"Enthiran" review

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

In the United States, the 2010 madcap Bollywood action film “Enthiran” is probably most well-known for the absurd yet stunning action sequences which have been shared on YouTube and seen by millions.  I was gobsmacked when I first watched them, but nearly a decade passed before I tracked down a DVD to find out if the whole movie was as good as those clips.  When the disc arrived, I was quite shocked to discover that I was in for a three-hour feature!  Would “Enthiran” be good enough to be gripping for so long?  I am thrilled to offer a jubilant YES!

“Enthiran” is a screwball sci-fi delight!  While I am not very familiar with the Bollywood style of cinema, I can still unequivocally state that this is one of the most entertaining movies that I’ve ever seen.  I cannot recall any other viewing experience that has engaged me so completely despite the movie’s bladder-busting running time!  How is this possible?  Energy and creativity, both of which “Enthiran” has bursting from the seams.  It’s been a long time since I felt such genuine enthusiasm in blockbuster filmmaking!

 “Enthiran”, which means “robot” in the Tamil language, is a cautionary tale of creation, an adorable, doe-eyed romance and a blistering, bullet-ridden spectacle of destruction.  Yet all three seemingly disparate narratives are deftly woven together into a beguiling mélange of innocent whimsy and mature menace.  The virtuosic visual invention, color-drenched cinematography, myriad costume designs and elaborate sets are a fantastic feast for the eyes, and the story consistently moves at a snappy pace without being confusing or cryptic.

Brilliant scientist Dr. Vaseegaran invents a robot in his likeness with artificial intelligence whom he calls Chitti.  Vaseegaran hopes to have Chitti approved by his government to take the place of human soldiers.  However, Chitti will obey any order given by anyone, so the potential for collateral damage is too high and Chitti is rejected.

Aishwarya *sigh*

Vaseegaran’s professional woes are compounded when his girlfriend Sana wants to break up with him due to his obsession with his work.  However, once Chitti saves Sana from some leering thugs, she forgives her brainy boyfriend and even becomes friendly with his new creation.

Vaseegaran then gives his programmable progeny the ability to feel emotions, and things take a dark turn when Chitti falls in love with Sana!  This sinister situation is worsened when Vaseegaran’s former teacher, Bohra, jealous of Vaseegaran’s creation, obtains Chitti and gives him a malevolent military upgrade.  Sana refuses Chitti’s romantic intentions, and his new license to kill enables Chitti to exact his vengeance upon Vaseegaran and the entire world.  Chitti makes multiple copies of himself, and then abducts Sana, planning to use her to create a new hybrid race of “robo-sapiens” hell-bent on global domination.

“Enthiran” is full of familiar clichés and hoary old tropes, but there is so much genuine joy in the telling that it still works like gangbusters!  Even more impressive is that while some of the CGI is crude or clumsily, this doesn’t have a negative effect.  In fact, it works in the movies’ favor by being executed with such sheer vitality and zest that it actually becomes charming!

And the musical numbers!  Oh, my various gods, the musical numbers are SUMPTUOUS.  All the songs are irresistibly dance-able while also conveying important character exposition, and every shot is filled with eye-goggling costumes swaying to the beat with sparkle to spare!

All this mesmerizing choreography is often set in stunning locations such as the sand dunes of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil and Machu Picchu in Peru!  Even the indoor sets are grandiose in scale and style because the camera movement, editing and lighting continually generates a rainbow blast of epic imagery.

Bollywood movies may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and I can understand how some might find the irreverent silliness and cartoonish mayhem too much to accept, but I’m personally ready to drink straight from the kettle after the phantasmagoria of “Enthiran!”

What flaws are present are completely overwhelmed by the fire-hose of visual invention that may strain plausibility but does not dampen pleasure.  There is an persistent and irrepressible sense of fun that is utterly seductive.  You can’t help but fall in love with “Enthiran!”

If you want to watch this film on DVD, this Amazon store has excellent copies.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GUOQT2M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

However, I do have a few caveats.  On several occasions the movie goes black for 1-2 seconds before continuing.  I'm unsure whether this is purposeful, but I suspect it may be connected to reel changes.  There is also a watermark that appears on the right side of the screen several times, although it is faint and mostly unobtrusive.

Finally, there are some elements involving the status of women in Indian culture which will feel a little cringe-y to certain eyes.  However, as the film is not meant to be taken seriously, I don't think it would be worthwhile getting into a twist over such archaic social mores.

"The Visitor" - review

Writer-director Tom McCarthy's first film "The Station Agent" is a subtle and disarming film about three disparate characters trying to connect and communicate.

It introduced future Game of Thrones fans to the talents of Peter Dinklage, and told a story about a little person that didn't focus solely on the fact that the main character is a little person.

"The Station Agent" was an auspicious debut, and McCarthy's follow-up "The Visitor", is an enthralling examination of the power of empathy and friendship set amidst turbulent and fractious global times.

Fans of "Six Feet Under" will immediately recognize Richard Jenkins as he played the dead-but-not-gone and wickedly wisecracking father figure of that series.

In "The Visitor", Jenkins is Walter Vale, an economics professor and widower who has been going through the motions for years.  His life is ordered, but it is without joy or meaning.

A chance encounter breaks the bonds of Walter's boredom and sets him on a new path to inspiration and joy.

Walter discovers Tarek and Zainab, a young, unmarried immigrant couple squatting in his often unused New York apartment.

It's unclear exactly how they were given keys to Walter's place, but he doesn't have the heart to throw them out in the street.  Instead, Walter finds himself drawn to the rhythms of Tarek's djembe drum.

Tarek begins to teach Walter, and the two men form a fast friendship while playing together in drum circles at Central Park.

Gloria Estefan was right!  The rhythm is gonna getcha, and it hooks Walter HARD.

He had been trying to learn piano because his late wife was an accomplished player with a library of CD recordings, but for Walter, the drum is the tool best suited to help him find his mode of self-expression.

But when Tarek is suddenly arrested by transit cops who wrongly believed him to be a fare jumper, Walter's new nirvana is threatened by the merciless application of law following the flood of immigrant fear after 9/11.

Tarek is taken to a holding facility, and Walter struggles to maintain his composure while navigating the legal nightmare of trying to prevent Tarek's deportation.

Walter's composure slowly crumbles while helplessly enduring the cold and callous treatment of his new friend, and this stress is somewhat alleviated by the appearance of Mouna, Tarek's mother.

Mouna cannot even visit Tarek for fear of being arrested herself because she is also living illegally in the United States.  As Walter and Mouna work together toward arranging Tarek's release, Mouna's beauty, grace, warmth and gentleness elicit feelings in Walter long neglected.

Their time together is sweet, cautiously flirtatious and achingly tender.

But even here, happiness is brief, as Zarek is suddenly deported without notice and Mouna decides that she must return home to Egypt to be with him.

Walter understands, but his newly stoked passions cannot be dampened so easily, so he takes his drum to the subway and begins to pound out his passion and anger for any who will hear.

"The Visitor" came out 6 years after 9/11, and it was a poignant and incisive criticism of the knee-jerk political and cultural reactions to that horrific event and the damage that they wrought upon countless families and friends.

Today, "The Visitor" has lost not one iota of its relevancy and significance in calling out the black-or-white dogmatism that often characterizes decisions made in haste and the heat of emotion and fear.

"The Visitor" is a beatific treatise on humanism, and the drumbeat of its intrinsic truth is impossible to resist.

"Dark Passage" - review

“Dark Passage”

An interesting but ultimately humdrum journey.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were one of Hollywood’s greatest pairings both onscreen and off.  Their love affair defied age, status and background.  When they met while shooting “To Have and Have Not”, Bogart was 44 years old, married, and already an industry icon.  Bacall was only 19, single and a complete unknown in Tinseltown.  “To Have and Have Not” was a major hit and was quickly followed by “The Big Sleep”, which also did very well.  “Dark Passage” was Bogart and Bacall’s third appearance together, but box office lightning did not strike again.

Bogart plays a man wrongly convicted of murder who escapes from San Quentin and gets plastic surgery to avoid detection while trying to prove his innocence.  Bacall is the artist who believes him and while trying to help Bogart find his accuser, they fall in love.  Bogart and Bacall’s crackling chemistry does justice to the romance, but everything that happens around the love story feels clumsy or cliché.

The first act of the film is unusual in that it’s shot from the POV of Bogart’s character since we never see his face pre-surgery.  Initially this choice is a fun visual variation, but once the bandages are off it gets dropped, so it ends up feeling more like more a sight gag than a story necessity.  While a new handheld camera was used to film the POV sequences, the movement is too slow and mechanical to feel natural, which breaks the immersion.

The cast of characters that Bogart meets are familiar archetypes, but unlike Bogart and Bacall, they are oddly paired.  First there’s the taxi driver who just happens to recognize Bogart’s character and also just happens to know a disgraced doctor who can fix Bogart’s face for a small fee.  The actor is great, but the character’s ghoulish bedside manner makes it very doubtful that any man, convict or otherwise, would submit his skin to the scalpel of a doctor who looks like Bela Lugosi channeling Henry Frankenstein!

How did the taxi driver and the doctor come to know each other?  What it is about their “working” relationship that works?  They seem to be from such totally different worlds, yet their dynamic suggests a history that might actually make a better story than the one being told!  Is there an underground specifically for escaped cons needing plastic surgery?  I’d like to see that!

Then there’s the character named Baker whom Bogart bums a ride from just after his jailbreak and whom we later learn is a small-time crook who wants to blackmail Bacall through Bogart.  How did Baker come to be driving by San Quentin that day?  This is also how Bogart meets Bacall’s character a little later after he knocks Baker out and steals his car.  These coincidences are too contrived, and no justifications are forthcoming.

Aside from Bogart and Bacall’s smoldering scenes together, part of what makes “Dark Passage” entertaining was director Delmer Daves’s insistence on actual location shooting in San Francisco.  This live-on-the-street style gives the film a visceral atmosphere that is quite welcome.  Many films shot on studio sets or backlots can feel quite claustrophobic due to the small number of locations and that sense of sterility can carry over onto the screen.  Being outside gives a real feeling of danger for the protagonist and his desire to remain undetected.

Another visually striking sequence is the psychological collage that occurs when Bogart’s character is sedated before his plastic surgery.  Many of the film’s players make an appearance, and the kaleidoscopic effect on their faces is used to great effect with the addition of some quite unusual images to establish the morose mish-mash of so many worries in his head.

“Dark Passage” is aptly titled, as it is a beautifully shot film with great performances, but the story is haphazard and the pacing erratic.  It feels like the narrative was written on the fly without considering any connections between the characters or developing an overall theme for the story being told.  It’s an intriguing puzzle at first, but it ultimately feels like many pieces are missing from the picture.

"First Man" review

A First Class Flight 

I was born on July 20^th, 1969, and as my feet touched the Earth for the first time in a hospital room in Southern California, so too did Neil Armstrong take his first steps onto the surface of the Moon.  Not surprisingly, I’m heavily biased when it comes to my appreciation of space exploration and all of NASA’s stellar accomplishments in the decades since that history-defining moment.  Despite how auspicious both events were (for very different reasons) Neil’s journey was much more perilous than mine!

Still, it is incredibly ironic that so much sacrifice should finally result is a perfect touchdown of the Eagle lander in the Sea of Tranquility!  I fully acknowledge the difficulty of contextualizing the motivations of the Apollo program within the fractious political tensions of the time, and one could easily and endlessly debate the merits of the various catalysts that launched so many men and machines into the last great frontier, but for me this does not lessen the magnificence of Apollo’s culminating achievement.

But why tell this story again?  There have been so many dramatic films and documentaries through the years that have thoroughly examined the vast and complex history of American space flight.  What pieces could still be missing from this puzzle?  The answer is obvious to an aficionado like me: the personal stories of the men and women involved and how the immense pressure from the maelstrom of world political debate affected them and their families, especially given the ever-present mortal impact if a mission should go awry.

I’ve not seen any of Damien Chazelle’s other films, but what most excited me about “First Man” was this young director’s decision to frame the story so that the experience of watching the film occurs mostly from the perspective of Neil Armstrong.  Through every training test, every launch and every escape from a seeming certain death, you are inside the vehicle with Neil.  As the metal creaks and the vehicle shakes to the point where it seems everything might suddenly disintegrate, you are shoulder to shoulder with him.  The film is an utterly immersive and at times harrowing experience that is terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.

But what about the wives?  They didn’t have this unique experience, and their knowledge of what their husbands were going through came mostly through radio or television broadcasts as they were not allowed in Mission Control or anywhere near where their husbands were risking their lives.  I cannot imagine the stress that this would place on any relationship, especially in an era where introspection and emotional vulnerability were NOT looked upon as ideal characteristics for men or women.  Regardless of the weight of your pain, you were expected to carry it without utterance.

Talk about pressure!  And enduring all of this while trying to survive piloting yet another newly minted machine that had hardly been tested much less fully de-bugged!  I get stressed just thinking about it, and yet these men repeatedly cued up for the death-defying challenge while their wives bore the burden of waiting and hoping to never get that one phone call that would shatter their lives and families forever.  Those calls happened often during the years leading up to and after the Moon landing, and Claire Foy as Neil Armstrong’s wife Janet does a superlative job of presenting a woman who truly loves her husband but is deeply conflicted about his career path.

I’ve never been a big fan of Ryan Gosling, as he usually presents a placid façade beneath which roils potentially deep and turbulent waters.  For me, this gets repetitive quickly, but it makes Gosling a superb choice to play Neil Armstrong.  Neil was a very quiet and reserved man who spoke almost curtly and instead let his actions do the talking.  It is a welcome addition to this film that Gosling’s performance includes a few scenes in which he displays heartbreaking sorrow.  It makes his character seem much less robotic and more sympathetic.

The final mission to the Moon is a white-knuckle descent into beautiful desolation.  Again, the camera is rooted inside the vehicle, placing you directly alongside the characters.  You effectively become another crew member, watching in mounting anticipation and dread, fervently hoping for success against the seemingly illimitable odds.  The entire lunar sequence is nearly silent, and the lack of musical fanfare allows the enormity of this penultimate moment to breathe and deeply resonate within.  I’m always SO grateful when filmmakers understand the power of silence.

If only more audiences did, but that’s a rant for another time!

The Last Starfighter - review

Warp Speed to Nostalgia!

The eighties were the decade of my awkward transition from teenager to adulthood.  Video games, sci-fi movies, girls, acne and weird feelings, what a time to be alive!  I lived a good portion of that time in arcades because my raging hormones could be momentarily drowned out by the roar of 8-bit music and the rush of playing my personal favorite coin-op, Bally’s Wizard of Wor.

I loved video games, still do, and “The Last Starfighter” is one of the few movies that manages to successfully use video games as a jumping off point for a delightful story.

While not a Steven Spielberg film, “The Last Starfighter” certainly reflects his influence in its glorification of homespun nostalgia.  The story is absurdly simple and simply absurd, but it succeeds largely because of the earnest performances of the actors, who make the drama ring true and the comedy sparkle with a heaping helping of old-fashioned, aw-shucks enthusiasm.  This sentimentality is difficult to resist because “The Last Starfighter” is just so happy to be a movie!

Lanky but charming Lance Guest plays Alex Rogan, a young man who feels trapped in the trailer park where he lives with his mom and little brother, doing handyman chores for the aging residents.  Alex has a steady girlfriend, but he wants more from life than necking by the lake in a sleeping bag.  He dreams of escaping to college, but when Alex's school loan is denied, he is crushed by the thought of being consigned to replace fuses and erect TV antennas but never see the big wide world outside his little desert valley.

To distract himself, Alex plays a newly arrived video game at the trailer park’s general store.  The machine turns out to be a recruitment tool sent by an intergalactic huckster named Centauri, played by the delightfully hammy Robert Preston.  When Alex beats the game, Centauri appears and offers Alex the chance to actually escape the trailer park, but that choice involves risking his life as a real star pilot in an actual war!  At first Alex balks at this responsibility, but danger at home compels him to make the leap into the great beyond.

CGI was still in its nascent stage, but the visual effects in “The Last Starfighter” hold up quite well, due in large part to the brilliant production design by Ron Cobb.  Despite the modest computing power of this era’s processors, the Gunstar spaceship that Alex commands is a unique and nicely detailed design.  The dogfight action is very well-composed and edited, and Craig Safan’s rousing score soars through it all, keeping our spirits flying along with Alex as he battles seemingly impossible odds.

The supporting cast is wonderful across the board.  Catherine Mary Stuart plays Maggie, Alex’s sweetheart, and her girl-next-door looks, luminous eyes and sweet yet sexy demeanor make her instantly adorable.  Alex’s little brother Louis, played by Chris Hebert, adds a lot of humor without feeling one-dimensional, and all the denizens of the trailer park are distinct even though they don’t have much screen time.  These background characters may feel a bit stereotypical, but this kind of cinematic shorthand is still done with genuine affection.

“The Last Starfighter” is a mighty cornball of clichés.  An unabashed celebration of can-do attitude, romance and adventure which might seem mawkish to those with hardened hearts, but I find its schmaltz to be utterly appealing and infectious.  It’s a love letter to youth in all its optimism, aspirations and starry-eyed wonder.  If you have ever looked up at the night sky and dreamed of cosmic adventure, then “The Last Starfighter” is your ticket to a trip back in time for a vision of the future, eighties-style!