THE DIARY OF Z

Agreed Anjelina Jolie is doing some really good work through her humanitarian efforts to alleviate the pains of refugees, but it’s early days yet for her to make a serious bid at politics.

However, news is that she finds Hollywood boring and has now set her sights on the White House. Yup, she wants to be part of the Obama administration and do more for the world.

Some insiders even say that Anjelina could well be America’s first female president 20 years from now. Though one can’t see that far into the future, all I can say is that Anjelina has her heart in the right place. So whichever work she takes up should do her good.

But Ange, I have just one thing to say. Politics is a different ballgame. You need to be cunning, super shrewd, thick skinned and brave all odds. Don’t know if you are up to it.

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Have you always dreamt of having a role in a major Hollywood movie? Think it will bring you money and fame?

Think twice.

We learned this morning that Rubina Ali, the child-star of award winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, is now homeless after the Railway authorities razed her shanty in the Garib Nagar slum in Mumbai.

The event happened a few days after the other child-star of ‘Slumdog’, Azharuddin, lost his home in similar circumstances.

Forget the palaces and luxury residences of movie stars. These kids are now homeless, in the streets of the biggest city in India, struggling for survival.

Of course Rubina and Azharuddin are not the only kids in this situation – far from this. This was their life before ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ came about.

But there are still questions to be raised. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was the movie of the year in 2008. The production won eight Oscars and brought more than 326 $ US million dollars in revenue.

With their smiles, their acting and their spontaneity, Rubina and Azharuddin contributed to this success. It would be normal they could share some of the benefits. Otherwise the conclusion is clear: these kids have been tricked.

So to Danny Boyle, director of ‘Slumdog’, and to Warner Independent Pictures, who produced the movie: what about a little sharing with people who should be considered part of your team? You opened the eyes of the world on the slums of India; what about getting up and doing something about it now? What about helping your own staff a little?

Contributed by PHILIPPE MERCURE

CINDERELLA MAN
145 mins, 2005. Director: Ron Howard
Evocative, manipulative and yet so simplistic, the unwavering script and screen portrayals bludgeon you into submission. Director Ron Howard’s movie skilfully delivers that primal, heart-pounding satisfaction that is the promise of all boxing tales. An excellent drama that relies on heart and action instead of schmaltz and melodrama. The fight scenes have a stinging authenticity and, although at 144 minutes it outstays its welcome, this is Howard’s best film since Apollo 13. Superbly edited, beautifully shot, sensitively acted, and with fantastic grit and texture. Based on the life of athlete Jim Braddock, a once-promising light heavyweight boxer forced into retirement after a string of losses in the ring, it’s the story of a boxer who has known his best days and worst. The crux of the story is how he fights back into the ring to support his wife and children during the Great Depression when money and food are hard to come by.

SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME
113 mins, 1956. Director: Robert Wise
Watch the film for Newman, Paul Newman. He worked himself into peak condition for the role, lifting weights and sparring with top professionals, and his portrayal of the scrappy, often tongue-tied, but wholly likable boxer is superb. Couple this with Robert Wise’s direction – it is fast, aggressive and bright, and the picture is edited to give it a tremendous crispness and pace. He keeps the action fresh and lively, drawing excellent performances from Newman. This adaptation of boxer Rocky Graziano’s autobiography chronicles the middleweight champion’s life from his underprivileged childhood through his juvenile delinquency and his ultimate climb to the top of his profession. It’s a story of courage and dignity. Pay special attention to the first half that depicts the frenetic life of Newman’s early life – there are quotable quotes galore, power-packed performance and razor-sharp editing.

SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER
111 mins, 1993. Director: Steven Zaillian
The mystery of Fischer’s talent and torment adds depth to Searching for Bobby Fischer. It’s about a young New York chess prodigy who doesn’t want his genius to ruin his life. Strange dilemma, eh? Yeah, well, but it’s an intelligently crafted celebration of introspection and decency that is perfectly realized and exquisitely acted. Most of all, it’s a thoughtful and absorbing family drama. And mind you, it takes a lot to make the story of chess-playing little boys as absorbing as this one. In hindsight, the film revolves around chess but really focuses on those precious values that make life worth living – balancing your masculine need for mastery and your feminine feeling side. The film’s simple message is that no one thing should ever dominate anyone’s life, no matter how good he or she is at it. It is about being true to yourself. Watch it for Steve Zaillian’s evocative screenplay.

THE HUSTLER
135 mins, 1961. Director: Robert Rossen
Director Rossen presses all the right buttons in this classic dark masterpiece, and the atmosphere of the pool halls is brilliantly conveyed by Shufton’s black-and-white photography. This film shows timeless struggle and is a classic in cinema. An unusually coherent and accomplished pool drama with a top-notch turn from Paul Newman, as a jaded and disillusioned player. The Hustler packs a cool punch with Newman playing an arrogant and amoral hustler haunting pool rooms to get a crack at bringing down his competition, only to land in a dilemma over his feelings for a woman. The Hustler belongs to that school of screen realism that allows impressive performances and accomplishes the basic goal of pure entertainment. It is indeed a wonderful hymn to the last true era when men of substance played pool with a vengeance, with Newman delivering line after line of crackling dialogue.

APOCALYPSE NOW
1979, 155 mins. Director: Francis Ford Coppola
No film has depicted the fiasco in Vietnam in more mythic form than Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Apocalyse Now is one of the most amazing pieces of celluloid ever produced, capturing not only the ugliness and ridiculousness of Vietnam, but exposing the dark heart of man as well. Coppola’s film is timeless - the setting may change but the wars and the plight of soldiers will remain the same. Alternately a brilliant and bizarre film, Francis Coppola’s four year ‘work in progress’ offers the definitive validation to the old saying, ‘war is hell’. Loosely based on Heart of Darkness, the book by Joseph Conrad, Coppola tells the story of special agent Willard (Martin Sheen) sent to assassinate an errant American colonel (Marlon Brando) in Cambodia. Incredible performances and razor-sharp chaotic visuals make it a must-see. Brando, in his limited screen time, makes an everlasting impression.

THE APARTMENT
1960, 130 mins. Director: Billy Wilder
Tender humour, romance and genuine pathos make this an endearing comedy laced with director Billy Wilder’s customary cynicism. It’s one of the most heartbreaking films you will ever see. And who knows, it could even be a film that defines the real you. It’s amazing how Billy Wilder took a story about infidelity and suicide and turned it into a comedy. That by itself deserves an Oscar. And an Oscar he got – the first comedy to win the Oscar since 1944’s Going My Way. The film tells the story of Jack Lemmon, an office clerk who lends his apartment keys to senior executives to be in their good books, including his boss Fred MacMurray. However, when his boss sets his sights on Shirley MacLaine, an office girl the clerk fancies, things hot up. Watch the film for its diamond-sharp satire with a brilliant performance from Lemmon and his poetic chemistry with MacLaine.

CITY OF GOD
2003, 130 mins. Director: Fernando Meirelles & Katia Lund
City of God isn’t supposed to be entertainment but an indictment of the by product of poverty. Under those terms, it’s impossible not to be moved by the film’s searing honesty. As we see kids of no more than ten or twelve run through the streets with guns shooting those who don’t give them what they want, we can’t help but pity them. I admit, it is not the easiest film to watch, but it is a masterpiece all the same, maybe the best crime drama since the Godfather films. It’s about youth gangs taking over the slums of Rio de Janiero during the 1960s and the troubles each of the gang members go through to maintain their dominance and get over adolescence blues at the same time. At a full-throttle pace and exciting from beginning to end, there isn’t a dull moment. A staggering masterpiece.

CHINATOWN
1974, 131 mins. Director: Roman Polanski
Chinatown is arguably Hollywood’s finest noir thriller. Beyond all the ‘masterpiece’ rhetoric, this is actually a great movie that you should see before you die. Roman Polanski’s direction of Robert Towne’s script makes a masterpiece. It is brilliant filmmaking - the exhaustive, labyrinthine narrative is built up like a fortress around this film’s bitter heart. And what is that? The intrigues and adventures culminating in life-changing moments for its protagonist Jack Nicholson. It is Polanski’s classic detective story set in 1930s Los Angeles where residents suffer from a water shortage due to an ongoing drought. Private eye Nicholson runs a sleazy detective agency. When a client hires him to spy on her husband, who she suspects of infidelity, Nicholson uncovers many scams along the way that makes life hell for him. Watch it because Polanski at his most commercial is still Polanski. Superbly crafted from desire.

These are my favourite Hollywood classics. If you think otherwise, let me know why. And if you agree, why don’t you add your own favourite list to this and let me know through your comments.

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
215 mins, 1934; Director: Frank Capra

This film is a true classic. It withstands the test of time and does one better - defies it fully. Both Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are in top form in this charming and memorable comedy. It’s a romantic comedy that all others draw from, few imitate effectively, and none have been able to replicate. It is the story of a runaway heiress falling in with a devilish, wise-cracking reporter on a cross-country road trip. Only minorly dated, this film would play well for modern audiences despite being more than 70 years old. And who can forget a movie where the girl’s father provides his daughter with a getaway car from her own wedding? Not even the jury at the Oscar – it became the first movie ever to sweep five major Oscar categories. Recommended viewing.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
149 mins, 1962; Director: Robert Mulligan

It is easy to enjoy this movie and hard to forget. Imbibing the best of courtroom drama traditions, this Oscar-winner is poignant as a classic coming-of-age tale and expose of the American legal system. The film is all about a noble gentleman, who is both an upstanding attorney and a single father to two young children. All that is past. Now, he must stand up and do what’s right when an innocent black man is accused of assaulting a white woman. It’s a story about honour and bravery, memory and regret, decency and determination. The ‘surface drama’ is effortlessly engaging. But the social commentary and the sobering subtext gives the film a heart and soul that most filmmakers would kill to replicate. Plus, if nothing else, you’re getting Gregory Peck at the very top of his game … and that’s saying something. No wonder, it won four Oscars, including Best Screenplay (written by Horton Foote), and Best Actor (Gregory Peck).

12 ANGRY MEN
96 mins, 1957; Director: Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men is every bit the classic it’s been made out to be for all these years. One-room dramas don’t get much better than this. The film generates dramatic tension simply by having jury members argue over the fate of a teenager accused of killing his father, a simple premise brilliantly crafted and exploited by director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Reginald Rose. Almost every jury member wants to vote guilty despite lack of concrete evidence but one person stands up for the accused. And that’s when, the real argument begins and continues till the last reels when firm opinions weaken and even reverse. It is a masterful work of debate and dialogue; of shifting momentum and the ideal of sticking to your scruples in the face of antagonistic groupthink. Watch it for Lumet’s direction and camerawork. And what a collection of actors, from Fonda to Warden to Balsam to Cobb to EG Marshall and Begley.

GONE WITH THE WIND
239 mins, 1939; Director: Victor Fleming

The film glows in its well developed ensemble. There’s self-centered ‘heroine’ Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh); her suave suitor, Rhett Butler (Clark Gable); Scarlett’s unattainable true love, Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard); and Ashley’s much put-upon wife, the saintly Melanie Hamilton (Olivia DeHavilland)–and that’s just for a start. It is a film that perhaps defines Hollywood. It’s so full of iconic moments of plotting and dialogue that a feature film could be edited just out of the most quotable moments. Even if it is essentially four hours about a selfish, silly cow, it’s impeccably well made, and should be seen by anyone with even a passing interest in romance or movies. It personifies a lost Hollywood art: the epic melodrama. Hugely expensive for its time, it has every dollar evident on screen, and it is easy to be seduced by its sumptuous visuals, to feel the heat of Atlanta burning.

These are my top four horror films, if i were to pick four from Hollywood. Do let me know what you think. You can add to the list and make it more insightful and vibrant. Happy reading and writing.

THE RING
115 mins, 2003; Director: Gore Virbinski
This film has enough unsettling scares that will keep you awake all night. Based on a 1998 Japanese super hit film, it’s as eerie as they come. It’s about a lady journalist’s niece dying of fright after she watches a disturbing video. The rest of the film is about the journalist’s efforts at finding the tape’s origins and its links to a string of suicides at a horse ranch. Yes, it’s shot-by-shot faithful to the original Japanese film on many counts, but it’s also got its own molar-grinding moments that surpass expectations. The Ring has Naomi Watts coming up with about 45 different facial expressions and just as many moods. And she does it with much aplomb. What scores is the pervasive feeling of dread, rather than cheap scares. With little gore and a lot of creepy visuals, The Ring gets under your skin before you know it.
THE OTHERS
104 Mins, 2001; Director: Alejandro Amenábar

The Others is a spooky thriller that reminds you that a movie doesn’t need expensive special effects to be creepy. Atmospheric, stylish, and spooky, it packs a formidable fright simply through the time-tested special effect of atmosphere. While most horror movies aim for the stomach, this one is made to tingle the spine. Like the best ghost stories, it’s frightening because of what you don’t see; suspenseful because you anticipate disaster, not because it has struck. Before you wonder what the film is all about, here goes… it’s about a woman raising two kids in a haunted mansion. Her problem is compounded because she has to guard them against light as they are allergic to it. Things begin to take horrific turns when her staff vanishes and three others take their place. But what gets you gasping for breath is when one of the kids starts talking to strange, unseen people. A must scream!

THE BLAIRWITCH PROJECT
87 mins, 1999; Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez

Made for $30,000 by two young filmmakers from Florida, The Blair Witch Project is an ingenious creation that makes effective use of its lack of budget and cast of unknowns. What you end up seeing is a living nightmare. Definitely not for the faint hearted. The film is about some video footage shot by three missing college students who made their journey into the forests to profile a “witch” of local legend who is linked to murders and mysterious occurrences over 200 years. The latter part of the footage only has voices of screaming children piercing the blackness from a distance. The film keeps audiences in the dark about its titular villain — thus proving that imagination can be as scary as anything onscreen. There’s no blood, no violence. The film explains nothing, and seems to mean nothing, but scares you and keeps scared long after it is over.

THE EXORCIST
220 mins, 1973; Director: William Friedkin

The Exorcist is acknowledged as one of the scariest films of all time because of its remarkable special effects and eerie atmosphere. When it was released, it created a worldwide sensation and led to religious boycotts, fainting, and raked in the moolah at the box office. It’s about a 12-year-old possessed by the devil and her mother’s efforts at scaring away the devil through a priest. But the priest is not sure of his faith or himself. Friedkin brings William Peter Blatty’s Oscar-winning script to shocking life by establishing a realistic, everyday tone before allowing the terror to creep in. The beauty of this film is that it is still scary because of its visual and sound effects. Not to mention, its screenplay, direction and sterling performances by Ellen Burstyn as the mother and Linda Blair as her daughter. Statutory warning: It is so scary, you may refuse to watch it again.

True, the newly-released film Jannat, which has its premise on match fixing, could have been better. But then, it’s a love story with match fixing just as a backdrop. And as it is, the film is engaging enough. However, its Engage Quotient could have been several notches higher if it had uncovered several intricacies involving the plague affecting one and all… even now i feel many cricket matches are being regularly fixed for greater gain. How else can you explain a world-beating team like Australia fall for Kenya in the World Cup preliminaries? There’s definitely more to it than meets the eye. But what is even more evident is that match fixing is very much alive and well. Everytime i see an infallible team go down without much of a fight, i see the head of match fixing rearing its ugly head.

I feel IPL matches will soon go the same way. After all, it’s the age of ’show me the money’. And the age of ‘greed is good’. So soon enough, you will have matches of IPL being fixed, this time by corporate houses, to redefine the meaning of unpredictability in cricket. And we, hapless viewers, will lap it up without a raised finger. Why? Because it’s entertainment. Just the way the WWF and WWE matches are fixed.

The day won’t be far when players will play all the overs even if the winning score could have been reached in half the time. Why? Because they want to make cricket an ‘edge of the seat’ entertainer. Much like a racy Hollywood thriller. 

I haven’t watched a cricket match in its entirety for over 10 years now. After match fixing made its presence felt, i haven’t paid much attention to who is winning or losing. Sooner or later, i will know that this match was also fixed. So why be a ‘bakra’?

Cape Fear

128 mins, 1991; Director: Martin Scorsese

With this film, Robert De Niro gave a new definition to ‘menacing screen presence’ in Hollywood. As a tattooed revenge-seeker for a case wrongfully won by attorney (Nick Nolte) that forces him to serve jailtime, Niro makes it his mission in life to get back at Nolte, his way. And what’s that? Stalking Nolte’s family, poisoning his dog, brutally assaulting his close friend, and sexually harassing his daughter, Danielle (Juliette Lewis). Lewis gave such a stirring portrait of a terrified victim that she was nominated for the Oscars. And so was Niro. The opening title sequences are one of the best and so is the cinematography throughout the film’s journey - the camera movement and angles get you involved with it like nothing else can. This movie aims for your gut. Definitely not a film for the squeamish.

Memento

116 mins, 2001; Director: Christopher Nolan

Watch this film for Guy Pearce’s first-rate performance and Nolan’s skill in creating an atmosphere for the story. Pearce has just one mission in life: to avenge the rape and murder of his wife. But he has a small problem. He suffers from an irreparable memory loss. Although he can remember details of life before his ‘accident’, Leonard can’t remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he is, where he’s going or why. This makes his job all the more difficult. This prompts him to re-build his life out of index cards, photographs, file folders, charts and tattoos. It’s intellectual gamesmanship at its best and Memento is likely to stay with you like a tattoo on your mind. Most of all, this is virtuoso filmmaking, stylistically dazzling and head-scratchingly intricate. It’s actually a puzzle movie in which the puzzle is actually worth the time and effort to solve.

L.A. Confidential

138 mins, 1997; Director: Curtis Hanson

Crooked cops. The mystery and allure of Hollywood in the ’50s. Death, double-crossing, and secret alliances. Paparazzi waiting to get that one million-dollar picture. A riveting crime story about the shadowy side of city life where things are never what they seem. All these contribute to a movie that’s unusually delicate, understated and searching - a movie that catches us up in the faded ’50s beauty of Los Angeles. The premise is simple enough. Three detectives (Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, and Guy Pearce) each use their own tactics to investigate a coffee-shop massacre. But this multiple homicide charge eventually becomes something much more insidious. Strong performances, an involved story and period atmosphere, with liberal doses of sex, violence, corruption and politics make this one hell of a crime drama. In fact, it’s Hollywood moviemaking at its finest- a classy piece of entertainment made with equal parts passion, style, and fun.

Seven

127 mins, 1995; Director: David Fincher

Forget the brief opening scene. Instead, watch out for the highly stylised title sequence. It’s an intricate collage of books and photos, scissors and razors, and blood and skin that eerily captures the dark, graphic tone of Fincher’s intriguing mystery. Shaky camera shots, dark sets and a disturbing script that takes its characters to the extremes of emotion contribute to the film creating an unsettled feeling that stays with you long after the credits roll. When an obese man is found brutally murdered in his home, retiring police detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) realises this is no ordinary killing - someone tortured him because of his appetite. One killing follows another and forms a pattern. This prompts Somerset to team up with newcomer Mills (Brad Pitt) to find the mysterious John Doe, who is responsible for these murders. It’s an eerie suspense film with a surprise ending that gives you quite a jolt.

Love Actually

135 mins, 2003. Director: Richard Curtis

If you want laughs laced with feeling, this movie is for you. It depicts the serious and foolish side of love with a series of sweetheart stories. Little boy falls in love with a little girl and becomes a rock drummer. Writer falls for his maid and doesn’t care when his book gets ruined. The Prime Minister tells off the President of the US and then falls dropdead in love with a member of his staff. Multiple plot lines carry the movie forward, some funny, some sad, but all to the accompaniment of some great music. The underlying message? Love, actually is, all around, but sometimes love doesn’t work out. Trite and contrived it may be, but it’s undeniably sincere and polished in its delivery. The film scores because of its light-on-its-feet casualness. Love Actually makes you feel like there still might be hope for all of us. Stars Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson and Keira Knightley.

Notting Hill

124 mins, 1999. Director: Roger Michell

Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant forge memorable chemistry in this charmer about two very different people - William, an unassuming bookstore owner in London’s Notting Hill section, and Anna, a Hollywood actress - who, against the odds, fall in love. After Anna wanders into William’s shop while filming on location in London, the two share an instant attraction and find themselves attempting to forge a normal relationship despite Anna’s megawatt star power. Some of the funniest moments in the film come from Rhys Ifans, who portrays Spike, William’s not-so-bright roommate. His screen presence is outrageous and he gives the film some of its funniest moments. The movie is surprisingly frank in its depiction of the lives of the rich and famous and the price they pay for success. Notting Hill doesn’t just refresh. Its deadpan wit, ingenious fairy-tale premise and superbly accomplished cast will leave you feeling positively oxygenated.

50 First Dates

99 mins, 2004. Director: Peter Segal

Scatological and sentimental, satirical and sincere, this film pairs Adam Sandler with Drew Barrymore to showcase the power of love and short-term memory loss in Hawaii. Henry Roth (Sandler), the local veterinarian, only dates tourists because he’s afraid of commitment, until he meets Lucy (Barrymore). Unfortunately, Lucy lost her short-term memory months ago in a car accident, and for her, each day is October the 13th. She follows the same routine every day - breakfast at the same restaurant, pineapple-picking with her dad, and eventually bed time, where sleep wipes away her short-term memory. Will Henry make Lucy fall in love with him every day? Though the story line appears contrived and stretches the limits of believability, what sticks out is the hard-to-resist goo-goo chemistry between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. They make the film not only romantic but also very funny. A must-watch.

Music and Lyrics

105 mins, 2007. Director: Marc Lawrence

The film is on a song right from the first sequence. Watch it for Grant’s irresistible screen presence, amusing dialogue, and some great acting. It’s got that certain something you noticed in Notting Hill and Pretty Woman. It’s witty and intelligent in the same frame, making it a sweet enough V Day confection. Maybe it’s to do with the candy floss chemistry between Hugh Grant (a fading pop singer) and Drew Barrymore (a goofy plant sitter who ends up writing his lyrics). Maybe it’s the lyrical quality of the film that enchants you with its symphony – it’s unexpectedly catchy and yet so indulgently believable. Or maybe it’s just puppy love that the protagonists share for each other in this undeniably breezy romantic comedy. Any way you look at it, Music and Lyrics is a story that will linger on you long after it’s over.

(This piece appeared in Windows & Aisles, the inflight magazine of Paramount Airways, South India’s business airline)