Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)

This is a sensitive and entertaining piece de resistance from Columbia Pictures. Based on the real life story of Beverly D'Onofrio adapted from her book/memoir by the same name. Drew Barrymore plays Beverly who becomes a teenage mother against her wishes and decides to marry the errant father. 

Now it might be easy to define this movie in terms of the vocabulary that critics have developed to describe family dysfunction. But it would be unfair to describe this film only as "the trials and tribulations of an ambitious teenage girl who chases her dreams despite her loser husband, cribbing parents, teething son and a host of other circumstances working against her". 

The movie, which could easily be passed off for a chick flick, has layers of emotional information, unraveled through its richly delineated characters. Beverly is clearly the protagonist fighting to gain control of her life throughout the film. She has to watch her contemporaries enjoy their last high school year culminating in the prom. And then they move on to their Berkeleys and NYU's while she's left wanting. She has respite in her best friend Fay (Brittany Murphy) who also becomes pregnant and partners her through her teen momhood. Ray, her husband, in a wonderfully restrained performance by Steve Zahn, was never meant to fit the successful baby boomer stereotype. He barely manages to bring the bread home but absolutely adores his wife and son. An unshakable heroin habit finally separates him from them. The son, Jason, played delightfully by three young actors and an adult, expresses a range of emotions from feeling like a reject and being miserable on his father going away to being very patient and empathetical with his mother. He assumes the role of the parent after a while since Beverly never really grows up - her past being a constant reminder of what her future was not going to be. The film however does have a happy ending with Beverly and Jason coming to terms with their personal truths while being glad they had each other all along.

Well, thats the plot overview. See the film to enjoy the carefully crafted dialogue, picture perfect performances, period detail, and music. Quite the telling of a universal story that inspires everyone to go on and achieve success and experience love no matter what goes wrong.

Further reading:

Popkorn junkie's two cents

Pluggedinonline's unique review format replete with a conclusion

BBC's bored blip with boldised text offering special insights!

Neil Young's (?) pejorative review on Jigsaw Lounge

Mad Max (1979)

About Max and why he goes mad. I was curious about this cult film for a long time. Little did i know that its cult value was derived from tasteless violence and speed fetishism. The dialogue as well as acting is pasty and uninspired. At best, a B-grade revenge drama involving fast cars and bikes, and related crashes and pyromania. It seems loosely inspired by The Clockwork Orange, which is brilliant and wonderfully nuanced by far despite its Ultraviolence. One would expect atleast an expounding of biker culture but this film's wheeler dealers are subhuman morons with a leader who tries pathetically at enigmatism. Don't watch this film unless you enjoy beholding the beauty of the early 80's australian roadways.

Dor (2006)

The plot. Gul Panag and Ayesha Takia are cute and Shreyas Tapadia is very entertaining with his tongue-in-cheek mimicry of filmy dialogue styles. Its has nice shots of the scenic beauty of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Made me want to plan trips to these places as soon as possible. I loved the fact that Nagesh Kukunnor took on the negative cameo role, though his innocent appearance defied his casual statements about debauchery. And what was the need for that painfully long train scene in the end really. It's moments like those in Bollywood films that I get the feeling that viewers are being taken for a ride. All-in-all a fairly good transition to mainstream though. Waiting for more Kukunoor fare.

Fight Club (1999)

Finally a real review of Fight Club. I saw this movie completely for the second time yesterday. I lost myself in the coollity it inspires the first time i saw it 3 years ago. Who would'nt be bewitched by the idea of losing all hope in order to get hope. I was able to appreciate the finer details better this time. For example, Pitt seems effortless as Durden as he mouths his supercool Palahniuk dialogues while Norton has to try harder at his role. The clever use of animation to follow the complex action that makes the movie so iminently watchable. The film's music which sets the apocalyptic tone for the film perfectly. I was also able to relate more closely to the airport/airplane sequences after last year's trip to America. But is the film more than the sum of all its elements - i'm not sure if it continues to remain just a cult film to make favorites lists.

Oasis (2002)

The film depicts a tender romance that grows between a socially maladjusted 29 year old man and a very perceptive spastic woman but which gets plundered by the misgivings of their families and the police. 

The film warmed my heart by showing the depth of love between two individuals who have always lived on the fringes - never been accepted by their families or society. I felt strange because I tried to sympathize with their love as being incomplete without accepted forms of communication and exchanges of endearment. The film made me realize, to my dismay, how over-communication kills most relationships or often feeds the illusion that there is even a relationship in the first place. The tagline of the film really does bring the point home - "Have you really loved someone?"

You can find a plot synopsis here. 

Filmic observations:

• The director probably uses winter, the season the film is shot in, as a device to show how cold society has become. 
• The film is shot with wonderful restraint consisting mostly of documentary feel shots, POV shots and some amazing quirky shots (like the one in which the spastic woman looks out of a train window and city's buildings mirror on it). 
• The editing is minimalist and unobtrusive in order to retain the dreamy quality of the film. If you are a carefree person yourself, you will enjoy the way in which the film flows.
• The music in the film is sparse and slips into certain scenes and slips out unnoticed. There are also beautiful songs which they sing to each other.
• The acting performances by Kyung-gu Sol as Jong-du Hong, the maladjusted man and Moon So-ri as Gong-ju Han, the spastic woman are so convincing that you can't imagine them as normal. They both won awards in various festivals for their work (Moon So-ri won the the Marcello Mastroianni award for best "first time" actress at the Venice Film Festival)

Some metacritic reviews if you care.

Dead Ringers (1988)

This would be my fourth Cronenberg film (i've seen Videodrome, eXistenZ, and History of Violence). Each has been difficult to consume. Often for their psychedelic content and blurring of identity. Cronenberg's films live in a thin space between very incisive philosophy and blase horror. This makes it difficult for me to understand whether he means to propound certain postmodern theories to me or leave me paralysed with shock.

I could even say i've had my Cronenberg moments as a result - I sometimes experience a certain dissonance when i realise that i lead a yuppie life. I have to remind myself that i am someone who works in an software co., draws a comfortable salary and has a plush predictable life. 

More on Cronenberg and Dead Ringers:

Cronenberg career phile on Salon.com.

Splicedonline.com interview on his style of film-making.

Toronto film-writer's paean to the Canadian genius.

Film freak central Cronenberg interview and film bios.

Psychological determinism in Dead Ringers?

Metacritic reviews of Dead Ringers.

Will have to gather courage to see my copies of "Naked Lunch" and "Crash" soon.