Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

When you have Alejandro González Iñárritu directing a movie you can be rest assured that it has to be at least a little bit “hatke” (off the beaten path).  With movies like Amores Peres, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful under his belt Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) could not have been straightforward.  It would not have been Iñárritu.

Biutiful

I was done with watching Yeh Saali Zindagi and was desperate to actually watch some quality cinema. I knew there was a show for Biutiful @ 2030 @ PVR Mulund but as luck would have it, I was the first person to ask for a ticket. Luckily a 2nd guy came in. Here was a guy who wanted to see the movie for a second time. And he told me a story about how the movie was being screened @ the Miami Film Festival and the organizers were forced to screen it twice because of the response. Ironic that against 400+ people in each show @ Miami, we were struggling to get 4 in a show. Luckily we got to our minimum requirement of 6 to run a show and I got to watch two of the best on screen talents that this world has seen in the past few years. Both who personify the term intensity on the big screen. Both who believe in the concept of perfection like very few I have ever seen. They go by the names of Javier Bardem (Uxbal) and Alejandro González Iñárritu.


Uxbal is a 40 something man who struggles to make ends meet. He lives with his children Ana (Hanaa Bouchaib) and Mateo (Guillermo Estrella) in a matchbox houe of sorts somewhere in Barcelona. They live away from his wife, Marambra (Maricel Álvarez) because of her addictions and inability to take up the responsibility of the children. He makes his living by supplying cheap illegal immigrants as labourers or for doing odd jobs. His key contacts are the Chinese – Hai (Cheng Tai Shen) and his gay partner Liwei (Luo Jin). The Chinese supply him goods which he sells off on the streets using his African contact base. Other than all of these, Uxbal also has a peculiar skill. I really do not know how to explain this better and so I will put it as simply as I can. Uxbal can talk to the dead and communicate their final thoughts to their loved ones. He is called upon quite often to do this. He isn’t supposed to charge anything for it but accepts any money given because of his financial situation. Uxbal has prostrate cancer and has another 2 months to live.

Iñárritu, in his 4th movie, continues exploring his favourite concept – DEATH. This time around, he narrates the story in a fairly straight forward manner unlike 21 grams where he made sure that people who understood the movie hadn’t taken their eyes off the screen for a split second or like Babel where each of the 4 stories were linked to the other in some obscure or not so obscure way. This one is much cleaner but then it is Iñárritu right. So there has to be a certain amount of – for lack of any other word – poetry – on screen. I cannot describe Iñárritu’s direction in any other way with my limited knowledge of the English language and even more limited knowledge about the movies. Every single cog in the wheel seems to just come together to communicate the essence of pain that a father goes through when he knows that his children are going to be without someone to depend on when he moves on. Or the emotions that a deranged mother goes through thanks to her inability to cope up with addiction. Not forgetting to mention the desperation of an illegal immigrant to ensure that her family’s future is secured. An extremely poignant representation of emotions. Truly a very well made movie. Extremely slow but very well made. 8 on 10 for the movie. 9 for Bardem. But I don’t think he will be able to pip Colin Firth for the best actor at the Oscars.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1483905305/

21 Grams

This one is going to be extremely difficult to write. Anything that I write could be considered as a spoiler alert for the story. Advance apologies if at any given point of time I land up giving away something that I probably should not have. Have never found a more challenging movie to write about to date. Add to that the factor that it has been directed by someone who I consider to be one of the most talented directors of our times - Alejandro González Iñárritu. 21 grams is his second movie. After he stormed into the circuit with another masterpiece titled Amores Perros. Urban legend would say that Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel are a trilogy but that’s definitely not verified on date by the man himself. Would be glad if someone could. They all however deal with the same topic of life and death and how everything in the life seems to be interconnected in some way or the other.


The basic essence of the movie can probably be surmised with one dialogue. I quote, “They say we all lose 21 grams at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? When do we lose 21 Grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much….. is gained? 21 Grams – The weight of a stack of 5 nickels, a humming bird, a chocolate bar. How much do the 21 grams weigh”? Coming in a review it may seem like a whole bunch of philosophical words that you stare at. Watch the movie and these words suddenly take the form of poetry or fall into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The vagaries of death and the complications that come with it are brilliantly portrayed in atypical Iñárritu style by blending the lives of three completely unrelated people (or for that matter their families as well) and building it up to a superb climax. Paul (Sean Penn) and Mary Rivers (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are a couple struggling to keep their relationship alive. Paul is counting his days thanks to a bad heart and a chronic smoking problem. Mary is desperate to conceive before Paul passes away but cannot thanks to a bad abortion earlier. Cut to Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), an ex-convict and a born again Christian who is married to Marianne (Melissa Leo). They have 2 children and are struggling to earn an honest day’s living. Jack also tries to get more people into following The Saviour. Completing the trio is Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) a reformed drug addict, now happily married to Michael Peck (Danny Huston). They have 2 daughters. Unfortunately, anything more I say would probably ruin the viewing experience.

21 Grams is a film maker’s delight to say the least. It has the powerful performances of 3 of the most talented actors ever to have hit the screen along with the direction of Iñárritu. Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro are exquisite to say the least. Naomi Watts, however, does show some gaps especially in the scenes that involve shedding a few tears. The editing is near perfect with the story shuttling back and forth and left and right all through the nearly 2 hours that it runs. The screenplay from Guillermo Arriaga is superb. The supporting cast is also very good. Melissa Leo is outstanding in her portrayal of the wife of an ex-convict and the desperate attempts that she makes to keep the family together. Funnily, all of this got it only nominations in the major awards for 2004. Maybe well worth the effort to find out which were the movies nominated for the Oscars in the same year. If there is anything that the movie falls short on, it is pace. The above average movie follower will be rooted to your seats and waiting to catch what happens next. Definitely not one for the masses though. I would be very harsh if I were to give this less than 8 on 10. Guess the academy thought otherwise. But then again, I am an amateur critic.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3383951641/