Prisoners

Apparently Canada is looking forward to that annual ceremony held by AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) more than anyone else.  The person responsible for this is one Denis Villeneuve.  His attempts to date haven’t been under a banner as big as that for Prisoners.  However, he has been much lauded over the years both within and outside Canada.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Now pause for just a few seconds and look at the string of names that dot this movie. Lets start with Stephen Daldry. He has directed 6 actors to Oscar nominated roles. At least one of whom has won an Oscar (The Reader – Kate Winslet). He has directed 4 full length features starting with Billy Elliot and all of them have been brilliantly made. The Hours and The Reader were the ones in between – before he made what I would guess is his best effort to date with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

And then we go onto multiple screenplay Oscar nominee called Eric Roth. Look at the list of movies he has to his credit. Benjamin Button, Munich, Ali, The Insider, Horse Whisperer & the mother of all – the one that got him Uncle Oscar – Forrest Gump. But the amount of meat provided by Jonathan S Foer’s 2005 Novel of the same name was sufficient enough to give yet another brilliant effort.

After these 2 big names one cannot help but look at the star cast and be quite certain that you are in for a really good movie when you look at names such as Tom “whatever I touch turns to gold” Hanks and Sandra “why was all that talent hidden to date” Bullock. And lets not forget some more stunning names – so what if their roles were not the most meaty – Viola Davis and John Goodman to name two.

But honestly, despite these big names, what will win your hearts in this super poignant drama will be the performances of one 14 year old who plays a 9 year old and another at the other end of the spectrum @ 82 years of age at the time of release. Thomas Horn plays the role of the young Oskar Schell who loses his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) thanks to a maniac who masterminded a couple of planes into an identical pair of landmark buildings in New York.

Oskar happens to walk into his father’s closet, over a year after the “worst” day and finds a key inside a blue vase. Thinking that it is a message left by his father, he decides to track down the lock that the key is meant for. He traces down over 400 people with the surname of Black across the 5 boroughs of New York. As he goes through the gut wrenching activity, he meets a variety of people and also makes friends with someone who is staying with his grandmother who is called The Renter (Max Von Sydow) for lack of any other word.

Ensure that you carry as much of tissue paper as possible for this guaranteed tear jerker. Not only because of a brilliant storyline but also because of some stunning performances – one from a teenager and another from an octogenarian. 8 on 10 for certain.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2238291481/

The Help

Who is Tate Taylor? Male. Aged about 42. Has acted in bit parts in about 7 movies to date including the much acclaimed Winter’s Bone and starting with the not so acclaimed Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion (Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow). He was classmates and great friends with Kathryn Stockett who made it to the big league as an author when her book titled The Help was published in 2009 – spending over 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. Well turns out that Taylor chose his friends wisely and eventually his projects too. His first movie as a director– Pretty Ugly People – wasn’t received too well. But I guess he fell hard and learnt really well. With “The Help” he has pretty much dispelled all doubts that people may have had about his capability to direct and write screenplay. Kudos to the winning pair for having given us one of the better movies from Hollywood this year (at least those released in India).

Something that has never ceased to amaze me is the absolute racial discrimination that existed (some say it continues to exist) in the southern states of the US – especially one town called Jackson in Mississippi. Now my information is limited to what I have seen in documentaries and movies but it has always made me feel so much better of the world that we currently live in. Kathryn Stockett has picked up the topic of coloured household helps in 1960s who had to face probably the most organized and gut wrenching experiences through their lives. Young American women in the 60s had their lives pretty much cut out I guess with college followed by marriage and eventually a litter to manage. But the ones bringing up the kids were called “The Help”. They were pretty much surrogate mothers and responsible for everything else @ home. Only to watch the kids grow up exactly into what their parents were and look the other way when it came to the topic of being treated equally. Painful right?

The movie is slow alright but keeps you engaged through great screenplay and fantastic performances. Viola Davis in superb the role of Aibileen Clark – who first decides to break the shackles by agreeing to interview with Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan played by the extremely talented Emma Stone. And Octavia Spencer in the role of the spunky Minny Jackson was as good. One cannot but appreciate the performances of the supporting cast – despite their not so positive roles – namely Bryce Dallas Howard. And then there was Jessica Chastain. Both are clearly asking Hollywood to take more notice.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a movie which was so dominated by female characters – all powerfully essayed. Long and as mentioned earlier, slow, but must be added to your watch list for the year. Not necessarily on the big screen but watch it because there are at least 3 Oscar nominations coming up – Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Mind you this is from the limited number of movies released in India this year. I hope I am right. If not, there are at least 5 more movies to be seen for performances which are much better. Good news either ways. 7.5 on 10 from my side for The Help.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi809278745/