Monthly Archives: November 2023

Film Reviews

TV Review: All the Light We Cannot See (2023)

STORY

During the final phase of the great war, when the French wait for the American troops to defeat the Nazis, a blind French girl waits for her father to return from his mission.

INTRODUCTION

‘All The Light We Cannot See‘ is a Netflix limited series consisting of four episodes. The series is based on Anthony Doerr‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The story is set in a time when the Nazis invaded France and the only optimism that was left against those evils were the French resistance.

The show is centered around two teenagers. One is this blind French girl Marie-Laure LeBlanc who along with her father Daniel and her great-uncle Etienne are part of that resistance.

The other teenager is a German boy Werner Pfennig. An orphan who has an exceptional skill for repairing radios and helps him admit in a military school that turns him into a Nazi soldier.

IMPRESSIONS

The reason for watching this show are many. One reason is that this teleplay is developed by Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders. The whole series is directed by Shawn Levy, one of the makers of ‘Stranger Things‘. And personally the world war themed projects have been very compelling for my consideration. Plus Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie are in the supporting roles, and they are very choosy in their careers.

THE NEWCOMER

And then this beautiful girl who plays the blind French girl was the light of the show that we all can see. The bts about this actress Aria Mia Loberti is that she was one of the thousands who had auditioned for this role and she was selected in the first try. The most interesting point about Aria playing a blind French girl is that she in real life has a rare genetic condition called ‘Achromatopsia‘ that makes her legally blind.

Although the performance of a blind by a blind can be a piece of cake but that is certainly not the case. If acting was so simple and easy, would have never been considered to be taught or act as a profession. Not only did she fit in the character but the sentimental and psychological aspects in the anatomy of the character were sublime. Aria is an extraordinary addition in this line of work and I would like to see her acting in future projects if there are.

Those of you who are Bollywood buff like me, can you agree with me that Aria Mia Loberti has an uncanny resemblance with actress Mithila Palkar?

THE HARDEST REMINDER

‘All The Light We Cannot See’ is a fictional tale of relations that are tested with time fighting against the injustice and struggling to create a society of resistance that stands for their land against the invaders. That reminds me of something very similar to what is exactly happening in Gaza. I am not dragging the matter but this show has been released at the most perfect time to make all the Netflixters assume how and why the resistance becomes necessary.

When you are stripped of every known human right and are targeted to be beaten, bombed, and killed for demanding what is your’s, a series like ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ helps you to realize and come out of denial. So this series, with all its loyalty with the book’s plot line, is a blessing to correct your observation about a situation.

RELATIONSHIP DETAILING

I liked the detailing of Marie’s relation with her father and then great-uncle that presses on the finity of the time that is passing without alarming them when their world is going to be collapsed. It is very natural depiction about how Marie and Etienne find common grounds, and Etienne’s insecurity melts by her encouragement. It was so touching when father Daniel tells the Nazi that his daughter’s blindness is not a misfortune but a blessing.

Another reason why I rate Marie’s character highly is because of the character detailing about her intelligence that naturally comes from blindness. Her reading the book, sense of touching, and listening the objects were well covered.

The sibling-hood of Werner and his sister were also carefully written with so much emotions involved. It was so touching when she listens to her brother on the radio.

MINUSES

Without a doubt, the series is impressive overall. But I have some issues to address about the show that I didn’t find it right at all.

The one is that I sense that four episodes were not enough to wrap up the story. Only the readers of that novel can better judge my opinion. I haven’t read the novel but I found out that the novel has over 500 pages. So I reckon four episodes certainly are ignoring a lot of details from the book. And it looks very clear when you are in the middle of the third episode until the end of the show. The development in the continuity looks dragged. Steven Knight must have offered at least 6 episodes if not 8.

The other issue is the most annoying one. The entertainment industry has become a global village more than ever. With so much diversity and cultural exchange involved, it is time to embrace that the character of a particular nationality should speak their language to maintain commonsense and realism. Because it was bizarre to see all the non-American/non-British characters were speaking English. Marie, Daniel, and Etienne are a French family and to my utter shock, they neither sound French nor they pronounce the English vocabulary in French. It is completely okay if a non-French plays a French, this is where the performance is tested. But why are you not acting in French?

CLOSING REMARKS

Besides, the technical aspects are likeable. I must praise such compelling production design that made us love this place called Saint-Malo. Editing the screenplay becomes more challenging when the project is presented in a nonlinear narrative. And with countless reminders of the past blended with the present, I say it was superb effort in editing. The ending part was pretty predictable and quite typical.

‘All The Light We Cannot See’ is a massive win for Aria Mia Loberti and an unintentional political message that holds distinction. The show looks visually attractive that covers the unwanted mediocrity. With stereotypical portrayal of Nazis and not much favor done by the writing, I feel the show, despite being in the faithful hands, could have been executed much better.

RATING 6/10

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND WATCH MY TV REVIEW HERE

FOLLOW ‘THE DARK KNAIK’ ON OTHER SOCIAL PLATFORMS

LETTERBOXD https://letterboxd.com/TheDarkKnaik/

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/thedarkknaik
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/thedarkknaik/

TIKTOK

@thedarkknaik

TWITTER

Film Reviews

TV Review: The Railway Men (2023)

STORY

Four people from different walks of life are tested by time to protect countless lives from a deadly gas that is leaked from an old factory in Bhopal. The consequences are unforgettable, historically black, and immensely poisonous.

INTRODUCTION

The Railway Men is a tale of extraordinary heroism in the line of saving as many people as possible in what is considered to be the worst nightmare and the biggest industrial disaster ever. In December 1984, a chemical accident occurred in an old factory of Union Carbide when a highly toxic gas called ‘Methyl isocyanate‘ leaked and exposed to more than 500,000 people and took lives of more than 15000.

The Railway Men is a 4-episode limited series by Netflix starring Kay Kay Menon, R. Madhavan, Divyenndu, and Babil Khan in the lead.

REVIEW

The dark aesthetics of the series is built around the citywide havoc that was unbearable enough to make me feel if my lungs were compromised. A marvelous direction of a haunting sketch of people getting killed by the smell of gas in their coughs and vomits. The application of realism was so accurate that even I on my bed began to cough. Later I realized that I was coughing because of this extremely bad situation of smog in Lahore.

The seriousness of execution lies in the director handling the shots where the realism of the performances generally matters. You must dive in the wave of the story proceeding to sense the chill of something unwelcoming in the air. The show’s intensity starts haunting the moment the gas leaks. Observe when the characters after the gas leak feel discomfort in communicating and make minor rounds of cough. Or when the animals began to cry particularly when Mushtaq Khan‘s character goes for a wee. The horse running away from the wedding and a couple of bullocks driving their cart. In a single waiting room of the railway station of dozens of passengers, every extra was acting his own sense of panic that visibly set a natural tone of responding to the devastation.

And then the smallest of detailing that essentially matters in such historical dramas to give a more drastic look at the magnitude of tragedy. A desperate mother of a bride, young cobbling brothers, a team of swimming girls. How heartbreaking it was to watch at a newly born sucking the breast of a dead mother. And then the young boy had to leave his dead brother behind. You get a taste of all stories of common people about to get affected by the stench.

There were some eye-catching scenes of heroism like the scared swimmer mustering up her courage to run towards the train but stopping at another cry from the back. And then the gunshot of a race in the back making her run. It was so well shot. And Imad switching the rail track, Jagmohan taking quick pictures in the hospital, Kamruddin getting a hold on the gas leak that takes his life. These scenes collectively represent some extraordinary heroics of that tragic night that came out of mutual respect and solidarity in the wake of the hour.

PERFORMANCES

Madhavan and Divyenndu did their part fair as they have been experienced by the viewers but the two whose acting separates the train boxes of all performances are Kay Kay Menon and Babil Khan. Known for his method acting, Kay Kay hardly disappoints but this was a thorough mental and physical effort tested in the heaviest of all primes. I hope his lungs are not affected after this performance as he is the one who coughed more than anyone. And it is not comfortable exhausting your respiratory system in God knows how many takes each and every shot. It is very interesting that Kay Kay has now worked in two films based on Bhopal Disaster. The other was 1999 film ‘Bhopal Express‘.

I wasn’t impressed with Babil in Qala as there was not much he gave in the character. But here, this boy has really learnt the application of body language. The sentimental collapse and the lump in his throat that repeatedly was breaking over disaster after disaster was fabulous. This star kid is up to something big if he choose his projects that wisely in the future but surely most of us can see some glimpse of his father’s acting in him.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY

A very important contribution of the investigative journalist cannot be ignored. Sunny Hinduja’s character is actually based on Rajkumar Keswani who was raising the health safety concern about that plant for two years and warned of something terrible might occur.

One of the stories that ran parallel throughout the series was of a Sikh mother and son tries to escape from the fanatics by moving into a train. Although, the anti-Sikh riots occurred before the Bhopal disaster and maybe there is inaccuracy in order to fold the Sikh chapter into this. But I have no knowledge if the Sikhs faced cruelty nearly two months after the riots.

The character of Express Dacoit is truly fictional and perhaps created for the general audience to be more attentive of fan-favorite Divyenndu seen in a change-of-heart savior figure. One of the few minuses of the series is how did the dacoit refilled such an enormous amount of money back in the vault?

Kay Kay Menon’s character of the stationmaster who saved many lives that night is based on the actual event where a stationmaster Ghulam Dastagir immediately alerted nearby stations and asked to suspend railway traffic to Bhopal. I am not sure if all these railway junction scenes are accurate but with the heroism of Ghulam Dastagir, there is a certainty that some of those scenes may actually have happened.

The American CEO of the Union Carbide mentions C. S. Tyson report and gets angry. What was that report? Two years before the disaster, C. S. Tyson a Union Carbide inspector forwarded his disapproval about the safety issues of the plant.

CLOSING REMARKS

The Railway Men, due to similar plotline, gives me genuine Chernobyl vibes. Also, the series reminds me of ‘The Burning Train’. The show has done a fabulous job in direction, cinematography, editing, production design, and collective effort of performances. A special praise for such detailed and thoughtful cinematography. That scene of final rites of Muslims and Hindus was such a terrific shot. The series was slipping in the second half by the slightest of margin when the ending phase began to look predictable.

The Railway Men successfully showed the environmental and social impact of the disaster. The storyline is supported by real footage and pictures. With most of the ticks on the report of excellence, I am convinced The Railway Men is one of the best Indian limited series ever produced.

RATING 8.8/10

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND WATCH MY TV REVIEW HERE

FOLLOW ‘THE DARK KNAIK’ ON OTHER SOCIAL PLATFORMS

LETTERBOXD https://letterboxd.com/TheDarkKnaik/

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/thedarkknaik
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/thedarkknaik/

TIKTOK

@thedarkknaik

TWITTER

Film Reviews

Film Review: Salaam Venky (2022)

STORY

Sujata is a single mother and her son Venky was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) as a child. Sick of his condition and feeling a burden on his mother for carrying him his whole life, he decides to euthanize to facilitate organ donation.

INTRODUCTION

Salaam Venky is based on the true story of Kolavennu Venkatesh who suffered from DMD and passed away in 2004 when he was 25. He was a film buff and a chess player. To depict the right story on the camera, the film based its source from a book ‘The Last Hurrah’ by Shrikant Murthy.

REVIEW

A film directed by Revathi. An impressive and talented cast led by Kajol and Vishal Jethwa. Mithoon‘s music and a film that is not only based on a true story but even based on a book. What can go wrong? Execution!!

If you want to waste a film that has a potential story, learn the art from director Revathi. It is a simple story as described above and is stretched to 136 minutes. The biggest drawback of the film is the boring melodramatic first half that led to nowhere at all. Nothing was developing from the given scenario. The screen time was constantly running on slicing Venky’s relation with people close to him and his frustrated mother not agreeing on his wish. Again, that took the entire first half.

The film literally begun to talk in the second half. The new characters were immediately introduced. The screenplay eventually approached movement and got pacy. And I felt if Revathi regretted the first half and desperately made changes just like a football coach.

Then the news media portrayal looked so artificial. There was no hard way of journalism to squeeze the debate of euthanizing. And a very off courtroom drama. As much as the plea to euthanize made rounds 20 years ago, there wasn’t much spark to offer.

Such an intense sequence of Venky’s father Karunesh was shot for hardly three minutes. This character and the legal proceedings could have easily covered a lot of screen time in the first half if the film could have shortened its length for being melodramatic. Salaam Venky, for me, was around 40 minutes long.

Kajol had nothing particular to offer, we have observed her with such performance before. It is Vishal Jethwa whose body language and facial translation for diagnosis were impressive. Aamir Khan as the ghost character stood enclosed only for Sujata. Who was he? It was cleared in the first meeting with Sujata. But with Karunesh showing disapproval in the flashback gave the viewers a precise theory. My understanding is that Aamir’s character and Sujata had an affair, unsure if Sujata was married to Karunesh. But Aamir is Venky’s father and Karunesh got to know that and quitted on them.

CLOSING REMARKS

Salaam Venky fails to execute a potential story that lacks writing and leans on more melodrama.

RATING 3.5/10

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND WATCH MY FILM REVIEW HERE

FOLLOW ‘THE DARK KNAIK’ ON OTHER SOCIAL PLATFORMS

TIKTOK  https://www.tiktok.com/@thedarkknaik
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/thedarkknaik
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/thedarkknaik/

LETTERBOXD https://letterboxd.com/TheDarkKnaik/

TWITTER

Film Reviews

Film Review: An Action Hero (2022)

STORY

After annoying a strongman Vicky during the film shooting, the popular action film star Maanav accidentally kills him when he chases Maanav. In fear of getting caught, Maanav runs away to his home in the UK but he is unaware that Vicky’s brother Bhoora is coming to take revenge.

REVIEW

The plot line indicates that I was up for a cat-and-mouse chase and a survival action thriller. An interesting idea was pitched for a typical Ayushmann Khurrana pandemic. The first 50 minutes were the best part of the film. But the entire comical setup of a thoughtful plot devalued after that, because Maanav faces off Bhoora too early.

My opinion about the continuity of such plot is that “An Action Hero” must have been written in a way that Bhoora would make efforts searching for his head and Maanav running from him and the local police throughout the film. That would have built the intensity and their eventual face-off had captivated more interest and undivided attention. But since the writer decided to let Bhoora meet Maanav too early in the film, the question mark over Maanav’s survival become vital. Instead of killing off the character, knowing the fact naturally how furious a brother will be for the deceased, Bhoora comes to his face and wishes to go no-holds-barred. Brother, you came all over from India to Portsmouth just to fight and then kill him? Of course, it is unrealistic and the main purpose of the plot gets killed before Maanav due to such premature encounter.

There is no doubt that the action choreography, besides a couple of scenes, were above-average because Maanav is action master so performing stunts and fighting against all odds was natural. But in a given scenario, I felt it was pretty unnatural for a film star to go Die-Hard or Mission Impossible against firing bullets and going one-on-one against the trained fighters of crime.

The film’s hype is centered around two extremely different actors in Ayushmann Khurrana and Jaideep Ahlawat. But due to bad screenplay and execution, and much effort put on a comedy unsuccessfully transforming into a black comedy, Maanav-Bhoora chemistry fell flat. With an introduction of a don in the second half that made Maanav and Bhoora became tag-team, the film completely slipped from its purpose and went far from logic and reality.

CLOSING REMARKS

Some of you may criticize me finding logic in a mainstream Bollywood film. But try to understand my point. In 2015, a similar story in this very industry blended with realism and black comedy ran a full life circle due to excellent execution. And that was Badlapur. I do not demand for another Badlapur. I opine that the quality of writing a screenplay and a fitting execution could have done justice with the plot. Sadly, that is not the case.

RATING 2/10

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND WATCH MY FILM REVIEW HERE

FOLLOW ‘THE DARK KNAIK’ ON OTHER SOCIAL PLATFORMS

TIKTOK  https://www.tiktok.com/@thedarkknaik
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/thedarkknaik
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/thedarkknaik/

LETTERBOXD https://letterboxd.com/TheDarkKnaik/

TWITTER

Film Reviews

Film Review: RK/RKay (2022)

STORY & INTRODUCTION

Bollywood is predictable for the general audience but is mysterious too if the seekers looking for a different experience get a shot on a not-so-well-known project.

Ever heard of RK/Rkay? Yes, this is a Bollywood film that was released in India last year (2022). And no, it is not some C-grade film with first-audition actors shooting on low-scale camera work. The actors in this film are Rajat Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Ranvir Shorey, Kubbra Sait, and Manu Rishi Chadda. My interest in this film developed when I found out that Rajat Kapoor directed the film. And I like his directional style and natural timing in black comedy. Even the stories of his films are quite divergent.

In RK/Rkay, the director RK with his crew completes a film. But while editing the film for the final cut, the leading character Mahboob Alam disappears throughout the recording of the film. Mahboob Alam is roped in real life and RK tries to convince his creation for the reshoots.

REVIEW

I have no knowledge if this plot is copied from somewhere because if this is the original work, what a spectacular idea this is! We get to view real and fiction in the same frame like hardly ever before.

The first half sets the dynamics of the plot. A kind of world is amazed to us where real humans can look at the existence of fictional characters, communicate and argue with them. The second half unfortunately bores me and things do not pace up towards the conclusion. The reason is that Rajat Kapoor was able to surprise us with the plot in the first hour but the follow up and the business end of the script couldn’t maintain the same tone. Your mood will feel more off in the continuity. The story in the second half was not at all growing or moving anywhere for some time.

But generally speaking and summing up about the film, one can make a lot of theories from RK/Rkay. One can take Mahboob Alam in the film as a metaphor or RK in state of imagination. Perhaps, the whole story was a made-up to assume if Mahboob Alam was RK himself who actually was in love with the character of Gulabo. If you notice, RK’s wife Seema inquires why he wants to make this film. She also doesn’t take much interest in the film but is sympathetic with Mahboob Alam.

The screenwriter says to RK in the editing room that he shouldn’t have acted in the film. This further presses why RK was firm to play the lead in his own direction. He often was depicted being in conversation with Gulabo in the film clips. Why did he choose the Gulabo actress Neha over other candidates in the audition who were better than her. Neha was so dumb that she didn’t even sense if she has to utter Mahboob once or twice. Was Neha’s individuality the one that resembled the love of RK’s life?

The film has a lot of artistic appeal and thoughtful creativity. I liked that opening sequence of various Mahboob Alams entering and leaving most of the doors in a colorful shot giving a noir feeling. I observed that Mahboob Alam in most of the scenes was enlightened. Perhaps, this was a reflection of hope towards RK or maybe he was dramatized as an angel or a spirit. Mahboob Alam had everyone’s attention and was naturally keeping happy besides RK himself. One of Seema’s friend in the party admits to her that this Mahboob is way better than the one she has. So this further presses that RK was a sad husband whose wife Seema was actually not his Gulabo but someone in the past or maybe in his utopia. So he gave birth to his imagination who could openly express his love for Gulabo. But gets frustrated when his creation enters his home and wins everyone.

CLOSING REMARKS

The technical aspects were excellent. The film definitely had upper hand in both costume and production designing. Although the screenplay got weak in the second half but the dialogues were natural and thoughtful especially Mahboob’s part of writing was contemplative. The performances were all average, I don’t think that was taken seriously. Only Rajat himself did a fair job. I must include how charming and beautiful Mallika Sherawat looks in the film. And she is 46!

RK/Rkay is a thoughtful film with a lot of philosophy, wit, and humor involved. Had the second half equated the first, would have been one of the best films from 2022.

RATING 6/10

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND WATCH MY FILM REVIEW HERE

FOLLOW ‘THE DARK KNAIK’ ON OTHER SOCIAL PLATFORMS

TIKTOK  https://www.tiktok.com/@thedarkknaik
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/thedarkknaik
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/thedarkknaik/

LETTERBOXD https://letterboxd.com/TheDarkKnaik/

TWITTER