It’s Complicated

English (A)
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep, Steve Martin

Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) is a divorcee in her late 50s. However, she seems perfectly happy until she and her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin), who is now married to a very ‘young’ wife, meet up for their son’s college graduation day. Struck by the old spark they once again have a hot one-night-stand. Now, Jake wants to continue his affair with Jane. However, Jane is in dilemma: Should she become the mistress to her ex-husband or start an earnest relationship with her charming architect Adam (Steve Martin). She must find out where her heart really feels comfortable.

The films’ setting is extremely sophisticated and all credit goes to director Nancy Meyers. The upper class love story is richly depicted with big kitchens and fairytale-like gardens. She is also blessed with three of the best comedians–Streep, Baldwin and Martin. Streep is tender as a sex-deprived woman and she has fun discussing whether woman’s ‘part’ closes after not having sex for long time. Baldwin looks sly and weak as a man who would rather sleep with his ex-wife than with his sexy wife. And Martin also shares some of his funny side in a scene where Adam and Jane are high on marijuana. Adlers’ three grown-up kids are also believable as siblings who would be disturbed at their parents ‘strange’ behaviors over the last few days. The film thus has the some of the best stars playing roles true to their characters.

However, “It’s Complicated” is still weak on substance. This romcom involving middle-aged couples is coated with sweet chocolates like the cakes prepared by Jane. A little filling in the form of ‘blueberries’ and perhaps some ‘jellies’ would make it more memorable.

Review by Robert L Sungte, Deccan Herald

The Secret of the Grain

This film tells a simple story on the importance of a family and the survival route taken by a North African immigrant and his family in the French port city of Sete.

When Slimane (Habib), a 61-year-old dockyard worker loses his job he wanted to test his entrepreneurial skills. He decides to turn his freighter into an eatery with his former-wife’s mullet couscous as the main menu. However, this does not go well with both his ex-wife and his current mistress. In the midst of this, the bureaucrats want their own piece of cake. It is then his mistress’ daughter steps in to bail him out by organising a sacrificial party for potential investors and the city’s big shots.

The fun in watching this film is the raw and realism look to the film. The dinner scenes are so real that you can feel the under current in the protagonists characters. Winning four Cesars, which is the equivalent of the Oscar in France, the film also manages to be both a tribute to women and a cultural commentary. The women in this film are portrayed as strong as the men. In fact, sometimes more passionate than the men.

The long extended shots make the film extremely slow moving. But after sitting through each scene you’ll feel that you have not wasted your time over them.

This powerful tale on food, fortitude and emotions bring back the feel good factor in human relationship
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French (With English subtitle)
Cast: Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache
Director: Adellatif Kechiche

Merry Christmas

Have you ever seen Germans and the Allied forces hanging up their rifles and chatting side by side in any world war movies? If not, this is the right time to get yourself a ticket to PVR Cinemas this week for one of the most moving story on humananity in a cumbersome situation.

‘Merry Christmas’ (originally titled Joyeux Noel) screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 Oscars is based on a true story that took place on the Christmas eve of 1914.

Three armies (Scottish regiment, French and German) are just a few metres away from each other in their trenches on the cold Christmas eve. Suspicion is in the air even as the Germans, led by their prized tenor, begin to sing their version of ‘Silent Night’. It was a night none had expected. Eventually, the three forces gathered together at ‘no man’s land’ to have a mass after their commanders declared an unofficial ceasefire.
The men drank, shared food, buried their dead, talked, sang and exchanged addresses. They found that their enemies were not so cruel after all. However, the circumstances leading to their “most memorable Christmas” come with consequences and they must accept what is stored for them.

The sorrows of war is resonanated strongly in the painful music composed by Philippe Rombi. The keyboard has been employed with great expertise to bring out the agonies of the men at war.

With regard to the acting, Gary Lewis as the Scottish priest, Guillaume Canet as the French lieutenant and Benno Furmann as the German tenor are central to the film’s mood and they carry it pretty well. Perhaps the most hard-hitting fact shown in this film is the religious angle in which the Allied forces are indoctrinated by priests to fight and kill ‘to save democracy and protect God’s given freedom’!

The film celebrates the true spirit of Christmas — love and brotherhood. A must watch.
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French/German/English
Cast: Gary Lewis, Guillaume Cane, Steven Robertson and Robin Laing, Benno Furmann, Diane Kruger
Director: Christian Carion

Days of Glory

This French drama based on the lives of Algerian youths who enlisted themselves in the French Army during the World War II is a touching tale of defeat and hope, in the face of victory.

In 1943, four Algerian ‘band of brothers’ join the French Army to fight against the Nazis. These ‘Arab’ soldiers were made to believe that they were fighting for justice, liberty and freedom but regarding their own situation, they discovered that they were less than equal to their French counterparts. Though equally patriotic and ready to lay down their lives for the country, they even had to fight for tomatoes forget about promotion.

The picturisation on fear and courage of the men; the discrimination and also a warm smiles from the French people recounts the love-hate relationship that exists in wartime France and after.

The cinematography is one of the best any war-based films can boast of. The film was nominated for a host of awards including the Academy Awards, for the Best Foreign Film and the Independent Spirit Awards, for Best Foreign Film.

A sincere tribute to the souls of Algerian French war heroes and a look at the inscrutable and ungrateful successive French governments which refuse to give pensions to them despite the Supreme Court’s order. It is said that the French government finally decided to honour them only when the then president Jacques Chirac watched this film. The thematic presentation of the plight of French war veterans aroused the universal hard truths many people had to face when race comes into play.
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French (A/U) (with English subtitle)
Cast: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Bernard Blancan, Mathieu Simonet
Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Crossed Tracks

You may have got your French kiss, but what about experiencing a real French suspense thriller which is totally based on realism cinema?

Crossed Tracks by Academy Award winner director Claude Lelouch, and an all French cast, is a witty thriller in which every characters reveal nothing as to who they really are.

This romantic suspense drama involves best-selling crime novelist Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardant) who has all her books written by a ghostwriter, Louis (Dominique Pinon). And Huguette (Audrey Dana) who is abandoned by her fiancee at a petrol station.

A petrol station — That’s where the characters and the story crossed their tracks. Huguette meets Louis in the midst of a frequent FM radio news updates about an errant schoolteacher who left his wife and a pedophile serial killer who has escaped from prison.

As the tale zigzags between these three characters, the narrative doubles back and forth to reveal their identities. The real problem starts when ghostwriter Louis decided to come out of Judith’s shadow by trying to put his name in the novel he currently writes for her.

The film plays out like a poker game. You’ll never be quite sure what is what and who is who, until the very last cut — the hallmark of a successful thriller. However, Crossed Tracks needs your full concentration and of course sharp eyes to read the English subtitles, if French is Greek to you.

Other than that, this film gives you the drama you wish to follow, the melodrama you can appreciate, a brilliant comedy to make you grin earnestly, but most of all it is the presentation skills that keep this film way ahead of others in its genre.
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French (with English subtitles)
Cast: Dominique Pinon, Fanny Ardant, Autrey Dana, Zinedine Soualem, Michele Bernier
Director: Claude Lelouch