Quick Views on 2021 Films I Didn't Review - Part1

A very quick recap on all the films/series that I missed writing on last year. 

Spoilers ahead...

Mank

Directed by : David Fincher

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10618286

You cannot capture a man's entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.

Showcasing the journey of screenwriter of Citizen Kane, what events took place while he wrote for movie and his equation with the director, producer and lots more. Among all the films I have seen of Fincher, this was the only one that not only never worked but was very boring to sit through. That dining scene was my only interesting takeaway from this film along with lovely performance of Gary Oldman. Might work for Citizen Kane fanatics!

My Rating : 3/10

Nomadland

Directed by : Chloe Zhao

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9770150/

One of the things I love most about this life is that there's no final goodbye. You know, I have met hundreds of people out here and I don't ever say a final goodbye. I always just say, "I will see you down the road." And I do. And whether its a month, or a year, or sometimes years, I see them again.

About life of nomads, focussing mainly on Fern (Frances McDormand) who uses her van to survive after the recession hits her badly. There have been movies in past like Shape of Water, Moonlight that won Oscars when I found them decent at best, and Nomadland adds to the list. The screenplay is just too slow and not engaging enough specially when it involves silent moments of Fern. I did like scenes involving other nomads, some were real nomads too and those did click. Definately not my kind of movie when I see how much praise it got from critics. 

My Rating : 4.5/10 

Tenet 

Directed by : Christopher Nolan

Imdb link ->https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6723592/

For me, I think this is the end of a beautiful friendship. 

But for me it's just the beginning.

The protagonist is trying to save the world while learning how to tackle time inversion. Like most of his movies Nolan again masterfully confuses you, unsure what is happening, which time zone or which timeline are we actually in right now, with Blue and Red as main timelines used in this movie. But unlike his all previous work, this movie lacks or I would even say is totally emotionless.. which is funny when a character says 'Don't try to understand it. Feel it', which I never felt. Rather the dialogue 'Does your head hurt yet' actually justifies how you feel at end. Even the lovely bonding between Robert Pattinson and John David Washington couldn't save the film. Seems 2020 was a year of firsts, Nolan finally giving a below average movie. No, a second watch won't change this either. 

My Rating : 3.5/10

Da 5 Bloods 

Directed by : Spike Lee

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9777644/

After you have been in a war, you understand it never really ends.

Four African American vets going back to the Vietnam to collect remains of their fallen squad leader and also the gold he had promised to have hidden in there. One of very bizzare movie I have seen, specially the character of Paul (Delroy Lindo) that goes totally mad in the end, I personally felt very irritated watching his actions and basically putting others in danger. Also, disappointed that Chadwick Boseman got very less screentime. Just felt the movie kept changing stances, going one way then other without making any sense and its 2 hr 34 mins long to add to the misery.

My Rating : 2.5/10

Eurovision Song Contest : The Story of Fire Saga

Directed by : David Dobkin

Imdb link-> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8580274/

I will just leave the knife here, in case, you have to, do other murders.

Two dreamers, Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Rachel McAdams), aspiring musicians want to represent their country at the world's biggest song competition. If not for Will Ferrell, it would easily had been a guilty pleasure movie for me, but he just is in every frame and irritates hell out of you. So many unintentional comedy gets ruined due to him. Likeable movie that offers lots of silly comedy situations, love the final track, love the scenes involving Mita (Melissanthi Mahut) and Rachel McAdams is as always lovable. 

My Rating : 4.5/10

The Vast of Night 

Directed by : Andrew Patterson

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6803046/

I think they get inside our heads and make us do destructive things, like drink and over eat. I have seen good people go bad, and smart people go mad. 

A switchboard operator Fay Crocker (Sierra McCormick) and radio DJ Everett Sloan (Jake Horowitz) are up for a very strange night full of events they won't had seen coming in New Mexico, in the late 1950s. Skip the first 5-7 mins and you won't miss much without having to sit through a confusing initial scene to begin film. After that its never ending but fun talks between Fay and Everett slowly leading to the strange audio frequency as they get curious to find out what its all about, and it involves Fay who  already appears to have a personality of someone overcurious or hyped about future inventions. Its a super going until ofcourse the end that just disappoints, some of you might say it works but not for me, it just felt like we were taken all the while to something that never happens. Fun movie nonetheless, or for the way its filmed to keep you engaged till the end. 

My Rating : 6.5/10 

Black Bear

Directed by : Lawrence Michael Levine 

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9601220/

You are uncomfortable with emotion. Anytime something real comes up, you have to make a joke. 

First chapter follows Allison (Aubrey Plaza), an actress turned director/writer who comes to stay at a lakehouse in the woods working on her new script, the house owned by a couple, Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon). Plenty of long conversations eventually leading to Gabe cheating on Blair with an end involving bear. Second chapter involves same three characters but this time Gabe is husband of Allison who is lead actress shooting a film at same lakehouse location while Blair is co-actress and the shooting scene resembles 1st chapter. There's a terrific scene where Allison is drunk and lets out her hatred for Blair (forced by husband unknowingly in name of method acting). I liked both chapters, even though both feel incomplete.. But then its how you decipher the movie or if you are willing to else it may be boring for you, One possibility is that 1st chapter is fiction and 2nd is real, other possibility is that both are fictions or just drafts as Allison tries to get the right story going for her script. At times does get tiring to watch the proceedings in both chapters, but films like these that test your mind even if not fully executed properly are always great to watch. Also, brilliant performances by all 3 leads, especially Aubrey Plaza. 

My Rating : 7/10 

Relic 

Directed by : Natalie Erika James

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9072352/

Maybe its just been waiting till I was weak enough. Alone enough. 

Horror backdrop used to showcase Dementia in a family consisting of grandmother Edna (Robyn Nevin), mother Kay (Emily Mortimer) and daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote). Another thoughtful movie that tests your brain with a brilliant climax, if only the 1st two acts were more engaging and not that slow. Love how they use dementia to create horror around it. 

My Rating : 6/10 

Babyteeth 

Directed by : Shannon Murphy

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8399664/

This is the worst possible parenting I can imagine. 

About Milla (Eliza Scanlen) who is seriously ill and falls in love with a smalltime drug dealer Moses (Toby Wallace) making it tough for her parents to deal with. I liked the film, but it never made the impact most films of this story usually does, partly because the plot of Milla-Moses never fully registers for me. I would had wanted more of pregnant neighbour or the music teacher or even Milla's parents living a dysfunctional family life. But then I get the mood was kept mostly light so that could be a reason to keep everything in small ratio. There are some nice touchy moments and the heartbreaking final scene, good use of music at many places, and wonderful performances. If you can connect with Milla-Moses chemistry, film would work lot better for you, I wasn't really sure I wanted to see someone living final moments of life with a person whom she had just met and doesn't love her back. Or maybe just how love works, you are stubborn to let go specially when you ain't living for long not caring if its silly. I might give it another watch someday with clear mind if it works better. 

My Rating : 5.5/10 

Shirley

Directed by : Josephine Decker

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8430598/

The truth is, nobody really cares if you live or if you die. 

A biopic on the famous horror author Shirley Jackson (played by Elisabeth Moss) that tells story about how Shirley takes inspiration for her next book when her husband Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg) invites a young couple Fred Nemser (Logan Lerman) and Rose Nemser (Odessa Young) to stay with them. One of those films that I couldn't like for the uncomfortable vibe it gives, even when the narrative tilts to the insanity it doesn't really work for me. Leaving asides Odessa's performance, I hardly enjoyed anything in here, all the manipulation, dirty drama failed to engage me in and also I didn't care to google if the story told was actually real or mixed with fiction. 

My Rating : 3/10 

Series Analysis : Mirzapur2 (Amazon Prime)

Directed by : Gurmmeet Singh (7 episodes) and Mihir Desai (4 episodes)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6473300/

Jeet ki gurantee tabhi hai jab, jeet aur haar dono tumhare control mein ho.

Spoilers ahead...

A total revenge saga is what 2nd season is. Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal) seeks revenge of the death of his brother Bablu Pandit (Vikrant Massey) and wife Sweety Gupta (Shriya Pilgaonkar). Golu Gupta (Shweta Tripathi) who loved Bablu and was sister of Sweety, joins him. Then there's Sharad Shukla (Anjum Sharma) whose father was killed by Guddu, and besides he is after the throne of Mirzapur too very much like Guddu. And in all this Munna Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma) tries to help his father Akhandanand Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi) in the upcoming elections as he tries to get a strong ministry. 

Unlike the 1st season, this one goes in a very slow pace despite the very quick start with that dreamy sequence that for a moment felt like are they doing Hannibal Season2 by showing the glimpse of end directly. The whole political game is what that holds this season for me, and the revenge angle unfortunately goes to the backseat. Most of the blame however goes to the addition of twin brothers, Tyagi (Vijay Varma) which derails the narrative. Only positive that comes out of this character is that you know Golu will have a very tough time in Season3. 

My issue was this hampered the main plot which was Revenge of Bablu and Sweety death, we get one face-off scene where Guddu single handedly

was proving too much for both Munna and Sharad, but there's nothing after that. Infact the narrative goes so many places in every episode that when the scene of Guddu-Golu comes, you got to ask yourself where were they last time and where exactly their plans are going on now. If not for Tyagi whole story, this wont have been an issue and same with Sharad who starts off on such a brilliant note in 1st episode, or his meeting with Munna and later getting the trust of Akhandanand but then he suddenly disappears and returns in last episode making that final move, the motive of which we will learn in Season3.

The best part was Munna and Madhuri Yadav (an excellent Isha Talwar) romantic angle and also a sense of responsibility that comes to Munna. It made his character more human, and just a tiny bit of emotions shift towards him when he gets killed. JP Yadav (Pramod Pathak) gave feels of GOW2 Tigmanshu's son and almost pulled off the similar success before getting thrown out. Bauji (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and Beena Tripathi (Rasika Dugal) story was perfectly done this season, love the plotting Beena does and also how she stops Maqbool (Shaji Chaudhary), wanting to kill Bauji herself. 

I totally enjoyed addition of Robin (Priyanshu Painyuli) character, bit suspicious early on and his constant 'yeh bhi theek hai' was fun. Also, his love angle with Dimpy (Harshita Gaur) made for atleast someone who isn't violent in this series. However, the mystery about his mother makes me wonder if there's a dark twist coming to this story too. Also, Dibyendu Bhattacharya provided some lovely light moments playing a doctor trapped under Golu-Guddu, trying to get his leg working again. Sad to see the end he and his family goes through.

Shabnam's (Shernavaz Jijiza) feelings developing for Guddu felt very sudden to me, almost as if she always had liked him. Ramakant Pandit (Rajesh Tailang) and Inspector RS Maurya (Amit Sial) joining together to go against Tripathi's was fun, though I didn't see Ramankant killing Maurya coming. 

Pankaj Tripathi somehow felt lost to me in this season, again the culprit been how the story moves to so many characters. He does still have some moments to shine, and the end gives me hope of something special from his side in next season. Shweta Tripathi too felt offtrack, didn't like her character's way of dealing with the trauma. Ali Fazal was in form again, liked how they made him have action scenes with one leg not fully working yet and still powerful enough to get that Mirzapur throne. But, his greed makes me feel he might be having a downfall in next season. 

Mirzapur2 may not have lived upto the standards of 1st season, still it was good enough for me, specially the political angle inserted, few good addition of characters, some good old sub-plots finished, few new sub-plots that have scope of lots more in next Season. Maybe Season2 is just gonna act as a catalyst for a very powerful new season.

My Rating : 6.5/10

Movie Analysis : Ajeeb Dastaans (Netflix)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14091818/

Another movie that consists of 4 shorts, benefit always is that even if it doesn't click you feel time wasn't wasted. Very much like the past films Bombay Talkies, Lust Stories, Ghost Stories etc, Ajeeb Dastaans ends up as a mix of highs and lows together. 

Spoilers ahead... 

Majnu 

Directed by : Shashank Khaitan

Hum jab bhi kuch lete hai, toh badle mein kuch dete zaroor hai. 

Babloo (Jaideep Ahlawat) gets married to Lipakshi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) but on the first night informs her that he will never be able to give her love because he likes someone else and was forced by his father into this marriage. Its been some months, and  Raj (Armaan Ralhan) who is son of Babloo's driver, offers to help Babloo in his work but his intentions are to come closer to Lipakshi who herself gets fond of him. This short would had worked better if it stayed at the revenge theme (you get that twist very late), but the gay angle is so poorly done that I didn't really bothered about the ending then. Even actor like Jaideep Ahlawat looks out of touch here, or its just a case of how poor the script was. 

Khilauna

Directed by : Raj Mehta 

Kothiya mein rehne wale kabhi apne sage nahi ho sakte.

Meenal (Nushrratt Bharuccha), a housemaid changes the place she used to work at just because the male owner there could help the electricity cut issues she was facing at her small accomodation where she lives with her lover Shushil (Abhishek Banerjee) and little sister Binny (Inayat Verma). There's a party going for the new-born and an unusual incident makes Meenal and her lover prime suspect. This one works better, yet in parts only. The theme clearly is of poor vs rich, but it also tackles bad parenting that actually results in that very shocking final scene which you probably don't wanna remember ever (almost as disgusting as the one in Kingsman 2 movie). All the actors chip in with good performances, feel there was more scope in the execution of how rich treat poor and vice-versa, which may have made that final scene making more impact. Still a decent short for me. 

Geeli Pucchi

Directed by : Neeraj Ghaywan

Tumhe apne sach ko maan lena hoga, tabhi khush reh paayogi. 

Bharti Mandal (Konkana Sen Sharma), a Dalit and discretly gay, is the only female working at this industry, she is hard-working and wants promotion for a computer desk job. But it rather goes to new recruit Priya Sharma (Aditi Rao Hydari) who is bisexual. After initial apprehensions, Bharti forms a close bond with Priya having feelings for her but only to realise with time that she can never close the caste gap and all the discriminations that comes with it. I won't say it totally lives upto the hype I heard for this short, a tad slow I felt but still is the best of the lot. What works is Konkana Sen Sharma's brilliant performance, even her walk in the male dominated workplace looks so manly like her dressing as if she has so sunk up in the job when clearly her talent says she deserves lot more. Thats what the short explores, talent is always secondary, links and your status matters the most which is why I love the casting of Aditi Rao Hydari, because she is so sweet and cute that to hate her, which her character gives reasons at places, results in very contradictory situations. Love the office birthday scene, and the final one at Priya's residence. In the end you would take Bharti's side but its tricky, you still would feel Priya was somewhat hard done. 

Ankahi 

Directed by : Kayoze Irani 

Aapke honth jhooth bol sakte hai, par aapki aankhein hamesha sach bolti hai.

Natasha's (Shefali Shah) daughter Samaira (Sara Arjun) is slowly losing her hearing ability and her husband Rohan (Tata Roy Chowdhury) isn't willing to put in efforts of learning sign language or give time to Samaira. At a art gallery, Natasha happens to meet Kabir (Manav Kaul) who is a photographer and has a hearing/speech disability. They form a great bond with use of sign language but what will happen when Kabir learns reality of Natasha being a married woman. This is a very good effort from Kayoze Irani as his directorial debut, and it helps that he has got the terrific main lead actors, Shefali and Manav, both of them engaging you in every frame they are in.. a delight together which makes me wonder if Manav should do more of romantic movies, I can recall only Tumhari Sulu last one where also I liked him. Coming back to Ankahi, the final heartbreak scene works a lot here (unlike the case in Majnu), even if I could say it was little dramatic but I will still take it. 

Overall, Ajeeb Dastaans has 2 winners for me, Geeli Pucchi and Ankahi, both full of great performances, with former having an interesting theme and latter more of routine romance done in a nice way. Majnu was a total miss, while Khilauna has some likeable portions. 

My Rating : 6/10 

Series Analysis : JL50 (SonyLiv)

Directed by : Shailender Vyas (4 episodes)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7441984/

You see, America mein ho toh phenomena, possibilities pe research. Lekin hamare hindustan mein ho toh only one 'Story'. Hamara problem kya hai Shantanu, hamare desh mein Hindu, Muslim, Mandir, Masjid, Politics, Andhvishwaas se upar hum log kabhi uthte hi nahi... Agar humhe akaash mein kuch dikhayi de jaaye toh hum do haath jodh lete hai aur usse bhagwaan maan lete hai.. question nahi karte, we don't ask Why, What, How.. Never.

Spoilers ahead... 

CBI officer Shantanu (Abhay Deol) along with his colleague Gaurango (Rajesh Sharma) reaches a village of Lava in West Bengal. Expecting to find the missing plane that was carrying some important politicians, Shantanu is shocked to learn that it is instead a different plane JL50 that crashed near the village, and more so its a plane that took off 35 years ago. Is it some kind of staging done by ABA (Azaad Bengal Association) or are we talking time-travel here? 

Time-Travel in last few years has really gone up on me as something exciting, first it was Avengers Endgame and then the superb Dark series. JL50 unfortunately is neither entertaining as the former, and nor detailed like the latter. Yet you have to applaud for the honest attempt and the fact that its just a 4 episode series so despite the flaws you would end up watching it in a go. 

Two major issues I had was, firstly the characters aren't developed enough, there's too little time spent on Shantanu's back life, why his marriage fell apart, and then the time-travel when it does come is way too late. Also, the entire scenario where Shantanu tries to change the events going back in time, felt hurried and not exciting enough to me. The sci-fi effects aren't good but that could be low budget thing. 

Love the scene where Professor Subroto Das (Pankaj Kapur) talks about why we Indians won't believe something unique can be invented by our own people, there's a genuine true frustration felt in those words. Pankaj Kapur is easily the best performer in the series, a reason why his sudden change in final episode didn't go well with me, maybe I wanted him to stay a positive character but still its a good twist. Abhay Deol was expectedly good, a tad overstretched maybe when it comes to 'I don't believe time-travel is possible', otherwise you enjoy his act or the revelation when he learns how Bihu Ghosh (Ritika Anand) is related to him. Again, not proper character development made this scene not having that much impact as it otherwise would had. 

Rajesh Sharma is fun, only character who is all the time wanting Shantanu to believe its definately a time-travel. Piyush Mishra strangely was too hammy, and rest cast didn't quite work for me specially Ritika. 

Even though I found the attempt to connect time-travel with Hindu Mythology little odd with the narrative of show, I liked that small part specially how propaganda is used by big leaders like Hitler shown or a certain person from our own country these days. The climax where Shantanu doesn't burn the papers properly was a clear case of very lazy writing, when you know how not only his life or people he knows will get affected but the country could suffer, why would he be so silly and stupid!

Some fun moments definately includes when Shantanu offers 10rs Coin in the time-travel to a bus conductor of 1984, it was really hilarious to see him being told 'nakli paisa deta hai'. The songs are used well as backdrop, though none of them has 'listen again' appeal to it. 

JL 50 I feel had the potential to be much more, let down in many departments, yet being a 4 episode series, you can still give it a chance. 

My Rating : 5.5/10 

Series Analysis : Haunted Season 3 (Netflix)

Directed by : Jan Pavlacky

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9077192/

The house is hungry. The house demands blood. 

In the Pines

Hannah had a abusive mother and when she was a teenager she moved to a friend's place who then helped her reach to Drew for work. She soon fell in relationship with him and moved to his house as live in where strange incidents started occuring. 

First of all, the narrator is very irritating herself and then there are two others who are over-reacting to her story. I mean these three made me not believe one bit of the story as true. Yet the story is interesting, clever use of 'My girl, my girl, don't lie to me' track and its never told if the serial killer killed that girl because she cheated on him or it was just a track he liked to sing. Again there is a stupid scene where Drew doesn't wanna leave the house as he believes he can channel the negative energy that is trapped and angry to somewhere peaceful. I am like, who are you Drew, why trying to be a hero, just mind your business and save yours and Hannah's life. Aneways, looking at the standard of this show, In the Pines is pretty decent watch. 

Haunted by Henry 

Wyatt as a young boy was haunted along with his sister at the house of Henry Croft. As he remembers those times, a house that had just hatred for him and his family. 

This one has better narrators minus the unwanted 'lights out' moment. But the narration again effects the main story, it does have good horror effects including few jump scares. This is much believable to be a true story, with a ghost that just doesn't want any tenant to live at his place and will either scare them to death or make them leave. 

Gift of Evil 

Emily on her 16th birthday gets a gift from her godmother, a musical box with her name engraved on it. Little does she know, that its some old box from a girl also named Emily who was murdered and now will haunt her. 

This was parts comical, parts wierd and parts watchable. When you see the 1st scene how the little girl Emily dies, you think maybe this one will be about the revenge from the guys who for no reasons (nothing is told) kill her. So, was a little disappointment to see the story go where she rather haunts an innocent girl. The Swan Lake theme played in musical box is nice, the boyfriend angle felt rushed entering Emily life and very quickly leaving too. And no logic why for 10 months she would go totally hidden. Overall, I didn't much enjoy, or found it scary.

The Witch behind the Wall

Brandy as a young girl shifts to a new rented place with her siblings and mother, only to find that the room upstairs wasn't safe because the wall was linked to the house where a very mean old lady lived.

Finally a different story, based on witch and sort of black magic. Works for most parts, except the 'get out of my house' dialogue which is the only time she talked in the episode. Out of all her ways of scaring the family, the table fan one got to me because many times I think of what if I feel asleep with it so close to me and my hand gets stuck inside. One other hiccup in story was, why would all the siblings one by one wait to get a experience of what that old lady is doing, rather than straightaway sleep in the ground floor, aneways maybe this is bit of nitpicking. This is a nice episode, probably best so far. 

Demon Cat

Alicia, a teenager, moves in with her brother and mother to a rented house after living most of her life in a mobile place before. Unfortunately, a demon cat awaits her in this new house. 

My most disliked episode so far. Starts with a very gross scene involving some cat ritual. Then, there's a very hard to see ankles breaking scene and we also go bollywood with a practioner helping Alicia escape death in hospital as he removes the demon cat spirit from the house. The cat scenes itself are gross too with it looking like some very odd creature. Only positive I can say about this story was that for a change its the mother who experiences odd things happening in house before it happens with rest family. And yea, definately not a true story by any means for me. 

Sins of my Father

Christian's father becomes effected by the spirit of Antichrist and goes jail for murdering his grandma. Years later, Christian having recovered from the shaky childhood, is at Yale University and he sees the history repeat as he too becomes Antichrist. 

I couldn't understand why Christian father all of a sudden becomes anti-god, there's just nothing shown as a reason behind it. And then same happens with Christian. Did I miss something? Scare wise it works more on the level how scary it would be for people around Christian father or later Christian, rather than us as viewers feeling terrified. Decent episode, just the reasoning would had made it work better for me. 

So, new season of Haunted again had same issues, funnily enough many of the stories would had worked if only they get done with the unwanted narration style, infact voiceovers ain't needed too. All episodes are 20ish mins long mostly which is a blessing and also a reason why I keep coming back to this series that I know will never work for me. 

My Rating : 3.5/10 

Series Analysis : Ray (Netflix)

Rather than the shorts, this is like a 4 episodic series with all around 1 hour in duration. Before I go talk on them individually, have to mention I totally loved the stories, making me wanna go back someday and read more of Satyajit Ray stories if at all they are available somewhere for common people like me. 

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14160660/

Forget Me Not 

Directed by : Srijit Mukherji (Vasan Bala - check on netflix)

Tu Computer hai, tere liye jo data hai.. mere liye woh yaadein hai.. main nahi kar sakta inko delete. 

Ipsit Nair (Ali Fazal) is a famous busy robotic businessman who takes pride in his memory always remembering all the tiniest of details about everyone he has met. And its the reason why his life turns upside down when he meets a lady who seems to know him but he can't recollect their previous meeting.  That just one memory loss, effects him to an extent that his memory starts fading in every day to day routine. Best way to describe this episode would be the 1st scene, the un-necessary time that lady takes to walk for a drink. Also, the revenge angle when revealed takes away a lot from the story. Love the scenes where Ipsit is dreaming of forgetting his child at theatre food corner, or when he can't locate his car at the parking lot. Ali Fazal is again in terrific form, I just wished they either kept it totally a case of memory loss leading to mental asylum making a lovely psychological study or the revenge angle was done in a much better way. In the end it ends up as a very average episode despite the great story. 

Bahrupiya

Directed by : Srijit Mukherji 

Hum bhi bhagwaan jaise hi hai Indrashish, hum bhi shrishti karte hai.

Indrashish Shah (Kay Kay Menon), a middle class guy who feels broken due to every person he has met in this cruel world. One day he finds his late grandmother left him with a book on make-up and prosthetics and a big sum of money which is when he realizes how he can turn around his life and also take revenge from the people who didn't treat him well. But this soon turns into an obsession,, and when you feel you are a creator i.e God, the end is always near. Another story whose adaptation and broad changes lets it down for me, had it stayed around Indrashish trying to do more than what he should and realize his mistake, it would had bigger impact and probably would had sympathised with Indrashish then. Instead he is turned firstly into a sociopath and then someone who wants to challenge God too. I did however enjoy Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Peer Baba, even if I wish this character wasn't part of story. Kay Kay Menon is again excellent, the writing just lets this one down too. Still, it was more enjoyable than the 1st episode.

Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa 

Directed by : Abhishek Chaubey 

Kisi ko ghar se nikalte hi mil gayi manzil, koi hamari tarah umar bhar safar mein raha.

Musafir Ali (Manoj Bajpayee) is travelling to Delhi from Bhopal by train and ends up meeting Aslam Baig (Gajraj Rao) sharing same coach. But Musafir soon realises how he had met Aslam before too, coincidentally in train many years back and he had stolen a very precious watch then. Its easily the best episode of the whole series. Abhishek hasn't done this kind of cinema before, he has been more into dark zone.. but how wondefully he sets the narrative here and ofcourse helped with the jugalbandi of Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao, you don't even want them to stop talking, such is their range and also the use of Urdu makes it for a great watch. Musafir constantly breaks the 4th wall, plenty of dream sequences or mirrors used to narrate his flashbacks including his rise to fame. The entire previous meet of theirs happens on what is a clock setup, even the shayaris done happens with a train setup. Train journeys always makes for fun watch for how two strangers talk and find some strange bonding. But the episode does get away from the train setting finally, and its again a delight because we meet Hakim Saab (Raghuvir Yadav) and a shopkeeper (Manoj Pahwa) who are fun in their small cameos. And I enjoyed the title track a lot too. One of my fav episodes that I may come to re-watch again in future, no complaints at all with a very fun ending and also learnt the stealing habit has a name called Kleptomania!

Spotlight 

Directed by : Vasan Bala

Tu yeh jo sochta hai na ki Ryan Gosling meets Elon Musk wala jo look tu achieve karega, tu nahi kar sakta.

When Vik (Harshvardhan Kapoor) arrives at a luxurious hotel for a mahurat shot of his film, he insists on getting the room where Madonna stayed. But he is shocked to learn that the room has been taken away from him because Didi (Radhika Madan), a godwoman demands the same room for same reason. The spotlight slowly keeps shifting away from Vik, and that gets him so mad. This one totally didn't work for me, and reason is straightforward, I didn't like the vision of director and where he tried to take the story with a very ridiculous ending. Its the supporting act of Roby Ghosh (Chandan Roy Sanyal) that I enjoyed the most, specially when he tells Vik he will never get the look of Ryan Gosling meets Ekon Musk, or when he tells Vik to be cool and accept the fact that people are more mad for religion than the celebrities. Also, like the scene involving Vik and Didi that comes just before the climax. I still didn't get what difference Vik's various 'Look' shoots had, I mean the final one that he nails as per everyone, was totally ditto to what he had been doing before, or was it some sort of sarcasm that I didn't pick up. Aneways, its good to see Harshvardhan go even deeper in a role that very much makes fun of him (like the small role in AK vs AK). I wish the dynamics of worshipping celebrities vs worshipping godwoman was explored deeply and in a different manner, an opportunity lost. 

So, Ray has a clear winner in form of 'Hungama Kyon Hai Bharpa', while 'Behrupiya' works in parts, 'Forget me Not' had potential but misses mark while 'Spotlight' was a total miss. 

My Rating : 5/10 

Movie Analysis : First Cow

Directed by : Kelly Reichardt

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9231040/

History isn't here yet. Its coming, but we got here early this time. Maybe this time, we can be ready for it. We can take it on our own terms.

Spoilers ahead.. 

In 1820's Oregon, a skilled cook named Cookie (John Magaro) joined a group of fur trappers but gets bullied and ridiculed. He accidentally meets a Chinese guy King-Lu (Orion Lee), and over course of time become good friends starting a small business of selling biscuits to the townspeople. But the milk for that they steal every night from the sole cow belonged to the Chief Factor (Toby Jones). Can they keep the secret or run away in time gathering enough money somewhere they could expand business? 

I have often said that slow-paced narrative very few times bother me, last time it was Blade Runner2049, and now First Cow. Though the difference this time is that I still ended up liking the movie. I understand certain films require slow pacing to set up the atmosphere, but here there are many scenes that are extended for no reason. Had they trimmed them properly, I think there was a case of this film working a hell lot more. Its only post 30 mins mark (yes you have to show that much patience) when the story actually begins to go in a direction I want it, i.e Cookie and Lu meeting for 2nd time at bar. 

From there onwards, I was totally engaged into their conversations, the pace still was slow but it was much more interesting to see their dreams, their plans, the happiness to see their 1st batch of biscuits sell out within seconds. And ofcourse the greed to earn more, taking risks knowing very well where this may lead if get caught. In a way the film talks about the choices you must take depending on the kind of situation you are in, even if its bold and risky because if successful you would get good money. Not saying that stealing was right, but they were doing it only to get themselves enough money that may help in starting something new or a hotel business which Cookie wanted. 

Lu is always the enthusiastic one out of both, while Cookie is reluctant and almost fears they are going too far with daily milk stealing. If Lu had listened for that night, maybe they both would be alive.. but its not easy let go an opportunity of easy money, besides the people were getting to eat tasty biscuits in exchange for money. One thing I didn't understand was whose house did Cookie stayed at when he got injured as when he asks he didn't get a reply, or it didn't matter and was just a random good person helping him out for few nights.

The ending tragic scene is emotional because you are rooting for both the men, you have by now got invested in their beautiful friendship that unfortunately is about to come to an end. Oh I totally like how slow this scene goes, building the tension of gun shots coming any time which don't come. But you know it happened, thanks to the opening scene of movie. 

The cinematography is beautiful and also the production design always making you feel this is set in early 1800s. 

Yes, the movie requires patience, way more for the early 30mins but if like me you manage it then most likely you won't be disappointed. First Cow is a beautiful movie about friendship that ends in a tragic manner with fantastic performances by both leads. 

My Rating : 7/10