All is Lost

We have seen quite a few survivor/lost genre films (127 Hours, Life of Pie, Gravity etc.) in last few years. All is Lost belongs to the same genre, which is written and directed by J.C. Chandor. But unlike other similar movies, here it takes a very different route. This movie is unfeigned survival thriller of the year. In fact, All is Lost may be the best film of its type (lost/survival) I've seen.


Saw the movie at the recently concluded MFF. Let me say it right away that this movie is not for the general moviegoer, as it can be difficult to sit through with its almost no dialogue (save a few words), zero backstory , just one character and  genre that isn't about sentimentality, but simply about a man doing everything he can to stay alive."Our Man" is how Robert Redford is referred in the credits of the movie. He is awakened during his voyage in the Indian Ocean to find his boat has collided with a stray container and the cabin room is being flooded. The narrative follows the character and is more of a procedural kind, as he deals straightforwardly with a series of imminent threats to his boat. He neither panics nor gives up, but instead he relentlessly tries to solve the next important problem for his survival with whatever tools he has at hand, often improvising shrewdly.
The real star of the show here though, is the movie's only star, Robert Redford, who gives straightforward and understated performance, he commands the screen in such authoritative way that one gets involved with the character.The film's crisis repeat cycle can be exhausting, which is where I felt it could be 10-15 minutes short, but Redford's deliberate and convincing approach to performing each task makes it all very gripping. Music,here is used sparsely at the right moments and majority of the tension is drawn from superb use of sound effects.

Director J.C. Chandor makes sure the suspense is maintained throughout as film sets up the idea that something will probably go wrong until the final seconds. Very few filmmakers produce their second movie this strong. Haven't watched his debut flick 'A Margin Call' but now I am immediately trying to procure it.
To the average viewer it may put to sleep, but for those who go knowingly of its presence, it will show you an important piece of honest film-making. And also I am up for whatever comes next from J.C.Chandor.

Stoker

Being a fan of Park Chan-wook ,was pretty kicked up when i got to know he was going to direct his first Hollywood film.Park Chan Wook has said before that he decided to become a filmmaker after a watching Vertigo. From this we can make out that  Hitchcock (My favorite filmmaker) is an important influence on his work, especially the extent to which both filmmakers play with creating and shifting audience identification among different characters through plot twists and revealing selective bits of various information. In short Park pays homage to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock and those who have seen Shadow of Doubt wouldn't find it hard to draw parallels.

Park Chan Wook didn't write this one at all. But I'd say he successfully implements his trademark style and dark,poetic feel for what might have otherwise been a forgettable psychological thriller from the creator of Prison Break (Wentworth Miller)

The story revolves around an 18-year-old India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska), whose father has died in a freakish car accident. His wife, Evie Stoker (Nicole Kidman), arranges for her mysterious brother-in-law Charlie (Matthew Goode) to stay with the family in order to help them recover the loss. India is skeptical of her uncle whom she hardly knows, and gets more suspicious and intrigued when rumors float around saying that he is having an affair with her own mom. To say anything more at this point would be spoiling the mystery behind this deceptive family who all have their fair share of skeletons in the closet.

It's a slow moody piece which creates both melancholic and terrifying atmosphere to the picture which made it fascinating.Many of the twists in the movie seemed telegraphed (though I'm not sure they aren't meant to be, in part, so as to conceal others we aren't expecting), but it certainly held my attention till the end. Acting is great from the cast: Mia Wasikowska does an exceptional job bringing India to life, Nicole Kidman is subtle and convincing on her part and Matthew Goode was good as weird and mysterious the whole time.

It's such a satisfaction to watch a film as directed as Stoker is.There's not a random image or sound anywhere to be found. Park Chan Wook is as his previous movies made it visually arresting. The sound work is expressionistic.Stoker is visceral experience,the cracks developing on hard boiled egg rolled back and forth on a the table,the pin prick of a needle bursting a blister-the park takes pleasure in it all,from beautiful to the grotesque . There's one similar effect in particular with a pencil sharpener that gave me goosebumps. I feel like seeing it twice for that particular scene to moment the craft alone. Movie also had its share of awkward portions,especially the high school scenes. The cinematography and sound design was very effective and immersive to capture the mood of the movie correctly.


For me this has to be one of the best American debuts in recent times of a popular foreign director.This psychological thriller Stoker is a beautiful, twisted and hypnotic.Go for it

Confession of a Murder

Korean movies have always fascinated me especially the thriller genre. Their story-lines are fascinating,full of intrigue and suspense. Happened to come across a film called Nae-ga sal-in-beom-i-da (original title) alias Confession of a Murder,where the title itself creates curiosity while the premise makes you want to watch the movie the very moment.

Byeong-gil jeong's psychological crime thriller starts off with a masked serial killer who is on a killing spree, already having murdered more than 10 people randomly, escapes from being captured by detective Choi (Jung Jae- Young) . Detective choi having lost the opportunity to nab the serial killer is devastated and the serial killer slit his mouth to add insult to the injury just to remind him his failure through the scar.Now after 15 years Lee Doo-Suk (Park Si-Hoo) who claims to be the serial killer and responsible for the deaths,is now releasing a book as a memoir and confession,compilation of his malicious acts openly.There is a law in Korea where if the criminal is not caught by the police for a period of 15 years,they dismiss the case and the criminal is free.Known as statute of limitation.Lee Doo-Suk cashes in on the law and the celebrity culture of today's generation and lives a high life due to media. Thus begins the intertwining story of detective,serial killer and the family of the victims where detective choi is trying to prove that Lee doo-suk is not the serial killer and is just cashing in the opportunity to get fame and rich, while the serial killer is trying to prove otherwise while the family of the victims are plotting to take revenge on the serial killer.

The movie works on various levels,the twists work well and director has covered medias role in helping grow a cult fan following for weird situations, and those who are good looking are automatically assumed innocent to doing the most wicked acts.I  liked how they portrayed the media in such a way that you just want to thrown all of your guts seeing how the media is eager to get their ratings going up. Sad really but the fact is that its reality.Seriously, reading a book written by a serial killer, wouldn't it be interesting ? That's one of the reason one would relate to the movie easily and it works,we live in a scary world.

Director infused some light moments when the narrative of the movie was getting uneven.the story unfolds wonderfully and there is never a dull moment because we are always expecting…what’s next now? The flaws in the movie can be ignored for the fact that the director keeps us on the edge of our seat for most part of the movie.And also the electric tone which the movie carries through out its duration helps a lot.

The performance of the actors were commendable.The main leads of the movie were brilliant,the subtle emotions of the character were carried off by them helped the audience to connect to them at a better level.

Niftily written and a delightful watch. A definite recommendation.

Chandrashekar yeleti

When Telugu film industry was churning one masala entertainer after an another where most of them turned out to be insipid .A film called Aithe(2003) was released silently without much fanfare but with an interesting tag line anni cinemalu okelaa vundavu(Not all movies are same). True to the tag line the movie kept away from all the clichés like 5-6songs,2-4 fight sequence.Movie was offbeat,sleek and thrilling with a help of a terrific screenplay.This film had just one melodious song which was apt for the movie . The movie went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year and went on to win the national award for the best Telugu feature film.Thus,Chandrashekar yeleti started his innings in Telugu film industry with a bang. As usual after debut success,you are the most sought out person for the producers and movie buffs were eagerly waiting for his next movie as they saw he is one of who is going to transform TFI.While most would think of cashing in the opportunity of first movie success and do as many movies as possible yeleti takes 2 years to come up with his next movie.Which shows that he is hell-bent on making good movies even if it takes time.But then naysayers credited his debut movie success to beginners luck,some said there have been directors who scored brownie points after the first movie but later fell in the rut along with others.Both naysayers and hopeful audience awaited the second release of his called Anukokunda oka Roju (unknowingly one-day)(2005). After the movie released naysayers had to eat their own words as Yeleti delivered a knockout punch with AOR.A suspense thriller which is quite original and pretty intriguing.Critics praised the movie to the hilt which was deserving and audience were in awe.How often do you get movies that make you both laugh till your intestines ache and make you bite nails for the suspense? AOR is one such rare film,an instant classic. And with this flick Chandrashekar Yeleti cemented his place in TFI as the aficionado of a new genre of intelligent films with tight scripts.He was again praised for his brilliant screenplay like his first film.Not to forget amazing dialogues and terrific music. Now everybody was eager for his next film and how is he going to beat the reputation he created for himself with two top-notch thrillers.And as everyone was expecting thriller from him once again,he surprised by announcing a full-fledged action film okkadunadu(2007). Movie buffs were disappointed as they werent expecting him to announce a masala action film from him.He again took two years to come up with the film and when the first trailer released.Peple were happy that it isn't the regular potboiler and has enough intrigue value.The movie released to mixed reviews which varied from average to good.He has come up with an other original story and this time dealing how a man who has a rare blood group,manages to evade hooligans who keep pursuing him.The movie is pretty interesting where every move by leading man has enough logic.Movie buffs who though its going to be an another potboiler were treated with full-fledged intelligent action film.Though the movie didn't get enough commercial success,but it got noticed. After dabbling with thrillers,action and comedy.He directed the initial 10-15 episodes of weekly comedy series called Amrutam. The series was a massive success.Yeleti this time announced a rom-com named prayanam(journey)(2009).If you thought there is no intrigue value this time,think again,entire love story is set in an airport.So after usual 2 years prayanam released to good reviews but failed to attain commercial success.Even though the entire movie takes place in airport,not even a minute fails to entertain you,Yeleti makes sure you get entertained and fall in love with the movie.The movie is breezy throughout with ably supported background music and natural dialogues.Though the movie failed at box office,has garnered enough fans.Thanks to satellite tv. Yeleti went into sabbatical for unknown reasons.Movie buffs and fans of the director were disappointed.Started with deserving tags like wonderkid and next-gen director.Not only fans but also few directors voiced their disappointment and even went on to blame audience rightly,"Lack of audience-with-taste has changed such a brilliant filmmaker's thinking process" said a director..One day all of a sudden yeleti announced his next movie as an action adventure,treasure hunt kind of genre.Fans were delighted and after 4 years he is back with Sahasam and this time teams up with another brilliant music director Sri who had gone self exile.The trailer of Sahasam released last month and the mark of brilliance still exists.Now eagerly waiting for the movie to release on July 5th and hopefully it turns out a commercial success too as am confident of its critical success. Hoping that Yeleti gets back to his forte of making tight budgeted brilliant movies.Where he is able to get the best out of him.And also hoping that he doesn't change his style of making films for the sake of commercial success .

Memories of Murder (2003)

Being a fan of Asian cinema this is probably the best crime thriller I've seen and contains the most haunting climax of any serial killer flick.

The Republic of Korea was affront with its first known serial killer in 1986. We find out during the opening narration of Memories of Murder that South Korea was at the time a military dictatorship, and for the next 2 hours we are given a lesson in how a strong, authoritarian government cannot always stop a single, determined criminal.

It is 1986, in the Gyungi Province of South Korea, and a woman has been found murdered in a drainage ditch on a field. A detective looks into the drainage ditch, staring at the deadbody, as if he is trying to see, in the evidence,recreating the image of what happend there. This, we get to know later, is his thing. He believes that just by looking into someone’s eyes, he can find out if its guilty or innocent.. He has complete faith in this ability of his, which is one of the reasons why the investigation is a blunderbuss from the word go. Who was this woman? Who killed her? A couple of days later, another woman shows up dead, also in a field, and there are similarities between the two murders: how her hands were tied behind her back, how her panties were put over her head. Both women were raped. It appears that they may be looking at a serial killer with a unique style.
The movie gives us one of the most vivid recreations of South Korean country town during the 1980s. With this wonderfully recreated background, the movie plays us like piano in its slow but steady pace.
The movie has the terrific ensemble. Their characters are not easy to forget. While we are watching their struggle closely and intimately, the detectives in the film are revealed as the characters free from the expected conventions due to the lively performances from the main actors.  Song Kang-ho is brilliant as the lead detective.
Director Joon-Ho-Bongs second movie shows his talent and will be considered  one of the best Asian filmaker.The tone and pace of the film will keep you hooked.

And then the movies epilogue sequence which turns out to be one of the most haunting closing scenes in my memory. The time has passed, and is more urbanized than before as one of the satellite cities surrounding Seoul, and one character coincidentally comes across one of the places in his memory. It feels sentimental at first, but, in the end, he and we are chillingly reminded that the memories of murder never leave him and others.