"How about watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?" a friend's mother suggested when I was about eleven.I giggled. "What a funny name! What is that?""You mean you haven't read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?" Eyes wide open in amazement.And that is how I came to watch the old BBC movie before I read the book. I was so taken with it that as soon as the movie got over and I went to 'play' in the evening, I told my sister and my bestest friend the whole story, bit by bit.Even now, when I reread the book, the impression of the movie was so powerful that I read Jadis's voice exactly like the movie I watched when I was eleven."How dare you come alone?" "Turkish Delight for my little prince?" "You... Fool...!"What a powerful movie! What a grand book! I've finished rereading The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Silver Chair, here I … [Read more...]
Kung Fu Panda 2
There's nothing like a happy movie to raise your spirits when you have a cold and feel like doing nothing. And Kung Fu Panda 2 was as delightful as the first!Inner peace. I like inner peace. … [Read more...]
The Children’s Hour
I picked up the DVD about nine years ago because I saw Audrey Hepburn's picture on the cover. I like Hepburn. I knew I would like the film.I did not know how much it would haunt me, though.The Children's Hour is one of those very few movies whose story I have retold time and time again. Watching it again a couple of days ago, I was as disturbed as I was the first time I watched it. I was moved to tears more than once. Emotion, passion, frustration, desire, love, fear - everything comes together in The Children's Hour.I knew what was going to happen and sobbed in anticipation. I saw what happened and something within me seemed to wither.It's not a film that should have a blurb because anything you say is either insufficient or too much.I would leave it at this - I had no idea that a black and white film made in the 60s could be so bold, powerful and disturbing. … [Read more...]
The Lion King
I belong to the generation that was addicted to The Lion King video game. I loved jumping on the giraffes' heads, and loved to get the bonus points for a golden lion that did not look like a lion at all. I loved moving from level to level of jumping colour.However, I also belonged to the very small group of children who had not watched the movie. I remember a friend telling me that he had reached the Elephant Graveyard, and it was a very difficult level. "What elephant graveyard?" I asked. He looked at me wide-eyed. "The one with the hyenas!" I did not admit that I had neither watched the movie nor reached that level.I finally watched the movie yesterday and learned a lot of things.One, Pumbaa is not a wild boar as I was led to believe. He is a warthog.Two, the jumping on giraffe's heads is part of a song.Three, the golden lion that does not look like a lion has a meaning … [Read more...]
How Green Was My Valley
I read the book when I was eleven or so. It was among the very few books that made me feel I was too young to tackle that kind of emotion. I remember thinking that I would be able to feel everything better when I was older and did not need to look up words like 'colliery' which found their way into every chapter of the book.I never did read the book again, but I did watch the movie.I wept right through it.Family love is unique. Brother and brother, father and son, mother and son. How Green Was My Valley explored the family bond to the core of its being. Humour, emotion, religion, marriage, hardship . . . all these come together in the green valley in ways that are incredible. The simplicity of the young widow's statement, "I'm lonely." . . . How could I not cry? And dear Mrs. Morgan is delightful, truly beyond compare, there's an old beauty, you are!Ah. And there is a glorious … [Read more...]
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Perhaps Peppy created "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper corn." Because Peppy, Mr. Popper's personal assistant, takes particular pleasure in paraphrasing paragraphs to produce passages that permit plentiful pronunciations of /p/.What a delightful movie!Why is it, though, that I cannot watch a movie with animals in it without wincing inwardly at the thought of how those animals were trained? While watching horror movies, I find it difficult to step back and think of the characters as actors. While watching movies with animals, I cannot involve myself enough to be swept away by the love and loyalty of the animals.Mr. Popper's Penguins taught me a valuable lesson about story-telling, though. A story does not need to be entirely believable. That's what imagination is about. I think the perfect story manages to unite simple joys and simple treasures with crazy situations that … [Read more...]
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
I watched the movie two months ago, but did not write about it out of - I can't find a better word - cowardice. The whole world seemed to like the movie. On Facebook, everyone who spoke about it seemed thrilled to bits.When I hinted at things I found revolting about the film, I received a mild eye-roll with unspoken and spoken questions like It's just a movie; why are you taking things so literally? and Why do you over-analyse entertainment so much?I was expected, apparently, to tuck my brains under the closest seat and be hugely entertained.Needless to say, I was not. A friend's agreement with my stand finally brings out my tirade.Why is it acceptable that Whats-his-name reads Whats-her-name's messages?Why does Whats-her-name merely blush, embarrassed and pleased, when Whats-his-name teases her about the messages?Why is it acceptable that Whats-his-name tells Whats-her-name's date that … [Read more...]
The Pursuit of Happyness
Yes, I know I ought to have watched this long ago. Yes, I know that practically everyone has already watched this. But it moved me to tears, and I cannot not write about it.The story of a struggle against all odds is always touching, but what truly moved me was love. When is it not?A child, five years old, willing to keep on going. A child whose biggest sorrow seems to come from losing a beloved toy. A child who wonders whether his mother left home because of him. A child who worships his father, and keeps on going even when he's tired.A father who is not perfect. He gets angry, even violent. But he does everything he can in pursuit of happiness. And in pursuit of happyness for a son who means everything to him. … [Read more...]