Love and action

Undertaking to make films based on real-life incidents is like walking a tightrope. The filmmaker should not only digress from truth, but also see that the project succeeds at the box office.

Vasista Pictures Kadhalar Kudiyiruppu, produced by Indhumathi and directed by AMR Ramesh, is set in the backdrop of violence that took place in Bangalore after the demolition of Babri Masjid. There is no doubt the film, a love story, has tried to live up to audience's expectations. That Ramesh, who earlier did Kuppi, has taken a lot of care to stick to the original incident is evident right through the film. However, one wished the film had a different climax — it would have been gripping.

Venkatesh Gouder (Dharma) and Viswanatha Iyer (Avinash) are constables attached to the same police station. They are great friends. One day, Gouder dies and Iyer helps his wife Jayamma (Saranya) and son lead a respectable life. Iyer has two daughters — the eldest Anitha (Shruthi) always fights with Gouder's son Asvin (Aneesh). Anitha is to marry Rohith (Lohith). On the day of Babri Masjid demolition, riots break out in Bangalore following which Anita finds it difficult to return home from college. She calls up Rohith and asks him to escort her home, but he refuses to do so. Anitha then calls up Jayamma who sends her son Asvin to pick her up. In spite of the problems, Asvin safely brings Anitha back to her house. She falls in love with him. Whether they unite in marriage forms the rest of the plot.

From the beginning, one is aware that the story happens in Bangalore — the shots showing the roadside banners in Kannada and the Kar Sevaks collecting bricks with Kannada letters on them only reinforce this. In fact, it leaves one wondering whether one is watching a Kannada film. However, the riots shown on screen lack the intensity to convey that the lead pair is going through a traumatic day in their lives.

New-find Aneesh has the looks and his performance passes muster. The same cannot be said about his co-star Shruthi. Saranya and Avinash shine in their respective roles. When Saranya gets to know her son loves Anitha and that it is not the other way round, she bursts into a whole range of emotions, which is a treat to watch. Dilipraj as the friend Raju, Lohith as Rohith, the bridegroom, and Dharma as Gouder have done a neat job.

It is music director James Vasanthan who keeps the momentum intact with his good re-recording; his songs too make an impact. Dwarakanath's camerawork is noteworthy.

Kadhalar Kudiyiruppu

Genre: Romance

Director: AMR.Ramesh

Cast: Aneesh, Shruti, Saranya, Dilipraj, Avinash, Dharma and Lohith.

Storyline: A love story set in the backdrop of violence that took place in Bangalore after the demolition of Babri Masjid

Bottomline: Good in parts.

Bloodbath and body counts

cold blooded hit-man - The Mechanic

As far as action-porn goes, The Mechanic, directed by Simon West, delivers the required bloodbath and body-count. In a remake of the 1972-Charles Bronson hit, Jason Statham takes over the mantle of the efficient hit-man Arthur Bishop. As his voiceover tells you right at the beginning, he does all kinds of contract killings — from those done in a particularly gruesome fashion to send a message, to the “best” ones done with such finesse, they look like accidental deaths. The controlled manoeuvring that goes into the latter kind of killings gives him the most, shall we say, job satisfaction.

If Arthur is cold-blooded and ruthless, off-duty, he is a connoisseur of fine music and cars, who treats the local working girl well during his visits, and also pays her generously. He works for two bosses who run a shadowy firm — wheelchair-bound Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) who is something of a mentor to him, and in whose company Arthur actually lowers his guard enough to smile; and the snake-like Dean (Tony Goldwyn), who looks about as trustworthy as a banker.

An unfortunate turn of events — with shades of a Greek tragedy — disposes of Harry pretty early on in the film. When his ne'er-do-well son Steve (Ben Foster) threatens to go off the rails at his death, Arthur feels obliged to step in. Though he'd been estranged from his father, Steve is outraged; what sort of man would shoot a man in a wheelchair, he asks Arthur.

Arthur's potential weakness is a vestigial conscience, not particularly an asset in his trade. He feels he owes it to his dead mentor to take Steve under his wing and teach the violent lad the only profession he knows — how to be a killer. Steve is enthusiastic, and proves adept at learning the tricks of the trade. However, where Arthur is emotionless and in chilling control of his game, Steve is all over the place, botching things up. But Arthur is strangely reluctant to give up on him.

Foster is excellent in his role of the weedy guy with a vicious streak, who, despite his better instincts, is always going to be a screw-up. He is a good foil to Statham's impassivity. Their interplay has a good dynamic, and is even light-hearted at times — "Couldn't you have found us someone more attractive to spy on?"  Steve asks, when staking out an obese and obviously fake religious guru.

Unfortunately the filmmakers didn't have enough faith in this chemistry to develop it into the fulcrum of the film. Instead, scriptwriter Richard Wenk, who updated the existing Lewis John Carlino script, ups the gore, making it the centrepiece. People don't just get hurt or die, all of it happens with an unnecessary amount of brutality, punching, piercing, goring and spattering. The Mechanic whittles away the potential to have been a Greek tragedy-cum-action flick, and settles for being efficiently rendered action-porn instead.

Genre: Action

Director: Simon West

Cast: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn

Storyline: A coldblooded killer takes on a hotheaded prot‚g‚, diametrically opposite to him in temperament and style.

Bottomline: Actionthrills delivered efficiently - if, at times, mechanically.

Inarritu does it again

profound - Biutiful

By now, you've probably already heard how depressing Biutiful really is. Don't go by that one-word conclusion. For a film about a downward spiral and bleak misfortune and tragedy, Inarritu's latest film, nominated for Actor in a Leading Role and Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, is a reassuring one about life and death.

With four outstanding films since debut — Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and now Biutiful — Alejandro Inarritu Gonsalez is arguably the finest and most consistent auteur in the world. In other words, he's yet to make a bad film.

His philosophical explorations of cause and effect, life and death and how connected we are in our actions and consequences, go deeper with this tale of man whose life spirals from bad to worse, from cancer to death of hope and all means of support systems for his family.

So, yes, while it is sad and depressing when it unfolds, Inarritu makes sure that he doesn't play it up to manipulate the audience into tears. This is a film with greater ambitions. While it seeks to make a larger observation about life and how powerless we are, it also makes it a point to remind us that the universe takes care of everything.

Inarritu once again weaves an intricate tale about the nature of man, with the thread of spiritual subtext running through the plot that crisscrosses multiple lives all connected through another accident. While the accidents in Amores Perros and 21 Grams were literal, a freak incident in Babel, the accident here is a disaster beyond human control or understanding.

It's a nuanced, career-best performance by Javier Bardem as he effortlessly transforms from a cocky, short-tempered man in denial to a helpless, desperate soul filled with guilt to a frail, peaceful father gracefully accepting what's in store for him.

Despite the trappings that come with the genre (we all think we know how tragedies end), Biutiful stays largely unpredictable, without compromising the spiritual core.

It doesn't get better than this for anyone who loves world cinema. Life is Biutiful.

Genre: Drama

Director: Alejandro Inarritu Gonsalez

Cast: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella

Storyline: A cancerstricken single father, who does odd jobs - from talking to the dead to illegally supplying Chinese migrant workers - for survival, needs to make arrangements for his children and make peace with death.

Bottomline: A reassuring film about life, death, karma and letting go in the wake of tragedy. Ten on ten.

Colin is Guy's guy

Aussie actor Guy Pearce has snubbed one co-star to back another for Oscar glory later this month. The Memento star Guy appears in both Academy Awards favourites The Social Network and The King's Speech but says only one of his leading men really deserves a Best Actor award. “What Colin has done is amazing,” says the former “Neighbours” star on the Oscar race between Colin Firth and The Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg. “It's really such a special performance and I think that, on the back of what he did in A Single Man, he deserves it. For those who sort of see Colin as Mr Darcy from Bridget Jones, it's most impressive as a performer. He's just a delightful guy and so great to have worked with.”

Lethally heavy

James Franco has come up with a rather gruesome use for an Oscar statuette — murder weapon. The handsome star who is co-host and Best Actor nominee at this month's ceremony, says he is shocked at just how lethally heavy one of those famous awards can be. “It's really heavy,” says James who has been busy rehearsing for the February 27 event with co-host Anne Hathaway. “I don't know if it has happened in any movie but you could do a great murder scene with one of those things!”

Tatum's hope

Johnny Depp could still make a trip down memory lane via 21 Jump Street. The Pirates of the Caribbean star, who made his acting debut in the popular crime teen drama, is wanted for a new movie version of the series. “I'm praying we get him,” says Channing Tatum, star of the new big screen 21 Jump Street. “We're beating on his door so hard that I hope he answers. We would freak out if we got him. We're on top of it every single day. I think we send him something every single day.”

Dancer Jamie put to the sword

The Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell has two left feet when it comes to fighting. The 24-year-old King Kong star admits he struggled to come to grips with his all-action role in The Eagle because of his dancer background. “You would think dance would help with fight scenes in a way, but bizarrely, sword fighting breaks all the rules because you're supposed to go right foot, right arm forward. Dance is right foot, left arm,” explains Jamie. “With the fight choreographer, I had to unlearn the way you teach sword fighting and teach it backwards for me, because I literally couldn't do it. I cannot make a step with my arm going at the same time, because in dancing it's a very unnatural movement.”