Of Movies and Musings.

1.This post is not intended in any way to criticize anyone's opinions.

2. When I say movie, I mean Hollywood.

Just like for anything else, everyone has their own opinion of movies they watch. Where once only the Academy existed, now there're entire websites dedicated to reviews and ratings. IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes.. you get the point.

This, inevitably has led to the biasing of the public's judgement. Many worship IMDb and their list of the top 250, and some of them don't watch anything rated below 7. Others call the movie total crap if it somehow passes over their head, or doesn't live up to their expectations.

Personally, I don't judge a movie by its rating. Not entirely, at least. I think I've more faith in the Academy.

Now you can all come at me flying with daggers, 'Tera kya jaa raha hai... Sabki apni choice hai..' etc.

Before you do so, I'm not here to tell you to make the right choice. This is not about what movies you like, but about those you don't like and tag as nonsense. The minds behind the movie deserve much more respect and credit than what we give. After all, it's a work of art.

Consider Da Vinci's art as an example. Most of you would be aware about the plethora of interpretations of The Last Supper, or the symmetrical beauty of The Vitruvian Man or the mystery behind that Mona Lisa smile. Heck, these very intricacies form the grounds for so many novels, and subsequently documentaries/movies.

That's the power of one single image.

Imagine the possible depth in a string of such images. Vis-a-vis, a movie.

If you think that you can comprehend that depth in one watch, you're kidding yourself. Of course, not everyone prefers to go that way. Some like it shallow. But please don't go mocking legends like Christopher Nolan, just because you didn't get Inception. 

DiCaprio with God.

Again, the problem is not is your depth or shallowness. Yes, some people just watch movies for fun, and some dig deep and try to look from the director's perspective. But no movie deserves to be called trash, especially when a movie blossoms after the painstaking efforts of hundreds. Ask yourself, does calling Mona Lisa stupid make any sense to you at all ? A movie is no different. They're both a work of art.

One of my friends made a movie (Antiparallel) in his first year. There was a lot of publicity before the screening, and expectations were high. I couldn't attend the screening for some reason. Afterwards, on what I heard from most friends, they didn't get one bit of it. Two years later, when this guy became a close friend, I finally watched it. Obviously, after what most people said, I wasn't too fussed about watching it.

It turned out to be superb. I had to watch a couple of scenes twice, and had a doubt about the last one. But coming from a first year, it was surprisingly intense and ornate.

I felt guilty about my earlier judgement. Art needs time to be perceived. 

The same goes for Inception too. Every time I watch it (5-6 times as of now), I observe something new, and it leaves me astounded every single time.

I'm not endorsing my friend's movie or Inception here (But I don't deny Christopher Nolan is my God). At some point, I'm sure many of you have discovered new insights after watching a movie again.

Lastly, this isn't a request to go watch the entirety of Hollywood and try hard to fall in love with every one of them. It's obviously up to you what you wanna watch. All I'm saying, some movies deserve more than one watch to be judged. And don't let sites like IMDb cloud your opinion even before you watch it, when you have a working brain to make your own opinions.

So, the next time you hear your mom tell off you, or your sibling, "Kitni baar dekhoge? Aajtak koi chapter toh padha nahi ek baar se zyada..", you can tell her that:

Mom, there are some things that are just meant to be done again.

Review: The King's Speech

There are few who wouldn't be curious about a movie, which gets nominated for 12 oscars.

For those who didn't know that, I bet you are now.

DISCLAIMER: The blogger is not responsible for anyone who feels their experience was ruined by reading this post.

I hadn't even seen the movie's trailer before watching the movie. And once you read the news that it got 12 academy nominations, you try to look for those parts only, and decide whether it's justified.

The King's speech is a story about George the sixth(Colin Firth), who was the duke of York, and the younger of his father's (the then king) two sons. He had a stammer almost since his birth, and could not speak fluently, with or without a million people listening. This greatly affected his overall confidence in doing anything, so he was never prepared to become King.

After his father's demise, unusual circumstances forced him, and not his elder brother, the actual heir, to ascend the Throne. And hereby, the real story starts.

This was the year 1936, by the way. Just before the second war. The age of Hitler. Imagine the duke's reaction when he was chosen.

Fortunately, he finds a suitable Australian doctor, who gives him elocution lessons, using the most eccentric methods.

All right, I won't disclose anything else. In fact, it doesn't matter that much. This movie is more about artistic performances, than the suspense. Now my remarks:

-Make no mistake, Colin Firth was unbelievable. You don't get to see that level of acting much, these days. The entire movie is worth watching just because of his performance. An oscar after the golden globe, won't be surprising.

- The music director, Alexandre Desplat, makes you feel like you're walking in a forest, with a hint of rain, and a gentle breeze blowing. I love piano. (Although I want to see Hans Zimmer with the Oscar for Inception)

-Helena Bonhem Carter, the female lead, was also excellent. And by the way, brace yourself, she's the same person who played the role of Bellatrix Lestrange, in the Harry Potter movies. You'd be truly amazed about this, when you watch the movie.

- Geoffrey Rush, the doctor, totally deserves his nomination for the best supporting actor.

- The dialogues, albeit in British accent, can make you rewind.

- The cinematography and film editing are commendable. Although, a real cinematographer would appreciate it more.

So should you watch it ? For those who fall asleep in slow-paced movies, don't. For everyone who thinks a movie is not just about action, romance and comedy, do watch this.

Pure Oscar material. I hope you fully understand what that means.