Requiem for a Dream is perhaps the most brutally honest movie I have seen. It shows how drug addiction can ruin your life,and the depths people go to to get high one more time.
After I saw it my gut was feeling uneasy and my mind was dazed.The movie is near faultless.The 4 principals deliver the performances of their lifetime and Darren Aronofsky has declared that he is here to stay.
The Score is what echoed on and on in my head even as I was about to sleep..it is haunting ,melodious and ensures that the film stays with for longer than you want it to.The ironic thing is that these young protagonists are at an age where they can do anything they want with their lives. However,their entry into the world of drug addiction is not gone into...they start out as junkies willing to pawn even their mothers television for some cash.
Jared Leto is near perfect,as is Jennifer Connelly as the spoilt rich kid who is Leto's love interest.Marlon Wyans gives an amazing performance as Leto's friend and fellow junkie.But the movie belongs to Ellen Burstyn.As Leto's widowed mother with nothing to hold on to but the vague promise of appearing on a television programme,a person who is so obsessed with becoming thin so that she can wear the red dress she loves so much(which she also wore to her son's high school graduation) which doesn't seem to fit her anymore,and who falls prey to prescription amphetamines,she is amazing.Her harrowing transition to a lonely widow to a schizophrenic drug addict is perfect,and I think that for a performance like that she should have gotten the Oscar Award for Best Supporting Actress,which sadly she didn't.
I think everybody should see this movie once.It should also be part of the therapy for drug addicts who want to quit. Because this is one movie that has the potential to make them. It shows the world of bright young adults being transformed into a nightmare becasue they want to get high.The hazards of i.v drug use and the seedy world of prostitution is also delved into.But the love that Leto and Connelly share is demolished into a mere parasitic relationship where one is dependent on the other for money and drugs.
See it once even if you don't watch movies regularly.
Take Care.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
The Long Halloween
"The Long Halloween"-Batman in a gangster noir story.But it rocked all the same.Here is a relatively young Batman who is introduced to Harvey Dent for the first time,and it also shows some serial killer who likes to kill on National Holidays,hence him/her being christened "Holiday".
It also shows Batman to be naive,if that is at all possible-he keeps reminding himself of the promise he made his parents at their grave that he would rid Gotham of all evil,and from what you read,he actually thinks it can happen!
Far more attention worthy is the young D.A,idealistic to a fault,and deeply passionate about his convictions. The accident that threw him over the edge is more or less the same,but his pre accident psyche is not well described.In fact,it's not gone into at all.The Animated Series Batman showed Dent to have a volcanic temper and one who would snap at anybody if his threshold is broken(which is not all that much anyway).But in The Long Halloween,that aspect is not gone into at all,only the fact that he is almost as focussed as Batman in trying to stop the plague of crime and corruption.Maybe more.
Hopefully The Dark Knight will show Dent to have a bit of a temper before he becomes Two Face.The casting of Aaron Eckhart took me by surprise.What was even more surprising was that Ed Norton and Matt Damon were offered the role initially and they turned it down.
Norton is perhaps the most talented and gifted actor of his generation,but he isn't physically right for the part of Dent.But the intense personality and volcanic temper that I hope will be Dent's character profile is almost too easy for Norton to pull off.Which is why he chose to instead play the most volcanic character of the Marvel Universe-The Incredible Hulk!!
Damon I would have had grave misgivings about.Not that he's a bad actor or anything,you just can't see him playing a character like that.
My choice would have been Josh Lucas.He has the charisma that Dent exudes,and he can be quite mean as well,as he showed in The Hulk.Plus he can get quite angry too(The Hulk again).
Eckhart is a good actor.He single handedly made Thank You for Smoking a memorable film to watch.Hopefully the goody goody movies he has been in recently(No Reservations) will provide the contrast needed for The Dark Knight.And hopefully we see more of a Suspect Zero type perfprmance from him.
It also shows Batman to be naive,if that is at all possible-he keeps reminding himself of the promise he made his parents at their grave that he would rid Gotham of all evil,and from what you read,he actually thinks it can happen!
Far more attention worthy is the young D.A,idealistic to a fault,and deeply passionate about his convictions. The accident that threw him over the edge is more or less the same,but his pre accident psyche is not well described.In fact,it's not gone into at all.The Animated Series Batman showed Dent to have a volcanic temper and one who would snap at anybody if his threshold is broken(which is not all that much anyway).But in The Long Halloween,that aspect is not gone into at all,only the fact that he is almost as focussed as Batman in trying to stop the plague of crime and corruption.Maybe more.
Hopefully The Dark Knight will show Dent to have a bit of a temper before he becomes Two Face.The casting of Aaron Eckhart took me by surprise.What was even more surprising was that Ed Norton and Matt Damon were offered the role initially and they turned it down.
Norton is perhaps the most talented and gifted actor of his generation,but he isn't physically right for the part of Dent.But the intense personality and volcanic temper that I hope will be Dent's character profile is almost too easy for Norton to pull off.Which is why he chose to instead play the most volcanic character of the Marvel Universe-The Incredible Hulk!!
Damon I would have had grave misgivings about.Not that he's a bad actor or anything,you just can't see him playing a character like that.
My choice would have been Josh Lucas.He has the charisma that Dent exudes,and he can be quite mean as well,as he showed in The Hulk.Plus he can get quite angry too(The Hulk again).
Eckhart is a good actor.He single handedly made Thank You for Smoking a memorable film to watch.Hopefully the goody goody movies he has been in recently(No Reservations) will provide the contrast needed for The Dark Knight.And hopefully we see more of a Suspect Zero type perfprmance from him.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Don't answer the question!!
I had seen this movie called "Little Children" starring Kate Winslet that is a very accurate,albeit cliched look of the life of an educated,empowered young woman in Suburbia,and how the gossip and the attention to trivial detail is too suffocating for her open and broad mind.How does she deal with it? By having an affair.Of course,the stimulus was when she found her husband jerking off to lingerie(not her's).
It is a black comedy in that it shows how the bad choices we make are sometimes preceeded by moments of sheer hilarity.....which is a lot like real life.There are also other sub plots involving a child molester just out of prison,a gung-ho ex cop who is mentally unstable,for reasons unkown until the end,and a law student who still hasn't passed the bar exam with a son and a successful career wife,and how he doesn't really want to be a lawyer-the look in his face when he joins the skateboarding group shows that his interests perhaps lie elsewhere.
How many of us actually like what we do?
John Mayer is a genius.Quite simply put. I have been listening to "Room for Squares" again and it seems amazing.The lyrics are mature,even though they sing of love (and of one's body being a wonderland).The guitaring is top notch,even though it's not flashy and doesn't have amazingly fast speed metal solos!
I had recently quit my job in the search for greener pastures,and a psychiatry residency.Hope the risk pays off now. The hospital where I worked was top notch,with the finest doctors one could assemble under a single roof.Only thing was there wasn't a psych residency available,hence the decison to quit.
More later.
It is a black comedy in that it shows how the bad choices we make are sometimes preceeded by moments of sheer hilarity.....which is a lot like real life.There are also other sub plots involving a child molester just out of prison,a gung-ho ex cop who is mentally unstable,for reasons unkown until the end,and a law student who still hasn't passed the bar exam with a son and a successful career wife,and how he doesn't really want to be a lawyer-the look in his face when he joins the skateboarding group shows that his interests perhaps lie elsewhere.
How many of us actually like what we do?
John Mayer is a genius.Quite simply put. I have been listening to "Room for Squares" again and it seems amazing.The lyrics are mature,even though they sing of love (and of one's body being a wonderland).The guitaring is top notch,even though it's not flashy and doesn't have amazingly fast speed metal solos!
I had recently quit my job in the search for greener pastures,and a psychiatry residency.Hope the risk pays off now. The hospital where I worked was top notch,with the finest doctors one could assemble under a single roof.Only thing was there wasn't a psych residency available,hence the decison to quit.
More later.
Monday, October 8, 2007
I am writing these lines from a computer in the hospital where I work. I have to spend the night here today and hence decided to peruse the net post dinner. It is very often in the quiet after-5-pm hours of this hospital that you tend to be much calmer in thinking things out,as opposed to the mad rush of the out-patient hours.
A few points I would like to mention:
1)Your parents did the best they could. You will also screw up when you become a parent,but perhaps in ways that are diametrically opposite to how you got screwed by your own parents.But it will happen. The sacrifices they made for you,you will understand when you become one yourself.
2)Things are not as bad as how they seem.Unless you're a starving child in Africa,they're not.
3)Sometimes you can't help people screwing up.They may be your dear friends but they will do it anyway,even though you try hard to avert the potential disaster. Hell,whole countries make catastrophic blunders while the world watches in quiet amusement and pity.Look at the most powerful country in the world; it's citizens voted a president who has been singlehandedly responsible for bringing Armageddon closer. Plus,he's dumb.He can hardly read.He definately doesn't know English. Still,it happened and we couldn't do a single damn thing to stop it from happening.
4)Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler rule. Ditto Eddie Van Halen,Pearl Jam,Matchbox 20,Queen,REM,Tom Petty,Bob Dylan,Mr.Big and many more.People who let their work do the talking is who i'm talking about. Same for Gandhi,Syu-Kyi,A.P.J.Abdul Kalam,Manmohan Singh,Al Gore,Nelson Mandela and a few others.
5)Dogs are nice and they DO NOT KILL unless provoked.
6)Although we get the Government we deserve,the political crisis in Karnataka makes even the most absurdist ideas we had about Government seem like Nobel Prize winning material.Because things have become so dumb that the thermostat has to be reset and new definitions have to be formulated regarding the future use of that word,and in the context it can be used in.
7)Its ok to be neurotic.But its not ok to put on a falsely gung-ho appearence to hide the fact.
8)Before you decide to blame someone,ask yourself if you were also responsible for the misunderstanding. Most likely you would have been.
9)Don't listen to people who tell you that you can't do it.However,listen to people who tell you what your shortcomings are,provided they're honest and have nothing to gain from it.
10)There in nothing more peaceful than waking up in the morning as the sun rises and the birds are chirping. Try to keep that peace with you throughout the day in the helter-skelter of your daily life.
11)Smoking is bad.Period.And if you do it,don't be upset that you can't quit.It is THE most addictive substance in the world.If you do quit it,tell me how.Because i'm trying to quit it too but somehow can't get myself to do it.
12)There is always time to do the things we really want to.
13)Sleep less,eat less,drink lots of water,don't gorge on fast food, and walk 5 km a day to stay in shape.
14)Play an instrument.Even if what comes out is noise,do it anyway.
15)It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
16)Watch The Matrix,The Godfather, and The Shawshank Redemption at least two times each.You will learn how to dream,how to make a fucking amazing movie,and how to keep trying and never lose hope respectively.
17)Dancing stars and Glitzy musical numbers do not a fine movie make.
18)Laugh at something,even if its the jokes you crack in your own head.
19)Take pride in the fact that you're an Indian.Never believe yourself to be inferior to anybody....let's not be pushovers but quitely and assertively state that we are here to stay.
20)Give money to the poor. They need it a helluva lot more than we do.Ask yourself this question :"Is this person's need greater than mine?"
Phew!!Thats all I could think about at the moment.
Just to remind you all that The Dark Knight will hit theatres on July 18th,2008.And appearently Heath Ledger is bloody amazing.Can't wait!!
A few points I would like to mention:
1)Your parents did the best they could. You will also screw up when you become a parent,but perhaps in ways that are diametrically opposite to how you got screwed by your own parents.But it will happen. The sacrifices they made for you,you will understand when you become one yourself.
2)Things are not as bad as how they seem.Unless you're a starving child in Africa,they're not.
3)Sometimes you can't help people screwing up.They may be your dear friends but they will do it anyway,even though you try hard to avert the potential disaster. Hell,whole countries make catastrophic blunders while the world watches in quiet amusement and pity.Look at the most powerful country in the world; it's citizens voted a president who has been singlehandedly responsible for bringing Armageddon closer. Plus,he's dumb.He can hardly read.He definately doesn't know English. Still,it happened and we couldn't do a single damn thing to stop it from happening.
4)Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler rule. Ditto Eddie Van Halen,Pearl Jam,Matchbox 20,Queen,REM,Tom Petty,Bob Dylan,Mr.Big and many more.People who let their work do the talking is who i'm talking about. Same for Gandhi,Syu-Kyi,A.P.J.Abdul Kalam,Manmohan Singh,Al Gore,Nelson Mandela and a few others.
5)Dogs are nice and they DO NOT KILL unless provoked.
6)Although we get the Government we deserve,the political crisis in Karnataka makes even the most absurdist ideas we had about Government seem like Nobel Prize winning material.Because things have become so dumb that the thermostat has to be reset and new definitions have to be formulated regarding the future use of that word,and in the context it can be used in.
7)Its ok to be neurotic.But its not ok to put on a falsely gung-ho appearence to hide the fact.
8)Before you decide to blame someone,ask yourself if you were also responsible for the misunderstanding. Most likely you would have been.
9)Don't listen to people who tell you that you can't do it.However,listen to people who tell you what your shortcomings are,provided they're honest and have nothing to gain from it.
10)There in nothing more peaceful than waking up in the morning as the sun rises and the birds are chirping. Try to keep that peace with you throughout the day in the helter-skelter of your daily life.
11)Smoking is bad.Period.And if you do it,don't be upset that you can't quit.It is THE most addictive substance in the world.If you do quit it,tell me how.Because i'm trying to quit it too but somehow can't get myself to do it.
12)There is always time to do the things we really want to.
13)Sleep less,eat less,drink lots of water,don't gorge on fast food, and walk 5 km a day to stay in shape.
14)Play an instrument.Even if what comes out is noise,do it anyway.
15)It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
16)Watch The Matrix,The Godfather, and The Shawshank Redemption at least two times each.You will learn how to dream,how to make a fucking amazing movie,and how to keep trying and never lose hope respectively.
17)Dancing stars and Glitzy musical numbers do not a fine movie make.
18)Laugh at something,even if its the jokes you crack in your own head.
19)Take pride in the fact that you're an Indian.Never believe yourself to be inferior to anybody....let's not be pushovers but quitely and assertively state that we are here to stay.
20)Give money to the poor. They need it a helluva lot more than we do.Ask yourself this question :"Is this person's need greater than mine?"
Phew!!Thats all I could think about at the moment.
Just to remind you all that The Dark Knight will hit theatres on July 18th,2008.And appearently Heath Ledger is bloody amazing.Can't wait!!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Updates and confessions.
Recently I had realised that people(I,to be more honest) want the easy way out of everything. I am one of them. We(more suitably I) have had the vaccination of a previleged upbringing that makes us(me,actually) loathe to really endure times that are so shitty,so bad,that you hang in there just because you believe there is a light at the end of your tunnel.And unlike James Hetfield of Metallica,we should believe that it isn't just another freight train coming our way.
I guess that life has generally become so much more easier and convineant for us that we don't want to strech ourselves anymore.What if there is to be another Great Depression coming?How will we deal with it? Will we have the spiritual arsenal to cope?
Which is why I take inspiration in(NOT The Bible or The Bhagvad Gita) the Rocky series of movies,which depicts a 30 year old fighter(played to perfection by Sly Stallone) who fights in seedy clubs at night and works as a loan shark during the day. He isn't smart,but has a stout heart which helps him when he is challenged by the World Heavyweight Champion for the Heavyweight Title bout after the latter's original contender pulls out due to medical reasons. How a down and out 30 year old (whose locker is given to another,more promising boxer in the first half of the movie) trains with the help of his manager Mickey,and prepares himself for the biggest day of his life is depicted with the standard inspirational music and heavy sweat and training sequences that are now cliched. But it is in the fight in the end that your heart goes out to Rocky and you see that all it takes is the heart to hang in there and stay for a while longer in the ring, and give your best shot while trying to duck the opponents fist.
I always knew that Stallone was Rocky,but it was only recently that I discovered that he has written all the scripts of the franchise as well as directed 4 of them. Suddenly the mumbling muscleman became a man who has written a story to stand the test of time.At least in my eyes. What most people do not know is that Stallone himself had about a 100 dollars in his bank account when he wrote the script of the first Rocky movie with a family in tow. So it goes to show that miracles do happen if you work at it long enough.And provided you don't lose heart.
I personally struggle with pessimistic and occasionally fatalistic patterns of thinking and I hope to adopt a more positive,or at least realistic,attitude in the days to come.And I sincerely hope that all you guys do too.
Updates are hard to come buy owing to paucity of time. I suppose I too am slowly becoming more and more immersed in daily goings on that time to ponder is hard to find.(At least,its hard to find time to type my thoughts:-) )
Books....bought a whole lot of them but unfortunately haven't opened a single one. Looks like its going to be only academic books for the next 4 months,as the entrances are coming soon. Now its time to put into practice what I wrote in the paragraphs above:-) Cheeky!!!!
Please discount the whole aversion to pain-themed-first 2 paragraphs if you have streched yourself and achieved something you're proud of. Drop in an e mail to tell me your story. I'd love to hear it!!
Bye-Bye.
I guess that life has generally become so much more easier and convineant for us that we don't want to strech ourselves anymore.What if there is to be another Great Depression coming?How will we deal with it? Will we have the spiritual arsenal to cope?
Which is why I take inspiration in(NOT The Bible or The Bhagvad Gita) the Rocky series of movies,which depicts a 30 year old fighter(played to perfection by Sly Stallone) who fights in seedy clubs at night and works as a loan shark during the day. He isn't smart,but has a stout heart which helps him when he is challenged by the World Heavyweight Champion for the Heavyweight Title bout after the latter's original contender pulls out due to medical reasons. How a down and out 30 year old (whose locker is given to another,more promising boxer in the first half of the movie) trains with the help of his manager Mickey,and prepares himself for the biggest day of his life is depicted with the standard inspirational music and heavy sweat and training sequences that are now cliched. But it is in the fight in the end that your heart goes out to Rocky and you see that all it takes is the heart to hang in there and stay for a while longer in the ring, and give your best shot while trying to duck the opponents fist.
I always knew that Stallone was Rocky,but it was only recently that I discovered that he has written all the scripts of the franchise as well as directed 4 of them. Suddenly the mumbling muscleman became a man who has written a story to stand the test of time.At least in my eyes. What most people do not know is that Stallone himself had about a 100 dollars in his bank account when he wrote the script of the first Rocky movie with a family in tow. So it goes to show that miracles do happen if you work at it long enough.And provided you don't lose heart.
I personally struggle with pessimistic and occasionally fatalistic patterns of thinking and I hope to adopt a more positive,or at least realistic,attitude in the days to come.And I sincerely hope that all you guys do too.
Updates are hard to come buy owing to paucity of time. I suppose I too am slowly becoming more and more immersed in daily goings on that time to ponder is hard to find.(At least,its hard to find time to type my thoughts:-) )
Books....bought a whole lot of them but unfortunately haven't opened a single one. Looks like its going to be only academic books for the next 4 months,as the entrances are coming soon. Now its time to put into practice what I wrote in the paragraphs above:-) Cheeky!!!!
Please discount the whole aversion to pain-themed-first 2 paragraphs if you have streched yourself and achieved something you're proud of. Drop in an e mail to tell me your story. I'd love to hear it!!
Bye-Bye.
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