Catching up with 2013 Mini Reviews: Part II

Gravity(2013): I know I am very late to the party. First of all, it got here couple of weeks late and then I saw it almost a month after it did. Only thing is, I am really glad that I got to see it on the biggest possible screen because it is totally worth it. Alfoanso Cuaron’s latest is one of the best visual masterpieces I have seen and Emmanuel Lubezki deserves every credit for it. I am not a big fan of 3D but after Hugo(2011), this is first film that made me think that it can be used to good effect.

Set in space, Dr. Ryan Stone, on her first ever space mission, and Matt Kowalski, on his last, are on a small mission to service Hubble. However things soon go south as debris from Russian missile strike causes a chain reaction and puts everything in danger. Hands down favourite thing about this film is the kind of atmosphere Cuaron creates around us. With the help of amazing camera movements assisted by some quality editing, Cuaron manages to get viewers into the head of Dr. Stone, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, to give them a first hand experience that makes everything so much more better. One of the predominant reactions after watching this was this is closest a normal person will get to being in space and it has a lot of truth to it. One of the frontrunners in this year's best actress race Sandra Bullock, who spends most of this movie alone, also has done a great job in this role. These days it's rare we have a movie that revolves around a female character, which incidentally all three movies in this post do, but it is even rarer to see a movie treat it's female character the way Gravity does. Bullock had a great chance to prove her mettle with this role and she takes it with both hands.

Since I was one of the last 5 people on earth to watch this film, I'd heard lot about it before going in. As much as I was aware of its technological achievements and acclaim it was getting, I also knew it was being criticized for script problems. I never got into specifics of it but I certainly was aware of them and while watching it, I realized why they are important. I am not going to flack it for portraying Russians as villains here or space Jetpacks being retired 30 years earlier. Neither was I too concerned about it getting the names of space shuttles wrong nor did I think Bullock in her shorts sexist. None of these are major plot points that dampen the whole experience but there are some valid points which do affect it. I guess everyone knows what major plot point I am talking about. I am also not sure what I think about unlikelihood of three space ships being in such close proximity at such an attainable altitude. More I think about it, more I have problems with it. I know that it will still be one of my 10-15 favourite films of the year but I will always have a lingering feeling that it could have been better.

Rating(out of 5):

The Bling Ring(2013): I have a very non-typical reaction to Sofia Coppola. I have seen them all except Marie Antoinette(2006) and I haven't disliked any of them but I don't react to them as strongly as many others seem to. There are many aspects of it that I like - stylistic look of it, loneliness it portrays but I guess it doesn't resonate as strongly with me. Even in case of Lost in Translation(2003), which would probably be her highest regarded film, I am much colder to it than everyone else though it certainly is overdue for a rewatch. I am saying all this because it's interesting that despite this history, my reaction to her latest which received much less critical reception than usual is much stronger than the consensus. So much so that even though I will rate both Gravity and The Bling Ring at the same level in stars, I think I like it even more than the former. Yup, I said it! And it is not a dig against Gravity, I just like this one more.

Since its premier in Cannes earlier this year, The Bling Ring is getting a mixed response. For those unaware, it is based on a real story about a group of teenagers in Hollywood who would break into houses of various celebrities and steal from their houses for fun. First of all, it looks fabulous. It has always been Coppola’s strong suit but their clothes, houses – even the ones they break into, lingo they use, locations are done meticulously. It is shot beautifully; background music is used very well. I think it does a great job of poking fun at the current celebrity culture. It really shows the frivolousness of all the characters involved in those robberies for no reason than materialist values in it. There are so many reality shown these days on any network that indulge in exactly this kind of behaviour which Coppola is making fun of in this movie. It is like a satire on that lifestyle. She shows the glamour and glitz of their lifestyle but without making them glamorous. The ending is yet again little jarring but that might my non-typical reaction to her movies.

One problem many people have with it is it lacks any depth. I don’t know how do you make these characters, whose first concern after being caught breaking into Lindsay Lohan’s house was “What did she say about us?” or “Is this long enough to appear conservative?” before appearing in court, look more deep, more real? I doubt if they know the meaning of being one. In their own way, in their own world, they are being as real as they can. At the end, after being caught, Nikki even tries to look more responsible, to look less disconnected to the rest of the world. But we all know it is a sham and Coppola treats it like one. I don't think I would've liked it any other way.

Rating(out of 5):

Frances Ha(2013): Bless Greta Gerwig in all her awkward glory! I think this one sentence is more than enough to express everything I want to about this film. I had been hearing a lot about this movie and especially about her for quite a while now. I won't say I was too excited for it because, despite all the acclaim, it still looked like a chick-flick. I had my expectations in check but it delivered what it promised and some more. The best thing about this film is, even though I actually laughed a couple of times - sometimes with her and sometimes at her, I had a faint smile on my face for all 86 minutes of it. There aren't many movies that have managed to do that! I have a hunch that glorious Black and White played some part in that too.

Frances Ha is a story of Francis Halladay, 27 year old woman leaving in New York who is unsure about everything in her life. She is not sure if she wants to have cats with her boyfriend or move in with him or if she wants to be a dancer or choreographer where she is an apprentice currently. She is not even sure if she doesn't want to any of these things. At one point, she asks her teacher at the academy if she can take some more classes, any more responsibility and after being rejected admits she is proud of herself just for asking. So she is not particularly interested in achieving something or reaching somewhere in her life, she is perfectly content with just trying for it. She's like what one character says about her - she is much older but less grown-up. And despite all this, and we have to give credit to writers for this, she is neither annoying nor pitiable. She is actually very sweet and charming; awkward, little weird and sometimes embarrassing but endearingly so.

Maybe she should think seriously about her future, maybe she should have been somewhere in her life already but she is not and she knows it. Thing with Frances is she lives in the moment. She does what she thinks like doing like going to Paris for a couple of days while being broke. This is probably the stupidest thing you can do but somehow Baumbach and Gerwig even manage to make that endearing. Maybe because we all want to do exactly that; we just don't do it because we are supposed to be more responsible, more grown-up. Not Frances! and its liberating in some way to see at least someone else can do that. Knowing what I did before watching this film, I was almost certain that I will hate her for being plain immature and behaving as if she has some existential crisis. But I did not, even for one minute. Her sudden transformation in the end might be too sudden but I was happy to see her get there, to see her mature through all these experiences and get somewhere at the end of them to be Frances Ha. That was a deft touch by the way!

Rating(out of 5):