Movie Analysis : Aftersun

Directed by : Charlotte Wells

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19770238/

There's this feeling, once you leave where you grew up. that you don't totally belong there again. 

Spoilers ahead... (plenty of them)

Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) goes the memory lane decades ago when her younger 11 yr old self (Frankie Corio) went on a budget vacation to Turkey with her dad Calum (Paul Mescal). 

Most of the movie we see is through the point of view of Sophie, either the video recordings from her handheld video recorder or her mind camera as she herself points out at one stage in the movie. At start the story would give a feeling of its just another father-daughter bonding with a coming of age based story that we have seen many times. And the way some scenes go on for ages specially the one where Calum smokes cig at the hotel room's balcony at night leading to little dance steps all alone, makes you wonder 'oh no, maybe this is a pretentious movie'. I had the same feeling, but even this pointed out scene has a deeper meaning and as layer by layer the movie unravels, you would be surprised to see how much Aftersun tries to talk about topics that we don't discuss much or dismiss off too easily, i.e mental illness or suicidal thoughts. 

The beauty of the movie is that it tries not to tell what's going inside the mind of Calum directly, how he is always pretending to be happy which at times Sophie catches out but she is still too young to interpret that her father is actually having killing himself thoughts. There's many visible red flags, how carelessly Calum crosses a road with a bus coming his way, him standing on the top of his hotel room railing and the direct obvious one where you actually sense he would do it this time when he goes all alone late night towards a beach. 

The first clear hint we get about the depression he's going through is when Sophie asks him what did he do at his 11th birthday, which Calum denies telling in front of camera and thereby Sophie lets him tell to her mind camera and he reveals the incident that suggests he had a very shaky/troubled childhood. What I love about this scene is how its framed, using the tv screen to show Sophie having this conversation with her dad on the bed, so we don't get clear cut look at his expressions. This attempt to make sure scenes never get melodramatic is visible throughout the movie. 

Another beautiful shot is when Calum is opening out his cast (probably that was his last attempt at suicide before coming to this trip) in the bathroom, with a wall in between acting as barrier while on the other side Sophie on a chair is reading some magazine while asking him some silly yet interesting questions. She is totally unaware how irresponsibly Calum is cutting the cast and thereby hurting himself while he calmly answers her questions. 

Sophie re-visiting this trip on her own 31st birthday suggests that Calum may have ended his life after the end of the trip even though no official answers are given but you can put clues together to assume that. Why he did it ? Maybe the depression boiling over since the childhood got to him, being a dad at 19 he must not have been ready to take the responsibilities, followed up with a broken marriage leading to divorce, a recent breakup with partner that he was going to setup a cafe with.. In short, there was no happiness in his life and nothing good in near future looked like happening either, so maybe he felt this little trip gave him so much joy, it's right time to finally finish this life. 

He was clearly suffering in all departments, whether it was love or money as he couldn't afford a luxury room, nor he could afford that 'buy anything band' one of the teenager gifts to Sophie on her last day of trip, and also we see him ask Sophie run throwing some food on stage to avoid paying for the dinner, and lastly we saw him pick a random thrown cig from road while walking fast towards the beach. In a way you could say he was careless in spending money, for instance that rug he buys from the carpet store or the drinks he orders at the resort, who knows how much role all this played in him becoming a broke. Also, at one place he tells a guy that he isn't sure how he made it to 30, and how he feels alien to the thought of reaching 40 someday.

One thing about mental illness/suicidal thoughts is that its hard to know when the person is having it, most won't disclose it to even their loved ones. Just look at the conversations Calum has with any of the people throughout the movie, no one even once asked him 'Are you okay?' suggesting that they couldn't see through him, which even Sophie (understandably for her age) couldn't too. I am not sure if his wife knew or not, the phone talk they have suggests she maybe did, and he probably would had told it won't happen again. 

The coming of age angle of Sophie is well shown without the usual cliches through the interactions she has, with the guy at arcade game with whom she even shares a kiss much later and doesn't hesitate telling her dad about it, or the pool game she plays with the teenagers. Also, all the silent scenes where we see her just observe, whether its the girls talking about foreplay in the bathroom, or the teenagers partying and having fun around. Interestingly, in one conversation, a teenager girl tells her that 'all boys are gross' and adult Sophie is actually a lesbian. Again, kudos to the director handling the curiosity side of Sophie with utmost care. 

There's this scene where Calum tells Sophie to do what she likes, whether its to bring boys home, do drugs or any way to enjoy life but she must always tell him about it. It was an odd thing to hear him say, to ask daughter be very open when he himself isn't, and who knows how long he will live. Or maybe at that particular moment he felt he will outdo the urges to die and see his daughter grow up. 

The rave blink flashes throughout the movie was irritating for me, its at the right end when these shots make full sense. The anguish and sympathy adult Sophie had for Calum - firstly why did he go away, and secondly why could she not do anything. 

The soundtrack including the background score is just as spectacular, every time it adds more meaning to the narrative. The fun moments are beautifully shown through the famous tracks 'Macarena' and 'Tubthumping'. My personal favs however were -  

• 'Tender' by Blur that plays in background and suits Calum to the tee, a song that's about fighting the demons inside hoping to survive and find the peace. 

• 'Losing my Religion' by R.E.M. I will go on to say that I prefer the anguish tone of Sophie version over the original one. Its used at the karaoke night where Sophie isn't happy to see Calum not come up to the stage to sing with her. He is ofcourse having one of his worst moments of the trip eventually leading up to that beach scene. 

• Under Pressure' by Queen and David Bowie, this is one hell of a way to end the trip on (before that airport scene). I feel this track may never ever be used in a much better haunting deep way it is here, how it connects with the rave visuals of adult Sophie and that hug young Sophie is giving to her dad not knowing this is a moment she will remember forever in so many different ways, with the lyrics 'this is our last dance'. Perfection! 

Performances of both leads, Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal is splendid. Frankie plays Sophie as a girl who for her age is curious, asking silly questions but she's intelligent enough to understand things like the scuba mask drop where she immediately feels sorry knowing it was expensive and her father would be upset at it.She's not oversmart either even though she gets philosophical occasionally like the mention of how that sun is above our heads all the time no matter if we are together or not. 

In short, she strikes a perfect balance of what you would expect an actor of her age, not too matured and not too childish. Love how we see her angry with her dad at karaoke night, and then next morning without any tantrums or something, she forgives him during the mud sequence.

Paul Mescal had a much tougher role, to his credit he pulls it off so well, the art of pretending 'everything is good' while you are actually dying inside is efficiently handled by him. He's someone who is in pain and trying to be happy so that his daughter Sophie has a good time at the trip. We rarely get too much of closeups to examine his actions or moods. Its only when Sophie confronts him with direct questions, we get to see Mescal show off more. Even at the rug scene, I couldn't read what was going inside his mind.. was he thinking only about should I buy or not, or the symbols on the rug he wanted to buy had some deep meaning that made him get little lost.. I would love to know what that rug was implying since later on we see that rug at the house of adult Sophie. 

The reaction Paul gives when Sophie makes everyone wish him birthday song was really heartbreaking, not a surprise the director immediately cuts to the first and only time in entire movie Calum has a breakdown all alone in room. 

Aftersun is easily one of those movies that stays lingering in your head for days after you have watched it. Even though its a movie on depression, the topic is handled by the debut director in a manner that it never becomes a tough watch, yet it will hit you hard when its over. If not for the slow pacing, I would have given it a perfect 10. May not be really everyone's cuppa of tea, but I am glad it worked for me so much despite my initial reservations. 

My Rating : 8.5/10

Movie Analysis : Puss in Boots - The Last Wish

Directed by : Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3915174/

I find the very idea of Nine Lives absurd. And you didn't value any of them.

Spoilers ahead..

The story is about Puss in the Boots (voice by Antonio Banderas) who realizes that he has lived 8 of his 9 lives, and is no longer the brave strong cat he used to be. Running away from the bounty hunter, The Big Bad Wolf (voice by Wagner Moura), Puss hides at a shelter home for cats and meets Perrito (voice by Harvey Guillen). He eventually learns about a Dark Forest that has a Wishing Star, using which one can wish for anything and Puss expectedly wants more lives. The only issue is that there's many other people also seeking that star. 

The Puss-Kitty (voice by Salma Hayek) scenes are fun to watch, I personally enjoyed Perrito, the small dog a lot whether it was his initial conversation with Puss or how later he names the group 'Team Friendship', or the way he narrates the most heartbreaking moment of his life like it was the best one. He's just too cute in all situations and would melt your heart with that attempt of getting his eyes wide open. The 3 bears - Papa Bear (voice by Ray Winstone), Mama Bear (voice by Olivia Colman) and Baby Bear (voice by Samson Kayo) along with their adopted orphan girl Goldilocks (voiced by Florence Pugh) are also lovable and funny. 

Both the negative characters 'The Big Bad Wolf' and 'Jack Horner' (voice by John Mulaney), work seperately, the former aimed at dealing with inner demons and the other about physical strength. Infact Jack Horner is the only one who never redeems himself unlike rest characters which is understandable. There's this fun character, Ethical Bug (voice by Kevin McCann) who is conscience of Jack and keeps warning the wrong deeds he keeps on committing. I would have loved to see more of him. 

Even though the movie lacks in terms of Wow factor, and a not so interesting first 10 minutes specially the endless same dialogue 'I am Puss in Boots'.. it gathers momentum quickly and then keeps on entertaining thoroughly. Also, delivers the message of how you don't value what you have and the greed takes you on to wrong paths. 

The adventures are enjoyable with gorgeous animation, specially once they reach The Dark Forest and use the map which changes the route every time someone else holds it. It was really funny to see how Perrito gets the easiest path. 

While almost all voiceovers are great, I personally enjoyed Salma Hayek, Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo a lot more. 

Overall, Puss in Boots -The Last Wish may not be among the elite list of animation movies, but its good and entertaining enough to be seen again and again. Its a movie that I feel would work equally for the children and the adults, despite going dark at places. 

My Rating : 7/10 

Movie Analysis : Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Directed by : Dean Fleischer Camp

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15339456/

I want to be having a good life and stay alive, and not just survive, but have a good life.

Spoilers ahead... 

An absolutely adorable 1 inch tall shell, Marcel (voice by Jenny Slate) lives with his grandmother Connie (voice by Isabella Rossellini). The place is an airbnb where a new person Dean (Dean Fleischer Camp) living there forms a special bond with Marcel while he is making a documentary on Marcel's life. Marcel becomes a star on youtube, which comes with its set of drawbacks too. But, Marcel just wants to find his lost big family that was accidentally taken away in a suitcase of the last couple that lived here.

The stop-motion animation is told in a documentary style for major part with minimal scenes that show Dean. The movie very well captures the point of living life to the fullest especially with your loved ones. Its an emotional journey with the kind, innocent Marcel slowly revealing his daily life routines that includes some fun ways to get food off the tree, a tennis ball with a hole to roll through the home, a bread based bedroom and many more innovative things Marcel does. 

There are many fun moments, like Connie mimicking tik tik tik for the Lesley Stahl's '60 Minutes' show, Marcel mocking at the sad life of a dog that always barks at something that should be celebrated, the first attempt at making popcorns, how Marcel is irritated at Dean's poor singing and the lovely reunion of Marcel with his family in the end.

Marcel conversations with Dean are interesting and endearing, often he is surprised how different Dean's behaviour is to certain life aspects. You can't help but smile (in a good way) at Marcel's perspective and how he finds joy in small things which ofcourse is because his world is small. His belief of having a life that you live rather than survive is something almost every living being dreams of. 

The voice of Jenny Slate really stands out and makes you connect instantly because it just suits Marcel character and persona of cute, charming, kind, sweet, caring and innocent to the tee. Marcel makes you smile with his thoughts and also sad when he remembers the lost family or the scenes involving the post home attack which very much says a lot about how low some humans can go for fame. Not a surprise when you see Marcel regret getting famous online as he isn't enjoying the disturbance its caused to his small world especially the attack on his grandmother. The scenes post that leading to Marcel mourning loss of Connie is very heartbreaking to watch. 

Some of the heavy talks the movie covers may not work with the children specially losing a loved one or what Marcel believes that he isn't a single piece rather a part of a whole, but other than that I feel its a movie meant for all kind of audience. And I like they ended the movie on Dean and Marcel interaction at Dean's new house keeping it lighthearted and fun. 

Overall, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is an animation movie that you can't help but falling in love with. Another triumph up the sleeve of ever-reliable A24 production.

My Rating : 8/10 

Movie Analysis : Mission Majnu (Netflix)

Directed by : Shantanu Bagchi

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13131232/

Jung hathiyaro se nahi, intelligence se jeeti jaati hai.

Spoilers ahead..

Set in 1970s, its about an undercover Indian spy agent Amandeep Singh/Tariq (Sidharth Malhotra) who is tasked to find out the secret place where Pakistan is trying to conduct nuclear weapons program. And the name of the mission is 'Mission Majnu'. 

From the trailer itself I had the vibe of how on the face patriotism this movie will have and I wasn't proven wrong. But what was really disappointing that even the spy story was so damn silly, I mean I wasn't expecting much when it comes to how caricature portrayal of Pakistan would be but atleast don't defy logic and try to engage audience with a good thrilling narrative. 

The story has major scope to build characters and tension since its taking up a real life incident and includes some famous people of that time footage too. Check the level of stupidity - There's a brigadier who is openly sharing top secret information with a tailor (Tariq). We see the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Rajit Kapoor) in anger saying we will do anything to win against India even if it means we starve for food, and then eats a piece of chocolate cake. That's the kind of humor in this movie.

We see Tariq time and again try to get information through gossips with woman, or a boy or shopwala, because the cue  given in script is, no one will ever get suspicious about you. There's Aslam Usmania (Sharib Hashmi), another undercover raw agent, who is hot tempered taking his gun out so easily and yet has never got caught, go figure yourself! Also, there's a mention of 'very dangerous Pakistan scientist' who works on this nuclear program, but throughout the movie I couldn't understand what they really meant by dangerous because nothing felt like so. Maybe, dangerous has a new meaning as per this movie. 

There's 2 very irritating characters, one of Raw Officer Sharma (Zakir Hussain) who constantly keeps bullying Tariq for his past related to a traitor father.. but its just too repetitive to my liking. Zakir Hussain does get one good scene later on where he suggests how sitting on other end through phone one tries to be patriotic not realizing real work is being done by other guys in the field who aren't valued enough. The other one was Tariq's wife, Nasreen Khan's (Rashmika Mandanna) father who keeps on disliking Tariq because of his low earning status. 

Sidharth Malhotra really struggles, ofcourse part of it is to do with the poor script but he still gave the  feeling of miscasted. When he says those lines in 'Shershaah' that are patriotic, they made an effect because the story was moving one. Here, in that scene where he tells Raman (Kumud Mishra, playing another undercover raw agent) and Aslam, about what he feels for India, it just comes across some street guy telling how patriotic he is. Rashmika Mandanna in her debut hindi movie is limited to a very one-note character, a reason why that climax scene doesn't invoke the emotions it should had.

Even Kumud Mishra  overacts for a change, it was tough to see him in that scene where he is pretending to be a Pakistani army officer. 

I never loved, Shershaah like most people did yet I enjoyed that film along with Sidharth performance. But, with Mission Majnu there's just nothing to like, even the songs are so dull and sleep inducing. Its just a failure of what could had been a good spy thriller if not more, like Raazi or even Romeo Akbar Walter were. Maybe Mission Majnu's target audience was only Sidharth fans or the patriotic lovers who will like anything that screams patriotism.

My Rating : 3/10 

Movie Analysis : Pinocchio (Netflix)

Directed by : Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1488589/

The one thing that makes life precious, you see, is how brief it is.

Spoilers ahead...

A stop motion musical about a wooden boy Pinocchio (voice by Gregory Mann) who is magically brought to life to mend the heart of a grieving father Geppetto (David Bradley). What follows are the adventures of Pinocchio as he learns the good and bad sides of this world, with the story set in fascist Italy of 1930s. 

The movie starts with a father losing his child at a young age and ends with a child outliving his parents. Both thoughts always gets to me, like which is worse, or maybe its impossible to tell.  Simply hard to imagine the life of the person who lives in both cases. 

We see a good flashback through Cricket (Ewan McGregor) who later lives in the heart of Pinocchio, as the lovely relationship of Geppetto and his young son Carlo (voice by Alfie Tempest) is developed only to be cut short by a terrible war accident where Carlo dies. 

Consumed with grief for years, Pinocchio comes in the life of Geppetto, but as expected he doesn't openly accept him. A part of the reason being he doesn't want to be told that Carlo will never return in flesh as a boy. Among many musical pieces, the first one involving Pinocchio is my fav 'Everything is new to me', its a hilarious fun take of a young boy learning new words. 

There's main 3 adventures, one involves a carnival guy Count Volpe (voice by Christoph Waltz) who is thrilled to know he has found a talking puppet in Pinocchio, second is about getting enrolled at war where Podesta's (voice by Ron Perlman) strict set rules have to be accepted at any cost that holds true for his own son too, and lastly a giant sea whale shape creature that wants to eat anything that comes in sight of it. 

While I enjoyed the former, the Podesta one was little irritating to watch with respect to how fascist the town was. The latter adventure was the only one where I felt bored, and probably could had been left out. 

The rabbits, hell lady or Cricket (who thank goodness gets to complete his song at endcredits), all provide some good laughing moments. The visuals are great, giving total feel of the grim world the story is set in and how Pinocchio's innocent mind takes him to many misadventures. 

I like how father-son relationship stays the main focus of entire story even when Pinocchio participates for Volpe or enrolls (forcefully) for Podesta, in his mind he is only thinking of papa or making him proud. Also, love how slowly Geppetto realizes that he can't have Pinocchio to be a look alike of Carlo, rather must accept him for his own qualities. The confusion Pinocchio has, or the feeling he goes through learning he is a burden for his own papa, having just learnt what 'burden' means from 'Cricket' just recently. All of it makes for a great watch. 

Overall, Pinocchio is a lovely animation movie full of strong emotions, that should work maybe slightly more for the matured audience than the children for the dark mood it carries.

My Rating : 7/10 

Movie Analysis : Tar

Directed by : Todd Field

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14444726/

Don't be so eager to be offended. The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring kind of conformity. 

Spoilers ahead...

Lydia Tar, a renowned conductor/composer (Cate Blanchett) is among very few artists who have won all of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. She is the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and working towards the final Symphony i.e Gustav Mahler's Symphony no.5. Everything is good, with a loving wife Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss) and a daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). But, there's something more to Lydia, which comes out whenever there's a mention of mysterious Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote). The situation is only going to get worse for Lydia when some truths come out. 

Its a strange movie, initially it felt like a biopic on Tar but then no such person exists, so it's most likely inspired from some artist because the detailing is high when it comes to orchestra/classical music. You are bound to feel like an alien watching the first hour if you have like me never heard or shown interest in this kind of music. Of all the famous musical composer names mentioned in the movie, the only one I know about was Beethoven. 

Your patience is going to be tested with a 3 mins long opening credits having no visuals and just a folkish song running in background. And then its followed up by a 12 mins long interview sequence with Lydia and a host at a live stage in presence of large audience. It's asking a lot to keep interest going, I somehow succeeded but some average moviegoer may struggle. Not to say these scenes serve no purpose, we do learn how strong and confident Lydia is, and almost managing it very well in a male dominated society. 

There's two notable scenes, one involving the class scene where a different opinion on Bach offends Tar, or to put it she feels the student is offended by her strong views in favour of Bach. This is the first hint that Lydia might actually be abusing her power. Then, the scene where Lydia threatens a classmate of Petra suggests how far Lydia can go even if in this instance she probably did the right thing. 

The 2nd half picks up pace a lot, as the element of sexual abuse and the mysterious night scenes create a sort of haunting feeling. Both the supporting characters of Francesca Lentini (Noemie Merlant) and Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer), are fantastic adding more layers to narrative. While Francesca is looking for a promotion working hard day and night for Lydia as her assistant, yet someone else gets the nod. And Olga serves as a new girl in the orchestra letting you draw a parallel with Krista whose story is never shown in detail. 

Felt Nina Hoss is under-utilised and there could had been more of her involvement with Lydia before or after the Krista scandal. Infact the entire movie never tries to go into the dynamics of how Lydia was over-controlling everything, rather it's goes in the way of studying Lydia's fall without showing the rise, we don't even get to see one full orchestra performance, its just the classes or rehearsals. 

Cate Blanchett without any doubt gives a terrific performance, from being a dominating non-sympathetic force at work, to a caring mother to Petra and her growing interest for a new girl. She beautifully takes you through the journey of being famous and how by the end everything falls apart. Love the scene where she is watching an old videotape and tears start rolling down her cheek where its not the performance of the orchestra conductor but his words about music that hits her hard.  Also, enjoyed that hilarious scene when she sings 'you are all going to jail, your apartment's for sale' in sarcastic response to being told to leave the place because of her loud musical disturbances. 

Overall, Tar keeps shifting from being great to boring to interesting. Its worth a watch just for Cate Blanchett. 

My Rating : 6.5/10 

Movie Analysis : Triangle Of Sadness

Directed by : Ruben Ostlund 

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7322224/

I am so good at being manipulative. I don't know, I do it and I don't even realize that I am doing it.

Spoilers ahead...

Told in three parts, 1st is 'Carl and Yaya'(Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean), about their relationship. 2nd is The Yacht, where they both are invited on a luxury cruise for the super-rich, with The Captain (Woody Harrelson) and 3rd is 'The Island' where the survivors from the yacht assemble to find a way out.

The dark humour works in some scenes like the dining bill argument between Carl and Yaya, or a staff member fired from job because Carl complained about him been bare-chested while at job despite Carl himself been bare-chested. Abigail (Dolly De Leon) counting the food at the island and keeping most to herself because she believes she is no longer a servant rather the captain as she is more resourceful to everyone else.

Rest of the movie just was either too long to sit through or way too pretentious to my liking, the whole political angle through the intercom conversation between the drunk Dimitry (Zlatko Buric) and the Captain while the yacht was a total mess felt very boring to me. And then the seasickness leading to puke and later flooding of floor with it along with sh*t, just was too much gross to watch. Surely there were better ways of showing the ugliness of super rich than by having them enjoying their dining while some are puking all around.

I understand the movie was a take on class divide, the way rich ignore/treat the poor or underline their existence, power corruption, racism, and some political-socio talks. The route taken to show all that despite being a satire/parody never made me feel interested. The Island part where the tables turn in respect to the class level was good, but it kept dragging on un-necessarily without anything valuable happening.

Not much to talk about any actor's performance, I couldn't find a single character to like. Every year, there's always one Oscar nominated film that isn't my type or I dislike it a lot. I think this year it's Triangle of Sadness. 

My Rating : 3/10