Man Of Steel

Script: David S. Goyer
Direction: Zach Snyder
Cast: Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Where was Superman?

Man of Steel starts off well and then does good groundwork in laying down Clark Kent's confusions and angst when suddenly after 90 minutes someone decides: OK! Now its time for action!! And all the buildup, direction is just thrown away to give way for some genre-defining jaw-dropping action. And the action, although is amazing and exactly the kind of action Superman deserves, served to be distracting when you are hoping that some of the Clark Kent's issues raised earlier would be resolved. But No. We still have a 33 year old man wearing a blue suit flying around saving earth while still confused about his loyalties and himself. He throws his superpunches, moves at great speeds,  flies around, fires laser from his eyes and even deflects bullets but he is still NOT Superman. Considering that this is an origins film there is no definitive point when Clark Kent becomes Superman. And wearing suit and the cape doesn't count! Neither does the moment in the end, added shoddily to lift up the mood from the grim General Zod-Clark Kent showdown, when Clark Kent crashes a US Surveillance flight and confidentally and charmingly asks General Swanwick to trust him. 

This is not a case of too much action- Its just that action took up some plot development time. This is not a case of the absence of the 'fun' superman-this was apparent from the trailers. This is not the case of high expectations or some prejudices about a Superman movie. It is a simple case of hit and miss.

The Hunt(Jagten)

Script: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm
Direction: Thomas Vinterberg
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen
Genre: Drama

Jagten begins with innocence. Innocent kids jumping and climbing on their lovable Kindergarten teacher Lucas. An innocent girl develops a crush on her teacher and kisses him on his lips. An innocent boy naughtily asking Lucas to wipe off his ass after he is done with "number two". And to this you add an innocent lie about the Lucas abusing the kids sexually and suddenly the above images change their nature.  This is the horror with which Jagten hits you.

Jagten is about the frailty of the human mind and how it horribly it can affect someone else. We are shown the slow and painful degradation of Lucas's life after the lie. But there is no one to blame for his situation. Neither the kid who starts the lie, neither the people who over-react, neither his colleagues, no one. Everyone is behaving the way they would be expected to behave. The way you and I would behave. There are many things remarkable about Jagten. But the most unsettling is the feeling of helplessness. Lucas is thrown to the mercy of the society who refuse to believe him even after he is acquitted by the law. A badly divorced 40 year old man living alone with limited access to his kid is not exactly considered a reliable person in a society. But its not just helplessness at Lucas as he attempts to live respectfully as an innocent man in vain, but helplessness at the general human condition who are helpless against prejudices, biases and conformational tendencies. We, human beings, are not perfect. We are not free. We are slaves of our minds, of our opinions, perceptions, biases we have knowingly or unknowingly developed as we grew into what we are now. Imperfections which sometimes make the truth inconceivable for us. We may try hard to know the complete truth. But there will always be times and situations where we will not. We will make mistakes. There will always be a margin of error. And in those margins of errors we will create tragedies out of innocent lives. 

The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending is told through the eyes of a retired Englishman who is suddenly forced to revisit his past when the mother of his ex-girlfriend bequeaths him the diary of his long deceased friend. This diary which the narrator believes holds the key to his friend’s suicide is held back by his ex-girlfriend for unknown reasons and in his efforts to get it back, the narrator walks through the foggy lanes of his memory to understand the events of his past.

The Sense of an Ending takes interesting digs at memory, perspectives and raises question at the concept of objectivity at both individual level(through the eyes of the author) and a group level(through the discourses on history that the narrator remembers). The narrator takes you from his own impulsive declaration that “history is the lies of the victors” in response to a question posed by his history teacher, to his own realization at a later point in his life that it is neither the lies of the victors nor the delusions of the defeated but “ more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious nor defeated.” 

Told from such a viewpoint, The Sense of an Ending actually blurs out so many, what you feel are, important parts of the story through the narrator’s bias developed due to his own insecurities and, as he describes it, his “instinct of self-preservation.”. The story told is, but, the narrator’s memories of what happened and although you will simply accept what he says in the first part of the book when he narrates his life story, it is in the second part of the book when you will really begin to see through his subjective personality and begin to realize that the truth is something else. And you frantically wait for him to take you down his memory lanes, so that you can view the incidents without his tinted view to unravel the truth which is revealed only in the last few pages of the book.

The Sense of an Ending brings in a deep sense of loss when it depicts the loss of human objectivity in the interest of self-preservation and the consequences it leads to. Although a gripping read, it ends with a note of remorse and leaves you feeling helpless and in a state of “unrest”.

Stoker

Sript: Wentworth Miller, Erin Cressida Wilson(contributing writer)

Direction: Chan-wook Park

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman

Genre: Psychological Thriller

What attracted me to Stoker was it's posters. The first one was with all the three major cast members standing in their characteristic poses, a severe looking Evelyn Stoker(Nicole Kidman), a weirdly confused India Stoker(Mia Wasikowska) and the mysterious Charles Stoker(Matthew Goode).

The other one was with a portrait of Mia in B&W with the words "Innocence Ends" printed on her forehead. "Innocence ends" can actually be a very appropriate one line summary of this film as it is about India's growing up and coming to terms with her repressed urges, thoughts, long held secrets and how on realizing them she finds freedom.

Stoker is about India Stoker, a 18 year old girl who, after losing her father, to whom she was very closely attached, becomes a little lost and confused about herself and is suddenly facing her violent urges and thoughts alone which her clever and aware father was subconsciously trying to suppress. At one point, India ruminates:

He used to say, sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse.

Her father, who knew that there is a streak of violence running in their family blood and recognized it in her own daughter, tried to keep it suppressed it in her daughter by indulging her in hunting and stuffing her kills which she clearly enjoyed. But then she turns 18, her father dies and she is forced to suddenly face her erstwhile unknown feelings and urges which is symbolized with the return of her mysterious and hitherto unknown Uncle who shares the same streak of violence. Although she is unaware of the violent streak, she is still inexplicably attracted to him after an initial impulse of repulsion, somethign which is brilliantly shown in a piano duet scene between her and her Uncle.

Stoker is so perfectly embedded in its metaphor and symbolism that you cannot help but feel a sense of pleasure and brilliance when things unfold through it. Whether it is Mia's growing up shown through her transition from shoes to heels(and that too gifted by her Uncle!) or it is her coming to terms with her true self through her relationship with her Uncle you can see the hints lying about in the movie in all the frames.

And what complements the script is the exceptional editing, cinematography and sound design which capture Mia's highly sensitive and aware character so efficiently and consistently throughout the film and not just in the scenes in which you are meant to.

The end is a little open-ended but showcased brilliantly, with a sense of incompleteness but yet with no loss of satisfaction, when you wonder what would India do, now that she knows about herself. Will she continue what her father was trying to do, or will she go the way her uncle was going? And the tension of her conflict is shown when Evelyn Stoker says:

You know I've often wondered why it is we have children in the first place and the conclusion I've come to is at some point in our lives we realize things are, they're messed up beyond repair. So we decide to start again, wipe the slate clean, start fresh and we have children, little carbon copies we can turn to and say, you will do things I cannot. You will succeed where I have failed because we want someone to get it right this time.

But the film is not without its disappointments. One wishes for Nicole Kidman's character to have more significance and meaning(Or maybe there was and I didn't get it!). Also the sexual tension between Charlie and Evelyn is too artificial and does not seem natural even from Evelyn's point of view.

Stoker deserves a careful and undisturbed viewing and it will extract that out of you through its taut script, brilliant cinematography and editing. It is cinematic delight with all cinematic elements complementing each other for a splendid visual treat!