School of Rock (2003)

Genre: Comedy

Theme: Rock Music

Undercurrent: Self-belief, Team work

Language: English

School of Rock is an adventure film about a wannabe rock star Dewey (by Jack Black). He is an extremely positive person with lots of confidence upon himself and his music but fails too often to be taken seriously. He lives upon the generosity of his friend/former band mate Ned (by Mike White) and his girlfriend. Dewey steals a substitute teaching job from his friend and uses the talented students to form a band to win a local contest called 'Battle of Bands'. Here is Dewey, the opportunist who takes everything possible to enforce his will on his life.

This must be the role that Jack Black is born for. He lives it, literally. The fun never stops. The energy is vibrant and everywhere. There isn't a moment in the movie where the music or the vibe stopped. There is music, there is comedy that clicks, the jokes are funny, the sentiments are just enough, casting is good and the acting is awesome. The conversations are so well written that one doesn't feel the cliche moments taking off at any time. Screenplay by Mike White is simple yet very effective. All the kids are given roles that fit their age, thus keeping the 'cheering to innocence' part of the movie alive. This must have been a cult hit.

The classes called 'Rock Appreciation' and 'Rock History' show the profound respect that the makers have for music. To have such a scene for so long might be a director's vision but a producer's risk. All must be credited for the boldness and sincerity in what they believed is the subject of the movie. The risk is worth it and it helps connect the audience to the passion of the protagonist. We should have more such respect for the subjects in every movie, that helps understand the background better. 

Although the pre-climax is filled with cliche challenges, the music given by the band covers it up towards the end. The movie rocks full of smart humour that is enlivened by the performance of Jack Black. Being a rock artist himself, Jack Black must have felt the character to the heart as he eases through the general expressions and body language to great comedy timing and some personal touches in each scene that make a lot of difference each time. The Oscars may have overseen his work, as they do with most comedians, but that is their loss. This is comedy at its best.

Bad Ma Ra Khahad Bord (1999)

Genre: Symbolist
Theme: A rural landscape in Iran
Undercurrent: Contrasts of urban and village living
Language: Persian
Watched it with English subtitles

Behzad Dourani (as Engineer ) is a broadcast journalist and the lead assigned to cover an unusual funeral ceremony in a remote Kurdish village hundreds of miles outside of Tehran. He keeps his identity hidden so as to not appear like a person waiting for death in the community. As the Engineer lives in this remote village, Abbas Kiarostami (the director) takes us through the landscape in a journey that is slow and enchanting. The Engineer moves from his urban life to embrace a shy rural life, that is beautiful and protective of itself. This is symbolically shown in his flirting with the girl while she milks the cow in the dark. This contrast is shown through out and is used in a subtle way to show the vast differences in lifestyles and thinking, which both amazes and endeared me. 

The movie also moves by a first-person narration. The entire story is how the Engineer sees everything. But the director urges us to see the big tree on the side of the road, the curvy lengthy roads and the dry landscape in detail through narration and technique. The director uses unpredictability and mystery everywhere as nothing is certain. The humor comes from the clash of lifestyles, from the unknown and his way of being in a world he is clueless about. The plot is way too simple but the writing sticks strongly to a thriller style suspense over everything - even leaving some questions unanswered at the end because such is the way of life as we see it around us. 

The Engineer has to drive every single time to a cemetery to be able to use his cell phone and connect to his world, that is the city. Every time this happens, he passes over poultry or cattle. Each scene he lives has hills filled with crops, the friendliness of a sensitive village boy, woman bearing her 10th child casually, the fights between a couple who run a tea shop, food being sent over by everyone to the dying woman, women walking to the funeral in large numbers , kicking the tortoise around and so on. We also have the life perspective of a kind doctor which tells us of our inappreciativeness of nature around us and the beauty that we live in, which is exactly what the movie has opened up for all. My favorite scene is the conversation of the Engineer and the Doctor. The superb performance of Behzad Dourani brilliantly portrays the director's view while the rest of the cast is all of village people which can be felt strongly by their shyness in front of the camera which made it feel like a documentary with a thin plot. The movie is like a folk poem where the romance is all in the eyes that see the movie. This is a wonderful narration by subtle story-telling and conveying by symbols which is rarely explored.

Neadekvatnye lyudi (2010)

Genre: Romedy

Theme: Love

Undercurrent: Self improvement

Language: Russian

Watched it: On Youtube with English subtitles

30 year old Vitaly (Ilya Lyubimov) is a single guy trying to start a decent life, a life different from his normality. As he moves to Moscow to get over his guilty past, he befriends Kristina (by Ingrid Olerinskaya), a 20 year old girl. He also happens to be the find for his nymphomaniacal boss Marina (by Yuliya Takshina). As Vitaly and Kristina realize their love for each other to come over the hurdle of their age gap, they understand how they are different and embrace it. 

This movie moves upon conversations. The plot is neither rich nor does it have any special points of interest. All the scenes are shot in limited spaces - Vitaly's apartment, Kristina's apartment, Marina's office room, Vitaly's desk, a small pub, some shots of the office, one at a bar and 2 on road. This movie is on a shoe-string budget which can be seen at many places - the inconsistency with lighting, colorist's faults, inadequate music, lack of good background music, mistakes in recording etc., but the movie is a good treat. It was an enjoyable and happy watch. 

The innocence and quirkiness of a teenager are always happy to watch if one keeps out their attitude problems. As Kristina learns to interact and be positive about the world around her, Vitaly tries to forget some of his past and mend his ways to be a better person. Both become key to each other in this process and this blossoms into love. This change is so beautifully presented and well constructed that at any point, we just feel exactly what the line is - never a bit more, never a bit less - just that fine line from friendship to love. This is done keeping the insecurities and strengths of the lead pair intact which makes us feel for them and appreciate their growth. Screenplay, editing and direction are the highlights of this wonderful movie that keeps the elements of Russian art intact. 

As each character moves about to different changes through the line - as a mother appreciates her daughter, a psychologist understanding his patient, a girl appreciating people, a man finding love, a colleague moving through depression and so on, the elements merge into the story beautifully. This has been a feature that is common with most Russian dramas and is very endearing. My favorite scene is the last between mother and daughter - as the mother cries and moves her fears aside, her young daughter opens her wings into the world. To show change as it happens, the director uses subtle techniques with light, placing of characters, movement and body language. These are hard to depict as the actors just scrape through except the woman who played the mother's role, she stood way above everyone despite the brief role. While the innocence from her age carried Ingrid Olerinskaya half-way, she performed satisfactorily but the challenging role of Vitaly was a bit too much for Ilya Lyubimov as he failed to portray enough seriousness in many places, often being rigid at sensitive parts. The chemistry between them is missing in some places but is managed by using camera angles and nice dialogues. 

As the movie is made on a $100,000 budget, which is what some short films spend, it projects the talent of Roman Karimov (who made a brief cameo as a barman). And to do so in the budget, he has donned many caps including music, writing, and direction. I am eager to see what this talent can deliver, given better budget and technology. This movie reminds me a lot of Gautham Menon's works.