Bridget Jones BabyIn similar vein as the previous two Bridget Jones movie. Not as funny or charming though. Missing a pivotal character. Nice to see Rene Zellweger looking like herself again.
The Magnificent Seven
An entertaining modern day western. It is a remake of the original classic which itself was a remake of Seven Samurai. It is too formulaic. A modern day western needs more chutzpah like Django Unchained. The cast and the chemistry was great.
Storks
A cute family film. The makers are unable to recreate the exhilaration of Lego Movie though. Also the premise is quite silly. Stop trying to make storks happen again.
Sairat
Finally Netflix is streaming the most talked about Indian movie of the year. Although the narrative follows a story we have seen a million times over in Indian cinema, Sairat manages to be refreshingly engaging. This is due to director Nagraj Manjule's attention to some finer details like the small town setting, the casting of kids next door instead of heroes, picking Hyderabad over Mumbai/Pune as the backdrop for the second half.
The final scene is one of the most heart wrenching scenes I have seen in recent times. It really creeps up and lands a sudden sucker punch in the guts. Makers of Walking Dead need to take note that you do not need to resort to gratuitous violence all the time. Sometimes you can skip the gore and still deliver more stomach churning impact.
Sairat is a heart wrenching social narrative on rural India where caste politics still ravage society.
Side Note 1: A big part of Sairat's success is that it does not over romanticize inter-caste marriage. The adjustment to a new lifestyle is difficult. Many fail in the adjustment. Upper class spouses are unable to live more modestly and resent the changes. Lower class spouses are insecure about their stature and resort to abuse verbal or physical to compensate for their presumed low power in the relationship. While caste/class/communal discrimination is wrong and must absolutely be fought against, eventually even the most progressive people seek relationships within their own social lifestyle. Inter marriages are most successful when both sides of the family have similar lifestyles and values. It is very rare that highly disparate incomes or highly disparate moral values gel together in a successful relationship.
Side Note 2: My roommate who watched the initial part of Sairat found Parshya's courtship of Archi extremely creepy and stalkerish. The fact is that romance in India is problematic whether it is cinema or reality. Indian perceptions on gender roles and gender segregation leads to poor gender socialization. Stealing glances, nurturing hopeless crushes, following a crush are middle school behaviors. Middle school students tend to enter into relationships without any common thread based purely on crushes. As they mature they rely on socialization, conversations and communication to find partners who they share some common grounds and ideologies with. The stigma associated with male-female interaction prevents mature healthy relationships. It forces grown adults to resort to middle school socialization dynamics for romance as well. Changing perceptions on gender socialization will address a whole lot of problems in India.
Ok Kanmani
Since OK Jaanu is coming out soon I decided to watch the original. This is a simple and engaging romantic drama. I finally discovered what the fuss about Dulquer Salmaan is all about. The man oozes with endless charm paired well with some really emotive acting. He is refined and avoids histrionics.
The romance is well etched and developed. The lead pair has a great natural chemistry and the scenes between them just feel right. Even the arguments are well developed and not too cliche. The story drags a bit and takes too long, but overall a decent movie. I didn't find it all that great as some people make it.
Side Note
As someone who identifies with the modern youth who is comfortable with live-in relationships and averse to marriage - I always feel that these progressive movies depicting live-ins misunderstand and misinterpret live-in relationships.
People of my generation are not averse to long term relationships. Short term romances happen due to life taking people in different directions and are rarely sought out. People who want flings, short term romances and no strings are explicit about that and will never move in together. Everyone knows that living together means developing emotional bonds and commitments.
Living together is not always a f**k you to society. Living together is a lifestyle choice. It is a means for two busy professionals to be together and sustain a relationship. It is a step to get to know each other. Often times it is an intermediate to marriage or long term commitment.
The aversion to marriage is not an aversion to relationships or commitments, but an aversion to social pressure and norms that dictate relationships. Marriage especially in Indian society comes with a lot of baggage. A lot of times it means an expectation to make certain sacrifices and adjustments. Women are pressured to lose their self identity and get absorbed into the groom and his family. There is pressure and judgement on where and how to live. There is pressure to have children. Relationships change get tense and/or stagnant after marriage due to the added social pressure from both sides of the family.
People who are living together have as much commitment and love to each other as a marriage if not more. Most importantly people who live together do so out of personal choice, without any obligation of a socio-legal contract.
I can never identify with most "modern youth" portrayal in movies. I often find it dehumanizing. Somehow we are portrayed to be more fickle, capricious, and immature than we actually are. We seem to be defined by our social rebellion than the whole humans that we are. Maybe other youth identify with them and get it. Maybe its different for youth in India. But many of these youth films, I simply cannot relate to.
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