All right. I am writing this because I have nothing else to do. Its my summer leave and right now I don't have much else to do than sleep and eat. So here is the continuation to the sensational post (link) that had hit the blogosphere like a level 5 tornado.
Don Juan Demarco
It bombed at the box office and got mediocre reviews, but I loved it. Johnny Depp plays the titular role of the worlds greatest lover. Actually he is a delusional schizophrenic who dons the personality of the famous character when a centerfold he is obsessively in love with shuns him as a creep. In the opening sequence he displays his charm by seducing a woman at a restaurant and then shows his insanity by trying to suicide because his true love does not want him. He is taken to a mental hospital by Marlon Brando, a successful psychiatrist who is about to retire.
In each evaluation session Depp narrates his imagined life story (some very funny scenes there). Brando's character slowly gets enraptured by Depp's incredible vision of reality. He soon enjoys a reinvigorated marital life by increasingly thinking like his delusional patient. I cant help but think that people will be happier if they are delusional or ignorant of reality. Sure reality will catch up with you once in a while and deliver a sucker punch. But that's OK.
Ladies should especially enjoy this movie (I think they are the target audience), it has some very interesting dialogues. For example once Depp says "Have you ever loved a woman until milk leaked from her as though she had just given birth to love itself, and now must feed it or burst?". And yes that Bryan Adams song is the sound track of this movie.
Great Expectations
We all know the story. Fisher boy meets beautiful but bitchy Estella and falls in love. Boy never forgets her, gets rich. The girl grows up into a succubus kind of hell spawn and tramples over the boys heart. But he still loves her. Finally she develops more humane feelings and there is a possibility for a happy ending. I like the movie because it is superbly artistic. The cinematography both in Florida and New York, background score, settings/props and costumes are all fantastic. View it only for that, if you expect a realistic portrayal of the Dickens's masterpiece don't bother watching this adaptation. Also Gweneth Paltrow is very convincing as the heart breaker.
Guna
Here is another Tamil movie that has been completely ignored. It is not a masterpiece. It is a brutally realistic film about a mad man (Kamal Hassan) who is obsessively in love with an imaginary celestial beauty he calls Abhirami. There is no glorification of the hero, he is simply a mad man. He meets a beautiful lady and is wrongfully made to believe that she is his Abhirami. He ends up abducting her and hiding in a jungle. She begins to see that he almost worships her and that his love for her is boundless and she falls for him in spite of his insanity. In the jungle they both refuse to accept reality and the mad man's delusions are all that matter to them. Very good acting and a few melodious songs add to the credits of the movie.
Old Boy
It hasn't escaped me that the three movies listed above all have similar story lines. Old Boy is not like any of those. In fact its not like any other movie I have seen so far. It is a terrifying story about the meaninglessness of revenge and has superb acting and direction. A small problem is that it is a Korean movie, but subtitled versions are available. I think a Hollywood remake is on its way. I am not going to describe the plot, just go ahead and watch it. Interestingly there was an unofficial remake (read copy) of the movie made in Bollywood called Zinda. This is fairly common in that talentless desert. When a original movie does come out of there it is drowned in a sea of mediocre or worse movies. I will respect them and their movies the day they respect others.
Don Juan Demarco
It bombed at the box office and got mediocre reviews, but I loved it. Johnny Depp plays the titular role of the worlds greatest lover. Actually he is a delusional schizophrenic who dons the personality of the famous character when a centerfold he is obsessively in love with shuns him as a creep. In the opening sequence he displays his charm by seducing a woman at a restaurant and then shows his insanity by trying to suicide because his true love does not want him. He is taken to a mental hospital by Marlon Brando, a successful psychiatrist who is about to retire.
In each evaluation session Depp narrates his imagined life story (some very funny scenes there). Brando's character slowly gets enraptured by Depp's incredible vision of reality. He soon enjoys a reinvigorated marital life by increasingly thinking like his delusional patient. I cant help but think that people will be happier if they are delusional or ignorant of reality. Sure reality will catch up with you once in a while and deliver a sucker punch. But that's OK.
Ladies should especially enjoy this movie (I think they are the target audience), it has some very interesting dialogues. For example once Depp says "Have you ever loved a woman until milk leaked from her as though she had just given birth to love itself, and now must feed it or burst?". And yes that Bryan Adams song is the sound track of this movie.
Great Expectations
We all know the story. Fisher boy meets beautiful but bitchy Estella and falls in love. Boy never forgets her, gets rich. The girl grows up into a succubus kind of hell spawn and tramples over the boys heart. But he still loves her. Finally she develops more humane feelings and there is a possibility for a happy ending. I like the movie because it is superbly artistic. The cinematography both in Florida and New York, background score, settings/props and costumes are all fantastic. View it only for that, if you expect a realistic portrayal of the Dickens's masterpiece don't bother watching this adaptation. Also Gweneth Paltrow is very convincing as the heart breaker.
Guna
Here is another Tamil movie that has been completely ignored. It is not a masterpiece. It is a brutally realistic film about a mad man (Kamal Hassan) who is obsessively in love with an imaginary celestial beauty he calls Abhirami. There is no glorification of the hero, he is simply a mad man. He meets a beautiful lady and is wrongfully made to believe that she is his Abhirami. He ends up abducting her and hiding in a jungle. She begins to see that he almost worships her and that his love for her is boundless and she falls for him in spite of his insanity. In the jungle they both refuse to accept reality and the mad man's delusions are all that matter to them. Very good acting and a few melodious songs add to the credits of the movie.
Old Boy
It hasn't escaped me that the three movies listed above all have similar story lines. Old Boy is not like any of those. In fact its not like any other movie I have seen so far. It is a terrifying story about the meaninglessness of revenge and has superb acting and direction. A small problem is that it is a Korean movie, but subtitled versions are available. I think a Hollywood remake is on its way. I am not going to describe the plot, just go ahead and watch it. Interestingly there was an unofficial remake (read copy) of the movie made in Bollywood called Zinda. This is fairly common in that talentless desert. When a original movie does come out of there it is drowned in a sea of mediocre or worse movies. I will respect them and their movies the day they respect others.
