About Elly (2009) - Iranian Movie

Some Directors are one of a kind story teller – Asghar Farhadi, is one of them – last I saw was his fantastic movie “A Separation” and today – I finally saw “About Elly”. They pick up a very simple and straight forward story but will tell you the same in such a beautiful way that they you end up seeing and calling them no less than a perfect thriller. This was almost 120 minutes long so I was in a little relaxed mood expecting it to be another simple Iranian movie as I saw quite a few this year. But this turns out to be a damn good thriller which had me sitting straight on my chair and taking stock of the situation as what went wrong and what’s going to happen next, beyond my imagination and horror. A simple middle class group of friends with their families on a weekend vacation at a beach house get stuck in a situation where no one knows what happened to one of their friends, who was with them and suddenly who disappears – is she dead? Did she leave them? One thing leads to another, so much of chaos and confusion later – we come to a conclusion in the very last minute of the movie which is indeed shocking. It’s a must watch for all thriller lovers especially who love the simplicity of Iranian movies and this guy in particular. Do not miss it.

The Movie: A group of middle class Iranian friends go on a three day vacation with their families. They are three married couples with three young kids. They are joined by another friend of them who has recently come from Germany after he was divorced by his German wife. They had actually invited one of their kid’s teachers too to the vacation who they plan to hook up with this friend during the vacation because as per them – both of them were a perfect match. The trip was planned by Sepideh and they go to the villa booked by her but to their shock they are told that the owner of the villa is coming back in a day and they would not be able to get that for their vacation. But they were advised to go to a deserted villa on the beach which required a bit of repairs to make it livable. They agree to it and Sepideh introduces her kid’s teacher and the new arrived friend as recently married and were on their honeymoon. On the first day of vacation both the guy and the girl develop attraction but girl insists on going back home the very next day. To stop her from doing so, Sepideh hides her bad in her closet as she and her other friend go out shopping, the guys play the game of volleyball in the backyard, the tragedy strikes. The kids were playing on the beach and one of the lady was watching them over, she goes inside for a moment leaving Elly the in charge of the kids. Elly helps the other two kids flying a kite while the younger one goes in the sea and drowns. By the time the kids tell their parents about the accident even Elly is no where to be found. What happens to Elly? Is she drowned too saving the kid? Or she leaves them as she was talking of going back home anyways?

Once the ladies return from their shopping and they start putting two and two together of what happened in the last one day – it leads to lot of facts that she may have felt offended and would have gone back. They search for her the whole day with the help of the coast guard – somehow the kid is saved but Elly is nowhere to be found. When the cops come in – they realize that none of them had any idea of her full name – let alone any other information. One by one – they come across a lots of facts which were never their in the story earlier – further eye popping information comes across and this becomes a serious chase to know what happened to her and where is she now? It’s a damn good movie yet very simplistic in treatment but it keeps you hooked to it big time. I totally loved it and will recommend it with two thumbs up. Their discussions – the tension between friends – the little fights. Its such a simple everyday stuff that we all face in our regular life but how it changes their life once and for all is outstanding to see. Especially how the Director handles all his characters with such great depths and what fantastic performances from all of them – who come so strong in all those characters. Especially the beautiful girl who plays Sepideh in lead, whose idea was the whole vacation and planning and the one who plays Elly is totally rocking. Sepdideh’s husband and Ahmad as the friend are two damn good actors and too close to the reality.

True Romance (1993) - Romance / Thriller

I somehow missed this fantastic movie earlier just because it wasn’t directed by my all-time favorite Quentin Tarantino and what a crime that was to miss this one. I can never forgive myself for missing this for so long – what a fantastic movie with almost every scene crying out in bold letters “Quentin Tarantino” – I am sure his writing was so damn specific and clear that even after “Tony Scott” Directed it – you will agree with me that you see QT’s shadow on almost all the important scenes and cannot deny his big hand behind the movie. If you haven’t seen this yet – go ahead – do not miss it – I can see it again and again for its fantastic casting – Christian Slater in a role of a life time with hottie Paticia Arquette in a damn good role, totally lovable. Followed by my another favorite Gary Oldman although in a small role with Sam Jackson in “Blink and you miss me” role, with Val Kilmer as Elvis in two scenes, Chris Walken in a damn good character that you love to hate. Another two characters who leave a big impression on you are James Gandolfini as Chris Walken’s henchman and Brad Pitt as a friend of a friend of Slater, too good to be missed. The casual approach of the movie and its characters is its big USP. It shocks you, chills you, moves you, makes you fall in love with them but still never gets predictable as you never know where and what turn it takes. A total joy ride, not to be missed by any Romantic / Thriller fans. One hell of an amazing movie. 

The Movie: Slater works with a comic book store, on his birthday his boss hires a call girl to make him happy and sends her to join him while he watches three movies back to back. Initially he had no idea about her coming to him, they have a good evening after movie, go out dining and end up making out in his apartment, later she confesses to him that she is a call girl and he happens to be her fourth customer in first three days of being a prostitute, and she has fallen in love with him too. Here comes the twist – they marry the next day and Slater goes off to meet her pimp – Gary Oldman – so he could get her free. In the turn of the events he is advised by Elvis (Val Kilmer) to kill the bad guy and set his girl free, in an amazing scene of shooting each other – he ends up killing Gary and picks up a bag thinking it belongs to Patricia. That turns out to be a bag full of half a million worth uncut cocaine. And the game of cat and mouse hunt starts.

Christian Slater and Beautiful Patricia Arquette

It’s an amazing thriller this point onwards as you know that they wont be left alone with that bag full of cocaine and sooner then later will get caught either by cops or bad guys, who are on his lookout. They go to his dad’s house – who he was meeting after so many years – his dad (Dennis Hopper) lends them some money and they set off on their honeymoon to LA. To catch up with his old friend who is a Hollywood struggler stays with his room mate (Brad Pitt). Every ten minutes you end up being introduced to a new character who gets involved with them later to be screwed by either cops or bad guys. It’s a typical Quentin Tarantino fare with all the elements showing his shadow all around, may it be the excellent background score with songs from Elvis or Aerosmith, or the discussions between the gangsters and the people they are torturing to know the location of their cocaine, I mean there is a scene where Chris Walken is about to kill Dennis Hopper as he has hardly any idea of his son’s location and they end up discussing about Chris’s ancestors, knowing that he will be shot shortly – he does asks for a cigarette and smokes it peacefully before being shot and killed finally. One hell of a signature killing – QT style. It is such a smooth ride and casual movie that you totally get engrossed and hooked to it big time, it shocks you with its violence, blood, gore and shooting scenes but never goes over board. The climax is totally rocking scene with so many characters and everything coming to a close ending in a fantastic finale with unbelievable end to all the drama.  

The Intouchables (2011) - Drama in real life.

I always like “Movies based on real life incidences” and this one – we end up loving totally. I am a little biased towards those movies – which start with a car and this one has a Maserati driven by a Black as there is no tomorrow with a Tetraplegic on co-drivers seat – they are racing cause they had a bet of $100 – if the black could beat the cops. What happens next is and followed by an awesome chemistry between two guys, who are as different as chalk and cheese in real life but they get so used to each other that its hard to separate them. It’s a heart warming story (that too real) of a Tetraplegic – someone who couldn’t move his body below the neck but is super rich with no wife and just a teenage daughter. The Black guy has no life either, he is poor with a big family to support – how they come to each others rescue that too just by chance and how they change each others life – big time – is simply awesome watch. One hell of a movie that I will never forget for quite a long time. This is a must watch for all who love Drama’s in real life. I bet you are going to love it for more than one reason.

The Movie: Based on a real life story and on a book titled “You changed my life” by Abdel Sellou. It’s an amazing story of a rich Tetraplegic and his live-in help. Driss is a poor black man with no life, he just came out of prison serving six months and his family is in dire need of his support to survive with half a dozen kids and a single mother. He is least interested in working and is looking forward to survive on his welfare benefit paid by the government if you do not end up getting a job. He visits Philippe the protagonist’s house for an interview as he knows he isn’t going to make it anyways. Somehow Philippe likes him even after being advised otherwise by all the people around including his lawyer – he hires Driss on a two week trial. They both hit it off quite well even after their own differences. Its quite comic to see Driss in his new life as he gets a plus room with an attached toilet to live in Philippe’s mansion and gets to drive his Maserati as well. He flirts openly with all his lady care takers including his private assistant who is quite a beautiful blonde. He is actually a free spirited guy with a heart of gold. He does take care of Philippe as well and keeps him relaxed and happy all the time. They often go out, drink, smoke, drive, listen to music etc. Their chemistry is the best part of the movie.

Some Important Scenes: There are so many damn good scenes in the movie which will be etched in my memory for quite a long time. For one the scene where Driss tries to make a masterpiece after he realizes that Philippe is an art collector and he ends up buying a painting worth 40 grand which according to Driss isn’t worth a tenth of the same. What and how he makes and the final out come of his painting is hilarious to see. How he behaves with people around the house and Philippe’s daughter and friends is a totally hilarious. I will never forget the opera scene – rocking it is. They become a very important part of each others life knowing that they would not be together for their entire life. Philippe has a “Pen Friend” for quite a while and Driss convinces him to call and meet her. What happens next is – you gotta watch the movie for. How they change each others life and end up finally is heartening / heart warming and totally awesome. Movies like this are so enlightening to say the least – they actually make you feel blessed and love your life in a new way. And thank god for the life we are living. There is so much in this movie that its hard to explain and put it all in writing. The Para-gliding scene, First time when Driss gets the room and jumps on the bed, the wheel chair scene, Philippe’s birthday party scene and Music, massage scenes etc. Even the background music of the whole movie is too good – the songs that play in the background are totally awesome.

The Children (2008) - Thriller

Another average time pass thriller – I will definitely not call it a horror for sure. I am too scared to watch horror movies alone and I keep trying at times to check my guts out by these small time movies and keep preparing myself for the upcoming scare fest. This is a good one time watch – a great time pass as the running time is hardly 80 minutes. Based on a Christmas vacation of two families gone horribly wrong – no explanations offered in the movie or even in the end as to what goes wrong – just a shocking scene in the end to make up your mind – what and why it all happened. But still it holds your interest till the very end – its predictable right from the very start yet makes it up for a decent watch and I indeed saw it all alone that too in one sitting in the dead of the night. Kids are cute as ever, chick is hot and even the parents are decent looking chaps. Movie has a lot of “Oh Shit” and “Jesus Christ” moment supported by good background score to thrill you. Take a look – who knows, you might enjoy it like I did.

The Movie: It starts like all the typical horror / thriller movies start on a very silent note. A family as we see joins another couple for a Christmas vacation with cute little kids and one teenage daughter. Right from the very start the kids start behaving strangely – initially the parents think that they are tired and are throwing tantrums but the audience has an idea that something is gone wrong seriously and is going to grow worse. It hits you quite fast before even you could realize the kids start killing, thrashing, slashing their own parents one by one. Kids start going to the woods nearby as something calls them inside and one by one almost all the adults get hit by one or the other accident. It isn’t a horror movie but a good thriller with nothing new to offer but the strange and unique way of how everyone gets killed. Even the ending is pretty shocking. It can definitely be a good one time watch for sure. Some scenes are really nicely done like in one where the first father of the kids dies while sliding down on a sledge ride. In another scene where the mother of a kid is trying to help him down from the child play area and ends up breaking her own leg is simply great to watch. How the teenage daughter realizes that there is something wrong with the kids and parents do not agree with her, how she gets screwed by both sides is simply mind-blowing. 

Maximum (2012) - Drama

Another disaster in the name of showing what goes between two corrupt cops when they want to score the “Maximum” number of encounters between them. There is some kind of undeclared competition going on in between these two – which goes on and on for a couple of years before they come to a conclusion which isn’t shocking to say the least rather expected. What shocked me is that Naseeruddin Shah agreed to do this movie – I guess the way this script would be narrated to him – would have made him interested and on top of it this was to be directed by Kabir Kaushik who gave us one of the damn good cop movies “Sehar” some seven years back. I read somewhere that Sonu Sood – who plays one of the cops – didn't charge him anything rather he sent the cheque back as he was too happy with the final product and went to an extent to call it “Best movie of my career and this should be the turning point of my life” – I guess with the final out come and as confusing / pointless movie – this isn’t taking him anywhere. Although as an actor – I like him anyways and have always maintained that he has potential but – one needs a good Director to do that – dunno where Kabir went wrong and made this messy movie. Btw this became the first Bollywood movie – for which I had to take help of Wikipedia actually – once I was done with the movie – I had to read what actually I saw and what the Director wanted to project. Give it a big miss – check it out if you like Sonu – for Naseer’s role – you will never forgive Kabir for making this disaster. 

Hottie Hazel in Item Song.

The Movie: It’s a cat and mouse game between two cops – killing the gangsters / criminals in Mumbai to score the maximum encounters and make their resume look better than one another. Movie falters big time as it bores you to death with almost nothing happening on screen – the only thing you see is ruthless killing of bad guys which doesn’t appeal to you after a certain time and you lose track who killed how many. The script is so confusing and at times you actually ask “Am I really seeing this?”. Sonu Sood considered this as the best work of his life and thought this is going to make a sea of change to his career which I seriously doubt. As it sank without a trace on box office and unfortunately barring a few critics who did like his role – buts too grim and serious than entertaining or preaching any kind of lesson to its audience. The less said the better about the support cast, Neha Dhupia as Sonu’s wife in a thankless role, two weeks from today – no one will remember who his wife in the movie was. The only thing that you may remember after the movie is hottie Hazel doing an item number which is already a good hit ‘Aa Ante Amlapuram”. What I was shocked to see is the same “Kancha Bar” again and again used for some or the other reason in the movie – I guess that’s the only legal dance bar of Mumbai suburbs which still operates. The whole action part is so pointless and has a been there done that feel to it. There is nothing that you haven’t seen at least in ten earlier movies. For a change Vinay Pathak is in a serious role as politician. It can’t even be called an average one time watch. I saw it because I consider myself Sonu Sood’s fan and I love Naseeruddin Shah big time – this one shocked me though with his role.

Give it a miss – if you haven’t seen it yet as it has nothing to offer you by any standard. Check out the item song on youtube – its too good to be missed.