Mother of Mine ( Finland - 2005 )

Language - Finnish & Swedish | Starring - Topi Majaniemi, Maria Lundqvist, Marjaana Maijala,  | Genre - Drama | Director -  Klaus Haro | Country - Finland | Year - 2005

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Let's see some melodrama. FilmBulb is still in Europe and will be there for another two or three posts. Mother of Mine, directed by Klaus Haro, is a Finland - Sweden film, set in the World War II, but as you can guess from the title, this not a war film.

Plot

At the beginning of World War II, Sweden wanted to help its war-torn neighbor Finland by offering Finnish children temporary homes with Swedish families. There were more than 70,000 "war children". On such kid is Eero (Topi Majaniemi), who has lost his father while serving the country, his mother Kristi (Marjaana Maijala) is reluctant to send him first, but couldn't risk.

Eero, is sent to a scenic seaside village to live with a family. The family is of three, Hajlmar Jonssen, his wife Signe (Maria Lundqvist) and her ailing wheelchair bound father. Eero doesn't like to stay with them, his thoughts are with his mother Kristi and on the other hand Signe-Eero relationship doesn't go well, due to the cultural and other differences. Did Eero return to his mother Kristi is the rest of the story. ?

The film starts with present day Eero, who is old now ( around 50's ), asking his mother about the war and he also informs her that there is a funeral invitation for him to attend.

My Take

The film set a debate in my mind, whether the decisions taken by Kristi at certain time was right or wrong, but I felt some were opportunistic. 

The other thing that struck me is the story, not sure if it's real, but the events are true. When you see this film you will realize that you have seen this kind of story before, but the catch in this film is to place the story among the historical event.

Locations- It's beautifully set in the Swedish countryside. The locations are like serene pictures, certainly not CGI, is it!! something like Windows XP Napa Valley desktop. The farmhouse is equally unique and so the church on the hill.

Mother and son separation scenes are touchy. The actors, particularly the boy and Signe’ performance is real good. As a good film, I felt a lump in my throat in certain scenes. Mother of Mine, in-spite of being good, it is relatively unknown in World Cinema circles. Not sure, why this film was overlooked.

Trailer

Reference links-

www.imdb.com/title/tt0343221/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_Mine_(film)

It sounds to me like this!!

We all write blog. Wish we could take a cue from Shri. Narendra Modi on how to articulate ones feeling. 

Very expressive, sympathetic, understanding, deep soul searching, introspective- because it took 12 years of thought process.

Blue is the Warmest Color ( France, 2013 )

Adele is the major strength in this film, she is the one who puts the film on track always with her subtle variations in her expressions.

Language - French | Starring - Adele Exarchopoulos, Lea Seydoux | Genre - Romantic | Director -  Abdellatif Kechiche | Country - France | Year - 2013

The first thing that caught my attention in this film is the title (You have to believe me!!). My favorite color is blue. Long before Indian cricket team started sporting in blue, my school uniform had blue. Blue is the color which gives a cool feeling, but how can it give warmth. I still have to figure out why this title was chosen, I have to think about it, but before that I’m stuck with the wonderful performances in this film.

Director

Film running time is 2 Hrs. 52 mins. - You might say, well… critically acclaimed films run longer and it becomes boring as these films are only for hardcore film buffs and critics. But you are wrong, I didn't go with any expectation, and I didn't get an iota of thought the film was dragging or boring. Adele Exarchopoulous as Adele is the major strength in this film, she is the one who puts the film on track always with her subtle variations in her expressions.

Simple Story telling- The way in which the story is told is simple, but not artless. There is no fancy edits, no non-linear narrative to confuse the viewer, in fact no actual background score (except for songs in party scenes). 

LGBT Issues- I couldn't see the main feature in this film is LGBT issues, but it was Adele character only. Every shot and scene revolved around her. First few minutes, I went through this uncomfortable close-up shots, but as minutes passed, I felt this is how the film is shot, extreme close-ups capturing expressions of the Adele. For example, take a look into these screen grabs, this shot is right after a major heartfelt moment in her life; she is now dancing with her school-kids, all these expressions run through her face in split-seconds (Edits!!).

Unwanted Shots- With such a long running time and the controversial theme, one might feel the film will be full of unwanted shots, but I didn't feel any shot was unwanted nor there were any sexual exploitation shots, except one, which could have be avoided or not needed.

“Blue is the color which gives a cool feeling, but how can it give warmth.

The film hardly travels with other characters, even not with Emma (Lea Seydoux), who is Adele’ partner. As mentioned before, it doesn't discuss or takes us in insights of the homosexuality or heterosexuality; I felt it portrays the coming of age of Adele, from a college going girl to a matured adult.

Coming back to the title, Emma sports a blue hair color, does it mean something!

Trailer

For More Check- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Is_the_Warmest_Colour

Kolya ( Czech, 1996 )

Language - Czech

Starring - Andrey Khalimon, Zdenek Sverak 

Genre - Drama 

Director - Jan Sverak 

Country - Czech

Year - 1996

It is raining Czech films in recent times at FilmBulb (A Report on the Party and Guests & The Shop on the Main Street). Kolya, directed by Jan Sverak is a Czech film, starring his father Zdenek Sverak in the lead role as Louka.

Unlike the last movie introduction Summer Palace (Where, I thought will be political, but ended up being more of sexually romantic film), Kolya, presents the human relationship and the political thoughts in a fair share.

Plot

Louka (Zdenek Sverak), around 50’s, a bachelor and a former member of Prague Philharmonic cellist is struggling now to make his ends meet by playing in funerals. He gets a proposal from his friend to marry a rich Russian widow, Nadezhda. This marriage is a sham, so that she can settle down in Czech from Soviet Russia (Remember the period is end of the cold war), he’ll get good money in return.

The marriage happens and with the money, Louka is back to his normal life. But after few days, a boy (Kolya) is dropped in his doorsteps by the medical authorities. (I think by this time you can get the story). The rest of the story revolves around the two. Did the Louka-Kolya get along with each other? What happens to them in the end is the rest of the film.

My Take

After reading the plot you might feel that this will be melodramatic, but it is not. Without revealing much, I would say the film is about how a man’ character is changed when he meets a boy ( Child ).

Incidentally, there is a connection between the previous Czechoslovakian films introduced before. Kolya rightly falls right into the line of my previous films.

The Shop in the Main Street- Portrays the emergence of German troops in Czechoslovakia.

A Report on the party and guests- A satirical story of how the Soviet Russia saves Czechoslovakia from Germans, but later puts an iron grip on the Czechs.

Kolya – The Soviet iron grip is taken off.

Summer Palace ( China, 2006 )

Language - Mandarin | Starring - Lou Ye, Guo Xiaodong | Genre - Romance | Director - Lou Ye | Country - China | Year - 2006

Last time when I tried to watch a Chinese film, I ended up by seeing a Hong Kong film, Mad Detective. Searching for a Chinese film, made in main land lead me to Summer Palace directed by Lou Ye.

The synopsis read like this ‘A romantic story in the back drop of Tiananmen Student agitation’; this line set me in watching this film. As you can see in the FilmBulb posts, most of the movies are set in war, revolution, agitation, political changes.

The other thing that caught my interest is the movie poster, which said ‘..it got great female character..’.

Plot

The film starts in a small city named Tumen. Yo Hong (Hao Lei) just finished her schooling is working in her father’ store. She has a close relationship with Xiao Jun (Cui Jin). To persuade her higher studies she moves to Beijing. Through her hostel mate Li Ti (Hu Lingling), she befriends Zhou Wei (Gua Xiaodong). As days progress the relationship between Yo Hong and Zhou Wei becomes close, both are in deep love and we get a chance to see how deep they are in some intimate scenes.

Yo Hong and Zhou Wei

When the student’s agitation is in its peak, their relationship is broken. Yo Hong moves back to Tumen. After several years, we see Yo Hong living in Wihan, Central China and Zhou Wei in Berlin, Germany. Both, normally indulging in their daily activities, satisfying their physical needs but there is a void inside them as they miss each other badly. Did they unite is the rest of the story?

Li Ti and Yo Hong

“One of the great female characters in recent years

My Take

Considering the story it is a long film (140 mins.). I was expecting lots of political atmosphere, but it was limited (China, I can understand). Sexually explicit scenes containing female frontal and male rear nudity dominates, these scenes were little bit of too much, but a romantic film will always come with love making scenes.

The usage of news footage to show the time travelling is a pop idea- end of the cold war, Berlin wall, handing over of Hong Kong to China.

A video clip from Summer Palace-

Li Ti character shares almost the same screen space s as Yu Hong. When both seek for Zhou Wei’ love- Yo Hong chooses a much rational and wise decision, but Li Ti takes a different decision. Yo Hong is week by her looks, but hard mentally, while Li Ti is quite opposite.

When Washington Post said “One of the great female characters in recent years”, I couldn't agree more.

Extras-

Chat Transcripts from the director' interview- Click Here.

Trailer with English Subs-

**Any comments are welcomed and if you have seen this films, let me know your views.

Job Interviews + Tamil Movies

Interview scenes in Tamil cinema, especially when our hero attends a job interview is always an important scene. These are the scenes where our hero’ view towards the world, their own mental state and their family situation is expressed. I’m just listing few memorable job interview scenes in Tamil cinema in no particular order,  

Agni Natchatiram - *ing - Karthik and VK Ramaswamy.

Dir.- Mani Ratnam

Let us start with not much seen or telecasted scene in TV. Although this is a famous film, you can't see this scene in any TV channel like short-clips. When the interviewer VK Ramaswamy asks Karthik about his father, he gets angry and assaults VKR. While coming out of the room, he says to others “Nothing to worry, he is alive”. Most of the Mani Ratnam’ lead-characters are smart and cool. IMO he used this scene, which is the first scene in the film to convey the frustration of the hero and also a kind of coolness after the incident. 

Mouna Geethangal - *ing - K Bhagiyaraj

Dir.- K Bhagiyaraj

The big daddy of screenplay during his initial years. As usual, innocence mixed with smartness, Writer Bhagiyaraj jumps into the interview right in the middle. The interviewer, from nowhere throws a beemer, “What do you think about Nirodh ?”, the reply from the interviewee and way it is done is quite a memorable cinematic moment. But wait, do they really ask about condoms in a real interview ?

Thillu Mullu - *ing -  Rajanikanth - Thengai Srinivasan

Dir.- K Balachander

An evergreen scene and if I want to rate, then I would put it in the top of the list. The scene is set even before Rajani-Srinivasan meet-up. When the other interviewees getting rejected, we almost get into a conclusion that Rajani will get selected, but how will be a big question.  Hmm, he got the cheat codes!!  

Nanne Raja Nanne Mandri - *ing -  Vijayakanth

Dir.- Balu Anand

For a change our hero, Vijayakanth will be the interviewer. He is the head panaiyar of the village and he is recruiting for someone to manage the assets and property. He is portrayed as so dumb, that he doesn't even know the difference between 12th Standard, B. Sc. and M. Sc. By seeing his ridiculous questions, the group which came to interview run away.

IMO this scene might have been used by the director to portray how dumb and dumbest the hero-character is, since later in the film, our heroin changes the character of our hero.

Varumaiyin Neram Sivapu - Kamalhassan

Dir- K Balachander

Usually a interview scene will be placed in first 30-40 mins of the film. Which is used to establish the main character. This timing is applicable in above all films. But, in this film the interview scene comes almost after 70% of the running time. The viewer is already aware of our hero’-character, who speaks from heart and doesn't like to beat around. So with this hot-headed character, it is obvious that one can't get a job, which is known to the viewer, so why need of this scene ?. His anger and frustration goes up to the point that at the end of the interview he will tear his certificate and throw at the faces of the interviewers.

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Placement of the scene:- All the listed films went on to become big hits. IMO, I would say these are perfect examples of using the cinema as a visual medium, rather than just using it as a “talk-based or preachy” medium. In the case of Varumayiin Neran Sivapu, the character has to go his highest-point of frustration, by doing something nadir, which a normal job-seeker can't even imagine to do. If, the same scene is placed in the initial 30 mins, then there is nothing to tell in the rest of the film.

Job interview scenes involved with a female interviewee mostly ends up in sexual exploitation. A female character taking as a main-lead is very less. I could have missed, if there is something inline with the above scenes, would love to discuss about it.

Mad Detective ( Hong Kong, 2007 )

If you like complex story-telling movies like Memento, Irreversible and Inception, then add Mad Detective to your list.

Language : Cantonese | Staring : Lau Ching-Wan, Andy On, Lam Ka-Tung | Direction : Johnie To | Country : Hong Kong | Year : 2007

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Please don’t come into a stereotypical conclusion, by seeing police, bullets, chase sequences in the poster of this film. If this is a routine cop-film, this shouldn't have featured in FilmBulb. As promised before, FilmBulb tried to breach the Great Wall of China, but can’t get into the mainland, so just passed through Hong Kong. Mad Detective is directed and produced by Johnie To. Released in 2007, this film went on to win many awards in the screenplay category.

Plot ( Spoilers maybe )

Inspector Bun (Lau Ching-Wan) has an unusual way to solve cases. He literally puts himself in the shoes of a criminal, we see an example in the opening scene- He lets himself inside a big suitcase and asks his fellow detectives to roll it through the stairs to identify a killer in a murder case. This answers why the name of the film is Mad Detective. 

Bun (Lau Ching-Wan)

The actual story begins when a young detective Ho Ka-On (Andy On) seeks Bun’ help in solving a “missing person” case, but Bun is now not with the police department. The missing person is a police officer Wong and the suspect is another policeman Ko Chi –Wai (Lam Ka-Tung). 

Ho (Andy On)

Bun agrees to help Ho, in spite of his imaginary wife, May Cheng, asking Bun not to work on the case. Wait, did I say imaginary, yes, initially we (& detective Ho Ka-On) assume that Bun has lost his wife and he just makes up an imaginary wife, but as the story move on we see that Bun has this special abilities to see the inner personalities of others. 

Bun sees seven-personalities in the suspect Ko Chi-Wai and he also sees a week-kid personality in Ho Ka-On. The rest of the story is how Bun solves the mystery of the missing person.

Ko Chi-Wai's Seven personalities 

My experience

You can’t see this film once; it takes two viewing, at least for me, especially when you are viewing through sub-titles. No wonder, why this film got accolades for screenplay, because after Bun team with Ho to solve the case, the personality thing comes up. So whenever Bun sees a character, we are forced to see their respective personality. 

First viewing for me was a half-digest. I ate the food (film) again, because I sensed this was a good one to re-watch. I’m sure you can find some after effects inside you after seeing this film. After effects is in seeing the hidden personalities in others. There is a small Indian connection in this film; one of the characters is an Indian.

“I’m sure you can find some after effects inside you after seeing this film.

The orchestration of the climax is very innovative, when see all these personalities are reflected in the mirrors, but in reality it’s different. If you like complex story-telling movies like Memento, Irreversible and Inception, then add Mad Detective to your list.

Trailer

To Let or not to let

Relocating home can be a daunting task, but before you decide to move, there is another Herculean, Gondodaran, Kumbakarnan... task- which is to find a right house, especially in big city like Chennai.

I'm a guy who chose things in a matter of few minutes, who doesn't research a lot, I just go by the gut feeling, instantly picking things and never regret later, no matter if it's good or bad.

Last time I moved a few years before, we saw two houses and picked one. This time, it was on and on and on...10 houses, it is like a marathon run.

The word started to spread that our present house owner had sold this house and we (3 tenants) had to vacate the house. Starting from the paperboy, grocery store anachi, vegetable vendor- all wanted us to look for home in the same neighborhood, as they don't want to lose a customer!

Now, let's jump into some house-seeing-episodes.

1. One owner even before letting us inside the vacant house asked me- where I work and where is the office. Then he continued by partially hearing my reply; oh so long, ok ok, I think your company will provide you bus, I see a lot now-a-days. I politely replied, no sir that is a different company.
2. In another house, which was in the first floor, we climbed the stairs and before realizing where we are, we were standing in the living room !!. I asked the broker, where is the main door to this house. He pointed out to a grill gate! and said “Sir, this is the main door!!”.
3. There was this smart landlady. I asked is it a two-bedroom house ?, she replied “ There is a big hall and one room, so you can use the big hall as another room”, I - ahhh what !!!
4. There is no sense of architecture or planning in most of the houses. In one house, which was 2BHK, there was no window in any room, including the kitchen!! Most of the house owners don't care a damn about the bike and car parking. Their standard answer to this query- Just leave it in the street!!
5. Another house, I saw a pinnacle of interior architecture, a bathroom is attached to the living room, ok fine, no problem, as it was in a corner, but when I looked up, there is only one ventilation for the bathroom, which is facing the living room!! Yack!!

Finally the EB bill, 6 Rs/unit… 8 Rs/unit, as if they are generating the power. My average consumption is 150 unit/cycle, normal govt.  rate I would pay Rs. 230, if it is Rs 6/unit, then I had to pay Rs 900 !. Daylight robbers.

Share your experiences here.

The next stop...

Headhunters - The Hunt is on

Language - Norwegian | Country - Norway | Year - 2011 | Director - Morten Tyldum

Let’s get some action films from the World Cinema. HeadHunters is from Norway, was termed as next “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.

The film starts something like in the film Sodhu Kavvum, five rules that you shouldn't break when you do a crooked job. In this film the crooked job of the protagonist is to steal art paintings. The comparison of Sodhu Kavvum ends here, the rest of the film is full of action chase, blood, more blood, trust-betrayal and a happy ending.

Roger Brown

Plot - **Spoilers ahead**

Roger Brown ( Aksel Hanne), 168 cms tall is a recruiter, living in a posh mansion with his super-model like wife Diana, who is taller than him. He has a second job, stealing art, which fulfills his needs to lead a high-fi life and also to please his wife with costly gifts. Roger and his firm are in the process of finding a new CEO for a company named Pathfinder. Through his wife, Roger gets acquainted with Clas Greve ( Nikolaj Coster Waldau ) from Denmark, a semi-retired ex-army professional, who is in Norway to look after his grandmother’ property. 

Clas Greve

Roger learns from Diana that Clas has a valuable painting in his apartment. He also feels Clas will be a right person for Pathfinder as CEO. As always, in Clas’ absence Roger steels the art from his home, but in the process he finds his wife’ cell phone there. As suspicion grows, he rejects Clas as a possible candidate for the CEO post. 

This is when things turn upside down for Roger. Clas plans to kill Roger. Clas, with all his knowledge in tracking technology follows him. Scared Roger run for his life and struggles to find the reason for Clas to kill him. And the rest of the story is how Roger survives this chase and how he overcomes it.

Diana and Roger

“..I am 168 centimeters. And you know what? That is more than enough.

Directed by Morten Tyldum. The film is adapted from the best-selling Scandinavian novel by Jo Nesbo. Even though we see lots of blood, it is not gore. Most of the time, the story is said in a lighter comic mode and there is no fast camerawork like in chase-movies, the photography is slow and steady.

Aksel Hanne as Roger Brown shows fear in his eyes and his urge to know the truth makes us curious to know “what will happen to him”. The editing and direction is worth to mention, sometimes, a few seconds of flashbacks changes the entire scene. A good director has to make the viewer to feel for the characters whenever they are in a good-bad state/mood, Morten makes us to feel for Roger’ suffering.

Trailer 

It cannot get dumber than this !!

Economic Times, has done it again, this has to be a blooper!!

This column appeared in today' ( 17th Oct ) Chennai Edition.

A brownish daily known for its deep insight views on world of economics has come-up with an amateurish article and also poor reporting. Yesterday the match finished around 10 PM, so they should have reported the entire match, but they just stuck to the Aussie batting and comfortably neglected to report the 2nd half.

When the nation’s cricket lovers are celebrating ODI history’s best ever run chase, ET reported on the news without even mentioning a word about the successful chase.

The writing was so dumb and lifeless, I could have written better, whoever wrote this piece of S%*# lacked penetration.

Read that S%%^ here - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/cricket-australia-pile-up-massive-359/5-equals-highest-against-india/articleshow/24260285.cms

**Other media related posts from this blog**

10 Rillington Place ( UK, 1971 )

 

Language - English

Director - Richard Fleischer

Starring - Richard Attenborough, John Hurt

Country - United Kingdon

Year - 1971

The other day, I was going through the earlier posts in FilmBulb, strange, I noticed that I had not introduced any proper British film ( Before The Rains was directed by Santhosh Sivan from India ). Then, I had a chance to see this film 10 Rillington Place. I took this film, when it came across to it in the filmspotting.net podcast, the show in which they discussed about the book by an author named Robert Elder, book name- The Best Film You've Never Seen: 35 Directors Champion the Forgotten or Critically Savaged Movies They Love.

This film, stuck to the cause of the book by Robert. One cannot label it as “the” best British film, but was good and filled with suspense. The other thing that made me eager to look forward this film was Richard Attenborough ( Director, Gandhi ). He is the main lead and I was kind of “ahhh” when I learnt that he acted as a serial killer.

Richard Attenborough as John Christie

The film is based on a true story, which happened in 1940’s. 

Plot

The film starts in 1944, London, John Christie ( Richard Attenborough ) gives some kind of medical treatment to a women in his house (10 Rillington Place). In the process, he gases her, makes her unconscious, rapes and kill her by strangling. From his outfits, we learn that he is a police. The film then moves to 1949. Tim Evans and Beryl move to the same apartment 10 Rillington Place with their infant daughter Geraldine. The new tenants occupy the first floor, while Christie and his wife are living in the ground floor.

Already in the jaws of the poverty, Beryl learns that she is pregnant. This creates a tussle in the family. Evans doesn't want another baby now. Christie, overhears this issue and convinces the couple that he can perform abortion ( At that period abortion is unlawful in UK ), but he ( Christie ) has other plans. Using his soft speech, Christie informs Evans that this will be a risk and one-in-ten will die. The couples takes a chance, Christie rapes, strangles and kill Beryl. He uses the abortion as the cover-up and softly-threatens Evans that he might be behind the bars, because this process in illegal.

Christie asks Evans to go somewhere until everything is blown over. Evans moves to a nearby town, but within few days he turns to police as he couldn't stand the guilt. During the court proceedings, Christie turns the table to make Evans as the murderer. Court convicts Evans and then immediately hanged. What happened to Christie, did he roam scot-free later is the rest of the story.

“the entire movie is like a Hitchcock template.

Evans Family

As I said earlier, I can't imagine to see Attenborough as a serial-killer, after seeing him as happy-smiling-papa in Jurassic Park. The way in which he portrays the character is soft, but still he creates an aura of horror. He is presented as a Hitchcock'ian protagonist. In fact, the entire movie is like a Hitchcock template. It is not gore, one can't find a drop of blood in any frame. The film keeps us hooked from its suspense.

Some scenes from the film