MOVIE REVIEW

HAIDER

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Writers: Basharat Peer, Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon
Strengths: Story, direction and acting
Runtime:  162 minutes
Rating: 4.5/5

Plot: In an adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', Haider - a young man returns home to Kashmir on receiving news of his father's disappearance. Not only does he learn that security forces have detained his father for harboring militants, but that his mother is in a relationship with his very own uncle. Intense drama follows between mother and son as both struggle to come to terms with news of his father's death.
Review: This is the third time Vishal Bhardwaj is adapting a Shakespearean play. If 'Omkara' and 'Maqbool' were marvels, 'Haider' is a spectacle. Vishal Bhardwaj takes the basic plot of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and changes the setting to Kashmir in the mid-90s. Vishal Bhardwaj puts so much soul into 'Haider', it is hard to imagine it in any other setting. The film is unbelievably real and palpable. The screenplay is so well written, you get goose bumps every other minute. The characters are so detailed; you wouldn't be able to decide whom you hate and whom you love. They're too real to be fictitious. The incestuous angle between Haider and Ghazala is infused in the plot with perfect subtlety. An extra star to Vishal Bhardwaj for just this one big feat! The film isn't flawless of course, but that can be easily overlooked. 'Haider' is one performance that Shahid Kapoor will be remembered for, for a very long time. Not only is it the best he's ever acted in films, it is one of the most impactful performances on screen of Bollywood in a very long time. The character is tailor made for him. The music deserves another special mention. Vishal Bhardwaj sets the eerie mood since the first frame itself and builds it up till the very end. 'Haider' is a cinematic piece of brilliance Bollywood will always be proud of. The film is nothing less than a spectacle. It is a film that is meant to be watched in a theatre, for the experience the makers create just cannot be missed. You have to see it to believe it.

Reviewed by Broti Rahman

***

LIFE OF CRIME 

Directors: Daniel Schechter
Writers: Elmore Leonard, Daniel Schechter
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, Mos Def, Isla Fisher, Tim Robbins
Runtime: 98 minutes
Strength: Witty comedy, good acting
Weakness: Slow plot development, predictable story
Rating: 3/5

Plot: Two common criminals get more than they bargained for after kidnapping the wife of a corrupt real-estate developer who shows no interest in paying the $1 million dollar ransom for her safe return.
Review: Life of Crime is a crime drama based on 'The Switch', a novel by the late Elmore Leonard whose comically dark prose has inspired other noir films like Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight. The comedy begins with two petty criminals plotting to kidnap Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston), the trophy wife of Frank Dawson (Tim Robbins) a corrupt businessman who has amassed a fortune by evading tax authorities. Having done their homework on Frank and how much money is stashed away in a tax-free Bahamas bank, Louis (John Hawkes) and Ordell (Mos Def) think they have hatched the perfect plan – hold the wife ransom in exchange for the husband's ill-gotten wealth. But of course, the criminals don't know about Frank's mistress, who changes the entire dynamic of the crime. Life of Crime is a low budget film that seems to be content with a medley of delicious dialogue from improvised characters. The acting and witty dialogue is the only reasons to watch the film, since the story is pretty ordinary and the plot develops very slowly. From Melanie and Frank to fumbling crooks with terrific lines, spunky characterization works like the unwrapping of a multilayered gift where you get to see what's on the inside at the very end. But you pretty much knew what was at the end halfway through the movie. Aniston strides further than any of her previous roles and she is a delight to watch. Also thrown in for kicks are two of Leonard's oddball characters – a neo-Nazi gun nut played by Mark Boone Junior and Will Forte as a weirdo who has the hots for Mickey – both ambiguous characters whose inclusion adds humour to the witty cat and mouse game.

Reviewed by Zakir Mushtaque

***

CLASSIC REVIEW

VERTIGO (1958)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: Alec Coppel, Samuel A. Taylor
Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
Runtime: 128 minutes

Plot: An ex-police detective called “Scottie” (Stewart) suffers from acrophobia (fear of heights) after having realized his condition of vertigo and having witnessed his partner drop to his death in the line of duty. He is hired by an old acquaintance Gavin, to tail Gavin's wife Madeleine (Novak) who Gavin believes to be possessed by the spirit of the deceased young beauty Carlotta Valdes. After intervening in one of Madeleine's suicide attempts, Scottie finds himself falling in love with the woman. Tragedy ensues when Scottie's acrophobia gets in the way of saving her.
Review: The characters portrayed by Stewart and Novak screech out Hitchcock's own twisted mentality, personality, and his fantasy of the typical blonde, fetishized, dominated and submissive woman seen in many of his films. The audience feels the pangs of the detective as he struggles to part with the image of a person he grew to love, as he realizes his own naïveté in deceivingly being played a fool in a bigger ploy, as he strives to reenact a dreaded past to conquer his fear, and as he falters to appreciate the partial achievement that comes at a terrible price. Some of the major themes upheld are desire, artificiality, male aggression and visual control. Although the romance, action, excitement, and scenery have been acclaimed, the plot was found to be dragging the audience along what is merely a psychological murder mystery. Some Hitchcock fans were also displeased at the mystery being solved with a third of the film remaining. In conveying Scottie's vertigo, the film used an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation; this was the first ever utilization of the “dolly zoom”. Hitchcock and his costume designer have also utilized colour to heighten emotion – Madeleine's grey suit (grey typically not considered a blonde's colour) has been used to underscore her melancholy. Though having received mixed reviews upon initial release, the film garnered critical acclaim on its re-release in 1983, and in 2012 seized the throne as one of the best films of all time. As noted by critics, Vertigo may be interpreted in different ways, and reveals new facets on each re-watching.

Reviewed by Ahmed Adib