Wednesday, March 25, 2009

If You Can’t Tell A Mouse From A Rat…

The next time when you see a rodent and you instantly assume it’s a mouse, you should start to smell a rat.

If you’re confused, A Tale of Despereaux will sort it out for you. No two mice, er, ways about it! 

Despereaux (Matthew Broderick) the mouse is really, really cute. So cute that you have to find it cute - not ugly but adorable but cute and adorable - regardless of your race, language or religion.

I got so impressed by this little hero’s “chivalry, bravery and honour” that I had to pepper in some nuggets of patriotism as a hint of my nationalistic sentiment. (You mean you haven’t realised I cited a phrase from our national pledge?!)

The tale begins with the rat, a gourmet lover.

“Every place has something special and in Dor, it’s ‘the soup’,” says Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman) the rat, quoting what the seaman Pietro told him earlier.

As fate has it, this feverish love for the soup in the Kingdom of Dor literally scares its Queen to death. Totally grief-stricken, the King outlaws anything related to soup, and rats, in his empire.

Towards the middle of the film my interest started waning. Even so, there is no doubt that some powerful lessons can be drawn from this movie, ratty or not regardless.

The reason that turns Despereaux into an outcast in his own Mouseworld is the exact same one that I find admirable. He has a unique identity. He dares.

His courage to not conform to society’s rules – to cower, to be fearful, and to kowtow to authority – climaxes when he actually tells Princess Pea (Emma Watson), “I’m a gentleman”. By what? “By a code of honour,” he replies in a gentlemanly manner, complete with a bow.

A mouse that sees himself as a gentleman speaks so much more than a human who sees himself like a mouse.

Roscuro’s succumbing to hatred also mirrors the way men give in to their streak of weakness. Actions thus born out of that momentary foolishness eventually lead to guilt and regret. This struggle of vengeance versus forgiveness reaches a blissful outcome when Roscuro changes his heart, again, and joins Despereaux in saving the princess at the eleventh hour.

Then, there’s this glimmer of hope that is nicely sprinkled in various parts of the movie.

For example, the princess’ hopes to regain what were lost – soup, sun and rain – are cast side by side with a pig farm girl’s hope to be, well, a princess. 

In fact, every girl is a princess, at least in her father’s eyes.

Miggery Sow (Tracey Ullman), the jailer Gregory’s daughter’s quest to be a princess reveals one more side of the human nature – pursuit of fame and materialism; yet, when it comes to what really matters, love still conquers all.

Movie wise, the images, sound effects and the animation are laudable and add a bit more punch to the otherwise slow-moving storyline.

This is truly an animation for children. The messages which wrap around positive values like courage, self-esteem, love, honour and morals are spelt out clearly and explicitly by a narrator and the wholesome dialogues.

And if you can’t get enough of Despereaux, read the book. In the words of the many who have read it: the book is simply fantastic and the author DeCamillo has done a superb job.

I have more than an inkling that might well be very true.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Take a chance with love

“I take that as a hopeful sign,” Harvey says as Kate rejects an incoming call on her mobile. “If only you can give me a wider smile…” he continues teasing her. 

Kate (Emma Thompson) breaks out into a wider smile.

That is a scene where the despondent Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) meets Kate Walker, who is finding solace in her own company and a book, for the second time in a bar at the airport in the film Last Chance Harvey. 

Harvey tries to spin off a conversation between them while Kate seems only interested in finishing her novel and not to have anything to do with this stranger. But as the minutes ticked, Harvey’s attempts slowly paid off: All because of one simple technique, since Shakespeare’s days, and still an effective way to make friends and build relationships – flirting with words.

Not only did he used his words cleverly to melt away any hostility that Kate feels, Harvey also manages to shift her mood into a more relaxed state, as opposed to the grim look she wore before he came.

Yes, I was hooked on to the dialogue in this movie.

The dialogue helps immensely in the smooth gradations of the feelings from slight dislike to comfort to eventually the kind of deep longing for someone between the two lead characters.

For example, how Harvey surprises Kate by saying, “You mean instead of me walking you to class, carry your books?” when she’s expecting him to go on his way at the subway station. 

In another instance, Kate, learning that Harvey’s estranged daughter’s wedding reception – for which he was there in London—is still on, eggs Harvey to go. “You have to go, she’s your daughter!”

“You come with me?”

“I can’t go to a wedding reception in green polyester?”

“You trying to get me to buy you a new dress, is that it?”

“No, no, no!”

Joel Hopkins expertly directs the movie in a way that it shows the intricacies of the feelings and emotions of two middle-aged people—a man and woman—feeling lonely and hopeless in their own lives and how this encounter may really be their last chance at happiness.

But, when one is so used to being in the shadow and to deem oneself as a failure in life, how does one get out of the rut? 

Kate touches me when she says to Harvey, in between tears, “I’ve been so used to getting disappointed, and I’m angry at you for taking this away from me.”

I’ve seen this many times, of people who are afraid of receiving love and happiness in their lives, who don’t believe that they too deserve to be happy like everyone else.

Fortunately, Kate did take a leap of faith.

“Shall we walk?” she asks.

Harvey nods her head, and both of them continue their long stroll under the twilight.

I like this movie, really! 

P.S. The actual dialogue in the movie may differ slightly from what is produced here, as they are mostly from what I remembered, and some came from the trailer clips.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Is Slumdog Millionaire an inspiring story?

“You can’t sleep in the cinema,” I told my sister yesterday, “it’s (the movie) too loud.” Few seconds later, I added: “And noisy.”

And that’s how I feel about Slumdog Millionaire. It’s really loud and noisy. The only time when there’re some nuggets of silence is on the set of the TV game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, when Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) pauses and decides if the answer he has chosen is going to be his final one.

I believe most people would have seen this movie, or if not, would have read about it and know the synopsis of the story. So, I’ll talk about other things instead.

In my opinion, Slumdog Millionaire is, besides being a “noisy” film, a colourful show. Colours of India’s culture, the faith of the people and their lifestyle are displayed prominently in the movie. One has to give credit to the use of such loud graphics and music to bring us the intensity of the poverty and the kind of lives those people lead in the slums.

While there are things I understand right away, there are some that escaped my comprehension.

For example, I don’t understand why there is a need for the adult characters to suddenly switch to conversing in English when they were chatting wildly and animatedly in their mother tongue, Hindi, when they were children. Yes, English is one of the two official languages in India (according to Wikipedia), no doubt. But, is their usage a “common thing” or is it more for the non-Hindi speaking international audience? If it is due to the latter, I feel the movie loses that bit of realism; which is a pity, because this movie thrives on being a film that shows us the facets of life in the slums based on reality.

Before watching this, I’ve heard of how inspiring this movie is for the man on the street. It represents hope; if a man who grew up in the slums can become a millionaire overnight, then, probably, so can they.

However, after I stepped out of the cinema, my mind began to question the authenticity of this claim. Is Jamal’s character truly inspiring? Maybe it would be if he had worked or studied very hard in order to get that insane amount of money, when many more highly-educated people before him had failed.

Yet, it turns out that he has the answers because of one thing that probably all the educated people lack—a life experience wrought with twists and turns, drama and betrayal and a tale about friendships, relationships and kinship.

So, is this purely a work of luck plus unlucky life events combined with tragic life experiences? Or is this a brilliant example of one young man’s perseverance to hold on to his values and beliefs in the midst of surviving in the harsh realism of the world, and his fight for the love of his life?

As I seek the answer to this dilemma, I have to ask yet another question: What is an inspiring movie?

Does it have to portray a journey of overcoming difficult challenges and difficulties before achieving the goal? Can it be simply a narrative of hope and triumph, plus some luck?

Until now, I still don’t have the answer, because I feel that both can be the answer. If the movie can arouse a feeling or thought in others which in turn moves them to do certain things to achieve their dream or goal, then I think Slumdog Millionaire is an inspiring story.

Lastly, I ask myself this question too: Why am I dwelling on all these issues, when I’m only watching a movie?

Then it hit me. I had somehow forgotten that this is, after all, still a movie. It is not based on a real-life story, and even if it is, it would have been tweaked a bit to add the effect of drama for commercial sake. As much as it aims to show reality, as the film has so successfully achieved, it is eventually fiction.

All these thoughts are based on what I still remember after watching this show more than a week ago. This points to one fact – that these are the elements that have left a deep impression in my mind and my heart. That’s why I’m writing this review only now, 10 days after seeing it. Though this comes relatively late, I hope it still serves as some food for thought for you.

What are your comments on this movie? 

Monday, March 09, 2009

Cowboys, Meadows and Those Bells and Whistles Part 2

Where have all the cowboys gone?

That was the last statement in Part 1 of this post.

Why did I ask this question? Because, instead of those macho cowboys and their whips, I saw the green meadows, blue skies with fluffy white clouds floating in it.

I turned around to face a bundle of sunflowers brimming with joy!

I must be in a fairy land… because even the elves were here to help the cobbler with his clogs.

You know, to have spent 5 minutes of my time in such a wonderland was some form of relaxation for me. I’m not kidding.

Guys may not find all these extras a big deal. After all, a toilet is merely a place for people to offload unwanted “materials” from their bodies. They minimise their time inside and they just couldn’t wait to finish their own business (without minding others’) and leave.

But to the girls (of course I wouldn’t want to generalise the entire female population), going to the washroom is an event itself. We go together in groups, we treat it as the next better place to have good quality “water cooler chats” and I even saw some girls taking photos together, almost always in front of the full-length mirror. 

So, to those great minds behind the concepts of these water closets, I thank you for the wonderful relief (pun intended) you have given me! 

Btw, in case you were wondering where I had been to, I was at Great World City.