Review of short movie "el Empleo" (The Employment)

Genre :Short Film/Comedy 

Length : 6.24 min

Ratings: 9/10

What makes us a human being? It is the consciousness, joy, sorrow, pain, pleasure that makes us human. If we take out these ingredients from life then our life will be dull, lethargic, boorish, and above all we become mechanical being. We will be like zombies. This is the message that the short animated silent movie "el Empleo" (meaning The Employment) wants to deliver. 

Directed amazingly by Santiago Buo Grasso. He is an Argentinian animator and director. Besides this movie he has directed two other short films viz., Padre and Hello. The movie " el Empleo"  has won 7 awards in many film festivals like Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, Hiroshima International Animation Festival,etc. The movie was produced in 2008.  

The movie opens with closeup of a watch having a human being with its two hand acting as the minute and hour hands. The alarm rings and a hand slowly puts it off. Then, a long face with half open eyes devoid of any passion is shown. He shaves in front of mirror with the hand having no face holding the mirror for him. He drinks his coffee on a chair and table of human beings. He goes off to work neatly dress. He waits for the taxi. However, the taxi is  no car but is human being carrying him on the back. He reaches his office and the door is also made up of human beings. In the office he lays down on his stomach in front of a door. Then a human steps on his back, rubs off his shoes and went inside. The movie ends here. 

The movie is poetic in character both storywise and technically. You can see that people are exploited by the superior. As it can be seen in the movie. He sits on the chair and table made of human.  It represent exploitation of weak and poor by the strong and rich people. Further, it also highlights that what it seen from the outside is not always true inside. The long face man although neatly dressed become the door mat in the end. If you lose your passion you will become mechanical as the long face man represent. He lacks the passion for his work. 

The movie is silent as zombie, dead people, weak and poor people has no voice. The light was dim representing lack of energy. The pace of the movie was lethargic representing the whole theme. 

I will suggest everyone to watch this wonderfully made short movie. 

Review of "SUPERBOB"

Genre: Romantic/Comedy
Cast: Brett Goldstein (Bob), Catherine Tate (Theresa), Natalia Tena (Doris)
Running Time: 1 h 25 m
Rating:6/10

Great things often comes in a surprising manner. It has been true since eternal time. This is exactly be said about Superbob which has no star cast, little Computer Graphic and no sex at all. It is a interesting movie if you can comprehend the hidden meaning.
The film begins with a man being hit by a meteor and he eventually turns into a super hero. The funny thing about this super hero is that he is a British
Civil Servant. Although he has the superpower he can't do anything without the approval of the concerned authority. He gets holiday decided by the United Nations. He can't work (read save people) on this day. The movie takes a turn when Superbob refuses to shake hand with a high ranking official of another country. During this time while he is waiting for his girlfriend to arrive the gossip mongering media speculate how dangerous he is. He is often described as weapon of mass destruction. The two countries were at logger head. The movie ends when he finds his love and he refuses to be a civil servant. This is the story of the movie.
The message of the movie is that anybody can be a super hero like the man being hit by the meteor. When he tries to do great and noble things people will obstruct his/her grand idea. People will try to do every thing in the world possible to bring him/her on the line. If he/she could bear this intermediate moment then he/she will definitely become the super bob.
Directed beautifully by Jon Drever. This is his first full length feature film. He has directed the documentray WeRide: The Story of Snowboarding, and short film like Tequila, Manland,etc. The pace of the film is somewhat slow but you will enjoy the movie. Nothing spectacular is there in the movie except the plain and simply beautiful storytelling. If you are looking for a enjoyable movie devoid of sex and violence then this is definitely the movie to watch.

Review of "The Signal" (2014)

Genre: Science fiction/Thriller

Cast : Laren Fishburne, Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cookes, Beau Knapp.

I have seen movies which are difficult to understand and movies are easy to comprehend. However, the "Signal" is a movie which is neither too difficult nor to easy to make the story.

Directed by William Eubank. He is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. The movie premiere in the Sundance Film Festivals.

The story is about three kids/teens (Nic Eastman, Haley Peterson and Jonah Breck) who are going on a road trip. They are the students of MIT and had been following a hacker with the name "NOMAD". They chase him down at night in a abandoned shaggy house. After an horrific and unexplained event they find themselves in a bizzare institute and Haley is in coma. Nic was questioned again and again by Dr. Wallace Damon in the institute. They escaped from the institute very easliy. However, Jonah Breck was killed by a bullet. The last part of thew movie revealed that they have been abducted by the so called alien. That is the story for you.

The editing was okay and the cinematography was good. The good part about this movie is the location namely the lush green forest where the Nic Eastman (the hero) jog and the breathtaking canyon over which a long bridge is built. Besides that there is nothing intersting in this movie. The movie suffer from the following weak links. Nic Eastman who could not walk but he can drive which is amazing. Further, the two able friends stay in the car while the lame Nic go inside a store and purchased coffee for the able friend and he fells down. Further, in the movie it was shown that Nic was able to walk on his own. It was not highlighted how he couldn't walk. Further, I don't know the reason why the alien abducted them and did some weird experiment on them. Nothing is clear in this movie except that it is not a movie to watch.

The storyline is very weak. The thrilling part is not very thrilling. So I would suggest you all to skip this movie and make your leisure a pleasant one.  

Review of “THE ARTIST”

     It is said that action speaks louder than word. The film “the  Artist” glorifies this saying. It is a film that is based on the action not on words. It is a black and white movie as well as a silent movie. So whatever the actors want to convey they had to do so through their acts alone. Indeed they had succeeded in doing so. This film has won the Oscar award for the best film for the year 2012. Really, it deserves it.

     You can learn a lot from this film if you are willing to learn. First of all, the film has proved true that the greater the risk the greater is the reward. The Artist is a silent movie. Being a silent movie the film crew has taken a great risk in today's world of multimedia and technology. It has been richly awarded with many rewards.

     Secondly, the film proved that “nothing fails like success” (quoted by Robin Sharma). The protagonist of the movie Mr. George Valentine was once the apple of everyone’s eye when the silent movie was in vogue. But due to his pride, his unwillingness to adapt to the change in circumstances he finds himself in trouble.  He lost his popularity, his fan, and moreover the work as an actor.

     Thirdly, the movie also preaches that you should constantly innovate yourself or be ready to perish. As the hero of the movie find out through the difficult situation when he stops innovating. He finds it ridiculous the idea of the talkies. Soon, the audience finds out that talkies made better sense than silent movie. The hero finds himself out of work. However at the end the hero along with the heroine gives the concept of musical movie to the world of cinema.

     Fourthly, you can get a lesson in history also. The Great Depression of the 1920s, the birth of talkies, the emergence of the musical movie have all been shown in this movie. Thus the movie is steep in knowledge as well as in wisdom.

     Well, I would like to thank Mr Michel Hazanavicius the director of the movie for directing such a wonderful movie. Next I appreciate the risk taking ability of Thomas Langgman, the producer of the movie for producing such a great movie. The actor specially the Jean Dujardin (George Valentine), Uggy (the dog) and Berenice Bejo (Percy Miller) have done a tremendous acting. They have uplifted the movie to its present height.

     So it is a must watched for discerning audience.

Review of the FANTASTIC FLYING BOOK OF Mr. MORRIS LESSMORE.

A thought provoking short animation film from Moonbot studios. It has won the Oscar Award for the Best Short Animation film 2012. Indeed, it has all the ingredients of an award winning movie. A silent short animation film that speaks so beautifully without any sound from the characters. Only the background music as well as the acting of the characters will make up for the voice that is not there. Who needs to hear when you can listen with your own eyes? This is unique feature of this short animation film.

     The film begins with Mr. Morris reading and writing on his diary sitting comfortably on his balcony. Suddenly there was a storm or a cyclone. It shattered everything including the building of Mr. Morris. When the cyclone subsides it leaves behind a trail of destruction. It wipes out the colour from the life of the people. Then Mr. Morris with his empty diary was walking sullenly. Unexpectedly he sees a flying lady being pulled by flying books. He jumps over the fence. Then there is colour in his life again. He finds a house full of books. He spends the rest of his life gaily among the books. When he dies he was flying just like the flying lady.

     The story seems to be very simple. But it has a deep meaning. It shows that life will be only black and white without books. It is the books that bring colours to our life i.e. by entertaining us through wonderful stories, parables, novels, poems. Books   not only entertain us but also provide useful information as well as wisdom. In other words, books give us the reasons to be happy.

     The film is directed by William Joyce and Brandon Olenburg. They had done a tremendous job in directing this movie. William Joyce is also the writer of this movie. It is a dedication film to Mary Katherine Joyce.

     The film will entertain small kids by the flying books, flying lady, the way Mr. Morris is swept away from his balcony by the cyclone. All these will be enjoyed thoroughly by the kids. Adult will find this movie thought provoking. So it is a film that will  be equally enjoyed both by adult as well as kids.

Review of “the Harmonium in my Memory”

     The film is an entertaining, thought provoking, shot in wondrous landscape and an educative film. A Korean movie produced in 1999 which is very refreshing to watch. A movie which has three distinct parts—the beginning, the middle and the climax. The initial part as well as the finale part is the thought provoking part. While, the mid-section of the movie is where you are entertained to the fullest.

     You will remember your childhood when you are watching this movie. the film will brings those days when you love to play although being reprimanded by your parents for neglecting your chores. But still you play. This is the part aced by Hongyeon (played by Jeon Do -yeon). You will like her for her childish act. The part where she kicked her brother from the bed and the portion where she keeps on skipping rope with her baby brother hung in her back that is the most entertaining part. You will just laugh your heart out. Just enjoy the film I can’t list all the entertaining part.

     It also portrays the first crush of adolescent. A student falling in love with the teacher. You will be reminded of your teen years. The sight of your beloved making you run away. This is the thing that you will relive in this film.

     You can see how the Korean peasants live their hard life in an easy way. They made no complain. The families are closely knit very much like ours. The rural landscape portrayed in the movie will bring you very close to nature.

     The director as well as story writer Lee Young Jae has done a tremendous work. The film is clearly a tremendous work of art.  The actors and actresses of the film play their part very realistically. You will be wowed by the film.

     So, my suggestion to you all is that watch the movie and let the movie entertains you. You will regret it if you don’t watch this wonderful Korean movie. 

Review of "ROCKSTAR"

        It is a film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali. Imtiaz Ali has also made the films like JAB WE MET and LOVE  AAJ KAL. Rockstar is an unusual movie with a unconventional story. The way the movie unfolds is also very uncommon. However Imtiaz Ali has done justice to the movie as a whole. The film holds itself despite the unusual nature of the story.

        The film begins with the dialogue “there is someplace beyond the right and wrong of this world.” And this film is not about the right and wrong of this world. The film revolves round the story of Janardhan aka Jordan( played by Ranbir Kapoor). Jordan is a man whose life revolves round music especially rock music. Before Janardhan becomes Jordan he is innocent, simple and docile. His only mission is to entertain the world through his music. For that he was scolded and abused by his family members and even get beaten by policemen. His friends took advantage of his passion for music. He was even ousted from his home.. He falls in love with a girl(played by Nargis Fikri). But he realised that he was in love with her after she was married to another man. Thus, beginning the conversion of Janardhan to Jordan. The docile Janardhan turns into a man filled with angst , who is creative, passionate and very eccentric rockstar. But his mission remains the same, that is to entertain everyone with his music. This is the story in brief.

        The best thing about this movie is it gives a lot of freedom to those audiences who have the ability to think what the story should be. In other words, the film says lot of things without showing it. Another great thing about the movie is that both time and space are treated as flux. That is the film jumps from one place to another in the next shot. Time is also treated in the same way.

        Now about the acting part, what I like about Ranbir Kapoor is that he plays the role of a rockstar very well. I realised after watching this movie why does the rock shows get cancelled at the last moment. You will realise why the albums of rock bands have dangerous names.

        The music in the film is composed by the maestro A.R. RAHMAN.  All the songs have wonderful music but the music of two songs stands out. The songs are SAADA HAQ and JHO BHI MEIN KEHNA CHAHHO.

        All in all the film scores well in its story lines. The music is great. The acting of Ranbir Kapoor is great. The way the movie is shot is innovative atleast in Bollywood. The subject matter is mature. So I will suggest you to go and enjoy this movie. But the only requirement is that you should be a fan of rock music and have an appetite for experimental movie. If you fulfill these two criteria, then this is definitely the movie for you.