2012 Mini Reviews: Foreign Edition

Rust and Bone(2012): I know a whole bunch of people who consider Marion Cotillard as one of their favourite actresses. I am sure each and every one of them has a solid reason for it but I don't share the same sentiment. You'll probably think that I do not like her since I am opening with this but let me explain it to you as this is probably my own fault that I don't think of her when I think of great actresses working today. The reason being I really haven't seen many films she has been part of or should I say, the films where she gave a memorable performance. I haven't seen her big, famous and probably the most important role so far in La Vie en Rose(2007) or Big Fish(2003), another one she is usually lauded for. Yes, I Loved Midnight in Paris(2011) last year and off course Inception(2010) year before that and she was lovely in both but no one really remembers either of them for performances right? Similarly The Dark Knight Rises(2012) this year - no one will go beyond Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine. Now we can talk about Contagion(2011) or Public Enemies(2009) or A Good Year(2006) but none of them will have any case for her as one of the best actresses working today. So, in a nut-shell, what I am trying to get at is, I badly wanted to see one performance of her that will make me think that she deserves that claim(don't ask me why didn't I just see La Vie en Rose? I don't have any reason that will be even mildly satisfactory) but thanks to Rust and Bone(2012), I Finally got that.

So, Ali has recently been put in-charge of his son and he comes to Antibes to live with his sister and her husband. He meets Stephanie, a whale trainer as we later find out, in one of the bars he works as a bouncer. Few days after meeting Ali, Stephanie gets into an accident on her job and looses both her legs. Rust and Bone follows their relationship and knowingly or unknowingly, how they help each other through their emotional problems. The reason I say knowingly or unknowingly is because even though Ali does help her a lot in Stephanie's bad patch, given the kind of person Ali is, I am not sure he even realizes it. Ali is emotionally unavailable to anyone and that also makes him a terrible father, a kind of father who would hit his kid upset for of a loss of dog because his trainer cancelled his boxing match. He probably isn't a bad person who would mean any harm to you but if he does cause it, he wouldn't even realize it. That's why he casually leaves Stephanie in a bar and gets out with some other woman and that's why he ends up hurting his sister who is putting a roof over his head. I hated him until the last 20 minutes or so which at least give him a little more gravity, indicating maybe all the hell he has gone through has has some effect on him towards making him a little better person. But off course, the real star of this movie was Stephanie and Marion Cotillard in that role. In the story, her character is definitely secondary to Matthias Schoenaerts' Ali but she was so much better than him. One of the principle reasons why I wanted to see this movie was her and as I said I was finally happy to have witnessed Cotillard's prowess with such a layered performance. Because of what Stephanie goes through very early in the movie, there are various stages she goes through in the movie and incredible thing about her performance is she owns every single one of them. It only makes me wanna watch La Vie en Rose even more desperately. After landing an SAG nomination, I really do hope she gets nominated for Oscars as well.

Rating(out of 5): 

Holy Motors(2012): Over the last couple of years when I started watching movies much more seriously, I have realized that more often than not I hate the movies that purposely make themselves difficult to understand. Hate probably is the strong word but I definitely don't see myself supporting them. From whatever I had heard about Holy Motors(2012) before going in made it a perfect candidate for such a film. Now, I know that as a good movie-buff, you are not supposed to go with preconceived notions about anything but sometimes you just can't help it. However, somehow all the polarizing talk about this movie made me more intrigued about it rather than turning off and I decided to give it a chance. After all, I don't get many opportunities to see foreign movies on big screen and guess what? I Loved it and I only have two words - Denis Lavant.

So let me make yet another feeble attempt to explain what the hell this movie is about because even a week after watching this movie, I still have no idea. We spend a day with Monsieur Oscar who goes from an appointment to appointment, playing different roles in each one. Sometimes he is a caring family man, sometimes he is a beggar on the street that no one notices, or a an ugly, repulsive, flower eating monster or uncle on a death bed to a lovely girl that really loves him. He spends most of his time in between these appointments in his limousine getting ready for his next appointment and every time he emerges from it, he is transformed completely and unrecognizably into the character he is playing. I can completely understand anyone who says that they really didn't like this movie, where they come from? as even after having seen it, I have more questions about it than answers. I don't know what those appointments were? How do you go on making these appointments? Assuming that he is getting paid for them, who's paying him to be a beggar? What was with that banker he goes after? and it doesn't even looked like they are interested in giving any answers either. But instead of frustrating me, it really intrigued me and only reason was Denis Lavant who is absolutely crazy going from one appointment to another. But there are enough moments between his various appointments that give his character a gravity that you can't just discard him outright. His conversation with the teenage girl completely fooled me, his interaction with the niece as an uncle on the death bed - especially the way it ends - fascinated me. Even though his last appointment and ending did rub me in a wrong way a little, Lavant's towering performance was far more stronger to complain much about it.

Rating(out of 5):

Amour(2012): If you haven't noticed all the three movies here so far are French. All the three movies have been in discussion a lot, for good or bad reasons. What is little interesting to me is, despite all three getting such an international acclaim, their official nomination for Oscar is yet another wonderful film which is one of my favourite movies of the year and is almost certain to get nominated as well. 4 movies with such an international acclaim - even though it is France, I am not sure how often does that happen. What is even more interesting is I not only loved them all, Amour, Holy Motors and The Intouchables are all in my top 10 right now with Amour being the best movie I have seen so far this year.

Having gone through very similar experience myself with my own grandmother few years back, it was very easy for me to connect with this film even though personally I was never in George's role as a primary caretaker - that was my Parents role and we were more in passive role, much like Eva. Also being on the other end of it for over two years now, made it a little easier to look at it candidly and probably is what made it my favourite. There is nothing right or wrong, good or bad when you are in such a position. From the first hand experience I can tell you that all you can do or you usually end up doing in this condition is react to it and more often than not you are lucky even if you get to do that. There is no point in blaming anyone. George doesn't become a bad person because he looses it and hit her once. George knows that she is helpless better than anyone else but sometimes you just can't help it. Haneke captures all of these emotions in few moments very beautifully. Some of them break your heart, some of them put a smile on your face or rekindle small hope in you. If not for the moments like Anne trying out her new wheelchair and Alexander, her student playing Bagatelle for them, it would have been an overbearing emotional experience impossible to sit through. What makes this movie even better is painstakingly real and honest portrayal of their relation with each other, gradual but continuous effects of her illness on them both and on those around her. I loved that there were people to help them, who genuinely cared for them. And knowing that it is Haneke, I was really thankful that nothing shocking happens to either of them. Watching her deteriorate over time was hard enough, I really didn't need any more villains. I don't think I have seen either Riva or Trintignant before but they were both revelatory in their heartbreaking performances. I have heard people complaining about its slow pace of it but to tell you the truth, I was happy it was slow. It gave me time to gather myself up. I would have been a blabbering mess otherwise.

Rating(out of 5):

Once Upon a Time In Anatolia(2012): First of all, many people will probably count this movie as a 2011 movie and they are right as it was released in many parts of the world in 2011. But it was recently pointed out to me that it had it's US release in 2012. So, I can include this in 2012 list. I had heard lot about it since last year and hence I was really happy when I saw it pop up on Netflix Instant few months ago. As far as I remember this is my first Turkish movie. Turkey and Australia have always been two of my favourite destinations, I really wish to visit them sometimes. Now, Turkey we see in this movie is far different from what I had in my mind but it is still equally beautiful and as for the cinema, I hardly could have asked for a better introduction.

Now, the basic story of Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is very simple. Somewhere in anatolian parts of Keskin, a local prosecutor, local police chief and a doctor have two suspects who have confessed a murder. With the help of few others and some sergeants, they are trying to find the location of the body. What starts of like an easy enough job to wrap up the case turns out to be quite an ordeal and tastes everyone's patience. To tell you the truth, after reading the synopsis and looking at the running time of over 2 and half hours, I wasn't sure how can they stretch such a simple theme for so long? As it turned out, I could not have been more wrong as what makes it interesting is it's treatment. It literally grabbed me from the very first scene and kept me engaged till the very end - this in itself is a major, major success of the movie in my books. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Why I say this is there is nothing unusual or really shocking that happens throughout the movie and despite it, director somehow managed to keep it interesting. All there is going on for most of the time is usual bickering amongst all the government employees for having to work overtime, blaming each other for it, sub-ordinates blaming their higher officers for not helping them and officers blaming those under them for not being efficient. Pretty usual passing around the blame and ruminating over their woes. And in the mean while, they are going from one place to another to identify the location and find the body. It is long, it is slow but it is damn interesting. There is no conventional Hero-Heroin-Villain here, even the two suspects aren't really treated as villains. Almost everyone in the cast shares the limelight at one point or the another and everyone is so subtle and so natural in their performances. It does drag a little in last 40 minutes or so once they come back home but majority of the part is them looking for the body and it was fascinating. To help it immensely, it is shot wonderfully. I have seen a lot of movies that are really beautiful to look at but this one isn't like anything I have seen before, simply because it makes things that you will never think of as pretty look stunningly gorgeous, almost poetic. I have never seen barren piece of land look so beautiful or an apple falling off the tree and rolling into the nearby stream never really wowed me like it did here.

Rating(out of 5):