FATAL ATTRACTION - Expensive Lesson For A One Night Stand in These US of A !!

How many normal happily married people indulge in this kind of 'adultery' in USA ? [ The word adultery seems out of fashion these days if you go by the images media and adult books portray !!] This mating ritual has a pleasant name -  'a one night stand' or is that too old as well  ? If you forgive the somewhat realistic and 'silly' mating scenes, the movie falls in the above average category because of the tight direction and excellent acting. And the lesson it teaches, if you want to learn!![I have only exchanged a few funny jokes with my lady co-workers, a girl neighbor and female cousins. That was enough for my arranged-marriage-type family  to get divorced. Gay and other odd looking people will have to forgive me for my lack of interest.]

Summary

The story is about a well married couple and their little girl. From the decor and the party they seem to be doing well in their middle class setting. It is at this party that the 'other lady' shows up and she exchanges meaningful glances with the husband. So when the wife goes out of town to look for a new house, there is perfect opportunity for the two to indulge in an extra-marital affair shown on the screen as an extended 'mating' ritual that is somewhat embarrassing to watch. Only our 'vixen' sees that as an affair, while our handsome husband takes it as a friendly one-or-two night stand that is supposed to end in a friendly parting. 

'Only on my dead body' says the other woman because 'I am pregnant...' ! It seems like the vixen has developed two personalities because from a pleasant friendly lady she becomes a rabbit-boiling murderous woman!! One feels sorry for the lonely vixen in the end, even if she is obsessed with having the husband at all costs, because her expectations do not seem too far fetched....

The husband learns an expensive lesson because of the consequences his actions have on him and his family !! 

GUIDE - romance and renunciation of a tourist Guide !

Source: YouTube.

Note: This movie was made in two languages- English and Hindi. The review below is for the Hindi version. I have watched the English version as well and the English version seems to have a different story line. The English version has no songs and melodrama that the Indian version has even though the actors are the same. There is no sermonizing as well. Many of us might find it somewhat real but 'dry', like a documentary !

Summary:

Guide is an old classic from Bollywood inspired from a R.K. Narayan story. However, unlike the other stories from Narayan this is not a humorous look at the Indian life; at least not the way it is brought to screen by Dev Anand and his team. The songs and dances are amazing and the always energetic and youthful Dev Anand is well placed against the serious Waheeda Rehman .

The Guide Finds Love

The story is about a tourist guide (Dev) who speaks with flourish when describing the monuments and keeps his audience entertained. He comes across a anthropologist and his wife (Waheeda) and discovers that the two are unhappy in their marriage. The wife is sad that the husband ignores her and spends most of his time looking for treasures in caves. While the husband philanders with other women, he chastises the wife often because her mother was not from a reputable profession. The guide steps in and in order to help the wife falls in love with her. The guide then exposes her excellence at Indian music and dance. Soon she becomes a famous dancer and the two become rich. That brings in a little arrogance in the guide and he starts wasting money in gambling with friends . On one occasion he signs a document in her name to feed his gambling habit. He is put in jail for two years for fraud. The two are still in love though and close together.

The Making Of A Monk

Then the Guide, after being released from jail, goes far away from his past life to a small village. The simple uneducated villagers gather around him and assume he is a visiting Swami. In desperation, they ask for miracles and turn him into a monk hoping he will cure their sick . The news of this young monk spreads far and wide. People trek for miles in hot Indian sun to meet the monk.[ This includes his mother and his love (Waheeda).]

There is famine in the area and the poor villagers request that the young monk fast for them, hoping that God will showers his blessings in the form of  rain. The monk tries to run away from the village because he does not believe that he will be able to carry out that fast without loosing his life.However, taunts from the village priests cause him to return to the village.He starts the long fast.  As the days progress, the monk starts hallucinating or maybe the audience does !! The good (self without attachment) and the bad (rational egocentric) spirits emerge from the monk and one goads him towards life and questions his belief in God while the other promises eternal freedom from pain and misery. The good spirit, the real soul says 'neither sword can tear me to pieces nor fire can burn me because I am atman!' (a passage from the Hindu religious text Bhagawad Geeta. The atman is the soul that persists after death so the implication here is that while the physical body can be destroyed nothing can destroy the soul!!). In the end, good wins and the monsoon arrives with thunder. The villagers dance with joy at the miracle. They run to inform their monk / swami but he is gone beyond the domain of man to eternal freedom; they only find his peaceful dead body.

[Swami Vivekananda mentions having similar experiences with simple villagers after becoming a monk, though he was not involved in any romantic relationship.]

SPRING BREAK - As Americana As Donut....

How can any movie review blog be complete without mention of a movie that is based on the tradition of Spring Break where students and other young people in USA gather on beaches and explore each other in many different ways !! Watch at your own peril....I do not know how much of the semi-nude stuff actually happens on beaches. I did visit a US beach once wearing shorts and a T-shirt and ...

Note: There is nothing even remotely resembling this tradition in the country where I grew up (India)..and thankfully so !! 

Meru - A Documentary - How's It Hangin on the Himalayan Peak!

Meru is an impressive documentary with a very personal touch. [You feel you know the climbers.] What is new is the way they attempt to climb this forbidden rocky peak in the Himalayas. There is an avalanche that demonstrates the  great risk the climbers take to achieve their goal. One might wonder about their sanity in pursuing the climb in spite of the danger.

The team rests and sleeps in small tents that hang from the side of the rock, only supported by ropes, and nothing but a steep fall below. They jump around tethered only by ropes and take pictures as if they are the cleaning crew of a downtown high rise while we the audience panic at their carefree attitude!

There is even a shot of a milky way arm in the background ...

aMeriCaN beauTY - a American Confusion !

At first glance, this movie could be interpreted as overtly 'sexual' movie for 'perverts' and is embarrassing to watch with your Asian family. But upon closer examination, I interpret this as a study in contrasts between sexes, upbringing and cultures. You have a mild mannered devoted American father, a young American daughter and a always whining American wife living in a suburban house. The family seems to fall apart as they become frustrated with each other and seek comfort in relationships with other people.

1. The dad shows interest in his daughter's young friend when he notices that she is interested in him. The young school going teenager friend openly discusses her 'sexual' interest in the dad causing the daughter to be embarrassed. That makes the movie 'real' because I have overheard conversations similar to the ones that the girls have in the movie, here in USA.[Because of this budding February-October romance, many old ladies in the audience might develop psychological problems!!]
2. The mom has a relationship with another man (a neighbor) which is accidentally discovered by her husband!
3. The young daughter develops a relationship with the new neighbor's son. [The son sells drugs without the father's knowledge and earns thousands of dollars! ] The son has a stressful relationship with his dad and in spite of being a grown man,  is physically beaten by an overly aggressive father at each encounter. [The father takes his military experience too seriously]. There is nothing more the rigid dad has to offer except abuse! When he spies upon the son having a conversation with the neighbor ( our hero dad) from his window, he assumes there is a homosexual relationship between the two because his view is partially blocked.

Towards the end, the hero dad is considerate enough not to take advantage of his daughter's friend because she is young and inexperienced. The frustrated wife has other plans. She borrows a pistol and shoots her husband/hero-dad, I believe. 

However, because only a hand holding the pistol that was fired is shown, I cannot be hundred percent sure as to the identity of the killer. The movie later shows the army-neighbor with blood soaked t-shirt causing confusion; did that army guy kill the neighbor or did he kill his son assuming the son had killed the hero dad? Were three bullets fired or was it just one bullet heard by three people at different locations when the hero-dad was shot ?

A BEAUTIFUL MIND - But A Sad Life .....HALLUCINATIONS + DELUSIONS + PARANOIA + PRETTY WIFE !!

The scientist, Mr. Nash, whose life is portrayed in this movie died in a car crash in 2015 along with his wife. That is a sad ending to a Nobel prize winner's life after suffering from paranoia and hallucinations , if you want to believe the makers of the movie!!

[I say, 'if...' because I have been 'accused' of the similar disease and though I do not fully agree with the diagnosis, people have been doing 'strange' things around me as well. It might be a method to cover-up the stuff, the 'authorities' do not want exposed and call the whole thing a hallucination. And it soon becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, even if you were normal earlier when you are extra sensitive, isolated from your family and live 'inside'. ]

While he was a student at the campus, Nash  develops a loving relationship with his roommate and roommate's niece. He is super-intelligent though somewhat eccentric. A government agent seeks his help in deciphering Russian codes and Mr. Nash accepts the job. Soon he becomes obsessed with it and has room full of newspaper clippings about the Russians. Nash comes across a pretty lady and marries her. Lo and behold, he is told to see a psychiatrist because there is no 'roommate' friend, no little niece and no government agent who hired him to decipher Russian codes!!!! These are all 'hallucinations' that Mr. Nash continues to see even while he is being treated. Not believing the doctors, Mr. Nash, struggles and revolts against the treatment. He is forced to accept the treatment in the end and chooses to ignore the 'hallucinations'. He restarts his life on the campus and soon wins a Nobel prize and respect from his colleagues. That is where the movie ends. Russell Crowe does a commendable job portraying odd 'Nash' as an introvert - with the help of his make-up artist. 

CREATION - Tragedy Of Human Species.!!

VIDEO SOURCE: Amazon Prime

I had read about Charles Darwin 'way back when' I was in school. Upon watching this biographical movie from BBC, it dawned on me that while he had a nice family and enjoyed their company, he was sick most of his adult life as was his eldest daughter Annie. Tragically, Annie dies and Charles goes mad. He sees Annie again and again (hallucinations!) post death; if the director/doctors are to be believed ( this might be a license that the director takes to show his mental instability) ! There was some confusion for me at this point because of the juxtaposition of scenes which seem to go back and forth in time.

It must have been the physical contact with birds  and other species - however pretty they appear from a distance -  that caused him to be physically ill. The old hydro bath treatment, in lieu of a waterfall , is interesting to watch. Then there is the argument between church, religion and the jungle law, which tilts in favor of 'survival of the fittest', well illustrated in the movie by the preying upon of a rabbit by a fox and  the scene of a helpless baby bird that falls from a tree and gets eaten by insects. The movie also shows the conflict between rational Charles and his religious wife - how easy it is for Charles Darwin to justify the killing of the rabbit and the baby bird as part of the food chain and how difficult it is to bear the loss of his own child !!

However, in the end Charles finishes his landmark 'Origin Of Species' and his wife becomes his admirer.  After watching the movie, it is hard for me to believe that a scientific mind like Darwin could be so broken up and unstable...yet come up with the theory of progression of species on earth from the sea to the land .