Change Your Image
shameema-mallik
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Chef (2014)
Plain Forgettable
I watched two simplistic movies back to back. While Fading Gigolo succeeded in engaging me enough to actually care about characters that I knew nothing about and had no perceivable mean of relating to, Chef simply failed that test.
There is no high point in this movie with a very predictable run of the mill story, where from the strained relationship between the father and son in the beginning to the ego and professional fervor of our protagonist- everything remains unexplored. Favreau touches everything but never dips his feet too deep. Its tragic because the direction was very meticulous and technically there is hardly anything wrong with the film from cinematography to music to use of location.
To my mind the point where the film has entirely failed is making any connection between our hero- the chef and the audience. Rather than coming across as someone really passionate about his job the titular chef comes across as a bit of a crybaby not being able to handle negative criticism and most abundantly a self centered person who cannot see beyond himself. John Leguizamo playing his best friend has shown more likable traits than him,what with giving up his position in a restaurant to join his friend's food truck. When the film finishes we have no clue as to whether he is indeed a better person for all that has transpired instead we are to assume due to his success his ex wife has taken him back.I should also mention there is no character development of any of the side characters, the script itself is a bit like the chef himself in this respect.
La grande bellezza (2013)
The Grand Beauty is no La Dolce Vita
The entire movie will feel like an homage to the earlier( read better) version of documentation of essentially the same events by Fellini in La Dolce Vita. The same disillusionment with high life rides high throughout the movie, the pervasive sense of existence of a spiritual entity out there and the fundamental resemblance of the protagonist of both films makes it hard to not remember La Dolce Vita every step of the way.
This movie unfortunately fails to be memorable like its predecessor despite the vivid imagery, exquisite cinematography, excellent score and fantastic acting from almost all the cast and especially Toni Servillo as Jep Gambardella, the smooth talking philosopher cum journalist. Among all of these successes the story gets lost and that is the great tragedy for this film.
It will be unfair to not mention the intelligent writing the movie has utilized. There is a lack of using modern technological devices and despite a lot of nudity, there are no actual sex scenes which all symbolise the isolation and lack of intimacy in the life of our protagonist. The smaller characters have been given ample character which all point to very proficient writing once again. (I am so upset that this movie did not work on the whole!)
While Anita Eckberg and Marcello Mastroianni's three minutes in the fountain will forever remain with me,this movie will regrettably not get a recommendation from this reviewer.
Runaway (2012)
Over-hyped
Firstly the sound editing is so poor that if there were no subtitles at least one third of the dialogues would be incomprehensible.
The movie starts off smartly enough, with a glimpse into the vigilante work of one of the two protagonists, Babu. He is a rickshawallah by day and bounty hunter by night as the trailer and poster so nicely claims. However once the credits are over, all hell breaks loose. The story starts going everywhere and no where at the same time. Halfway through the movie, not one proper conversation takes place. And finally when there are proper conversations , for example when the two protagonists are drunk and fishing, its unbelievable. If surreal was aimed , they have missed the spot by quite a bit. Understandably its all for build up. Sadly the build up amounts to nothing as when finally the secrets are revealed you feel nothing for any of the characters. There is absolutely zero connection between the audience and the movie.
Notably the movie was very poorly researched ( the Brahman priest diagnosing a "Jeen e dhora" was a terrible LOL moment) and hence what was supposed to be a gritty and dark film came across as unnecessarily pretentious. None of the characters , both major and minor are believable in their actions and words. There are two many gaps in the story large enough to fit two movies in them.
None of us are psychopaths or have friends who are gangsters. However we have all seen movies were there was no choice but to believe that what is shown on the screen, is how a sociopath or gangster acts. Unfortunately this movie is not one of them . The writing is extremely poor and the ending , although sort of tied things up for this story, it felt for this reviewer, as over- sensationalized.