Film Review - Everest

 

High Enough

Film: Everest

Cast: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson

Directed by: Baltasar Kormakur

Duration: 2 hrs

Rating: * * * 1 / 2

Based on the true story of a mountain climbing expedition that took place in 1996, Everest takes a slightly different approach to the story-telling than the conventional Hollywood movies. The studios love ‘disaster’ movies wherein they can show case mass scale destruction with special effects but there isn’t a great deal of scope to do that on rather lonely and arduous trekking trip to mount Everest. The story then focuses on the human element of the one way trip undertaken by a bunch of non-professionals coming from different geographical locations and diverse backgrounds.

To climb the 29,000 feet peak, the team is headed by a seasoned climber who has been there done that. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) has come all the way from New Zealand leaving a heavily pregnant wife (Kiera Knightley) behind. The ever reliable Emily Watson is a-coordinator at the base camp while Jake Gyllenhaal plays the leader of another group who are in the same business of helping amateurs achieve glory by climbing the mountain.

A rich guy (Josh Brolin) has come all the way from Texas while a postman (John Hawkes) realizing it is his last chance for glory joins the aspirants along with a Japanese lady who has achieved a lot but this is the last frontier.

We also get a brief insight on why, just why anyone would take such a risk to climb a mountain. In some cases, it is a point that they want to prove to themselves and for others they want to show to the world what they are made of.

The film doesn’t rush into the action straight away, which is what I liked. We are given a fair background of the characters and the trying conditions that await them. While there is enough drama on the way up, given the nature of the story, tragedy has to strike at some point.

There again, the director and the writers, William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy (Oscar winner for Slumdog Millionaire)  have done a decent job, under the circumstances it would have been tempting to go with the histrionics but they have refrained.  Hollywood anyway gives us an overdose of heroism from time to time so it is good to watch a film that takes a step back to see the drama unfold.

Backed by commendable performances, Everest is eminently worth a watch.

Published in The Navhind Times on 20th Sept. 2015
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Film Review - Southpaw

Left is Right

Film: Southpaw

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Duration: 2 hrs 4 mins

Rating: * * * 1 / 2

 Southpaw can be described as a formula film but it is a story that is very well told. Films involving sports follow a certain arc and this one is no different. We have seen a similar plot in the likes of Cinderella Man and since the days of Rocky and Raging Bull (and before that Champion and Requiem for a Heavyweight) the bar for films with boxing as the backdrop has been set high.

Due credit to director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen and the forthcoming remake of The Magnificent Seven) for keeping things tight and simple. And he also has Jake Gyllenhaal who has moved into the top orbit with films like End of watch, Prisoners and Night crawler. If he keeps going in the same mould, he could well end up as one of the best actors of this generation. 

In Southpaw, he plays boxer Billy Hope – age is not on his side but he still packs a punch. He has everything that one can hope for – money, fame and beautiful and caring wife (Rachel McAdams) and an adoring daughter (Oona Laurence, giving one of the best performances by a child actress in recent times). Bruised and battered after a fight even though he wins the title, his wife wants him to call it quits. But he goes by his instincts and doesn’t have the inclination to plan his career.  That’s when tragedy strikes and loses everything he has got – professionally and personally. 

Forest Whitaker plays Tick Wills a boxing coach who helps him pick up the pieces and even though you exactly how that angle is going to pan out, Fuqua keeps you interested in the proceedings.  

The film balances the quotient of sports and human emotions quite well, it kicks off with a fight at Madison square garden and finishes with a crucial fight at Caesars Palace in Vegas. In between comes the human element as Billy loses custody of his daughter. The admirable part is that the screenplay though simple, manages to tug your heart strings with the father-daughter relationship.  There was one particular scene which was remarkably shot – the little girl in child care custody refuses to see her father. The camera is placed at a very low level at first and then when it cuts to the next shot, it is from a distance at the height of the ceiling. 

The average script rises above the ordinary because one, the direction and two the acting. You care about Billy Hope because of the conviction with which Gyllenhaal essays the role. Whether it is the physical looks of a boxer or emoting desperation about his daughter, he is brilliant.  Rachel McAdams plays her part with conviction while Forest Whitaker is reliable as always. The little Oona Laurence matches the older actors in every scene and she has it in her to go the distance. 

In all likely hood you will hear more about the film when the awards season starts because this is an above average product from the Hollywood factory. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 2nd Aug 2015

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Film Review- Nightcrawler

Breaking News

 

Film: Nightcrawler

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Renee Russo , Riz Ahmed

Directed by: Dan Gilroy

Duration: 1 hr 57 mins

Rating: * * * *

Directed by writer turned director Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler is the kind of film that you are not quite where it is heading. It is an engaging ride throughout but when the end credits start rolling, you leave your seat rather reluctantly because it gives so much food for thought.  

A reflection of the present times when television and their ‘breaking news’ have become a part and parcel of our lives Nightcrawler is an excellent study about a man who wants to deliver at all costs. What I particularly liked about the screenplay is the fact that it is as much of a character study of the man in question as it is a commentary on today’s world.  

Fortunately, in India crime stories on television have not taken the kind of centre stage as it seems to have in America. Of course, we have our own brand of sensationalism. 

You can’t call Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal, remarkable performance) a good for nothing. He is an unemployed bloke and a thief for whom the means are more important than the method.  He sees a roadside accident one day and a free lance camera man (Bill Paxton) is filming it. It turns out that camera guy will sell the footage to anyone who pays him the green bucks.

Interested by the idea, Louis buys a camera and a police radio scanner in order to get to the scene of the crime and film it first. He gets lucky and manages to sell some footage to a local tv station headed by Nina (Renee Russo). Louis doesn’t care two hoots about morality or ethics when it comes to shooting footage. He hires a rookie (Riz Ahmed) who doesn’t have much of an idea about what Louis is upto. In one case, they get to the crime scene even before the police does and film a family that has just been shot. 

For the news channel, as far as such footage is concerned, the more the merrier.  And the gorier, the better -for them it is all about ratings and getting the news first and manipulating the viewers’ feelings.

The films starts off with a slightly slack pace but boy, it does end with a bang.

The character of Louis is most fascinating. You could so easily argue for and against his behavior –he seems to be a fair man (“Just give me a number” he says when he tells his assistant about a raise) but he also has his failings, he doesn’t know where to draw or line or rather for him, there is no such thing as a line when it comes to his work.

Jake Gyllenhaal has given a performance of a lifetime, credit should also go to the director for extracting such a performance.  The actor has shown his versatility with films like Prisoners where he played a detective and in this as a rather creepy guy.

Nightcrawler is certainly one of those films that will be remembered for a long time.

Published in The Navhind Times on 9th Nov 2014 

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Film Review - Prisoners

 A Must-Watch Taut Thriller

Film: Prisoners

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Melissa Leo

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Duration: 2 hrs 33 mins

Rating: * * * *

After making waves around the globe with Incendies (2010), director Denis Villenueve offers us yet another film that gives a lot to write home about. Prisoners is an intense film, even though it is on the longer side, it gets you hook, line and sinker. It gives you the same feeling when you read a highly engrossing novel, which you wish would never end.

  

Credit should be given to writer Aaron Guzikowski for the taut screenplay and of course director Villenueve who has been consistently making good films for the last decade or so.

Prisoners goes way beyond the usual action thrillers. It also deals with morality, predicament and guilt. Hugh Jackman plays Dover and one fine day, during a small celebration with friends, his young daughter goes missing. In fact his friend’s (Terence Howard) daughter has also vanished when the two were playing together. A young man who was sitting in an R.V. near the house is picked up as a suspect but he claims innocence and it turns out that he also has the I.Q of a ‘ten year old’. A bright police detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned the case and though there is no evidence against the suspect, Dover is convinced he is the culprit and has kidnapped the two girls.

Slowly, it all starts to get murkier as sex offenders are rounded up and the suspense starts building up   While it is largely the personal story of a father in desperate search of his daughter, the film throws in a lot of questions about what is right and wrong and what any individual would have done in that situation. And that is where Villenueve’s brilliance comes in as a director. When you think it is all said and done, he pulls the plug at the end with great precision.

There are times when you like the good guy and hate the suspected bad guy and moments later, it is the other way round. There is no absolute good or bad, such is the nature of man.

Excellently shot by veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins, the atmosphere adds to the effect. Prisoners is also a triumph for its actors. Melissa Leo as the aunt and Maria Bello as the grieving mother are aptly cast. Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman both have delivered a remarkable performance. It’ll be surprising if an Oscar nomination doesn’t come there way.

 In toto, this film is not to be missed.

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