Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Authority and 'good,honest,innocent men'


The most important message of a crucifix, was how cruel supposedly sane human beings can be when under orders from a superior authority.
- Kurt Vonnegut


Charles Xavier: Erik, you said yourself - we're the better men. This is the time to prove it. There are thousands of men on those ships, good, honest, innocent men. They're just following orders!

Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto): I've been at the mercy of men just following orders... never
again!
- X Men First Class

What would my Dad have done?

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Vinnaithandi Varuvaya

If I were a 22 year old and saw someone like Trisha day in and day out near my house I too would probably fall head over heels for her. But I'm me. Its hard to tell why people fall in love and whats that all about. How is physical attraction love? If people couldnt agree on the life's fundamental questions or were'nt humble to accept the differences then how can there be love? no matter how attractive they are. I'm way past that phase of love at first sight. how the hell does that happen and how do you know. geee...
But the film was very beautiful. I have become cynical about romance films. The one closest to my heart is Eternal sunshine.... anything shallow and pretentious just goes for a toss. and whats shallow you ask .... different blog post for that.
This film has good acting by the two leads, for most of the time in the film. Such films make me optimistic, that probably there's something real to romantic cinema.
This was my first Tamil film that I watched with subtitles. I had seen Anjali and Alai Payuthe. but that was not watching the film in the exact sense of the term.
Anyway, the film is good because it has a soul. A kind of craziness which few i ve seen to have the courage to be honest.
If its Bombay we destroy cinema halls cause we just cant stand that muslim and hindu got married. So the film says yeah its really difficult for such couple to survive. Its got the soul because it goes a couple of layers deeper in portraying the weaknesses and struggles the two have to go through. So the two will conform and will listen to the heart but wont withstand the pressures. They will live with broken hearts because nobody always gets everything. They conformed the way society and families wanted them to.
Towards the end I started loving the pain of staying apart. Its beautiful the way they are apart. No, dont live happily ever after. Thats not your fate. You be there incomplete and broken and in a gaping hole. You see the love which will never be yours and you stay there in your melancholy.
the heartbreak is what works for the film.
If you have to have everything you really need to take tough decisions. If your girlfriend needs to come down to be with you thats a personal front. On the work front you know you're learning the trade of filmmaking as a nobody, the producer may not allow his girlfriend to be on the set. Here I felt the dude really had to step up. That was the point where Jessie lost the struggle and caved in to family pressures. You know what, you want to chase your dream and have the girl of your dreams, you gotta step up. I love both of the characters precisely cause they are so human.
I was hoping that when Jessie says she doesnt like films, for the first time I thought she's just saying so as to repel him. Later it turns out she was serious, which was a bit confusing.
Dont get me wrong I loved the ending. I just hope the director showed some style in the way he showed the shattering the illusion of the two living happily for the rest of their lives.
This reminds me a quote from the movie A single man:

"Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty."

This beauty in weakness and struggle and just the fragility of being human is what I like in this film as I did in the eternal sunshine. As opposed to run of the mill films that worship how heroic the heroes are.
I was chuckling most of the time that I was watching because how frank the film was. I mean how do you just say "I love you" wierd. Regards to the very first line - In that age its difficult to separate the physical attraction from a solid relationship. The guy acted very well. Amazing in fact, the longing, the restlessness im sure many can realte to. As the time passes, where is the "chemistry" that he talks about when he was courting her?. To avoid fooling yourself and your loved one is a challenge.
i was also chuckling because i recalled the fond(?) memories of my time in kerala.
As always rahman's music defines the colors of emotions in new ways. Every song of his teaches me something new and there is a lot I can write about. And I love this tickling as I giggle and listen to 'Anbil Avan' right now - how these songs convey emotions to me when I cant understand a single word.
I love this poster too.
PS: I might as well have addressed this post to Keeths.