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Amu (2005)
Well-written, well-acted, very satisfying
First of all it's a delight to watch such unselfconscious acting and to hear English (and Hindi, Bengali) spoken so naturally. First time director Shobnali Bose elicits wonderful performances from most of her cast - many of whom are 'non-actors'. The script, too, is deliciously funny in parts, which off-sets well with the powerful and serious message underlying the film. The locations chosen capture the actual places represented so that the whole has the verisimilitude of a documentary film, even while the spectator is drawn into the lives of the characters whose stories are being told. All in all a very satisfying film, and a great debut.
Vanity Fair (2004)
Rich and delicious - an engaging tale of complexly etched human beings in colorful times
From the moment the child Becky Sharp, heroine of William Thackeray's Vanity Fair, is first introduced in Mira Nair's film version of his novel, we are engaged by her presence of mind, astuteness, and wry humor. She also conveys a sense of pathos, which endears us to her immediately. So, once Reese Witherspoon comes on screen as the adult Becky, we are eager to embark with her on the journey of her life and times.
Embracing a kind of 'humanistic realism', Nair transfers onto the screen all the vibrancy of life in early 19th C England and its colony, India. Unlike the delicate tone of most costume dramas set in genteel British society, Nair's Vanity Fair is awash with vibrant color. The bright hues of many costume elements, and the ruddy, almost purple, complexions of several characters, serve to highlight not only the lusty nature of the lives they lead but also the complex, colorful human beings they are.
London streets are filled with elegant carriages and beautifully made sedan chairs. We see, too, the underbelly of a London that props up the luxurious life-style of the lucky few: an urchin chases after coals falling off a coal-scuttle headed for an affluent home, a herd of filthy pigs rushes past on their way to an abundant kitchen, a prostitute stands by the railings of one of London's most elegant squares.
Similarly, people are presented in all their complexity warts and all. Engaged as we are by Witherspoon's Becky Sharp, we recognize her shortcomings as she schemes her way to recognition and acclaim within high society. Yet Nair never lets us loose sight of her humanity either. For, while Thackeray's work may be 'a novel without a hero', it also has no outright villains. People are presented with all their contradictions and unpredictability. Just when you thought someone was being really coldly mean, she melts into an act of extraordinary kindness.
Reese Witherspoon's intelligent eyes convey a multifarious range of emotions as her anti-heroine goes through a life that takes her from rural England, to London, to Brussels on the eve of the battle of Waterloo, to . .. .aah, but that would be giving away the story. Suffice it to say that the most enjoyable part of the journey is watching her, and watching also her fellow travelers. Romola Garai (as her best friend Amelia Sedley) is both pathetically innocent and willful; Jim Broadbent as Amelia's implacable father-in-law elicits, for a poignant moment, our heartfelt sympathy; the potentially sinister Marquess of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne) is almost avuncular, even gentle, just when he is extracting his 'pound of flesh'.
This is a film made by someone who embraces life in all its manifestations, who is neither judgmental nor apologetic about her characters their habits, their propinquities, their choices. The old type of realism was dour, and filmed bleakly, often in black and white. It dealt in raw emotions, showing the 'seamy' side of life in a way that shocked our senses. Nair's realism is filled with bright light which shows up both the reds and the shocking pinks of costumes and carpets as well as the smudges of dirt on people's clothes, faces, walls.
Nair also brings to her film a social awareness typical of someone brought up in Mumbai, India, where the super rich can live cheek-by-jowl with slum-dwellers sleeping on the sidewalks just beyond their marble lobbies. Her touch, however, is light. She simply tells life as it must have been filled with many more smells, noises and dangers than BBC serials or Merchant Ivory films choose to show us - thereby making her canvas rich and delicious at the same time.
On the whole, this Vanity Fair has integrity of vision, is consistently good, and also entertains. Well shot (with Declan Quinn as cinematographer) and edited ( Allyson C. Johnson), and beautifully designed by Maria Djurkovic (overall production), Beatrix Aruna Pasztor (costumes), and Sam Stokes and Lucinda Thomson (art directors), it never forgets that all these elements serve in the end to tell a good story well.
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Intelligent, well-crafted, and very satisfying
It's a joy to see a film which is not only intelligently directed but which assumes a certain level of intelligence - and sophistication - on the part of the viewer. From direction to camera work, art direction to editing, dialogue to music, the film is clever, but never self-consciously so. Yet, while it feels like the product of 'today's' film making - a film that any 'art film' maker should be proud to have made - it also tells a fast paced 'spy-versus-spy-versus-spy' story very well.
Matt Damon's performance is compelling. He draws us into Bourne's predicament so that what happens to him at any moment is more important than figuring out the twists. I caught on half way what the main twist was, but that was irrelevant because of the way I was gripped by how the story unfolded.
As someone who loves traveling and getting seeped in the flavour of each place I visit, I loved the choice of locations within each city and the way they conveyed subliminally where we were and what that place was about - and how that affected the story. I loved, too, the fact that while Matt Damon's character spoke several languages well, the local people he spoke to still knew him for an American.
Most of all I found myself really caring about Bourne as a person and enjoyed the slow, thoughtful process of his self-discovery within the mayhem of the several exciting car chases and near escapes that keep the plot moving fast.
Truly a film that 'entertains', i.e. takes a hold of you - and leaves you feeling very satisfied.