MOVIE REVIEW

THE IMITATION GAME

Directors:  Morten Tyldum
Writers: Andrew Hodges, Graham Moore
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode
Strength: Story, script, character development
Weakness: Lack of conformity to the personality of Alan Turing
Runtime: 114 minutes
Rating: 4/5

Plot: During World War II, mathematician Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians.
Review:  As Cumberbatch says near the start of the film "are you paying attention". You should pay attention, Alan Turing deserves your attention, and Alan Turing's story deserves to be told. The Imitation Game is one of the best written movies of recent years, and presents the compelling life story of Alan Turing, the man who developed the world's first machine that used an algorithm which allowed the allied forces to decode Nazi messages. It is an excellently paced and executed story that has you gripped from beginning to end. The film switches between the drive of the team of code breakers to solve the Enigma code, young Alan Turing and the events after the war. Despite the immense impact of the man on the world, during the war and on today's modern technologies, his life ended in tragedy. The beauty of the film is how it presents both in such a balanced way. It is truly heartbreaking in places, and Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as Alan Turing is outstanding, although some historians have raised a flag saying the real Alan Turing was not as much of a social outcast as he is portrayed to be in the film. The film highlights the man and the mind, and makes it easy to understand just what kind of genius he was. It also shows us how that genius was destroyed by a society that was seriously homophobic. It brings to life the man behind the facts and we laugh at his interactions with his fellow code breakers and cheer as he proves his theories and our hearts break as we watch him try to cope later in life. This is one of the best films in the recent history of cinema, and is a must watch for people of all ages across the world.

Reviewed by Zakir Mushtaque

***

Directors: Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru
Writers: Raj Nidimoru, Krishna D.K.
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Ileana, Kalki Koechlin
Runtime: 135 minutes
Strength: Genuine funny moments,
Weakness: Played out story
Rating: 3/5

Plot: A confused writer goes on the search of inspiration for his next story and falls in love with a best seller author who doesn't believe in love.
Review: Happy Ending blends the wildly absurd with the mildly funny to deliver two-and-a-quarter hours of harmless entertainment that does not overly try the audience's patience despite the many holes that it is riddled with. It mocks the filmic concept of the "till death do us part" kind of love. The commitment-phobic male protagonist at the heart of the film's plot falls in and out of love as if it were a swimming pool. The film also takes humorous jabs at how commercial films are conceptualized and written in the Mumbai industry.
Happy Ending is the story of Yudi (Saif Ali Khan) who has written just one book, which was a bestseller and since then he is just planning his next book. Fame has managed to get him lucky with women and that's what keeps him busy. He will flirt but won't commit to a long-term relationship.
As far as the performances of the film is concerned, HAPPY ENDING is a Saif Ali Khan film all the way... right from the word 'go'. Ileana D'Cruz, on the other hand, continues her stint with sweet and bubbly character. Kalki, who is back after her last hit film YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI, is as usual, a delight to watch. When her real life quirkiness combines with her reel life character, the resultant is sheer magic. As far as the veteran actor Govinda is concerned, he shines in his role which seems like was written keeping him in mind. Special brownie points go to Preity Zinta, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Ileana's real life boyfriend Andrew Kneebone for their cameos in the film.
If you expect Happy Ending to get somewhere, you are watching the wrong film. Do not expect the world from Happy Ending and you might actually find in it enjoyable enough to dedicate your afternoon to it

Reviewed by S.M. Intisab Shahriyar

***

Classic Review

ROME, OPEN CITY (1945)

Director: Roberto Rossellini
Writers:  Sergio Amidei, Federico Fellini
Stars: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero
Runtime: 103 minutes

Plot: The story takes place in Rome during World War II. A group of indignant people, such as a publisher and a priest, decide to fight against the Nazis.
Review:  Rossellini's neorealist classic was made in 1945 in straitened circumstances not long after the Nazi occupation of Rome was over. That explains why it has an immediacy and authenticity that later war films with much bigger budgets have often lacked. Rossellini made the film quickly and cunningly in the occupation's hot aftermath: working with mostly untrained actors, shooting on the city's pockmarked streets and in its crumbled buildings, and had a finished cut in Italian cinemas by September 1945, less than five months after V-E Day. Audiences rejected it, finding its tragic sweep too raw at a time when distraction was much needed, but that rawness helped to catalyze the Italian Neo-realist movement, and Rossellini's uncompromising vision of a proud city in desperate times soon won worldwide acclaim.
The story of the film might have been taken from the notes of any true observer in occupied Europe and, indeed it is based on true events. It is the story of an underground agent who is cornered by the Germans in a certain quarter of Rome and who barely escapes them until he is informed upon by his own girlfriend. In the course of his flight he necessarily involves his resistance friends. Anna Magnani is a sensation as Pina, the fiery embodiment of Rome's indomitable working-class spirit, who helps the resistance fighter Giorgio Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero) regroup and plot his next move; meanwhile, Giorgio's lover Marina (Maria Michi), a cabaret singer, finds ways to make life easier under Nazi occupation.
The final shot of Roman children walking back towards their city, scarred but resolute, is as close to a happy ending as history ever gives us. This movie is a stroke of pure genius and thus it has managed to carve itself a place amongst the all-time greats of cinema.

Reviewed by S.M. Intisab Shahriyar