#MargaritaWithAStraw #HindiEnglishBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * * *
#MargaritaWithAStraw #HindiEnglishBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * * *
#PicksAndPiques/SnippetFilmReview 17thApril2015/#JohnsonThomas
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#PicksAndPiques/SnippetFilmReview17thApril2015/#JohnsonThomas
#MrX (Hindi) Rating: * * plying the #MrIndia trick but without any thrills or excitement. Quite a bizarre mix of intrigue, romance and puckered investigation. #VikramBhatt #MukeshBhatt #EmraanHashmi #VisheshFilms #FoxStarFilms #AmryaDastur #ArunodaySingh #HemanshuMestry
#Best #Court(Marathi/Hindi/Gujrati/English) Rating: * * * * Topical contentious issues woven into a simple yet stirring narrative framed by punctuating irony. Excellent gritty realistic performances and sterling direction makes you sit up and take notice. #ChaitanyaTamhane and #VivekGomber are guys to watch out for...Get Courting fast! #ParullGossain #ChaitanyaTamhane #VivekGomber #RamKondilkar
#Best #MargaritaWithAStraw( Hindi/English) Rating: * * * It’s got a one point agenda –to humanize the differently abled( most specifically those affected by cerebral palsy). With not much of a story to tell, the film does it by showing the central character indulging in sexual acts. Despite the implausibility and disbelief that evokes there’s more than ample moments to affect and involve you. Performances are the key here. #SpicePR #ShonaliBose #NileshManiyar #KalkiKoechlin #SayaniGupta #Revathy #Viacom18 #Lakhotia #IshanTalkies
#NanakShahFakir(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ Pious and respectful of GuruNanakji’s preachings, this biopic on one of the pre-eminent Gurus of the Sikh faith, has the production values, orchestral score,scale and dimensions to be epical but the lethargic and compromised treatment doesn’t allow for any great involvement. #RenukaGuptaPR #GurbaniMediaPvtLtd #AAFilmsNationwide
#NH8RoadToNidhivan(Hindi) Rating: * ½ Using a found footage template , the wrong way, this horror flick is shaky, dark(minimal lighting), implausible and incoherent. Repetitive dialogues and hyperventilating performances don’t lend any grip either. #WhiteLion #RomanaRaz #MunindraGupta #MGFilms #GarageProductions #NiharikaJha
#EkAdbhutDakshinaGurudakshina(Hindi) Rating: * * A meandering social drama pitting love & betrayal against duty, this one prolongs the agony through unnecessary subplots and silly dialogues. #HimanshuJhunjhunwala #DwaparPromoters #MoonwalkProductions #GirishKarnad #RupaGanguly #RajeevPillai #SulagnaPanigrahi #RajeshShrinagarpure #AayushPhadnis #EshaanPhadnis
#TheWaterDiviner(English) Rating: * * ½ A fantasy woven around the #WorldWarI #BattleForGalipoli, this film flashes back and forth from past to present in a time fudge that leaves you largely unsettled and disinterested. Well intentioned but laborious! #HardlyAnonymous #RusselCrowe #OlgaKurylenko #YilmazErdogan #CemYilmaz #JaiCourtney #RyanCorr #BenOToole #JamesFraser
Hindi Film review
Johnson Thomas
Poignant but not entirely cinematic
Film: Margarita With A Straw
Director: Shonali Bose Nilesh Maniyar
Rating: ** *
Shonali Bose of ‘Ammu’ fame chooses to grapple with sexuality of the differently-abled , more precisely that of those afflicted by cerebral palsy. To bring that to the fore she takes us into an intimate treasury of moments from the life of a rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy who gets a short-term scholarship to study in New York, thus embarking on a thrilling journey of sexual discovery and love.
Laila(Kalki Koechlin), afflicted by cerebral palsy, is wheelchair bound and does not have the ability to voice her thoughts clearly and succinctly yet she manages to pen songs that wins her college a premier prize in an hard-fought competition. But Laila’s victory is belittled by the announcer who claims that the prize was actually granted as a consolation to her disability.
A terribly hurt Laila refuses to go back to school and instead sets off to the USA with her ever supportive Mother(Revathy). Once there, she bumps into a blind and able Khannum(Sayani Gupta) whom she promptly falls in love with. Khannum and Laila live together but Laila who is yet unsure of her sexuality is unafraid of further exploration on that front. A handsome fellow student(Samuel). appointed by her college professor , as her course guide, becomes prime fodder for that exploration.
The film has some stirring moments of emotion brought on by tragedy , love and betrayal but despite this seems a trifle incomplete. There’s not much of a story to tell and very little in the nature of plot. The music by Andrew McCleary is peppy and uplifting. Kalki invests Laila with stubborn pride and hurt emotions –all conveyed through facial expressions and eyes. It’s a performance that seeks empathy based on stirring willfulness of the character rather than sympathy for her disability. In fact, in most of the scenes featuring Kalki emoting , the focus is largely on her face and eyes – as though telling us that there is much more to a disabled person than mere motor dysfunction. The coming-of-age elements are a bit formulaic no doubt but the lack of overt sentimentality in the depiction and the evocative performances make the experience richer. Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar manage to put-together a series of evolved moments that educate and inform. The personal inputs from Shonali’s sister’s struggle makes the effort much more poignant and elevating. Unfortunately the overall effort stops short of being completely cinematic.
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