Wendy and Lucy (2008) Hollywood

Can't afford to lose the dear one while you're already lost.

Genre:

Drama.

Tagline:

"On the long road, friendship is everything."

What's in:

On-topic, Off-topic, Spoilers, Dialogues.

Length:

Approximately 3-minute read.

Review:

     Michelle Williams is one of the photogenic face in Hollywood and also like her performance. But won the negative impression of mine over portrayal of her character in 'Take This Waltz'. Doing a villainous role may get appreciation, for example, the Joker from Batman, but doing things that affect morality is really hurt if you really like that person. After that movie, I was not into her films and she also did not do any major roles. Accidentally I came to know about this movie, which is in fact a bit older movie than what I was talking about and after knowing more about it, I got interested and I could not resist from watching. Frankly, this movie filled the gap created by the earlier crack.

     This movie falls in the line of 'Open Road' and 'Into the Wild' when it comes to rendering the main character. If you have already seen those two, or any other similar flicks, then you would find this movie was very much intense. Wendy, a woman in her late 20s with her dog Lucy are on an expedition to the other end of the country seeking a solution to the difficulty for having a normal life and job. One must have to keep walking on either of way to see a light at the end of the tunnel and that's what Wendy does here.

 You can't get an address without an address. You can't get a job without a job. 

     This movie commence middle of her destination, where she's stranded after her car broke-down. It won't say anything about the earlier account of Wendy or what might happen after the timeline of this film. All the 80 minute of narration takes place in the Oregon city which is just a glimpse of her life for us as a movie, but a major impact thenceforth in her life. The struggle during fixing her car is what depicted simply, but beautifully on the screen.

     The story is about the man and his pet's relationship, that's what the meaning of the title, like 'Marley & Me'. Also being a young woman, society is no safe for roaming freely all the places alone at all the time. Plain drama, it was, but something meaningful story, a lesson to learn, a character to study and a life to experience. A kind of journey of self- discovery during understanding how the civil system works. Thematically there's nothing wrong, but 'setting an example' wise, this movie is not safer for other than the adults. Among the best movies of the year it was released. Impossible not to recommend others, especially by me to you perhaps.



Similar movies:
Open Road, Into the Wild, Dead Man, The Golden Cage, Where God Left His Shoes.


Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


External link(s):
      

Wetlands (2013) Germany

What is wrong seems like right for Helen.

Genre:

Comedy, Drama.

Original title:

Feuchtgebiete (German)

What's in:

On-topic, Off-topic, Spoilers, Dialogues.

Length:

Approximately 5-minute read.

Review:

     The reason I watched it was the director. 'Combat Girls' was a very good movie and I expected a similar result from this. But it was a totally different entertainer, so original and I was hooked throughout. It was based on the novel of the same name, a well received book and even it was translated to English later. But had some debate over saying it was an erotic related topic.

     Whatever, I don't know the book, because I'm kind of a movie guy, so saw it and liked it. I did not find anything like the book was criticised. You're going to create your own visuals while reading a book, but in a motion picture it gives perfect everything, including background score, which is a plus point. For that, the book must land to a creative mind, the director with vision who can convince others with his exhibition.

     We find the little kids around us in our daily life who never listen to their parents or anyone and do exactly the opposite to what they were told. Like an adamant character, even in some adults as well, which might developed during their childhood due to raised in a dysfunctional family or other similar circumstances of life they were brought in. This film revolves in a similar manner, but a bit ahead until you to get sick and say 'ew'.

 It's better to have a scratched knee now, than to have a broken heart later on. 

     It was so disgusting and disgusting even more, in one word to say the grossest movie ever, perhaps among the top three or five or ten for sure. Whatever the possible way to make it happen, they used it to bring the outcome. If you ask me, I would say thank god I'm a man and it was the portrayal of a girl. The actress was pretty enough for anyone not to feel (that) bad for what you're going to witness, I call it an advantage for such a theme. Suppose it was an actor, I would have definitely turned it off in midway and said the F word.

     A tale of an 18-year-old girl Helen, who explains why she's so antithesis by recalling her childhood memories. By the second half of her teen life, overtaken by sex fantasies, but that was not the whole movie. These all were to develop the character which took almost full movie leaving current scenario which takes place in the hospital tight and squeezed. Her relationship as individual with her family members a vital phase in the storytelling, which tells she never understood none of the three. Her father, a careless with sexual active man. Her mother brainwashes with over lessons and with her little brother, they never really had proper bro-sis thingy. By the last quarter of the film you will completely know the Helen and time to change your mind, possibly. But still disturbs us her adaptation of the theory of everything.

     There are many movies where children are affected like Helen, but this film was absolutely a unique in the illustration of the sensitive topic. It's a debatable if parents take the film seriously, because it talk about parenting failure as well unhygienic thingy. Bit of fun, emetic, sexy, overall an exceptional movie for adults. Disgusting is a disgusting, if there is no problem accepting a change and variety in a movie that you usually watch and appreciate the effort, then this film could be a better entertainer. It should dub in English rather remake it if there is a consideration. I usually like German movies, because I'm picky, I choose wisely after a basic research. I knew it would be a commercial feature and I was prepared to enjoy it like that way.



Similar movies:
American Pie movie series, Jackass movie series, Scary Movie series, The Hottie & The Nottie,


Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


External link(s):
      

Bekas (2012) Sweden, Iraq

Realising the value of family, despite dreaming big.

Genre:

Adventure, Drama.

Original title:

Bekas (Kurdish)

Tagline:

"The American Dream is waiting just around the corner."

What's in:

On-topic, Off-topic, Spoilers, Dialogues.

Length:

Approximately 3-minute read.

Review:

     Nowadays its a customary to take the acclaimed short movies to stretch for the feature films by the incoming directors. All they need is a good producer and the distributors, the actors can be managed with the new faces. Yep, this movie was inspired by the short film of the same name like 'Short Term 12', 'District 9' et cetera. Most importantly, these films met a great success because of the beautiful story, characters and narration.

     This movie was directed by the Iraq born filmmaker who is now residing in Sweden. Most of the recent movies, in fact, all of them outlines Iraq as a war field. But this film was such a poetic, shot in the real locations, brings a calm and beautiful 90s Iraq on the screen that you have probably never seen in a decade. The main two characters were inspired by the director and his elder brother, when they were kids and lived in the Kurdish part of Iraq. But the story was marginally fictional except the dreams of the children from the third world.

     I must agree, this movie practically describes how the influence of American products, films and culture affects the young kids from a country like Iraq. Their over obsession leads to dream bigger without knowing that's impossible to make it true. If you are a non-American you would have had such obsession in your childhood on soft drinks like Cola, Pepsi, or fast foods like from KFC, McDonald, or TV cartoons and Marvel Comic books et cetera. So, in some way, somewhat it's a tiny part of your story as well.

 If a family is united, they will be strong. 

     There is no exact one word translation for 'Bekas'. It means 'homeless orphans' according to the director's explanation during an interview at one of the film festivals. This movie is all about two young Kurdish boys, Dana and Zana, and Superman, Michael Jackson and Coca Cola. If we talk about the story, it's when 'Slumdog Millionaire' meets 'In This World'. The movie begins similar fashion to SDM where kids are playing football and after that go straight to their business, instead school. In fact many scenes resemble above two films I mentioned and also other films. When the brothers get separates, that kind of reminded me 'The Gods Must Be Crazy 2'. Thus the screenplay originality lacks, other than that it is nothing less than to consider a wonderful film.

     There are some scenes that make you go edge of your seat. Grabs our attention, creating tensions and thrills in the scenes like check-post and landmines. Emotions did not strike well because it's seemed more like a dark comedy. A bit commercialised than being realistic. The music was so good, awesome blend to portray the adventures, along with the two great performances, ignited the movie to emerge as a pleasant family entertainer. There might be millions of reasons to blame this movie because of similarity with other films and other stuffs, but overall I felt happy. Criticisers still going to criticize it, despite those flaws definitely worth to check it out.



Similar movies:
Slumdog Millionaire, In This World, A Time for Drunken Horses, Mommo.


Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


External link(s):
    

Vegetarian (2014) India

Cultural tradition is to unite a family, not meant to hurt anybody.

Genre:

Comedy, Drama.

Original title:

Saivan (Tamil)

What's in:

Mainly on-topic, Only mildly off-topic, No spoilers I guess, Dialogues.

Length:

Approximately 4-minute read.

Review:

     I have not seen a single Kollywood flick, in fact, any Indian movies from since 2 years. But recently saw a couple of Tamil films and this was one of them. Very much satisfied and I'm glad I went for it. Like I always say, the songs are what turns me off in Indian cinema, that is the reason stayed away. This movie had those, but I was not frustrated because they are blended very well to the narration. There is no sudden jump into the dance floor with colourful costumes, but most of the tracks are background song. I liked that classical soundtrack with the veenai, really catchy and the meaningful lyrics. That song called 'Azhagu' won two Indian Academy Awards for best playback singer and best lyrics.

     An inspiring movie, a message teller, something we could learn or adopt from it. The adults are always, well, most of them obey the law without asking any questions that came from the previous generation to them and teach it to their kin as well. That's how the traditions passed to and survived till date. That is good, but in the modern India there are no actions taken to abolish the some of the brutal believes which are more than two millenniums old. The changes come from the children, who asks so many questions. This is such a movie takes place on that kind of theme, which is inspired by a true childhood event of the director's mother.

  Then, do the god is like us? Expects something in return to do us a favour?

     It's a second movie of Sara Arjun's I'm seeing and she was so good. She was not the lead, but only the part of the movie. There is no particular lead character. The story simply based and follows after the incident that shocks a whole family when they unite for the native festival in their village. When theirs concern grows bigger over the issue and the tale reaches more tighter plot and faster in portrayal. And then bang, the end comes like suddenly everything goes silent for a moment.

     The movie is not hard to predict, especially the end was as expected. It's simply a family entertainment, give comfort feeling and leaves no reason to complain about. Every role had a wonderful display, great performances by all the cast. The sub-plots like teen romance and kids fight, are all fine additions for the extra fun. This is actually a short movie even though it ran 2 hours because usually Indian movies reach the 3 hour mark and that's a plus point. As I consider my judgement on this product, I would say it's a must see movie. But that does not mean It's a genuine, the only reason I liked it for is this film wanted to say something good to the society. This kind of movies definitely good to build a better tomorrow around us.



Similar movies:
Dolphin Tale, Fly Away Home, The Fox and the Child, Charlotte's Web, Whale Rider.


Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


External link(s):