#BrokenHorses #EnglishHollywoofFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * *

#BrokenHorses #EnglishHollywoofFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * *

#PicksAndPiques/SnippetFilmReview 10thApril2015/#JohnsonThomas

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#PicksAndPiques/SnippetFilmReview10thApril2015/#JohnsonThomas

#EkPaheliLeela(Hindi) Rating: * * Sunny side up! The songs and #SunnyLeone are it’s USP. But the confused and misdirected narrative make it a pain to watch even for that!  #UniversalCommunications #ParagDesai #TSeries #PaperdollEntertainment #BhushanKumar #BobbyKhan #JayBhanushali #RajneeshDuggal #JasArora #MohitAhlawat

#RahulDev #SarojKhan #AhmedKhan #AmaalMallik.

 

#BarefootToGoa(Hindi) Rating: * * A well intentioned expose on abandonment of the ageing.. but based on  poor reasoning and constricted convictions. It’s a bud that doesn’t achieve full-bloom for it’s faulty characters and unclear motivations.  #ParullGossain #PraveenMorchhale

#KuldeepSingh #SonuChourasia #FarrukhJaffer #PrakharMorchhale #SaaraNahar #AjayChourey #PurvaParag

 

#DharamSankatMein( Hindi) Rating: * * OMG not another one!  There have been much better and more accomplished films on the hypocrisy that causes conflicts between religions. This one is too low brow, extremely contrived ,briefly humorous and has little to offer in terms of intelligent entertainment. #CrissCrossCommunications #RaindropMedia #FuwadKhan #PareshRawal #AnnuKapoor #NaseeruddinShah #Viacom18 #TrignomediaPvtLtd

 

#BrokenHorses(English) Rating: * * Too Indian in treatment to be true-blue Hollywood. Has all the obvious trappings of a westernised reconstruction of #VidhuVinodChopra’s cult hit ‘Parinda’ but minus the western sensibility. What it amounts to is overwrought, teary eyed men behaving like deranged misfits. Even the scale and scope of the production appears measly! Give me ‘Parinda’ any day. #VidhuVinodChopra #FoxStarFilms #HemanshuMestry  #AbhijatJoshi #JasonRichman #VincentDOnofrio #AntonYelchin #ChrisMarquette #MariaVelverde #SeanPatrickFlanery #ThomasJane

 

#ItFollows( English) Rating: * * * ½ This most recent cult-horror hit is by Far the most stylish, atmospheric, creative and highly effective scare fest- the creepiest we have seen in a long time. Go for it! #MaikaMonroe #KeirGilchrist #OliviaLuccardi #JakeWeary

#DavidRobertMitchell #NorthernLights #AnimalKingdom #TwoFlints #VisitFilms

 

#Home(English/Animation) Rating: * * *At its heart, “Home” is really just a kids movie, and for that purpose it works well. Colorful imagery, cute aliens that look like marshmallows, modern pop soundtrack and potty humor, make it a family entertainer of sorts. Adults won’t feel at ‘Home’ here though! #FoxStarFilms #HemanshuMestry  #ShrutiSundaram #JenniferLopez #JimParsons #MattJones #Rihanna #SteveMartin #TimJohnson #DreamWorks

English Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Lost in translation

Film:Broken Horses

Cast: Vincent D'Onofrio, Anton Yelchin, Chris Marquette, Maria Velverde, Sean Patrick Flanery, Thomas Jane

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Rating: * *

Runtime: 101 mins

 

Synopsis:

The bonds of brotherhood, the laws of loyalty, and the futility of violence in the shadows of the US Mexico border gang wars. A remake of  India's only film Moghul, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Parinda’ made keeping International requirements like time, elements and tone in mind with Chopra himself at the helm and assisted by Abhijat Joshi and Alan Richman in the script department.

 

Review:

Abhijat Joshi, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Alan Richman collaborate to pen the screenplay of this remake of ‘Parinda’ meant largely for an English speaking world audience. And despite the shifts in location and milieu, the basic story retains the melodramatic vein of the original but without the graphic depictions of over-the-top violence which was it’s leitmotif. Even the dialogues on affection, brotherhood and bonding seem a little too Indian in affect to be comfortable to westerners. In fact Abhijat’s and Chopra’s understanding of the Western landscape and sociology of it’s characters is very limited. The sensibilities on display here appear totally Indian in nature. The characters are all teary eyed misfits overt in their emotional exhibitionism and deranged attitudes.

The film is a melodrama that revolves around two brothers separated from each other ever since the younger borther Jacob Heckum (Yelchin) moves to New York where he is trying to scope out a career as a violinist. The older brother Buddy (Chris Marquette),  who appears to be dyslexic and criminally deranged following his father, the Sheriff’s murder by a gangster, stays behind in the cursed hometown near US-Mexican border which always remains volatile due to roaming gangs and their mutual conflicts. Julius Hench (D’Onofrio) fosters Buddy’s anger and desire for revenge in order to use him as a hit man. And of course the blood money took care of Jacob’s music lessons and life in New York. After 8 years,  Jacob returns to his hometown but his brother’s involvement in criminal activities gets him involved too, leading to a series of events that test his loyalty and love for Buddy and at the same time, he has to fight for his own survival.

Jakey  auditions for a philharmonic job and is all set to marry Vittoria (Maria Valverde). He is coming home after 8 years, persuaded by Buddy to see his surprise wedding present.Buddy though slow witted, has no problem being a killer. I really thought killers need fast reflexes. Well, in filmlore anything goes I guess. And that ridiculous surprise gift from Buddy is a miniature sized one white horse studded, lakeside ranch much better suited to a pre-teen. There are far too many elements that don’t really stand-up to close scrutiny. Absurdities abound aplenty. Jakey takes on the role of a faux journalist in order to score a hit on Julius’ nemesis, a politically ambitious gun runner Mario Garza (Jordi Caballero). And the next moment we find that Mario and Jakey are on the same side. There’s this scene thereafter where Julius is trying to sniff out the mole and it could have gone down the wire too but for some poor choices in technique. The Buddy and Jakey relationship appears cloying. One wonders how Buddy even let him go in the first place. Chopra adopts techniques from celebrated gangland movies to score big only to make the scene look ludicrous. The shot shifts from a mass hit to oranges being juiced- meant to be symbolic no doubt, but comes across as tasteless. The heightened melodrama doesn’t fit in well either. Chopra doesn’t stick with any consistent style for the film. here he is trying to marry eastern sensibilities with western chutzpah in a entirely western setting filled with western characters and it’s might as well have been a scene from another planet. That’s how confounding the entire drama-scape appears. Most of what transpires on screen appears implausible and unaffecting. Ideally one would have expected to feel empathetic towards Buddy’s plight but it just doesn’t happen here because Buddy appears to be a product of deeply flawed and poorly imagined character graphing. Buddy’s facial contortions in fact appear like he is aiming to rival Sridevi’s in her ‘Hawaa Hawaii’ number.

 

The biggest flaw of this movie is this choice of having entirely cunning and evil characters getting teary eyed and emotional at the drop of a hat.  A very Bollywoodian trait that sticks out sorely in a wannabe Hollywood product. The fluctuating tone from crime drama, melodrama and bulbous sibling bonding story, makes the experience inconsistent to say the least. One would have wanted to cheer an Indian filmmaker’s first salvo at making it into mainstream Hollywood. unfortunately, this one’s not the one to put your money on!

johnsont307@gmail.com