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Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Touching, absurdly real, sad, happy, nicely made and interesting
It's a story about how the main character Lee's (Casey Affleck) brother (Kyle Chandler) dies and leaves a 16 year old son Patrick (Lucas Hedges) behind. Lee didn't expect that, so how will he handle it?
The film's main focus was the weirdness of the main character Lee. He was different and these questions rose all the time: is he OK, is he normal, what happened to him, why is he like that, does he have some mental disease (I really know someone who has in "real life" and they act exactly like Lee).
The cinematography was very neat, clean, tidy and some camera angles were really interesting (the mother sleeping on the couch, for example). There were many flashbacks and sometimes it took me time to differentiate past from present.
It portrayed the working-middle class environment (those red brick houses), small spaces, small congested rooms and it had that sense of normality and majority in it. As if the characters were very average normal people (the way the microwave is set in the kitchen with some "Kellogg's" on top)...And there was a little bit the sense of routine and boredom (for them, not for me watching).
Then with the death stepping in everyone seemed to become rather dysfunctional...And the creators were especially focusing on "the awkward stuff", the taboo type of things...
I cannot say I still understood Lee, his character and what really happened to him and why is he like this at the end of the film. However there were happy moments too and they were with Patrick - his nephew. I liked their relationship, their talks and how conditions made them be together and all that process...There were some really funny dialogues too.
So the film had that mood of when somebody in the family dies, all the world around starts looking and behaving weird. It's that stage of adaptation to the new world (without that person who left) and redefining oneself again. That loss and awkwardness is felt everywhere and in everyone in the film. Of course the snow and naked branches in the background reinforce it even more...There was nothing brutal, it was the normality and casualty of death that was depicted (and how it affected the characters).
Casey Affleck was that guy Lee so much, that it was hard to believe he was acting. His "glassy" eyes, his walk, posture and the way he spoke with all the pauses was very "lethargic" feeling, like that state of complete weariness and depression was getting to me...
Patrick was like the complete opposite - young and lively, normal and logical. Lucas Hedges did a great job, he created a very interesting and likable teen character and the mood lightened up a bit when he was around. But the way he was not given the chance to mourn was absurd (and it's nobody's fault).
Kyle Chandler (Joe, the dad) appeared for not so long, just in the flashbacks mainly and...as the dead body. He was the character of a great dad, well liked and caring who had a special bond with his son.
So yes, I did like this movie, but it was not "Wow, I'm inspired, let's go and dance!!"...It was a really sad film and it made me feel sorry for everyone, but "this is life". We will all have to deal with this sooner or later, so it unites us in a way. Perhaps it's just important to know how to appreciate what we have and things will fall into places...
Crime Patrol (2003)
"Crime Patrol" is not an ordinary show
"Crime Patrol" is different from all the other Hindi TV crime shows. It was called "Crime Patrol Dastak", but now we know it as "Crime Patrol Satark". It is one of the oldest TV series that base their content on real cases. It is really the only show that I watch on the TV (well, SET India uploads it on YouTube on Saturday's and Sunday's). It comes on TV at 11:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
So why is "Crime Patrol Satark" special? I think it has to do with the director's (Subramanian S. Iyer) intention. The intention or the goal of "Crime Patrol Satark" is to bring awareness to the audience and to depict not only the crime for the sake of crime, but the "whole picture". Creators try to show things that can lead to crime: carelessness, greed, infidelity, hot temper or nothing at all...And "Crime Patrol Satark" team do it in a non judgemental way which is very rare and important.
"Crime Patrol" often depicts their cases as if from police's perspective. Police work is usually exemplary and heroic which often is the only thing on the show that conflicts with reality. But who knows? We, viewers, weren't there, so we don't know. Maybe there are great police officers in India who do a great job and even if they aren't, "Crime Patrol" demonstrates an ideal, a dream and a vision of how that should be and how good would it be if it was real.
"Crime Patrol" chooses to show things in real light. There would be no artificially looking sets or actors with perfect make-up and hair (unless the story is about model or call-centre girls or people attending a wedding). Great importance is given to realism, so that the story would be communicated in the clearest and most precise way. And in crime shows, the details really matter, the characters, what they wear, how they talk, where they live, their level of education, what would the real people do in that situation, what would they have for lunch, how would they think being in those situations. Everything is consistent in "Crime Patrol" and this is really the first show that has such an amazing eye for detail.
In many episodes I've found the script and the dialogue being very intelligent, even wise, poetic. I do remember many phrases that inspired me such as this one from "The Quest of Happiness" (Season 4, Episode 349):
(Son to his poor dad): "Daddy, my shoes broke!" (Dad): "Son, don't look at the shoes and you will not know they're broken!"
It's such a wise thing to say and such a good way to think! And it's not only for the shoes, it's about everything! I remember it being one of the most memorable episodes because it was just a piece of art: dark streets, labor "chauki" (stop), "theka" (alcohol shop), angry wife frying tomatoes in a pan - it was amazing!
Another episode that I loved was "Dead Woman Comes Back Alive - Rajhkot" (Season 4, Episode 210)...It started with a blinking bulb at a tiny tea shop somewhere in the fields, when a sleepy "chay wala" (shop owner) sees the dead woman he knows at the truck seat and goes numb...Being an informer, he calls the inspector and tells him he saw a ghost of the dead woman and inspector decides to investigate...I just remember it being so thrilling to watch...
It was 4 years ago and recent episodes became even better, new actors came and many of those faces became stars and I'm sure they have many fans, although we don't even know their names! Only the main cast is being mentioned in "Crime Patrol" such as the anchor Anoop Soni (love his voice!), Sanjeev Tyagi and Nissar Khan...
I could feel some experimentation happening with camera angles in the newer episodes, camera filming the car or motorcycle mirror, the wheels etc...It is nice..
The other good thing about "Crime Patrol" is the way it doesn't show "all the ugly things", such as stabbing or rape or anything that they know we don't want to see...For example, sex would be depicted by a flying "dupatta" (scarf), stabbing would be shown by blood splashing on the wall or floor... The "very" thing would not be shown...So this creates an impression that show creator is smart, intelligent and knows about aesthetics and other delicate subtleties that sometimes can be crucial when it comes to creating moods.
I am not a big fan of mainstream films and I always wanted to see films that represent the reality and reality in India is not beautiful. There are no gorgeous streets and cities like they show in Bollywood movies. Not many people are polite and smiley and helpful. It doesn't look like a paradise, but it doesn't mean it's bad either. It has it's "specialties" and I think "The Gangs of Wasseypur" expressed that very well. I think "Crime Patrol" is like a weekly version of "The Gangs of Wasseypur" with all its "khabris" (informers) and slum streets and women in casual saris...
There is nothing else to add, I'm just happy that "Crime Patrol" is there and that I can watch it every weekend. Some people tell me that I'm a "negativity addict" and that I should watch less of "Crime Patrol", but for me it's not about the crime, it's about the story, the human relationships, the psychology and the dynamics, the things between the lines, it's the HOW and not the WHAT.
I highly recommend this show for everyone who likes time tested quality and a little bit of philosophy! (And of course - a lot of suspense!)
Moana (2016)
Beautiful
Oh, it was such a beautiful movie!!! So nicely made and it had an amazing story. I don't think that I've ever seen an animation based on a Polynesian tribe, so it was very refreshing. All characters were so beautiful, with long curly hair and I was just loving them. Baby pig and chicken were unusual pets and it was another new and fun thing to see.
I loved that the main character Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) was really brave and tough and strong and that the semi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) was sort of grumpy and pessimistic. They made a nice pair, similar to that of a human's heart and brain. Heart is positive and optimistic and brain is rigid and pessimistic.
I really loved everything in the movie, everything seemed new, refreshing, never seen before...Even the crab was different, with a shiny shell... I got so inspired and encouraged by the "Moana" to follow my dreams and inner visions that I was carrying the mood of this film for the next two days. I even dreamed "the Sea Monster" at night (and I'm 33).
It was a powerful movie, with a magnificent story, great dialogues, beautiful songs, cute funny pets, new culture and a great lesson. It was simple yet incredibly rich...It was perfect! Everyone can enjoy it, get inspired and learn from it! As they say: "The greatest wisdom lies in simple things" (although I'm sure it wasn't simple to make it, it does look like an enormous effort, so thanks for the makers!)
Haraamkhor (2015)
An art film about school and love set in rural India
I love art movies and Nawazuddin Siddiqui is one of my most favorite actors. Whenever I hear that his movie is out - I want to see it.
We saw "Haraamkhor" at the theater but didn't bring our daughter with us. I was told that it will have some sexual content and lots of bad language.
The movie is set somewhere in rural India, the landscape is bleak and dusty. The heroes are a 15 year old student Sandhya (Shweta Tripathi) and a school teacher Shyam (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Sandhya lives with her father - a policeman and Shyam - with his wife.
Although we were warned by the note on the screen about a serious problem that Indian government schools are having, especially regarding girls, I had no idea about how will this "female problem" will be depicted. I was actually expecting some horrible female abuse (current Indian trend). But there was none of that.
The lead female personage Sandhya came up as rebellious, expressive, strong and "modern" girl. We do not see the "tradition" here, the caste etc...After watching it I felt that "Indian village may not be that bad after all". I found more positives than negatives in it.
There wasn't a lot of bad language either. I didn't even notice it and while there were some naked backs, it wasn't too sexual.
Of course, the acting and the dialogues were amazing, my husband thought though that the scene with the windmills was overdone, but I liked it. I take it as if local people probably would watch the same scenery again and again (as there is not much to look at in a small village).
There seemed to be two parallel stories happening in the movie at the same time. One was the Sandhya's and Shyam's "chakkar" (affair) and the other one was the little boy's Kamal's (Irfan Khan) one- sided crush on Sandhya. Those two stories seemed to intertwine very little with each other somehow, meeting only occasionally.
It was fun to watch the act of Mintu (Mohd Samad) and Kamal (Irfan Khan), because they were kids and acted effortlessly and naturally. I was wondering if they were the real village kids picked up from there and asked to act or were they some young geniuses...I thought one needs a lot of guts to run around in underwear and pull off whatever they were pulling off.
The magnetism between Shyam and Sandhya was weird and amazing. She was just a 15 year old and Shyam was probably 25 - 30 or so...The young actress face created some sort of magic on the screen when together with Shyam.
Sandhya's father, the police inspector (Harish Khanna) was a very interesting character too. He was distant, skinny, a little philosophical. He too was not a stereotypical police officer and it was nice to see it.
I rated this film 9 stars because despite all of the things that I loved: the cast, the location, the photography, the dialogues, the humor (yes, there was some good humor), the "mood", the music, there was something about the story where I hoped for some more completion, more power (?!). Although perhaps it's the type of story where completion is not possible: the whole film seemed like a fragment captured by a camera of someone who passes by...There seems to be no defined beginning and no defined end and it doesn't seem to matter...Maybe that was the director Shlok Sharma's idea?
Other than that I enjoyed the experience, the calmness, the humor and the realism of "Haraamkhor". It felt like peeping through a keyhole into someone's village, someone's life.
Bloodline (2015)
Suspiciously slow-paced series turn unexpectedly brilliant as events unfold
I have been looking for something really good to watch on Netflix for a while. This time I wanted something "American" and "suspense", but also "tasteful" and "unpredictable". I loved "Broadchurch" and "Fargo" a lot and I was looking for something similar.
Then I found "Bloodline" and was quite drawn by synopsis: "When the black sheep son of a respected family threatens to expose dark secrets from their past, sibling loyalties are put to the test".
Actually I myself was looking for the answers regarding my own family and consider myself being "the black sheep" and I also was very intrigued by the word "secrets". I really wanted to know how that unfolds and whether I could learn or maybe understand something from the show.
"Bloodline's" first episodes were calm and rather slow-paced. A lot of attention was given to the family itself, their relationships, their dynamics. Everything seemed "beautiful and normal" and there was a moment when I thought that maybe the whole series are just going to continue this way. (However I was very wrong).
In the beginning, I was annoyed by the perfection of "the big happy family" and didn't like any of the members but Danny the black sheep. I really could relate to him more as someone who is from a single- parent family married to a big and happy close-knit family. I thought that the depiction of "the family" was typical and very realistic. I have to admit that seeing "the big and happy beautiful" family slowly breaking apart made me like them because all family members started seeming more human to me. (Because I now could relate to the characters more)
I think we all have members in our families (or spouse's families) that we could relate to each and every character depicted in the "Bloodline". So this aspect of the series seemed to me very interesting and even therapeutic in a way.
I came to love all the actors in the series. Ben Mendelsohn ("the black sheep son" Danny) was very interesting to watch and I was just amazed by his "drinker's voice". It was so real.
Linda Cardellini (Meg) looked like my aunt when she was young so much that it seemed that I was looking at her and I just loved her immediately.
Norbert Leo Butz (Kevin) was very exquisite as well and his character made it all even more dramatic and sometimes I even wondered why wasn't he "the real black sheep" of the family.
The main lead character John played by Kyle Chandler was at first "normal" but conditions made him more and more likable and complicated in the end. John's personality was like my husband's and it stayed liked that throughout the whole series (reactions and behaviour etc), so I really liked to watch it.
I discovered that I most of all I could identify myself with Kevin and also with some fragments of Danny.
Because I could discover so much connection and familiarity with the characters, I'm totally in love with the series and it stole my heart completely. I loved the complexity, the theme, the story, the twists, the characters, the actors, the landscape, the music, the "mood", the idea and what I loved the most was that it showed (at least I understood so) that there probably isn't good or bad, there just is perception and perspective, decisions and choices that people make and often it depends on the personality that one comes to this world with what choices will one make or what perception will one own.
Thanks to the creators Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman for bringing these series into the life! I can't wait to see more and I highly recommend it to everyone who is looking for "something very good to watch" on Netflix.