Vicky Cristina Barcelona : A film By Woody Allen

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a film by director Woody Allen whom I have started to admire a lot off late for his extra ordinary work of art. This film is about Vicky (Rebecca Hall) Cristina (Scarlett Johansson)and how they spend their summer in the beautiful city of Barcelona. Going by the trend in Woody Allen's last four films this movie too has been shot outside America in the wonderful locales of Avilés, Barcelona, and Oviedo. The plot centres around Vicky and Cristina who have two very different approaches to love. Vicky is more traditional and is engaged to be married. Cristina on the other hand is on a path of self destruction and in her own words "she doesnt know what she wants but she definately knows what she doesnt want in her life".

Both women get attracted to a painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who is attracted to both of them while still enamored of his mentally and emotionally unstable ex-wife María Elena played by Penélope Cruz.Vicky and Cristina end their summer vacation in Barcelona where they began and life does a full circle. The story revolves around these four characters and talks largely about love and relationships tied togather in a very intriguing manner.
At the end of the movie the viewer is suffused with gloom and desperation. There is high amount of ambiguity about the movie but there is Woody Allen style method to the madness. Every scene is visually beautiful, every word spoken by each character has deep meaning to it and more importantly the movie goes at a very relaxed pace which makes the movie an excellent choice for leisure viewing. Woody Allen has redefined romance and relationships(in good way or bad is anybody's guess) and as is the case with every great movie it makes you think and think deeper.

I must mention one more important point here, I really fell in love with the performances of all the actors in the movie and I would like to mention about two actors in particular. One for sure is Penélope Cruz who is par excellence in her role of an emotionally unstable wife of a painter. She has done an incredible job and her confidence in herself is impeccable. She has matured as an actor and has compensated her difficulties with speaking English with her acting.

The other performance I enjoyed thoroughly was Juan Antonio played by Javier Barder. This hunk is super cool and a best fit for the role. He has got that charisma and panache about him which is the high point of the movie. What's it with these Spanish actors?? I instantaneously fall prey to their twisted accents and their over the top mannerisms. Its a must watch for everybody and its now one of my favourite movies of all time.

My Zinc Bed

This is a TV drama (BBC and HBO combine) directed by Anthony Page is an adaptation of stage play by David Hare (Oscar nominee for The Reader and The Hours) by the same name. Its about a recovering alcoholic Paul Peplow (Paddy Considine) who is a poet and a journalist. He interviews a wealthy business man Victor Quinn (Jonathan Pryce) who has obsession for addicts. Eventually Paul meets Victor's wife Elsa (Uma Thurman) who is also a recovering alcoholic and finds out aboutVictor's obsession. He also falls in love with Elsa and things get complicated. The subject is very complicated considering its a story of addiction of the addicted????...sounds weird. What on Earth is this film about? For all its florid language, which dances prettily about topics like addiction, capitalism, and marriage, it has nothing of value to say. About the dialogues-the dialogues are so very elaborate and how on earth did the writer assemble so many words to express so little. Take this for an example in the opening scene Paul says in a voice over “Joseph Conrad says that inside every heart there burns a desire to set down once and for all a true record of what has happened". Who on earth speaks like this his, on his style of speaking some writer said he would announce going to bathroom as “Be not a slave to your own bladder. Plunge into the sublime toilet bowl!” The feel of the movie is British and mostly shot in various places in London. The movie is such a sucker (See Im using my brevity to the best hope the writer has the slightest of idea) I was lucky enough it lasted just 69 minutes. I am generally the one for eccentric movies but this one way above me. I hope you know what to do when you find a DVD of the movie...jus throw it in your garbage can. I must comment one thing though, stage drama is different and movies are different. You can adapt plays into movies but not copy paste it.

Khuda Kay Liye-In the Name of God

Khuda Kay Liye (In the name of God) is a Pakistani Urdu Language movie written directed and produced by Shoaib Mansoor. The movie stars Shaan, Imaan Ali and Fawad Khan(I didnt know them before this movie aswell). Although I didn't expect much out of the movie while renting the DVD I was surprised to my hearts content when I actually saw the movie. The movie revolves around three pivotal characters Mansoor(Shaan), Sharman(Fawad) and Mariam(Imaan Ali). Mansoor and Sharman are brothers who are musicians in Lahore, let me put it this way the best in Lahore. Sharman gets influenced by an Islamic activist and grows beard, and goes against music as an extremist interpretation of Islam. Meanwhile Mansoor goes to music school in Chicago to enrich musical journey.

On the sidetracks goes on the story of Mariam. She is a westernized girl living in London in love with a white person called Dave. Mariam's hypocritic dad doesnt approve of the marriage but foxes her to come with him to Pakistan once after which she could get married to Dave which ofcourse is a trap. After going to Pakistan Mariam is forcibly married to Sharman who is also her cousin. Sharman does the heinous act in the name of Islam and she is abandoned in a small village in Afghanistan. She tries to run away but in vain and is forcibly consummated.

Meanwhile Mansoor marries his classmate in the music school in Chicago Janie in whom he finds love of his life. Suddenly there is a turn of events after 9/11 as the FBI arrests Mansoor when someone overhears a drunk man accusing Mansoor of being a terrorist. He is tortured as he is a muslim and a probable suspect of the terror attacks.

Mariam who is in Afghanistan still, doesnt loose hope and slips in a letter to Dave telling him about her whereabouts where she is rescued by Dave by using the help of British Government. Mariam gets vindictive and vows to take her revenge on Sharman and his father and drags them to court where a wise Maulana (Naserrudin Shah) explains to the court how Islam is being butchered in the name of war and hatred, bringing the religion forward in a believable and peaceful manner. Sarman traumatised by all this and withdraws from the case and Mariam is set free to do what she wants to do with her life. Sharman realises his mistake and what heinous acts he was made to do in the name of religion. Mariam interestingly decides to go back to the same village in Afghanistan to start a school and educate small children there.

Mansoor still in police custody after a year of torture gets a permanent brain damage and after a failed attempt at rehab is deported and send back to Pakistan where he unites with his family(sharman and their parents) and music helps him slowly recover.

Phhew!!! what a storyline, with performances which are exceptionally high on quality and Naserrudin Shah's 5-10 minutes on the screen makes a huge impact, leaving you mesmerised.

Very few Pakistani movies (populary called Lollywod) have made it big internationally and this is one of them. Movie is made in cinjunction with popular TV network Geo TV and the film has made 10 million dollars in gross revenue. The film has won many critics awards and also is the first Pakistani movie in 40 years to be shown in India. Just to mention the movie has an excellent soundtrack and the title song "Khuda Kay Liye" and "Allah Hu" are very soothing. Also the background score is excellent. A must watch this movie definately breaks the barriers and is a drift from the monotony we see in movies these days.