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threewishes
Reviews
Pulp Fiction (1994)
A cinematic experience
I saw this for the first time today. And whilst I cannot say I loved pulp fiction, it is extremely difficult to criticise. I gave it a 10 rating purely for its quality; it deserves nothing less. It was my curiosity to know 'what the big deal is?' that led me to finally see it. And whilst i'm not qualified to say that the film was a turning point in cinematic history, redefining its genre and such, it is undeniably an excellently executed film. If film-making could be eloquent this would be a prime example. As one reviewer pointed out, the story did not need to be told, but none-the-less it is given such style and energy and...pizazz that it feels worth it. The word 'pulp' does full justice to both its definitions.
Perhaps to someone who has experienced enough cinema pre-pulp fiction, it could be seen as a slap-in-the- 'this is how you tell a story folks!'. It shows that you can take characters that the audience usually treats as one-dimensional plot devices/illustrators and turns them into the 4-dimensional complex beings that they are. The characters can no longer be construed even in the loosest sense as 'good' or 'bad' and I don't think it particularly matters. People aren't good or bad; that is what makes them complex and interesting and most importantly - human.
The dialogue is sharp, well-timed and original. A lot of the spoken word conversations are extremely ordinary in content, but they have the ability to make you think. It is the sort of observation you would usually keep to yourself rather than say out loud, almost as if the characters don't think before they speak. The acting of course is flawless as one would expect with the great slew of well-used talent.
I could not recommend this film to anyone but a true film enthusiast - it is a fine piece of art with a 'devil may care' attitude. Too cool for school but smart enough to know its boundaries.
I am certainly curious to see what else Tarrantino has to offer.
Kaminey (2009)
good... not great
I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion especially considering the other comments and reviews, but this film was a decent, watchable film at best. It could perhaps have been great, a perfect 10, but there are a lot of factors to consider. Before watching this I had only one first hand opinion from a friend in India who took his daughter and son-in-law to see it. Being a relatively traditional guy, this film did not much appeal to him, particularly the non-family friendly concepts. It is by no means a realistic film as far as the story is concerned, just an all out entertainer made with a certain style not often seen in Bollywood. Perhaps given the general quality of Hindi cinema I should just be grateful that Kaminey was consistent in its story with a good script and only a couple of well-timed songs. Despite the rave reviews from various websites (inculding this one) I tried to go in with no particular expectations, but still I felt disappointed. The tag-lines for this film are - in my opinion - misleading, and given what I had heard about the complex storyline, I had decided to concentrate from the beginning so as to avoid missing any clues etc. but this was still hardly what I would call a taxing film. the characters may not explain to you what is happening at all times, but the last few scenes round it up pretty well. perhaps the only confusing aspect is the large cast, with various groups of 'bad guys' who, until the end, all looked too similar to one-another. I did however like that costume and set were not over-glamorised and suited the film perfectly. As far as the acting is concerned, Shahid is pretty flawless playing both characters, and I enjoyed Priyanka Chopra's 'Sweety'. There were no weak points per say (I personally wasn't a fan of the final climax scene) but I feel the film is built up to be much more than it is. An exciting watchable film, but nothing ground-breaking.