வட்டாரம் (2006)

பழிவாங்குதலில் ஏதோ ஒரு கவர்ச்சி இருக்கத்தான் செய்கிறது. பழிவங்கும் உணர்ச்சி ஒரு இயல்பான உடனடி உணர்ச்சி என்கிறது மகாபாரதம் ஆனால் அதை ஆற அமர திட்டமிட்டு செய்வதில் கூடுதல் ஆனந்தம்தான். வஞ்சிக்கப்பட்டவர்க்கு தன் ஏதிரிகளை ஒன்றன்பின் ஒன்றாக களையறுப்பதுதான் கிடைக்கும் ஒரே ஆறுதலாக இருக்கக்கூடும்.

பர்மா (ஆர்யா) ஒரு சிறு, துப்பாக்கி கடத்தல்காரன். தமிழ் எழுத படிக்க தெரியாது, துப்பாக்கிகளைப் பற்றி தெரிந்துக்கொள்வதற்காகவே ஆங்கிலம் கற்றுக்கொண்டவன் (ஏனென்றால், தமிழில் அப்படிப்பட்ட புத்தகங்கள் வருவதில்லை).  அவனின் சிறு வயதிலே அவன் தந்தை தான் வேலை செய்யும் இடத்தில் ஒரு பொய் குற்றம் சாட்டப்பட்டு அவமானப்பட்டு இறக்கிறார்.  அவர் எஜமானர் குருபாதம் (நெப்போலியன்), பல தொழில் செய்யும் சமூக விரோதி.  பர்மாவுக்கு அவர்பால் ஒரு ஈர்ப்பு.  தானும் ஒரு நாள் குருபாதம் போல் வளரவேண்டும் என்று அவரிடமே வேலைக்கு சேர்கிறான்.  படிப்படியாக குருபாதத்திடம் செல்வாக்குப் பெற்று, தன் கனவிற்கு குறுக்கே வருவோரை வீழ்த்தி தன் தந்தைக்கு இழைக்கப்பட்ட அநீதிக்கு பழிவாங்குகிறான்.

"வட்டாரம்" ஒரு மிக சாதரணப் படம்தான்.  ஆனால், ரசிக்கவைக்கும் திரைக்கதையாலும், முக்கிய கதாப்பாத்திரங்களின் இயல்பான நடிப்பாலும் மீண்டும் மீண்டும் அலுப்பு தட்டாமல் பார்க்கவைக்கிறது.  அடிமட்ட அடியாளாக சேரும் பர்மா, குருபாதத்தின் நம்பிக்கையைப்பெற பல சோதனைகளைக் கடக்க வேண்டியிருக்கிறது. குறிப்பாக குருபாதத்தின் நீண்ட நாள் வலது கையான அயிராவணம் (என்ன பெயரோ?) பர்மாவை வெறுக்கிறார். பல அவமானங்களை, பழிகளை, சந்தித்தாலும், சற்றும் அசைந்துகொடுக்காமல், மெல்ல மெல்ல குருபாதத்தின் நம்பிக்கைக்கு பாத்திரமாகி பிறகு தன் பழிவாங்கலை துவக்குகிறான்.  தன் எதிரியை ஒருபக்கம் ரசித்துக் கொண்டே மறுபக்கம் அவருக்கு குழி பறிக்கும் காட்சிகள் மிக அருமை.

பரத்வாஜின் இசை இந்தப் படத்திற்கு பலம்.  "மகாகவி காளிதாஸ்" படத்தின் "யார் தருவார் இந்த அரியாசனம்" என்ற பக்திப் பாடலை இந்தப் படத்தில் இடை இடையே பர்மாவின் எண்ணவோட்டத்திற்கு தகுந்தவாறு, அவனின் வளர்ச்சியைக் குறிக்கும் பாடலாக பயன்படுத்தி, அப்போதெல்லாம் குருபாததின் நாற்காலியை காண்பிப்பது அற்புதம்.

ஆர்யாவின் உணர்ச்சியற்ற, அலட்ச்சிய நடிப்பு, "ஓரம்போ"வை போல் இந்த படத்திற்கும் ஏக பொருத்தம்.  நெப்போலியன், வழக்கமான வேட்டி, அரிவாள் இல்லாமல் கோட்டும், பூட்டும், தலைமுடி கலரிங்கோடு ஒரு பந்தாவான தோற்றம்.  யாரும் மற்றவர் காலைப் பிடித்து வாழ்வதை விரும்பாதவர். சாகும் தருவாயிலும், காலைப் பிடித்தால் உயிர் பிழைக்கலாம் என்ற என்றபோதும், தன் கொள்கையில் மாறாமல் மிளிர்கிறார். தன் குருநாதர் பாலச்சந்தரின் வித்தியாசமானப் பொருட்களைக் காண்பிக்கும் பாணியை மட்டுமே கொண்டிருந்தாலும், திரைக்கதையிலும், இயக்கத்திலும் சிறப்பாக செயல்பட்டிருக்கிறார் இயக்குனர் சரண்.

அப்படி ஒன்றும் அட்டகாசமாக இல்லையென்றாலும், பர்மாவின் செயல்முறைகள் சில "அட" ரகம்.  Alfred Hitchcock குறிக்கும் Refrigerator Movies (பார்க்கும்போது சுவாரஸ்யமாகவும், பார்த்தப்பின்னர் அசட்டுத்தனமாகவும் தோன்றும் படங்கள்) வரிசையில் "வட்டாரம்" இடம்பெற தகுதியுடையது.

The Man from Earth (2007)

Spaceships, aliens, time travel, eye-popping gadgets, robots are some of the things that comes to our mind when the word science fiction is used.  But, "The Man from Earth" consists none of the above and still achieves the mind-blowing awesomeness that only few science fiction movies manages to accomplish.

A professor resigns his job suddenly and is preparing to move out of town without attracting the attention of his colleagues.  But they turn up to bid adieu with a small farewell party and some nagging questions in their mind.  Why would a successful professor, who is the favorite for the next dean position wants to leave all of a sudden?  What is he hiding from others?  Why he looks younger than most of his counterparts of the same age and many more queries.

Upon further pushing and nudging, he slowly reveals that he is a prehistoric caveman who has lived more than 14,000 years.  At first, the colleagues take this as a joke and being intellectuals themselves, they start playing along by asking logical questions.  To their surprise, he provides quite convincing answers one after the other.  Slowly the colleagues see that it is possible that he may be an actual caveman, but could not come to terms to believe his stories.  The professor starts narrating how he took part in many historical events.  At one point of time, he reveals a stunning and audacious fact about himself which makes the colleagues furious.  Now the colleagues are not sure whether the professor is just toying with their minds or is he really sane?  

We too get played with our emotions and intelligence.  We are in the same position of the colleagues.  Though the facts looks convincing, we could never believe them.  Having setup a great build-up, I would say that this movie never lets us down at the end by cheap twists or resolve the questions by a deus ex machina.  And thats the most satisfying part of the movie when it respects our intelligence. The entire film is shot in a single room and few outside a house.  Who said that making a science fiction movie requires breath-taking visuals and loads of money?

The off-screen story of this movie is also a little bit interesting.  The story was written by an author in his death bed.  The producer struggled to release this film.  It was through the peer-to-peer sharing networks that his movie got much word-of-the-mouth recognition.  The producer was so overwhelmed by the response that he publicly thanked these networks and was even willing to release his future film(s) straight through the file sharing networks.  Wow.. that would be interesting!

Pleasantville (1998)

If you have seen "The Truman Show", you will like "Pleasantville" because both are similar but not essentially the same.  The main character(s) is trapped inside a TV show, but here they are sure about it than the doubtful Jim Carey. A brother-sister twins gets transported to a 50's sitcom, where everything is black and white and people who populate are innocents.  They don't even use a toilet. The basketball team never misses the loop even during practice sessions.  I can go on, but that would be revealing major interesting scenes of this movie.

The twins try to gel along the environment.  But the sister hates the goofy goodness surrounding her.  Both inadvertently start questioning and providing some insights on the world outside.  As one-by-one the characters experience a change in themselves, they turn into color while the other less enlightened people start seeing them as a threat to their existence.

The stunning scenes are when each color change happens and the reaction it gets from others.  Its really a fun to watch those.  When everything surrounding them changes, the twins remain in black and white and they don't know why.  Then they realize that though they induce most of the changes, they remain unchanged for most part and start searching within themselves.  When they gain the missing part of their lives, bingo...comes the color.

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

We all heard about opportunistic political alliances.  In fact every election in India is riddled with such a mockery of democracy.  But, this is a new kind of alliance.  A few cornered cops strike an alliance with their own prisoners to face a bunch of corrupted cops who are willing to go to any extent to save their asses.

"Assault in Precinct 13" happens on a new year eve.  The sergeant is a weary detective who has moved to a desk job to avoid making decisions that had killed his comrades in action.  When everyone has taken a day-off on the occasion, in his station, he now has a sexy secretary, a soon-to-be retired cop, his shrink on whom he has a crush.  A bad weather brings a prison transit van to temporarily halt at this police station.  The problem is that among the prisoners, we have a gangster cum cop killer who pose a great threat to whomsoever has him in captivity.

Soon, there is an assault launched into the police station.  The sergeant and others believe that this the work of the gangster's goons trying to release him.  But, when they realize that the target of attack is none other other than the gangster himself, they get confused.  Slowly it dawns on them that the attackers are also cops with stained hands.  If the gangster talks, they all has to accompany him to prison.  The sergeant's team is outnumbered and the only way to survive is to join hands with the prisoners and take on the trigger happy corrupted cops.

"Assault..." kept me guessing till the end.  Not whether justice will prevail because I knew it will.  I was looking for the typical talking-bad guy at the end, who even with a gun in hand will ramble long enough to be over-powered by somebody.  But, it didn't happen.  When the bad guy gets a chance, he never misses it.  There are some characters that wont normally die in these kind of movies.  But, this film kills whoever makes the wrong move.  I can sit back and enjoy these kind of movies without much problems

End of Watch (2012)

Two cops, their camaraderie, their personal relationships, their daily patrolling and their adventures form the major chunk of "End of Watch".  Beat cops on patrol are always in the verge of a death because their dangers are lurking behind seemingly harmless situations.  It could be a simple door check for a complaint on a noisy neighbor, but who knows what the neighbor is capable of?  I was never able to predict which scene would turn violent and which one would be normal.

On on of their typical day on road, they accidentally spoil a drug cartels distribution plan.  Since they are smarter, they sense something big is going on and become over-zealous and cross the line to do some detective work as well.  Now the drug mafia wants them dead.  With valor as their companion, the duo goes on doing their duty even ready to pay the ultimate price.

I hate hand-held scenes and unfortunately this movie is shot mainly using this technique.  But I have to agree that it gives a sense of being there and experiencing real events.  I also liked the car mounted and gun mounted camera usage.  On the flip side sometimes, I don't know whats happening.  Nevertheless, I was drawn into the movie and the thrills it provided.

Some scenes are gruesome and there is a shocking climax too.  But, everything fitted aptly for a good cop crime action film

Thank You for Smoking (2005)

I am often curious how some guys get the best out of any situation.  Even when they are holed out in a corner with apparently no options, they not only come out of the tight situation but convert it to their advantage.  One such guy is our hero.  He is a tobacco lobbyist, who is very good in smooth talking against anti-tobacco campaigns.  He along with a weapon and an alcohol lobbyists form the MOD (Merchants of Death) squad.

Look at the situations that he gets into.  He is cornered in a live TV show with a patient who has just recovered from tobacco addiction.  He is assigned to silence a bad mouthing former Marlboro Man, who is very shrewd and can't be fooled easily.  He gets involved with a reported who back stabs by revealing his game plan.  He gets kidnapped and almost killed by forced nicotine patch abuse.  From all these problems, he emerges a little scathed but ultimately successful.

There is no soul-searching on moral correctness of the protagonist.  Just like the negotiator in "Unthinkable", he is just doing his job with a monk-like detachment. His son admires his adventures and inherits his legacy by winning in the school debate competition.  I was also admiring all along making mental comparisons with similar personalities I have met.  Their knack of getting successful still eludes my tiny little intelligence.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

An almost dysfunctional family embarks on a road-trip for their daughter to make it to the beauty pageant competition.  The father is an unsuccessful self-motivational speaker who couldn't use his own step-by-step development program for his own life.  His son is kind of a freak, who takes a vow on silence until he becomes a pilot.  The daughter is a cute little kid who is in cloud nine after hearing that she is qualified for the beauty contest.  Her trainer cum grandad is recently sent back to family from an old-age home because of his drug addiction.  The mother is a weary home-maker that ties this family together.  As if there is not enough tragedy to this family, a suicidal and gay uncle joins them in their journey towards self-realization.

Although the son never talks, he shares a quiet and deep connection with his sister.  She is the only one who could console him when he realizes that his dream of becoming a pilot is not possible.  The grand-dad also shares a close relationship with his grand-daughter.  His demise brings an unexpected closeness to an emotionally indifferent family.  The Uncle's depressions further worsens when his gay partner switches loyalty towards his arch rival.  Even the van in which they travel develops problem with the gears.  It looked like only the daughter is relatively saner than anybody and she is less depressed about the proceedings apart from the last minute stage-nervousness.


In all road movies, the travel is most important than the destination.  But, in "Little Miss Sunshine", both the travel and destination are quite satisfactory.  When we expect a feel good ending of an underdog wins a contest, the movie makes a very smart and unexpected twist in the end.  It makes a mockery of the contest that was revered throughout the film.  Till that time, it was a good movie, but the twist makes it even better.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

I've known people using some soothing music for mediation.  Some even use a picture for focusing their mind.  I bet "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winder...and Spring" is also such a meditative material.  All you have to do is watch this movie which gives an immense pleasure of getting absorbed into the world it shows.

It shows the life of a boy, who lives in a secluded floating lake house along with a Buddhist monk.  The boy learns life lessons and undergoes various metamorphosis similar to the changing climates that forms the metaphor and the title.  The beauty is that life is a cycle that never ends.  Human beings may come and go, but their life remains the same.

Starting with the childish innocence and curiosity about the surroundings and his inherent cruelty as any human being, the boy moves to his adolescence.  He falls in love and leaves for a material world.  Later he comes back to his master as a refugee regretting his mistakes, only to be sent back to prison.  He returns after serving his term and finds the lake house empty.  After self-learning from his master's books, he accepts a child to be his student.  Its now clearly evident, how this little child would grow up.

The visuals induce trance like feeling and lingers in my mind even now.  The floating lake house surrounded by mountains is something of a pleasure to watch.  Its like getting back to nature from the material world. 

I am often inspired by the duty-driven life of animal world.  Although they have emotions, mostly they do what they are supposed to do without feeling bored.  They don't ask questions nor do they think about the meaning of life.  Yet, they seem to live their life to the fullest.  Human beings on the other hand, lost their ability to stay at present and take life as it goes.  We are often worried about the future or repenting on the past mistakes.  We are anxious to see what next and easily get bored.  This film shows many such animals who go about their life just like the old monk does.  The monk character represents every human being at their final stages. The only catch is, he had to undergo a lot of pain and cross many hurdles to get that stage of inner peace, which is the default option for animals. I can't help myself from getting jealous of them.

Warrior (2011)

Two sons parted at childhood hate their father for his neglect.  The older one is eager to rebuild his relationship with his younger sibling, who does not share the same feeling.  For him, both his father and his brother are guitly of neglecting him in his childhood.  Now, there is a Mixed Martial Arts fighting tournament coming around, in which both the brothers are interested to win.

"Warrior" is about broken relationships and their residual bitterness that stays even after everyone repents for their mistakes.  The father, who was once alchoholic, is now sober.  He is ready to accept his mistakes and re-invent his fatherhood.  The younger brother who approaches him for a strictly professional help, is neither interested about his father's rejuvenation nor is he ready to forget the injustice that he faced his hands. His anger is ready to explode and he finds the tournament a means to his new life. The older brother has left home to woo his then girlfriend, now wife.  He has a peaceful life until he comes to the verge of losing his house on a loan foreclosure.  He looks forward this tournament to save him from his debt.  He is ready to join hands with his younger brother, but can never forgive his abusive father.

I expected a lot of blood spills and elongated action sequences, but "Warrior" employs fights only to the required quantity.  Sometimes, it reminded me of Mortal Kombat on seeing colourful fighters winning and moving through to the finals.  But, there is no "Rocky" like scenes where the fighter gets punched again and again only to emerge victorious.  I expected the older brother, who looks less fit, be punched and taken to hospital, but he not only survives, he comes out mostly successful in all his fights.Likewise, the final bout is inconclusive and I didn't mind it at all.  In fact, the final fight has more drama than action that could generate a tears or two.  Having removed the boring and patience-testing cliches, it is very refreshing to watch this movie.

"Warrior" did strike a chord or two with me on a personal level.  I could draw many parallels with my life with what transpires on the screen.  At least, here the protagonists have the option of confronting their indifferent relationships, but not everyone is that lucky to have that opportunity in life.

In The Loop

Set in the backdrop of impending Iraq war, "In the loop" is a satire that has lightning fast one-liners that requires multiple viewings to comprehend the wholesome quality of humor that this film depicts. 

We have a British minister who gives a dry statement that a war in the Middle East is "unforeseeable".  But the Prime Minister feels that this is an unacceptably clear and non-neutral statement for a politician.  On his orders, his enforcer comes bullying down to the minister's office.  The minister is ineptly assisted by a new joinee who keeps leaking inside information to the press.  When this minister is invited by the US officials for a friendly visit, less does he know that he is marked as a victim of a political game.

Its a pleasure watching the enforcer spewing cuss words at everyone he meets.  For him, political position or nationality doesn't matter.  He treats his US counterparts the same way he treats his own statesmen.  The minister on the other hand is a pawn on a chess board, pushed over and sacrificed at will.  He is a serial offender and commits another mistake of a statement "climb the mountain of conflict" when asked about the relationship between UK and US.

There is also a secret war committee being formed and one of the assistants is asked find it out by running through the list of committees that has boring names.  A Lt. General and another top official settle in a kids room and try to do a math calculation with a toy calculator.  When another restricted committee meeting is held, too many attendees turn up so eventually they had to move to another big room which the Lt. General aptly mimics as cow-herding.

Likewise, there are many other supporting characters who raise the bar of political absurdity.  The film starts slowly in a documentary-style cinematography and builds up the comedy as time progresses.  There are at least more than a handful of scenes that made be roll in laughter.

"In the loop" requires that you turn on your intelligence to understand the nuances this film provides.  Its not the slapstick variety that are often represent the so-called comedy genre.

Four Lions

A group of four radical British Muslims dream of making it to the top of Jihadi list.  They decide to become suicide bombers on a maraothon event.  They have an idea but are obliviously clueless about the plan or the execution part of it. Their ill-concieved preparations lead to a sequence of ridiculous accidents that they inflict on themselves.  When the final moment arrives, they of-course execute their idea, but the only change are the venues of bombings.

"Four Lions" shows how clueless these terrorists are.  They even debate in length about the benefits of bombing a local mosque, so that the normal muslims will become radicals.  One of the member wants to bomb a Pharmacy chain, so that condoms won't be sold.  Their visit to a Pakistan terrorist training camp that ends disastrously because they are dangerous to their fellow Jihadi's. However, the film is not one-sided.  There is also a character who holds Muslim values close to his heart, even if they are outdated.  Of-course he engages in a water-gun fight with his sister-in-law but that is "only self-defence".

I had to admit that although I laughed throughout, there is something uncomfortable lurking behind all these comedy.  I often felt sorry for those poor fellows, who throw their lives as a result of religious brainwash.  "Four Lions" is a dark comedy.  There is one standout scene, when one of the member accidentally blows up the explosives by tripping on a field.  I laughed my heart out despite someone is shown getting killed.  Its quite surprising that during the climax, I experienced both fun and sadness alternatively at the same time.  I feel sorry for the plight of the four lions for their wasted lives for some relgious fanatism.


Will there be any films like "Four Lions" made in India?  I seriously doubt it.  If at all somebody tries, the poor fellow will end up chopping every scene other than final credits to the official censor board.  Even if it escapes the censor board, the political outfits are there to ensure that nothing passes them.

Unthinkable

Let me admit, I always like thrillers.  I don't know why.  Should be because my life is uneventful and stupid most of the times, that I tend to crave for some thrills that trigger the juices of my brain (or lack thereof).  Even a mediocre thriller is just

sufficient for me to spend 1.5 to 2 hours in front of the screen.  Unthinkable is by no means a mediocre thriller.  It is strongly oriented towards characterization than increasing the body count.  Of course, you get to see a lot of dead bodies and some gruesome visuals, but the film is interested in motives of the characters and to what extent they would go when situation demands.

FBI Special Agent Helen Brody (Carrie-Anne Moss) and her team are investigating terrorist threats.  They get a video footage, in which Yusuf (Michael Sheen) appears and threatens to detonate three nuclear bombs spread across different US cities if his demands are not met.  But, he doesn't spell out his demands.  Later, he gets arrested himself which looks like a voluntary surrender.  Enters a special interrogator called H (Samuel Jackson), whose methods are less humane.

From here, Unthinkable could have become a cheesy thriller with convoluted plot twists, but it avoids those mis-steps and remains faithful to the plot and respects the viewers' intelligence.  We expect Yusuf to be larger than life, who would taunt his capturors and laughs at the proceedings.  But he doesn't do that.  He is as human like others with an extra bit of endurance to torture.  He gains upper hand more than once but he never appears sinister and his demands are also not too difficult to be met with a lip service.

Brody, who appears empathetic to Yusuf, tries all her good-cop routines to know where the bombs are.  But, when the results are not coming, she is ready to resort to other methods, which she vehemently opposed in the first place.  H, is a person whose existence or solicitation will be denied by the government, but he is not a monster.  He has a task at hand and he sees himself as a mere tool to accomplish it.  He does what needs to be done without being attached.  Somehow, he represents to me the essence of Bhagavat Gita: Do your duty without expectations.

What catches my imagination is that the whole movie avoids most of the cliches and kept me guessing till the end.  Its fascinating to see the three protagonists alternatively pushing themselves to perform one unthinkable act to another.  I was curious to know how far they would go.  Is a greater good an excuse to do something inhuman?  This thought remains lingering even after the movie ends.

The Prestige

During its release, ’Prestige’ was dubbed as a cheat by most of the top critics. Either they were too naive or expected another ’Memento’ (my all time favourite) from Christopher Nolan. I agree that the end is not thoroughly convincing and takes a complete U turn from the entire movie’s theme.
However, this didn’t stop me from admiring the rest of the movie, no matter how many times I see it.
’Prestige’ looks into two egoistic magicians, who are too obsessed to outmatch each other and in the process enduring great mutual loss. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) are magician apprentices. When Alfred, during a magic show, accidentally kills one of the performer, Julia (Piper Perabo), who also happens to be Robert’s wife, the war starts. Both embark on their separate careers, with only one agenda in mind: to destroy each other.

The plot unfolds non-chronologically and there lies the greatest entertainment. It is shown as Alfred reading Robert’s diary, which mostly consists of how Robert tries to understand a magic trick by reading Alfred’s cryptic diary. We get to see events unfolding layer by layer as the movie switches from Robert’s diary to Alfred’s diary. Robert is a natural showman, but less talented of the two. He is successful but always envies on how Alfred is able to pull out ’The Transported Man’, Alfred’s trademark magic. The talented Alfred lacks presentation skills and therefore less successful in his endeavors. What is similar between them is the ruthlessness to go beyond any limit to achieve their obsessions. Robert even gambles his girlfriend to spy on Alfred, while Alfred is ready to lead a ’double’ life if that is what it takes to keep his magic a secret.

This movie itself resembles a magic that is carefully executed to hold our attention till the end. If you are not watching closely, you will end up losing an important trick or two. In fact, that’s the reason for the punch line: Are you watching closely? The entire plot is in fact revealed in a scene, where a pigeon trapped in a cage crushed to death and moments later brought back to life. The small boy who watches this magic is able to understand the trick by his sheer innocence and grieves for the bird while all the adults applaud the magic.

It is also interesting to see how Alfred and Robert ploys to ruin each other. Robert plants himself in Alfred’s Bullet Catch magic that costs Alfred his fingers. As a revenge, Alfred paybacks by breaking Robert’s leg and inducing a mutiny within his team. The scene where Alfred talks to Robert’s double intentionally mistaking him as Robert and subtly hinting on how he should keep a check on his double is a masterpiece.

Nolan uses frequent parallel shots in his narration and he is quite successful with that. The way the film opens with the voice over of Cutter (Michael Caine): "Every magic has three acts: the pledge, the turn and the prestige" is excellent. We see Cutter performing a bird trick to a little girl with parallel shots on a stage performance subtly implying a connection. As in ’Memento’ the answer to the movie lies everywhere throughout the movie and all we have to do is watch it closely (again).

The climax is the most controversial part where the film crosses its rules and move to the science fiction territory. It is certainly a letdown for such a great build up. But on afterthoughts, it’s difficult to envision an alternate way to conclude the film. The final battle of words between Alfred and Robert is quite thought provoking. When we end up tallying the successes and sacrifices from both sides, it’s unclear on who has gained and who lost the war.

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman fit to their roles like gloves. Michael Caine as Cutter is the narrator and hence we often see his point of view. Scarlett Johansson as Olivia is the spy who changes sides. ’Prestige’ is a visual treat that needs to be enjoyed by involvement and further enhances watching experience on repeated viewing. 

Wages of Fear

For those who want to know what a genuine thriller is please watch ’Wages of Fear’.  If you think that jump cuts, intuitive camera angles, boo moments and over-the-top-music would amount for a thriller, please look somewhere else because this film works on characterization.  It is in the desperation of the protagonists, we experience the thrills rather than artificial plot convolutions.

Somewhere in South America, an oil company hires four desperate truck drivers for $2000 to transport highly inflammable nitroglycerine to put out a fire in one of their oil fields.  The problem is the road to the oil field is so rough that it is a literal death trap.  A tiny spill of nitroglycerine on the way is a sure way to end life.  The four drivers, two on each truck start their final journey, which is capable of making even a daredevil into a coward.

’Wages of Fear’ is not a thrill-per-second movie.  Most part of the first half has nothing but character building.  We get to know a bunch of unemployed expatriates stuck in a land of misery.  Their only way out is to get a job that pays their return ticket to the outside world.  Mario (Yves Montand) an idler with no job, Jo (Charles Vanel) the tough guy who is ex-gangster, Bimba (Peter van Eyck) a quiet person, Luigi (Folco Lulli) the easy going chap are the four stranded men.  We see the interaction between these guys.  Jo and Luigi often get into fights where the former overpowers the latter convincingly.
The journey starts normally with no incidents at first.  But, the impending danger of transporting such a volatile cargo, makes a big impression on Jo if not all of the men.  The tough Jo begins to crumble due to stress.  In fact he even gets humiliated by Mario who revered him as a leader once. That is the power of money.  It will change a coward to a hero and vice versa. 

During the journey, the men face many hurdles.  They overcome these hurdles either through common sense or through sheer stupid courage motivated by money.  What makes us sit at the edge of the seat is not because of the dangerous cargo but the men’s indifferent and careless attitude in handling such a danger.  For each hurdle, Jo reaches his new low of cowardice, where the others gain more courage.  The positive side is these men develop a bond among themselves.  They plan together and care for each other in the wake of danger.  But on the negative side, Mario is even ready to run over the truck on his partner to reach his destination.  The end is an expected poetic justice.  Danger will consume those who play with it.  

’Wages of Fear’ is an ageless classic.

My List of Top Tamil Movies

When I started listing out the top tamil movies, I inadvertently evolved the criteria for selection. As in any personal listings, this is also subjective and biased towards my taste. 

So, here are the criteria... 

The movie 

1. Should Be Evergreen ie, you can watch it upteen number of times without getting bored. You come across these movies while surfing channels, remind yourself to watch just one scene, but you’ll get so absorbed into it that you’ll end up watching the whole movie. 

2. Should Be Entertaining. There is no point in sitting through a movie just for the sake of some great acting. Many Sivaji movies comes to my mind (but few of them make it to this list too) 

I did not want to rank the movies in this list in any order other than chronologically because it proved to be difficult to compare as they cut across different genres and timelines. Although the category says "ten best", I am also not limiting myself to only 10 for obvious reasons 

Ok... Lets get into business... 


Paraasakthi (1952) 

Talk about sharp dialogues, this is the film for it. It helped to popularize the social revolution started by Dravidan think-tank. The dialogues are too intelligent and most of it even fit to today’s sordid affairs of the state. This film whiplashes many of the then prevailing social conditions that I felt that the directors and the writer (Karunanidhi) were in bad mood (or with guilty pleasure) while they developed this film. You would be amazed by the portrayal of Pandari Bai as the heroine. She is the modern women with straight thinking and less influenced with glycerine that held a prominent position in female characters’ eyes during that time. 

Andha Naal (1954) 

This is one movie that showcases the talent of tamil cinema way back to 1950s. Loosely based on "Rashomon", the story of a murder narrated from five perspectives. Sivaji Ganeshan proves why he was regarded as the best indian actor by depicting five different dimensions of the same character. A film-noir that was way ahead of its times. But the reason this film enters my all time best is because of the climax. Every shot was taken from different angles showcasing brilliant camera placements. Those who liked the camera work in Sincity, would definitely appreciate this movie too. 



Thiruvilayaadal (1965) 

An odd entry to my otherwise exquisite taste for cinema. Everyone knows the story (or stories). This is a collection of stories focussing on Lord Shiva’s avatar potrayed by Sivaji Ganesan. Reason for selection is because of two notable episodes. 

One deals with Balaiya challenging T.R. Mahalingam on a singing competition. Sivaji in a nomad avatar, teaches Balaiya a lesson of humility. We are enthralled with three different songs one by one. Balaiya’s evergreen "Oru Naal Podhuma" sung by Balamurali Krishna, followed by T.R. Mahalingam’s agonizing "Isai Thamizh Nee Seidha" number which was also sung by him. Finally by Sivaji’s lesson song "Paattum Naane" by TMS. 

The second reason is the episode of Nagesh, where he tries to fake as the author of a poem orignially written by Sivaji. It has a strong undercurrent of acting challenge between Nagesh and Sivaji, each trying to overshadow the other. In fact Sivaji has admitted that one should be watchful while performing with Nagesh as he would highjack the scene with his acting prowess just like that. 

Aayirathil Oruvan (1965) 

Not to be mistaken with Selvaragavan’s forgettable and confusing film. This is ’thalaivar’ MGR’s masterpiece. This films portrays MGR as a slave rebel who fights for the freedom of his folks. The charisma of MGR is not shown better in any other movie. What a performance. His walk, talk and philosophical orations... too energetic to believe he was at his 60s at that time. The way he leads his pack of angry young men into an organized unit of army is worth watching. 



Thillu Mullu (1981) 

A light-hearted laugh riot. Rajini fakes as a conservative and disciplined man to get a job in Thengai Srinivasan’s company. The following is an unbelievable train of jokes. Noteworthy performances from Thengai Srinivasan’s underplay and Rajini’s antics. Not to miss the enjoyable cameo by Kamal Hassan in the climax. Many of us don’t realize that there is in fact a villain in this movie. Yes, the kid who blackmails Rajini. His emulation of Rajini is also worth a watch. 

Indru Poi Naalai Vaa (1981) 

A totally out-of-the-box thinking film at those times. Three friends woo for a lady by all sort of juvenile tricks. A splendid screenplay by the evergreen screenplay specialist Bhagyaraj. Watch out for the three different methods used by the three protagonists to convey their love to the girl. 



 

Vikram (1986) 

A James Bond inspired movie after Jaishankar’s crop of copies. This is one tightly edited movie that covers the adventures of a secret agent. Try to watch only one scene and you will end up sitting till the climax. 






 
Samsaaram Adhu Minsaaram (1986) 

A National Award winning movie. Where Bharathiraja took the camera to the outdoor, Visu brought it back to the studio. He proved that quality movies are possible even in a shoe-string budget. The dialogues alone were a hit at those times that they sold audio cassettes with only dialogues. 







Vedham Pudhidhu (1987) 

A delicious treat for atheists and agnostics. Takes the bull by its horns in addressing various social ills caused by religions and caste systems. Camerawork and direction stands hand to hand to lift this film to a greater level. Known for the slapping scene 








Nayagan (1987) 

Who can deny this film’s impact in indian let alone tamil cinema. Kamal Hassan lived through the three stages of Velu Nayakkar, a don of Mumbai. A jewel in Kamal’s crown. 

Unnal Mudiyum Thambi (1988) 

Inspite of its highly conscientious storyline, every scene is etched out well. This is about the tussle between a carefree son and his vanity ridden father. 




 
Michael Madhana Kamarajan (1990) 

An unbelievable screenplay that meshes the lives of four brothers and their misadventures. Every single dialogue in this movie showcases Crazy Mohan’s skills. Read my complete review 




Inaindha Kaigal (1990) 

An action-adventure movie associated with Abaavaanan, who gave us some visually pleasing Oomai Vizhigal, Senthoora Poove etc. This movie too has some arresting visuals and meticulously crafted action scenes throughout the movie. Although from story standpoint it doesn’t have much to offer, the elongated and slow-motioned action never failed to impress me whenever I view them. An example is the rope-car sequence just before the interval where Ramki and Arunpandian literally join hands (hence the title) 

Captain Prabhakaran (1991) 

The film that made the word Captain and Vijayakanth synonymous. A dare devil portrayal of IPS officer by Vijayakanth. Noteworthy speech at the climax that reminds Parasakthi. 

Basha (1995) 

Defined Rajinikanth’s roadmap to the next level of a mass leader. His underplay in the first half and the anticipation to his eventual revelation as a don would bring goosebumps to anyone. 

Indian (1996) 

Proved that intelligent and social cinema can lock hands. An unbelievable performance by Kamal. Read my complete review 

There are of course better movies that didn’t make it to my list. Only reason could be that they should have not satisfied by criteria of selection. I’ll keep revising this list if I happen to remember or come across anything better