Repulsion
Directed by : Roman Polanski
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059646/
We must get this crack mended.
Carol Ledoux (Catherine Deneuve), a manicurist at a beauty salon lives a strange kind of life. She hardly talks especially feels uncomfortable when a guy approaches her and even at work many times is lost in her own thoughts. She lives with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) sharing same apartment and often is seen getting irritated by Helen's boyfriend Michael (Ian Hendry) who often stays the night invading her personal space. Then, there's this guy Collin (John Fraser), always chasing Carol seeking a date and much more from her. None of them are aware what actually Carol is going through, the kind of fear and hallucinations she has that is only getting worse. This is my first Roman Polanski film, and to be honest the experience wasn't great. I expected a lot better film, and I know some believe its a masterpiece but I felt Carol's character was under-written to really care about and it doesn't help that the guys she murders were kind of creepy or atleast you can't call them good guys. There's no background shown except for the final shot of her picture when she was young which either means someone from her family did something bad or she was like that even then. There's some long tiring scenes of Carol, either walking on road, or at the apartment roaming from one room to other. I don't mind sitting through a slow pace first half but it has to lead to something interesting. Yes there are some great scenes, the one where Carol hears footsteps and is scared to death or the guys who try to rape her which was ofcourse the hallucinations she was going through. Even the landlord scene is directed very well, as a viewer you know his fate quite early. Catherine Deneuve act is pretty good. But it didn't have the kind of impact say someone like Norman Bates in Pyscho had on me. Polanski could had easily done more on the madness angle either through backstory or maybe show how Carol went with a guy who wasn't trying to just get in bed with her. Repulsion got some admirable shot sequences and very good cinematography, but not enough to make me watch the movie again...
My Rating : 4/10
Contagion
Directed by : Steven Soderbergh
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/
Somewhere in the world, the wrong pig met up with the wrong bat.
Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is at Airport, returning home from a business trip but you can sense she is ill, maybe just some flu. She dies after back home, and so does her son on the very same day leaving the husband Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) clueless. We slowly see more people dying due to illness before it is learned that some kind of virus has spread and is the reason behind this. Director Steven Soderbergh from the very first scene lets the camera pan to the things Beth is touching or eating, even the credit card she gives to get tickets. He does same with infected people touching door knob or such things which matters, as that will pass on to non-infected people. We get to see the struggle of common people, the chaos that happens when situation goes out of control, the constant effort of doctors and CDC trying to find a cure, and also some idiots among public or the system like a journalist trying to make money out of the pandemic. Basically Soderbergh touches almost everything one would notice happening in such times, how Mitch's daughter feels irritated that she can't see her boyfriend anymore or go out of house, or the urge of a particular community that wants to be ahead of the line when the vaccine arrives. I don't know how it would have felt watching Contagion in 2011, but in 2020 when the Covid thing is going on, its very relatable, you feel like slapping that chef in final scene who was irresponsible to have not washed hands before coming out to take selfie with Beth. I felt Contagion could had gone more complex or explored the political angle but I am assuming Soderbergh probably wanted to keep it a bit simple giving us insight of how different humans react in such disaster.
My Rating : 6/10
Directed by : Roman Polanski
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059646/
We must get this crack mended.
Carol Ledoux (Catherine Deneuve), a manicurist at a beauty salon lives a strange kind of life. She hardly talks especially feels uncomfortable when a guy approaches her and even at work many times is lost in her own thoughts. She lives with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) sharing same apartment and often is seen getting irritated by Helen's boyfriend Michael (Ian Hendry) who often stays the night invading her personal space. Then, there's this guy Collin (John Fraser), always chasing Carol seeking a date and much more from her. None of them are aware what actually Carol is going through, the kind of fear and hallucinations she has that is only getting worse. This is my first Roman Polanski film, and to be honest the experience wasn't great. I expected a lot better film, and I know some believe its a masterpiece but I felt Carol's character was under-written to really care about and it doesn't help that the guys she murders were kind of creepy or atleast you can't call them good guys. There's no background shown except for the final shot of her picture when she was young which either means someone from her family did something bad or she was like that even then. There's some long tiring scenes of Carol, either walking on road, or at the apartment roaming from one room to other. I don't mind sitting through a slow pace first half but it has to lead to something interesting. Yes there are some great scenes, the one where Carol hears footsteps and is scared to death or the guys who try to rape her which was ofcourse the hallucinations she was going through. Even the landlord scene is directed very well, as a viewer you know his fate quite early. Catherine Deneuve act is pretty good. But it didn't have the kind of impact say someone like Norman Bates in Pyscho had on me. Polanski could had easily done more on the madness angle either through backstory or maybe show how Carol went with a guy who wasn't trying to just get in bed with her. Repulsion got some admirable shot sequences and very good cinematography, but not enough to make me watch the movie again...
My Rating : 4/10
Contagion
Directed by : Steven Soderbergh
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/
Somewhere in the world, the wrong pig met up with the wrong bat.
Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is at Airport, returning home from a business trip but you can sense she is ill, maybe just some flu. She dies after back home, and so does her son on the very same day leaving the husband Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) clueless. We slowly see more people dying due to illness before it is learned that some kind of virus has spread and is the reason behind this. Director Steven Soderbergh from the very first scene lets the camera pan to the things Beth is touching or eating, even the credit card she gives to get tickets. He does same with infected people touching door knob or such things which matters, as that will pass on to non-infected people. We get to see the struggle of common people, the chaos that happens when situation goes out of control, the constant effort of doctors and CDC trying to find a cure, and also some idiots among public or the system like a journalist trying to make money out of the pandemic. Basically Soderbergh touches almost everything one would notice happening in such times, how Mitch's daughter feels irritated that she can't see her boyfriend anymore or go out of house, or the urge of a particular community that wants to be ahead of the line when the vaccine arrives. I don't know how it would have felt watching Contagion in 2011, but in 2020 when the Covid thing is going on, its very relatable, you feel like slapping that chef in final scene who was irresponsible to have not washed hands before coming out to take selfie with Beth. I felt Contagion could had gone more complex or explored the political angle but I am assuming Soderbergh probably wanted to keep it a bit simple giving us insight of how different humans react in such disaster.
My Rating : 6/10
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