DISTASTEFUL

DIRECTED BY DARREN ARONOFSKY

STARRING: NATALIE PORTMAN, VINCENT CASSEL, MILA KUNIS, BARBARA HERSHEY, BENJAMIN MILLEPIED AND WINONA RYDER

Back in home territory after a break in form of his 2008 film ‘the Wrestler’, director Darren Aronofsky looks to further upon his ‘Requiem for a Dream’ footing, with this inept interpretation of the Tchaikovsky classic ‘Swan Lake’. A minor replacement of a similar-looking Jennifer Connelly with a more convincing tragedy queen and a cunning extrapolation of the already-thriving sensuality of a certain Mila Kunis, Aronofsky goes to show once again how no one can leech on actors’ potential than he can, building a psychological drama on the ruins of a so-called script, unimpressive music and disengaging cinematography that is only too real to be dealing with a subject as this.

Having said that, I cannot help but let two icons go headfirst upon each other with an unlikely film-comparison which, I feel, is not entirely inappropriate. ‘Black Swan’ to me felt like an over-dramatized and yet underdone a version of Atom Egoyan’s 2009 film ‘Chloe’. Natalie Portman reminded me only too much of Julianne Moore in the latter and I couldn’t help but sense a trigger. Let me also do another odd but worthy comparison of the kid-interns in the two flicks – Amanda Seyfried versus Mila Kunis. And I see no big difference, with both of them having portrayed roles that people could walk away with (which is predominantly why they both were able to do them and well!) and I seriously do not understand the credit received on either’s part. I mean, I could even sympathize with Seyfried’s titular role of ‘Chloe’, but lauding a mere figment of imagination? I thought the world could do way better than that, I’m sorry.

Here, Aronofsky shows the dancers to be vengeful, spiteful and what not – maybe he could inspire the very same in them, a sort of reverse-osmosis. As ever, he champions the knack of stripping the experts of their clothes and basks in the feat of exposing their nakedness to the world, well, he only takes a step further when it comes to ballerinas. And yet, he finds himself most strongly backed by a fired-up Natalie Portman, who looks determined to grow out of her body as Miss Kunis finds herself at home doing the same. Vincent Cassel, another one of grace and finesse although he goes overboard at times, joins the force in this actor-driven, joke of a film that is as shameless as its maker in hiding behind the skirts it’s supposed to bring to light. Perhaps the intention is contained in self, in Thomas Leroy’s advertisement for seduction than substance; perhaps that is what genius is all about but quite frankly, I don’t care.

Incessant theme, indistinctive voiceover from stage to set, ill-deployed homosexuality, cheap thrills? The black swan would be bored to death with this stereotype of cacophonies and let me tell you something – the whites won’t like to do too much with it either. And I’m just talking about swans, mind you.

AN AFFLECK SHOW - NEED I SAY MORE?

DIRECTED BY BEN AFFLECK

STARRING: BEN AFFLECK, JEREMY RENNER, REBECCA HALL, JON HAMM, BLAKE LIVELY, TITUS WELLIVER, PETE POSTLETHWAITE, SLAINE AND CHRIS COOPER

In only his second feature film as director (having previously shared writing credits with Matt Damon for the 1997 Gus Van Sant venture ‘Good Will Hunting’), Ben Affleck looks to take the place of the undisputed crime lord of Hollywood and could even land it in the time to come, what with the pace he’s cruising in. With a reputation to do whatever he does in a way that might not necessarily be called ‘characteristic’ (although there are fingerprints all over this film), he still manages to thrust a level of intelligence and emotional intensity, a deadly combo when it comes to the avid film viewer – one that can potentially turn a remote action thriller to an incredibly substantial crime drama.

But is ‘the Town’ just that? I mean, Hollywood has forever been the place for felons, multiple takes on heist-movies and has seen the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and De Palma. What more does this film have (other than being an intense revisit to the genre) to substantiate itself as a film to remember? Well, the packaging, for one. Subtly written, never boring and gripping one through the 124 minutes that constitute it, ‘the Town’ also finds itself empowered by its actors. At the front is a certain Jeremy Renner, never hear before a year before and now he carries a film on his shoulders, what does it matter if he’s got support! Rebecca Hall leaves a convincing mark on the viewer’s mind with her ‘not so new’ portrayal of Claire Keesey, a bank manager who’s shaken to the bone by the disturbing incidents of the crime in question. Jon Hamm leads the opposition as Agent Adam Frawley, strongly set, has a head on his shoulders and there’s the ever-dependent Chris Cooper who’s given the role of a father this time – if ever a person can stun with a phonecall from the other side!

As successor to the crushing ‘Gone Baby Gone’ that he directed in 2007, Affleck opts to dabble a little more this time with his directorial skills, upping activity levels with sheer rawness in his action sequences, achieving required emotions through audacity. There’s immense set-detailing, more on the metal front and an awful lot of cars getting crushed to drive it in. But where I felt ‘the Town’ to succeed the most is in the fact that it takes a hold of its loose ends and ties it into a loop. Like Krista Coughlin (Blake Lively) for example, who is cheekily intended to be a reminder of Doug Macray’s tragic childhood and of the ruins of his now-broken father. And then there’s the refrain that leaves one with a smile on his face and a thought in his head that’s crystal clear and says, “Damn. This guy knows his stuff!”

One of the best wide-releases of 2010 in an armoured tin-can with a heck of a heart. And not to mention, a promise for more.

A FILM THAT'S FUNNY AND A FILM THAT'S NOT

DIRECTED BY JUDD APATOW

STARRING: ADAM SANDLER, SETH ROGEN, JONAH HILL, JASON SCHWARTZMANN, LESLIE MANN, AUBREY PLAZA, IRIS APATOW, MAUDE APATOW with AZIZ ANSARI and ERIC BANA

It’s a typical dark-side-of-the-moon venture. Think of a Doctor who prescribes for anyone but himself or his family. Of an ascetic who draws sexual favours. Of a Peace-Corp representative goring it on ‘Battle Royale’. George Simmons (Adam Sandler), big time stand-up act and an A-list movie star – a life-sized replica of Sandler himself, in short – takes the stage on a nostalgia trip in the bar where he used to perform. “You people are so un-amusing that you have to pay another person to amuse you!” he says to an audience so quiet that you’d hear a clock ticking if there was one. The crowd is baffled – they don’t know if they’re supposed to laugh or feel offended. It’s the same with you. This is one among those people who have always derived humour from insults, so is it any different this time? Judd Apatow thus extracts the rudeness out of stand-up comedy and extends it at its rawest best. It’s bitter, but not distasteful. And the scene itself is key to a murky film that attempts to show what’s behind the poker-faces so reinforced to earn some laughs.

George Simmons is dying, or so he thinks. He has the wisdom of an aging man and yet the heart of a boy, for he looks for a shoulder to lean and a bedside conversation so he could talk himself to sleep. Adam Sandler loads him further with quirks of his own, particularly the determination to stay old-fashioned. “No one wants to hear about how you masturbate”, he counsels Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), his trainee-cum-creative-source. No ‘ASAP’. No ‘Just Chilling’. Sandler in the first hour of ‘Funny People’ gives a kingly performance in familiar territory, one that compares with the likes of Jack Nicholson (in ‘About Schmidt’) or Paul Giamatti (in films as ‘Sideways’ and ‘American Splendor’) except he’s not as down-to-earth. His purgatory is not devoid of perks, he still lives lavish, has his pick of women though he feels he’s got his heart out for none but one. He’s a satire on remorse, purely by virtue of unlikelihood. He wants to be sad, but he’s not. The closest he gets to sadness is dry irony, that which peaks in the song he renders at half-time – the point where the film peaks as well, only to fall back down to ‘usual’.

A biography on stand-up comedy as an organic whole diversifies into a less-impacting bonding venture that concludes that there can be none. Apatow’s super-saturated ‘family film’ turns to a moderately-convincing melodrama even though it doesn’t compromise on comic relief. It’s a lot of things, a lot of different kinds of things, different mindsets to laugh about, which is so taxing that I wished for a simpler, straighter sketch!

So ‘Funny People’, as I saw, was a patchwork of two films with George Simmons. In one, it’s a fame-crazy bunch of youngsters, the next generation that’s all about betrayal, lies and last laughs. In the other, he joins the crowd. Woody Allen as Harry Block in ‘Deconstructing Harry’ remarks, when on a road trip, that his immaturity gives him a boyish quality to match his girlfriend’s age. A similar trip in this film shows its two overgrown boys in Simmons and Wright, trying to reconcile with their own selves. And then it’s back to square one with nothing drastic having happened. It’s not a happy ending. It’s not sad either. It’s just real and inspires empathy, in which it leaves us strangely dissatisfied. The latter half of the film serves to make one forget the first, for the film is awfully long. And in its course, we find ourselves sodden with misery to be dried in indifference with a lean period in between that haunts too much.

For the first time, a mainstream Hollywood comedy shows us that the best of laughs is where you don’t try too hard. And it’s a shame that it had to turn defensive against its own discovery, resorting at times to instances for the sake of humour than vice-versa. Nevertheless, for Adam Sandler, it’s a revelation; a role where for once you take him  seriously. For Judd Apatow, this is yet another, but with a little more maturity than usual at the expense of some. A welcome change that gives reason to hope.