Asian and US Movie Reviews Blog » Bollywood

A History of Violence by David Cronenbery (2005)

jonahlee — Sun, 21 May 2006 17:05:20 +0000

Hmm, I don’t know where my review of this film went. I know I reviewed it when I saw it in the theater, but it isn’t here, so it is time to review it again after watching the DVD.

I have to say I really enjoyed this film, I honestly missed the twist the first time, falling for it big time. The performances are amazing, and totally believable. The violence is extreme but not glorified. And most incredible, which I didn’t realize the first time was just how incredibly this film is shot. Shot after shot is so well done, with driving crane shots, and very long shots that really make this film an incredible thing to watch. In fact it really makes me want to check out the graphic novel. This is certainly not your typical comic books story, and seems made to be a film. It is really too bad that Viggo Mortensen got no recognition for his part in this film, because his performance is really incredible.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a husband and mild manner owner of a local diner in a small town, with a beautiful wife Edie (Maria Bello who gives a stunning performance) and 2 kids Jack (Ashton Holmes) and Sarah (Heidi Hayes). Things change when 2 cold blooded killers come to town and try and hold up the diner, and Tom goes into action and quickly shoots and kills both of them, and he is on the news. Quickly some Philadelphia Mobsters led by Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) who has a score to settle show up and start called Tom Joey, and they start harassing him and his family, until they take his son, and Tom once again becomes what he was in his past, Joey, and kills the mobsters, though his son takes out Carl Fogerty. Edie confronts her husband and realizes that he is not who she married, he is a completely different person, with a serious history of violence. Joey Cusack scares Edie, though seems to excite her as well, and she seems to want him to leave, and he does for a while, because he needs to clear things up in Philadelphia, with his brother the mob boss Richie Cusack (William Hurt), who he dispatches along with his whole crew, and returns to his family to be Tom Stall once again.

Really an incredible film. Well one in every aspect, and so well executed. A pleasure to watch.

Veer-Zaara by Yash Chopra (2005)

jonahlee — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 15:14:06 +0000

I have to admit to being a sucker for these Bollywood love stories, and I have been looking forward to this film for some time. Not only did I see an interview with Preity Zinta on CNN International about it while I was in New Zealand last year working on King Kong, but also a recent National Geographic has a long article on bollywood, and specifically not only this film, but also Shahrukh Khan.

And I loved this film. Sure the musical numbers are not as huge as a film like MOHABATIEN, but the love story is great, if completely unrealistic, but that is what this is, absolute romantic fantasy, as Rani Mukerji says in the film, are these gods pretending to be people, or people pretending to be gods.

This film doesn’t disapoint at all with an excellent soundtrack (which I also got when I got the film) and a great film with an excellent DVD, and with extensive special features.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

The movie starts out with a man imprisoned, named 786 (the number of Alah in the Koran) but whose actually is Ex-Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh, a young female Pakinstani Lawyer named Saamiya Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji, and damn does is she amazing in this role, probably better than the leads) is on her first case, and for the first time in 22 years calls him by his real name (he was imprisoned as a spy under a different name). She thinks he has a chance of getting free if only he will talk, and talk he does.

22 years in the past, Veer spends his days in a rescue helicopter being lowered down and rescuing those in need, from Skiing accidents, to bus accidents. He is happy and content, until he saves one woman.

That women is Zaara Hayat Khan (Preity Zinta) a rich Palestinian girl, who is very strong willed, and yet is engaged to be married, against her will, but her nanny Bebe dies, and as she is dyeing asks Zaara to take her asthiyan and return it to Kiritpur in India so she can live with her ancestors. On the way her bus goes over a cliff and Veer saves her, but she drops her bag with the urn, and makes him go back for it, for which he rebukes her. Seeing Zaara afterwards he gets the whole story, and vows to help her, even getting a kindly Sikh priest to perform the last rights for her, when she vows to do one thing for Veer’s kindness, he asks for one day of her time, to take her to his home town.

Veer takes Zaara to his hometown for a local festival, where his Uncle (played by Amitabh Bachhan) and aunt who he calls mother and father have built the village from nothing, but Zaara manages to tell the uncle he should do more for women and build a woman’s high school, which he promptly decides to do, and has her lay the first brick. The parent’s convince Veer he should propose on the way back, and he plans to, but just as he wants to tell her they run into her fiancee (Manoj Bajpai) who takes her home, but not before Veer professes his love, and says she will always have a friend who is willing to give his life for her.

As Zaara’s wedding approaches she realizes more and more her love for Veer, and eventually her maid calls Veer to tell him, and he comes to get her. He wins over Zaara’s mom, but he must give her up for the good of the family who is using the marriage as a political solidarity, so they bid a sorrowful fair-well. Zaara’s mother gives Veer a talisman to ward off evil, but as he is gets on the bus he is taken by Pakistani military forces who claim he is a spy, and it turns out to be Zaara’s fiancee who did it, and if Veer says anything he will ruin Zaara’s reputation and the fiancee will make her life hell. So for her love, Veer says nothing and is imprisoned, and his bus is forced into an accident and everyone is killed, so everything thinks Veer is dead.

In the present Veer makes Saamiya Siddiqui promise not to mention Zaara or her family so as not to shame her at all, and since the lawyer she used to work for who has never lost a case is going against her, she must go to India to get evidence. Saamiya Siddiqui gets to Veer’s home village but learns his parents are dead, but he finds Zaara and her maid! It seems after Veer’s death, Zaara called off the wedding and moved to Veer’s home village to carry on his dreams, and now is the teacher at the girls high school. She goes back to save Veer, who is vindicated, Saamiya Siddiqui winning her first case, and Veer giving a speech showing how the people of Pakistan and Hindustan (India) are really the same. And finally Veer and Zaara can be spoken together again and married.

Yes it is a typical love story, and the dance numbers are not as large scaled as others I have seen, but I still loved this film. It was sad, and I loved the music, and yes these people are not like humans, who could put themselves through that, but that is why this is a fantasy film!

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai by Karan Johar (1998)

jonahlee — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 06:03:26 +0000

I am really a fan of Shahrukh Khan. He has been in almost every Bollywood film I have seen, and he really is so cool. I watched the first half of this one with my girlfriend. She complained a bit, though she was enjoying it. After seeing 2 films with Aishwarya Rai, she didn’t think these women were as beautiful, and that is true, but then again not many women are. Also there was the English, which is really in a lot of this film, and is a bit strange, but mostly she hates love triangles, and right up to where she watched was all about the love triangle. If only she has lasted 10 more minutes…

Really this is an enjoyable film with wonderful performances by the leads Shahrukh, Rani Mukherjee and Sana Saeed, and a really catchy soundtrack. You just can’t help singing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai!

Review Contains some Spoilers:

This film starts with Shahrukh as Rahul in the hospital, his wife Tina (Rani Mukherhee) has just given birth to a daughter, and she is dyeing, and her last wish is to name their daughter Anjali (Kajol). Cut to 8 years later, and Rahul lives with his daughter Anjali and his mother, but something is missing from his life. Tina has left 8 letters for daughter, one for each year, and on her 8th year she explains who Anjali (Sana Saeed) actually is.

In college Rahul was the cool guy, and his best friend was a tomboy named Anjali who always beet him at basketball, but was always in love with him, but the schools principals daughter Tina returned from England, and Rahul instantly fell for her. She knew that Anjali loved him, but she loved Rahul as well. And Anjali ended up leaving school and never returning because of her broken heart.

Cut to the present and in the letter Tina asks her daughter to reunite Anjali and Rahul who were fated to be with each other. The problem is that Anjali is already engage to Aman (Salman Khan), though she doesn’t love him. The young Anjali learns that the original Anjali teaches at a summer camp and goes with her grandmother, and tricks her father to come and be reunited with Anjali, and instantly the sparks fly, but then her fiancee arrives and takes her away. Rahul goes to the wedding and tells her he loves her, and she weeps as she comes out to meet her fiancee. Aman loves her, but reunites her with Rahul because he knows how strong first love is, and Rahul and Anjali are finally married.

The music is so damn catching, and the performances by the end are amazing. Sure Shahrukh’s charcter is a bit annoying at times, but that is who he is. He thinks he is cool (as his necklace attests). And boy do they wear a lot of ads, that and those College students sure look older than most colleges! But it all makes for some good clean fun!

I love the world of Bollywood Musicals. It is some mythical world that no longer, or never really did exist, but what a fun place to escape to!

They sure fit a lot on this DVD, with all the extras and an over 3 hour movie, though it does show slightly in the compression where there is some movement weirdness. Also the subtitles are just a bit late, and at the end disappear in some of the songs, but overall it is very watch-able.

Thanks to my friend Jeff Briggs for lending this to me! He has turned me on to all of the Bollywood films I have seen, and I can’t thank him enough!

Bride & Prejudice by Gurinder Chadha (2004)

Jonah Lee Walker — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 17:53:20 +0000

This film is based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but filtered through Bollywood cum Hollywood. This is really a Bollywood musical made for audiences in the UK and the US, and it really works. Especially with Bollywood lovely Aishwarya Rai in the lead role (I first saw her in the amazing Mohabbatein and then more recently in Devdas ) . At 111 min this has to be the shortest Bollywood film ever made, but it isn’t bothersome, and this film seems just about the right length. A really fun and enjoyable film all the way around, with trips to India, London and Los Angeles. Chadha has made a great follow up to Bend it like Beckham.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) a rich hotel owner (or at least his mother does) comes to India with his best friend Balraj Bingley (Naveen Andrews) and his sister Kiran Bingley (Indira Varma). Balraj is in India looking for a wife, and falls for Jaya Bakshi (Namrata Shirodkar) whose family has 4 daughters and a mother who is desperate to marry them off. Will immediately falls for sister Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai), but she spurns him, being prejudiced against this rich American who wants to purchase a 5 star hotel in India. Will and Balraj take Kaya and Lalita to the hotel Will is thinking about buying, but Lalita meets Mr. Wickham (Daniel Gillies), who is the son of Will’s nanny, and had a falling out with him in the past. Will and Balraj end up leaving for England early, but Balraj promisses to contact Jaya, though he doesn’t. And Wickham leaves Lalita, and instead of contacting her, contacts her younger sister Lucky (Peeya Rai Chowdhary). An indian man from the states comes and tries to woo Lalita, but is unsuccessful, so he goes to marry her best friend, and sends 4 tickets to India. They decide to go, but stop in England to see Balraj on the way, but don’t see him, though Lucky does manage to see Wickham. Will is on the plane from England, and gives up his first class seat to the mother so he can sit next to Lalita. In LA, she begins to get convinced that she was wrong about him, but then at her best friends wedding his mother introduces his girlfriend, and his sister tells her that he convinced Balraj not to marry her sister. She is furious. He follows her to England, where Lucky has run away with Wickham, and he tells her that Wickham had gotten his sister pregnant at 16 and tried to marry her to get the family fortune, he finds her and fights Wickham. Then it is back to India for Jaya’s wedding to Balraj, and Will and Lalita end up married as well.

This really is a Bollywood musical made for American audiences, and it works, and I hope it does very well, and opens up people’s eyes to Bollywood Cinema as a whole. This was a lovely and fun film

i just watched the deleted scenes, and more importantly the extended dance numbers, which really lengthen them out to full Bollywood length and make this much more of a bollywood film. It is really too bad they aren’t included in their full form, as it adds to the film significantly. And as they are they look good, but are not even close to being color timed.

I think Kelly liked this as well, have to get her into other Bollywood films now so she can experience the real Bollywood!

Devdas by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (2002)

jonahlee — Sun, 06 Feb 2005 21:37:55 +0000

This is only the 3rd Bollywood film I have seen, and the 3rd staring Shahrukh Khan, and I have loved all 3. The first was DIL SE, the second MOHABATIEN and this obviously the 3rd. Actually this one seemed to have less music to it than the others, and like DIL SE this film is more of a tragedy. This is a wondrous 3 hour journey, and about the tragedy and downfall of a man because of a love he spurns for family.

Devdas (Shahrukh Khan) has returned from England after 10 years, now a lawyer. He was always a playful and light boy, and he returns first to see his beautiful next door neighbor Paro (Aishwarya Rai). Paro and Debdas were childhood friends and sweethearts, but Paro is from a lower class family, and Devdas’s father is a lawyer and landowner. Devdas wants to marry Paro, but his sister-in law hates him and Paro, and turns Devdas’s mother against them, and Paro’s mother swears to marry her to a richer family. Paro is married, but told she will only be the head of the household and the mother to his already grown up children, because the man still loves his dead ex-wife. Devdas has spurned Paro’s love stupidly, and can’t win her before she is married. And he falls into despair, literally drinking himself to death. He lives with a beautiful courtesan who loves him, but won’t let her touch him. Devdas promisses Paro he will show up at her door before he dies so she can serve him, and he on his death bed drinking himself to death. He shows up outside the door, dyeing, unable to speak, and she tried to get to him but can’t, so he dies alone on her front steps having fulfilled his promise.

This film is very much greek or shakespearian tragedy. You watch Devdas drink himself to death and tear his family apart. This is an amazing 3 hours that just flies by. My only complaint is the subtitles drop out on some of the songs. Other than that it is a great disc.