It’s Complicated…

Even before I begin this, I have a confession…I love Meryl Streep…she is easily the most beautiful actress of our times and oh boy has she aged gracefully or what…and what a wonderful actress…the ease with which she takes on the characters as if that’s what she is…it’s sheer pleasure to watch her…

And now about the movie…there is something endearing to see the old romancing…it feels like the real thing…not the “in your pants before I even met you” or “the geek the cheerleader the soccer captain triangle”…after staying together close to two decades when two people move apart how do they move on or find closure…especially when you have no just shared lives and have seen each other growing up but also have had children together…at some point in the movie Jane (Meryl Streep) says to Jack (Alec Baldwin) – we have each grown into the person we wanted to become…it would be so much easier if couples would separate after the first few years and then get back together much later in life…

Meryl Streep shares such superb chemistry with both Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin that you feel you are witnessing real life and not a story on silver screen…Even though the movie is kitsch yet it’s absolutely worth a watch…

Avatar...the movie

Avatar is a sensational visual delight which will tease your senses…free your spirit as you waltz in the open spaces with natives…your eyes will pop out in wonderment at the delightful colors of lovely ethereal plants and strange animals…you will fall in love with the athletic, fast, earthy natives – but all for five minutes…

Remember star wars and Padme Amidala, young queen of the planet Naboo, remember Lord of the Rings and Tolkien and the whole new language he created and Peter Jackson who brought to life the magnum opus…remeber Pocahontas, the last of Mohicans, Dances with the Wolves...and innumerable others...

Well if you remember all that I doubt you will want to go and see James Cameroon’s Avatar…The visuals are no doubt grandeur but severely limited in imagination, the planet Pandora reminds you of the images you conjured up in your head while reading all those numerous Enid Blyton’s books…Remember making up various fairy tale creatures in your head (…you have to give it to the dame)…maybe it’s not all James Cameroon’s fault that all he talks about in his story has already been conceived and written about by a children’s author…now I do concede that he did come up with the hugely innovative concept of mining “unobtainium” on the planet Pandora…shrewd, money minded corporate at loggerheads with humanitarian researchers and savage mercenaries…added in good measure is the fight between the good and the bad, your own specices or the aliens...

All is not all that bad though…the precious connection that the “aliens” share with nature and the reverence to the spirit or gaya or ehwya as you would call it does inspire us to go green and think about the planet…Though I must say at the risk of sounding stale the tree the natives dwelled in did remind me of “The Faraway Tree” (…remember moonface, silky and Mr. Whatshisname)…I know I know…I grew up on a healthy diet of child fantasy…

The movie evaporates between the stunning visuals and mediocre performances…you leave the theater (and remember to watch it in 3D) thinking why you braced Friday night traffic to watch the movie in a theater which supports 3D and is about 20 kms away from where you stay…Its high time that the director of this and all such movies learn that no amount of visual extravaganza can replace strongly etched out charachters and a crisp storyline...

Seriously man…you need to take the audience seriously…all of us are not nincompoops…

Fight club...

I had of course heard about the movie before. And was told from one and all that its some sort of a cult movie…now I have a thing against generalizations like that, a movie can be a master piece for its script, superlative performances, editing, direction, visual appeal etc. but I don’t really understand this phenomenon called “cult”.

So last weekend I had a chance to watch the movie…I was quite skeptic…not sure what to expect…having seen Ed Norton in other roles I was at least hopeful from his performance and Brad Pitt can quite manage to act at times apart from just looking good on screen…

The movie was gripping from the very first scene…you don’t want to stray for even a moment lest you miss some important tidbit…the director and the editors don’t digress from the theme for even a second and the movie does not drag anywhere…when the realization of what has happened sinks in it is almost a “Eureka” moment for the audience…and you feel absurdly surprised and silly at the same time…like you feel after reading a Agatha Christie…the clues were there in front of you all the time…you just never pieced them together…Needless to say the performances were easily the best I have ever seen…even the role of the maniacal “Marla Singer” was performed flawlessly by Helena Bonham Carter…it had to be given the fact that the character of Marla is what ties the lives of Tyler and Jack…Ed Norton has played the quintessential yuppie who lives a cataloged life where days and nights merge without any meaning and each moment is similar to the other…Tyler Durden, on the other hand (played by Brad Pitt) is a man with a mission…who seemingly has realized the burden of consumerization that we carry and has broken free from it and now wants to free the world…reminded me of “Sam Lowry” played by Jonathan Pryce in the movie “Brazil”…the movie peaks with the twist that actually leaves you breathless…

All in all a brilliant movie not just for the script but the treatment and the performances…A must watch.