighting, choreography and camera angles are all so well used together that they almost create an illusion of 'smell'. The way the lead character goes around touching and rubbing his nose on to womens' skin, flowers, animals dead and alive, soil, rocks, walls and everything else makes up for powerful visuals along with the technical supports that I have mentioned earlier.

The music too, could not have been better, I think. It totally enhances the impact. The characterizations are very good. Also, the screenplay is very intriguing.

The story is about a person named Jean Baptise(Ben Winshaw) who has an extraordinary sense of smell. He can recognize any thing just by the smell of it and this becomes his greatest passion. He grows up in poverty, working as a labor in a slaughter house. One day, he incidentally meets a perfumer, who impressed by his talents hires him. The perfumer(Dustin Hoffman) uses him to create several successful perfumes in a very short span of time. Jean in return, asks him to teach him the art of extracting and preserving smell and also of creating a perfect perfume. Once done with the basics, Jean is eager to learn more and thus leaves him. He starts to search for the method to make the perfect perfume. Soon, he discovers that the scent of the female skin is the most captivating of smells. So he decides to use girls' skin and hair to make his perfume. But he soon realizes that girls are not going to just allow him to use their skin and hair. So, he starts doing it forcibly by killing them.

Passionate about his goal, Jean shows no hesitation and unstoppably moves towards it. Of course, he creates a hell lot of nuisance, on the way.

The film, is a must see and is very good on the technical and story part. It is very moving and entertaining if seen with an open mind and of course, an open nose.

The title, Atonement means to make up for what has been done. This film, thus portrays a mistake made in love, which must be repaid with sacrifice and pain. The emotional content for such a topic must be strong and the expression of the same should be clear and moving. This film stands up to this.

An adaption from Ian McEwan's Novel 'Atonement', the film is based in the countryside of Britain and then some surrounding areas later on. The background score, first of all is very unique and rhythmic. Its suits and enhances the feel conspiracy, thrill and suspense which this is the base of the movie. Its mostly, taps of the typewriter, wonderfully set with shots by clever editing. At a few places, the sync of music and cuts is amazing. The cinematography and art direction is good too. The colour variations throughout the film, are wisely used to create emotions.

The story basically is about Cecilia Tallis(Kiera Knightly) and Robbie Turner(James McAvoy). They live in a mansion of countryside Britain. Robbbie once mistakenly proposes to make love to Cecilia, who agrees. While they are doing it, Cecilia's little sister Briony Tallis sees them. Being a suspicious child she reacts aggressively and later on blames Robbie of a very serious crime. He is sent to jail on the basis on her testimony. War breaks out. Robbie as a prisoner is sent to war as a soldier. A pile of grief, in the form of this news falls on Cecilia, who had been eagerly waiting to be together with him again. She leaves her home and joins army as a nurse. The war goes on, both lovers eagerly wait to meet each other. And Briony, who had caused all this chaos, is left in deep guilt, waiting for a chance for atonement.

A very impressive story this is, drawn out really well with great performances by all actors and very sensible and clever work by the technical team. A must watch.

Based on Khaled Hosseini's best selling novel, 'The Kite Runner' which in itself is a very strong and touching story, this movie is worthy adaptation.

It gives a glimpse of the Kabul of the yesteryears. A beautiful Kabul in the relatively peaceful valleys of Afghanistan. A Kabul with culture and tradition. There is a sequence in the film where kids and adults alike come out to celebrate the kite flying competition. Kabul is draped in snow, people are draped in traditional, colourful clothes and the sky gets draped in colours as hundreds of kites are set to flight. Visual beauty, this film surely has aplenty.

The background score by Alberto Iglesiasis exotic, rhythmic and splendid. The camera angles and movements all through the movie and especially during the kite flying sequence are a treat. The colours and editing are too in line with the standard.

About the story, its an adaptation and thus is very good indeed. The lead character, Amir is a child, son a rich man. He and his servant's son Hassan are very good friends. This is until Hassan, who happens to be a Hazara( an outsider cast) gets raped by group of Pashtun(supposedly, natives of Afghanistan) kids. Amir witnesses this, but being a coward he hides and then escapes. Later, guilty of backing out on his friend, Amir reacts strangely and distances Hassan from himself. The friendship ends.

War breaks out in Afghanistan. Russians move in, razing every thing. Amir and his father flee to America. Amir grows up, marries and goes on to become a writer. He is still not brave and feels the lack of the same sometimes. However, one day he receives a call from Pakistan. Its bad news from Afghanistan. From here on, the story takes a turn which just has to be seen. Overall, a wonderful movie with a bit of history and lots of emotions. Worth a watch.

Inspired by true events, this is one of the best crime movies that I have come across. The beauty of it is in the impeccable subtlety with which shocking series of events are presented. They seem totally digestible.

City of Gods is a narrative movie based in the slums of Brazil. It is about children. Children who get guns in their hands at a tender age. They run around in groups looting and killing commoners and each other. Many of them die early and others die a bit later. Out of an array of brilliantly characterized people, 3 stand out. These are Little Ze(Leandro Firmino) who is main 'gangster', Benny(Phellipe Haagensen) his right hand, adviser, best friend, style guru and Rocket(Alexandre Rodrigues) the boy who narrates the story. All 3 do their best to survive through the unbelievably chaotic rush of wannabe gangsters all around them.

Not much is to be told about the story, cause it unfolds time and again with twists that add to the interest. The overall aura, locations that are used not only are very authentic, but blended with the colors and lighting, lend a very realistic and unpredictable touch to the story.

This is very distinct from the typical American crime movies. Its unique, well executed and definitely worth a watch.

To its credit, this film has the academy award for the best foreign film and thats for a very good reason.

"The lives of others" is a movie with a soul in it. No stunning VFX, uncanny camera angles, exotic locations, big sets or stunts. No! This is straight forward story telling at its best.

Performances by all actors, especially by Ulrich Muhe are very good. The color theme, gives a very cold feel and sets a very apt mood. Also, the cubical buildings that serve as locations, lend a feel of trapping and strict system. The story is set in the socialist East Germany where any kind of support for anti-communist ideas is strictly prohibited. In this set up, a loving couple, a play write(Sebastian Koch) and an aspiring actress(Martina Gedeck) come under surveillance for the writer's radical ideas. They unknowingly continue to live in a wired house. On th other end of the wires is an agent(Ulrich) who alertly listens to every word. The story from here on is about the impact the lives of this couple has on the agent.

This is a drama, one of the best in the genre and is a treat for people looking for emotional content.

The film revolves around the rivalry between two contemporary composers, Mozart and Saliery. Actually, there was once a rumor that it was Saliery who killed Mozart out of envy. However, this was proved to be false later and the film also depicts the same. Presented as a flashback narration by an aged Saliery, this movie follows his point of view. Saliery, the court composer in the royal court of Vienna. He lived a happy life until one day the king invites Mozart to his court. Once there, Saliery sees Mozart as the 'Creature', who is hopelessly careless, obnoxious, easy going and socially ignorant person. However, his talents are prodigal and effortlessly creating divinely beautiful music is natural for him. Due to this, Saliery feels great envy as well as admiration for him. However, even after being immensely gifted, Mozart fails as a son, husband and professional due to his impractical ways. e slips in to poverty, falls prey to illness, dies and is buried as an insignificant commoner. Saliery, out of pity and admiration stays with him at the end and drafts Mozart's final composition on his dictation. The execution of this film is lovely and gives an accurate feel. A must watch for lovers of Mozart and music.

This movie is the depiction of the life of Frida Kahlo, a painter by heart for most of her life and by profession later on. It starts with showing her as a jolly school girl who faces a severe accident which restricts her to bed for a few months. Confined, Frida takes up painting to pass time at first, but soon chooses this as her way of living. She seeks the guidance of a painter named Diego Rivera who has 'Incurable Infidelity' and hard stamped Socialist views. They soon fall in love and marry. With 2 divorces and an array of continuing love affairs, Diego is not much of a husband. But he surely proves to be Frida's best friend. Despite their differences and a couple of separations, they get back to each other. Diego's socialist views drive his life leading to a disagreement with John Rockefeller and giving refuge to a socialist leader from Russia. Meanwhile Frida's art gets noticed and she gets booked for some exhibitions internationally. Her paintings get known for their originality and honest depiction of pain. Pain slowly gets best of Frida and she dies of illness. Diego stays with her to the very end. The best aspect of the movie is that it focuses on the physical life of Frida. Her handicaps, her pain, her sex life. This lends a brilliant flow and feel to the movie. Moreover, art works of Frida Kahlo are imaginatively used to create transitions and abridged sequences.

Making a remake of classic is a job involving serious responsibility. The original King-King which had released in 1933, has captured the imagination of people all over world ever since. And it seems that Peter Jackson, Oscar winner for his previous big movie, Lord of the Rings, was one of them. But this new film which was made completely in Peter Jackson's New-Zealand based studio, is a worthy remake.

And the thing that makes the movie truly amazing, is the fact that huge special effects( which used up over 4500 processors and 50 terrabytes of memory space) never really seem to over-power the emotional flow of the movie. Whether its the greatly anticipated entry of the Kong or the big fight versus the T-rex(I am not gonna tell you how many) or the disgusting insects, they all add-up in the end to make you cry for the beast's end and hate the villain with a vengeance.

Well, the story goes like this.

An ambitious film-maker(Jack Black), with his film's heroine(Naomi Watts), script Writer(Adrien Brody, the hero of the film) and other staff go on a sea voyage to the undiscovered skull island. Here they are faced by a tribe which kidnaps the actress and offers her to the unseen monster who takes her away. A group of brave men go to rescue her into the dangerous forest which is filled with God knows what all. However only our hero reaches till the end, while others flee. Having rescued his love and he returns with her to the shore only to find an ambush of the ship's crew led by the film director(now in the crazy gear), to capture the Kong.

Once in the city, King Kong escapes and goes berserk, only to stopped by the sight of Watts, with whom he scales the empire state building(which looks amazing in the movie). The rest is history.

Over-all, this is a big 'Fun' movie. People who are looking for deep emotional content and depth of thought might be a bit disappointed. But entertained, everyone has surely got to be!!

A quest to free mankind from the rabbit problem forever, thats what old pals Wallace and Grombit are on this time. And thats when they face the monstrous were-rabbit, which too is on a quest. A quest to eat all the vegetables of the town and that too, on the verge of the famous vegetable competition of the Tottington hall.

Well, Aardam studios have pulled off this difficult script really well. The cheese-crazy inventor Wallace and his canine pal Grombit have been the best bets for this studio for long. But, casting them in a feature film at a time when the term "animation film" has become synonymous with words bigger and better, was really tough.

A good script, great clay animation and some special effects make this film an interesting package over-all.

In brief, Wallace and Grombit are called by Lady Tottington, to solve a major rabbit problem in her estate. The humane ways of anti-pesto are liked by her, but not by her lover, Victor, who happens to be a hunter. Wallace, who starts to like the Lady, decides to solve the problem by brainwashing the rabbits. But seen they are confronted by a gigantic rabbit. With the aim to capture it, Wallace and Grombit start-off, but not without Wallace's love rival Victor on their tails. It is a twisty mystery from here-on, with the humane duo saving the show in the in the end.

Over-all, an interesting movie with a nice story.