The Best English Films Of 2013

          

Okay, so here am I back, to present you all the finest English-language films of 2013. Last year, we toasted 2012’s medalists- ‘The Master’, ‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Lincoln’. This year, we will applaud the finest ten films of the year along with films that almost made it to the list……

Ah, 2013…..

It was an exceptionally exciting year for movies with unconventional ideas and scripts powered by solid filmmakers and spectacular performances made for a great time at the movies. While 2012 was the year for the mainstream audiences, 2013 was the year for the real connoisseurs and aficionados- those who love their cinema loaded with ample doses of style, substance and seminal, incendiary brilliance.

In fact, most of the films in this list are already vying for top prizes in the Oscar ceremony and it rather puzzles me why the usual pundits are placing their bets on only a few of them.

That said, this was a tough race and I had to leave out some really exciting films as well- but rest assured that the ones which did make it to the list are nothing short of breathtakingly awesome.

Okay, then let’s first applaud the runners up-

The 11^th place is for movies which almost made it to the list- brilliant efforts all but somehow lacking the gusto which the real winners had.

Zack Snyder’s ‘Man Of Steel’ packed in a wonderfully sober and sensational twist on the Superman story with enough panache but winded down with a Roland Emmerich-style blow-up climax;  Danny Boyle’s ‘Trance’ was a twisty and titillating trip through London’s groovy nooks and crannies while also handing us a stylishly crafted psycho-noir but became too self-indulgent; Woody Allen’s ‘Blue Jasmine’ featured Cate Blanchett in her career-best turn as an affluent woman going off the rails but lacks the witty, ingenious touch of some of the director’s usual works…

And now we herald the champions…

10- ‘Pacific Rim’

Director- Guillermo Del Toro

Many-a-action blockbuster in today’s times end in a familiar and frustrating mess of collapsing cities battered in incoherent battles. But it was only Guillermo Del Toro’s jaw-dropping, spectacular and sublime monster actioner that made it look like sheer poetry. A wiseass throwback to the Japanese monster films of the yore, ‘Pacific Rim’ is as wet, sensational and thrilling alive as its name suggests- with the master writer-director blending the bare-bones of his robot-versus-monster story with much visual daredevilry to craft a crowd-pleaser for ages.

With spectacular, crunchy, gob-smacking action sequences between the relentless Kaiju monsters and the human-controlled juggernauts, and enough of Del Toro’s trademark visual camp and some surprising warmth between the proceedings (watch out for a stirring, stunning nightmare scene set in a ravaged Tokyo) this is unashamedly Hollywood blockbuster formula cooked up into a massively entertaining, off-the-wall crazy action film which knocks other, mediocre franchises like the ‘Transformers’ as neatly and spectacularly as it can. It does get predictable but trust Del Toro to make even cliché sound and look cool.

9- American Hustle

Director- David O. Russell

Style, rather than substance, rules the roost in David O. Russell’s unashamedly lavish caper film set against the Abscam sting operations of 1970s. The eclectic characters, from jaded conmen and nervy FBI agents and their devious, gold-digging wives and sweethearts, are all larger-than-life and swagger more than frequently on the screen, compelling us to make our jaws drop with sheer perversity of it all. And while Russell’s film may abandon the usual genre elements, it has the sheer confidence to make them the real explosives in the film.

It is all shiny, swelte and even indulgent to a fault but ‘American Hustle’- Russell’s soap-operatic love-letter to the 70s comes off as a ravishing and raw human drama, punctuated boldly and brashly with staggering performances and much visual cheek thrown into the cocktail, right from Scorsese-style long-shots to the rambunctious score and flashy editing that never let you up. Nearly everyone in the film- the paunchy and wig-wearing Christian Bale, the cleavage-baring Amy Adams and the lovably gullible Jeremy Renner- delivers solid acting punch while Jennifer Lawrence steals the show again as a fiery housewife with a penchant for creating disaster.

8- 12 Years A Slave

Director- Steve McQueen

Hollywood usually shies away from baring the more-than-skin-deep horrors of slave trade in pre-Civil War America- save for Tarantino’s brutally funny ‘Django Unchained’- a Western reimagined as a morality tale in the South. Steve McQueen, one of the most unrestrained and uncompromising directors in recent times, comes up with his own sweltering, bloody and emotionally raw take on the premise and the result is a film that, while being predictable, delivers a magnificent punch in the gut.

Faithfully based on the memoirs of real-life survivor Solomon Northup (essayed here poignantly by Chiwetel Eijofor) and his psychological and physiological struggle with the nature of slavery, McQueen’s film ends up being a harrowing yet rousing story of one’s man’s survival against the brutality inflicted as a result of his race. Contrasted incredibly against the idyllic Southern settings, the unforgiving tenor of the violence gives way to a sentimental and way-too-idealistic climax but this is more than compensated by the extraordinary performances- watch out for Michael Fassbender’s vicious and wicked slaver Epps, whose bursting, Bible-quoting badness makes all screen villains look like school bullies.

7- Captain Phillips

Director- Paul Greengrass

Few can direct the action thriller format as convincingly and thrillingly as Paul Greengrass, the man who made Ludlum’s spy novels and the 9/11 hijackings come alive in full, throbbing tension on the big screen. In this film, a masterly recreation of the Maersk Alabama hijacking by Somali pirates, Greengrass does something phenomenal- turning a regular hostage situation drama into a tense, sweltering and grittily authentic Herzog-style survival story that inspires yet instills dread.

Tom Hanks is nearly flawless as the titular protagonist- a disciplined mariner facing the biggest storm of his life as the malicious yet vulnerable pirate chief Muse (played with chilling realism by Barkhad Abdi) holds him hostage in a vicious game with heavy stakes. Greengrass, armed with master lensman Barry Ackroyd, superbly contrasts the verbose tension with the literal fireworks while smartly keeping politics out of the fray and crafting a remarkably objective character study that is as thrilling and sobering as the film’s splendidly brittle action scenes itself. And that shocking climax is sure to break many hearts as well.

6- Rush

Director- Ron Howard

Sports films will never be the same again.

Blending brash, bold and beautiful visual aesthetic with Peter Morgan’s turbo-charged, bloody and brilliant script, the relentlessly energetic Ron Howard has crafted a rare feat- a glorious, deliciously-off-the-wall Formula 1 racing film that celebrates the sport’s breakneck, brutal speed and the glory of finishing first. It is also a solid story of red-hot rivalry, captured faithfully in history’s milestones, between the diligent, ingenious racer Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) and the flashy and dashing champ James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) as they battle it out in a historic 70s tournament that is both sizzling and shocking to the senses and the soul.

T

he racing action is savage and shot with thrilling urgency, with Howard and wildly inventive cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle plunging us into the frenetic pace and hefty stakes with brash skill while Morgan’s script blisters with the scorching sparks between its leads. Both Hemsworth and Bruhl face off with terrific chemistry and emerge as heroic yet utterly real people, torn between their soaring ambition and their turbulent personal lives. And through it all, with the aid of sharp dialogue, superb supporting performances and tension enough for a Hitchcock film, Howard makes history thrilling alive, fast and furious.

5- Gravity

Director- Alfonso Cuaron

Talk about miraculous. Alfonso Cuaron turned the often-abused survival story format into an existentialist masterpiece set in the depths of open space and crafted a rare film- a 3D miracle that stuns us with the shattering yet sublime thrill, chill and beauty of its visuals, while keeping enough meat in the plot to give us that energetic and visually stunning kick that only great cinema can provide.

At its basics, this is a story often told- nervous first-time spacewalker Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is stranded in zero-G chaos along with the talky and terrifically charming Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and has to make her way back, to land her feet on solid earth. But Cuaron, with the skill of a technical visionary and compelling storyteller, turns the premise into a film which blends brittle, breathtaking thrills and wiseass humor with just the right blend of emotion and visual beauty to make a spectacular adventure.

There is much to love in the film- from the painstakingly created, awe-inspiring outer space scenarios (kudos to Cuaron regular photographer Emmanuel Lubezki and special effects geek Tim Webber) to the snappy repartee between Kowalski and Stone, and from Bullock’s intense, heartfelt and stirring performance to Cuaron’s mastery at balancing tension with dramatic weight, lending the film with ample doses of danger, heroics and pure narrative and visual poetry.

Whoa! Spielberg and Kubrick, please take a bow!

4- Inside Llewyn Davis

Director- Joel and Ethan Coen

Few people can depict the American landscape as skillfully and authentically as the Coen Brothers do. In this hilarious yet utterly humane story of a down-on-his-luck musician trying to grapple in frosty 1960s New York and its crazy characters, they reveal their hidden gift of crafting a truly melodious and melancholic musical which portrays one’s man’s vain attempt to make it big and reconcile with the people around him.

Oscar Issac delivers the performance of a lifetime as the jaded and jittery Llewyn Davis, an inscrutably unlikable yet magically gifted guy who has knocked up his girlfriend, lost the cat, belonging to a benevolent friend and has lost his fellow struggler to suicidal depression of the era. As he embarks on a quirky quest for self-discovery and redemption, the Coen Brothers paint an everlasting portrait of a nation and its hidden shades- of an outcast losing his last chance to reconnect with his fellow humans, and a musical that is unafraid to celebrate life’s mediocrity with a stirring tweak of the guitar strings.

Shot evocatively, pitched with deadpan humor and profound sadness and acted with solid conviction (check out Carey Mulligan as the hot-headed yet helpless girlfriend and John Goodman as a decadent artist), ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ takes us inside its messed-up character as well as the usual mess of everyday life. And therein lays its beauty, which stands out against the aching turbulence all around.

3- Dallas Buyers Club

Director- Jean-Marc Vallee

It is perhaps rare that a film centering on a terribly imperfect character may end up nailing him as the hero of the piece. And no, we do not feel for Ron Woodroof, that cowboy-hatted, foul-mouthed homophobic hustler, simply because he suffers from AIDS and is unable to get his hand on the medicines that can lessen the death sentence. Nah, rather, we feel for him simply because, in spite of everything, that man makes us wolf-whistle at his charisma, at the sure-footed swagger.

And yet, Woodroof is hardly a guilty pleasure because  gifted director Jean-Marc Vallee and writers Craig Borten andMelisa Wallack- and a super-capable actor in peak form- turn Woodroof into a constantly charming character- a character whom we want to improve as a person, and a character whom we want to live and come up as a hero.

Blessed with Vallee’s graceful and grittily realistic direction and Borten and Wallack’s rapid-fire narrative, ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ emerges as a rousing film- a heartfelt, hilarious and always heroic tale of a man pitted against odds and who won’t give up at all. And through his fast-paced, drug-driven quest for a new lease of life, he comes across people who change the way he lives and gives Vallee enough meat to inject solid, sizzling drama into the proceedings.

Jared Leto, as a transgender siding up as an unlikely partner for the vitriol-spewing Woodroof, creates wonders in an affecting performance while Jennifer Garner, as a troubled, unsmiling doctor lends the film’s its most harrowing moments. But this is a film about that one great man.

Matthew McConaughey has beaten almost every other actor in this generation by transforming from hunky eye candy to the scrawny, lean-limbed yet dashing Woodroof and yet, the change is not merely physical. Diving deeply and gloriously into Woodroof’s moral muck, McConaughey reveals his immense histrionic potential with what could be one of the most towering, intense, free-spirited and moving performances of all time.

2- Her

Director- Spike Jonze

Romance is a fine old wine that most filmmakers pour and pack it in stinky bottles that ruin the entire flavor. And we should thank our stars that we have Spike Jonze in terrific, wonderfully whimsically form- a kind of wunderkind, a vibrant, younger version of Spielberg who, with much bold imagination and plenty of oozing warmth, pours good ole romance into a hipflask that comes with some sizzling futuristic wizardry and tender emotions.

The result is ‘Her’- a sci-fi romance so sweepingly majestic, so striking sublime and so shatteringly relevant that it does not feel like a futuristic film at all.

Lonely guy Theodore Twombly (played exceptionally by Joaquin Phoenix) buys a quirky and nifty OS, which can behave like a human and boy, it does…like a lovely woman. Hold on, it has named itself Samantha and it has a lovely, lovely voice, one that belongs to none other than the supremely sexy Scarlett Johannson.

Between the two, an unusual and unlikely bond blooms and Jonze fills up the canvas with a riot of color, frolic, sensuality and intimacy to craft a heartbreaking romance for ages.

To call the film merely ingenious is a hell of an understatement. Jonze ensures with his blazing script along with his idyllic and intelligent direction that the fanciful yet utterly coherent ideas rarely interrupt the romance between the duo and while there is much to smile at, right from the quirks of modern technology down to the sunny moments between Theodore and Samantha, this is also a film that teaches us the quintessential importance of human affection and love.

A film about broken relationships, of broken hearts. And above all, a film about loners, both real and virtual, seeking contact, seeking romance. If this is not essential cinema, that nothing else is.

1-The Wolf Of Wall Street

Director- Martin Scorsese

Hold on the wolf-whistles for a moment please.

Martin Scorsese’s off-the-wall, insanely ingenious and unashamedly nihilistic masterpiece has won its own share of bravos and brickbats and indeed, a cinematic experience as unhinged and uninhibited as this does divide the audiences. What many people may not realize is that Scorsese, at 71, and only him, is capable of blowing up cinematic territory with terrific gusto.

And his latest- a radical 3 hour biopic rolled into the blackest of black comedies- is one hell of a storm.

Jordan Belfort, the hero and villain of the film, essayed by Leonardo DiCaprio with rippling energy and loathsome repulsion, is at the center of this outrageously true story of the boiler room scams of the 90s that burst into a carnival of sin- flooded with hooker sex, heroin and hard cash. Loved by his equally depraved cronies (Jonah Hill slams it as the slimy and slippery Donnie Azoff), lambasted by others, Jordan is nothing less than a Caligula of the stock boom era- a man who sinks deeper and deeper into his excesses and yet stays compellingly albeit guiltily lovable.

And through it all, Scorsese, forever the smarty pants director, armed with Terence Winter’s explosive script, makes us run and hunt with these hounds as they scavenge for cash- making us see with wide-eyed wonder at the ugliness which we all secretly crave for.

And so, ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ delights in its morbid spoils, speeding like a Ferrari in full throttle and plunges all the venality and horror at our face, willing us to react and therein lies the knockout punch of this chaotic party.

It is this generation’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’- and even better and with far more resonance for Marty is not merely making a political comment- he is asking us out open- is this the life- the corrupted one- that one should really lead? And the answers are as jolting as a bolt of lightning.

Go watch it. And yes, we can now have the wolf-whistles. Awooooooo!

Inside Llewyn Davis- A Musical Milestone

Ah, America….

America, that nation for everyone and no one. America, dubbed the New World and the word ‘New’ magically attached to its states, districts and suburbs. America captured in different shades by the best of its directors- the small-town idyllic existence in Altman’s comedies and Spielberg’s UFO classics, the dark and psychedelic mean streets of Martin Scorsese, the buzzing, broad romantic rendezvous in Woody Allen’s twisted rom-coms and more. And for the Coen Brothers’ latest film, a finely crafted, deeply melancholic and mesmerizing story of folk rock in 60’s New York, America, with its alternately whimsical and grimy shades, comes alive in full glory, set to the scratchy acoustic tunes of a man’s guitar.

That man- named Llewyn Davis- is the heart and soul of this amazing film- an existential plot revolving around this straggle-bearded man as he scavenges for fame and fortune in a world which, as it seems to him, is manifestly unfair.

And woven around its deceptively simple premise is a stellar soundtrack of both improvised and established folk classics- classics exceptionally used by Coen Brothers and gifted cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel to smashing effect as they tug us into an innocent era, with just the lightest touch of political turbulence- a rousing studio song harkens at Mr. Kennedy and yet the tone is vibrant, wonderfully whimsical.

However, this is mainly the story of Davis. A struggling musician who jumps from couch to couch, Davis is hardly what can be called a hero. He is cynical, dry-witted to begin with and he has also messed up his life- the way his pregnant, one time lover Jean (a superb Carey Mulligan) puts it- ‘everything he touches turns to shit’. Indeed, we can see it in his lost prospects, in his desperate attempts to make it big and yet deal with life’s little and major problems.

The Coens, taking the story a full circle, beginning and ending with Davis getting beaten up in a dark alley, explore the American 60’s deluge through Davis’s extremely melancholic wandering. This is a New York we have rarely seen- its subways and streets clogged with snow- the disappointment for Davis lies in the air itself. And yet, the film wills us not to love this man. Davis’s failing is more of his social inadequacy rather than his musical gifts- he is a man who is not really worthy of redemption and yet the loneliness and alienation which shrouds him is shattering.

Because the Coens, who have also written the immaculately intelligent and snappy script, know how to make our feelings turn. The moment Davis plucks a tune in his guitar, we feel alive; suddenly, the lights come on and even the snowbound, sad New York streets come to life and vigor. ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ is a triumph of emotion because the Coens know exactly how to use their craft exceptionally- the desolation of Davis’ soul shows in the film’s starched, saturated images set to the profoundly moving score while the bouncy, flexible narrative just packs in the right amount of whimsy, doomed romance and hope to make this more than just a solid character study.

A good time of the film goes on gazing at the brooding Davis- a character who rarely smiles and justifiably so. There is little to smile in this oddly pessimistic story, enlivened at times by the deadpan humor rolling smoothly in the dialogues (the Coen Bros continue to be masters of the spoken word and the visual idiom) and the film’s sidetrack- of Davis carrying and pursuing a cat whose owners have forgotten its name. 

The cat in Coens’ film is an excellent device- a metaphor for the last link that Davis has with his fellow human beings, as is his failed romance with Jean, which the writer-directors explore with both snappy lightness and sobering grimness in unexpected, quietly extraordinary ways.

It is indeed pessimistic. The Coen Brothers are clearly gunning for more than just a character study. In the characters that Davis encounters in his twisted odyssey, the film becomes something deeper- an affecting, effortlessly poignant and painful look at life and its ups and downs. From Davis’ domineering sister- who insists that he better correct his language when he tosses out the F-word in her house- to the hopelessly doped and downbeat jazz artist Roland Turner (played with marvelous authenticity by John Goodman) right down the instantly unlikable Pappi (Max Casella) who blurts out that the audience at the rightly named Gaslight Café is only interested in sexual favors, this is one of the Coens’ darkest films since ‘No Country For Old Men’ in the way how they capture society’s decadence and mediocrity with disarmingly raw humor.

And yet Davis remains to be both the film’s light of hope and source of darkness. As the film’s unlikely moral compass, Davis is a character trapped in the surrounding gloom. Oscar Issac, giving the performance of his career, is incredible as Davis. He is constantly unpredictable, he seldom gives us answers and yet he is a character we root for. We can feel Davis’ cynical anger when he sings along making funny sounds in the studio song; we can feel his obvious flaws when he cries out in panic that he has lost the cat and he feels bad about it. Through it all, Issac is tender, melancholic, more befuddled than happy and totally, totally unforgettable.

Some of this might be familiar with last year’s ‘The Master’, that extraordinarily challenging masterpiece which also looked at a particularly harrowing era of America through the prism of an unhinged, misguided man driven by his id. The Coen Brothers’ film is far more inert and subtle than Paul Thomas Anderson’s incendiary, radical bromance but the difference in treatment does not make the arguments less convincing.

Go watch ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’. It is a film which does not make you break into tears or roll down the aisles in chuckles. It is a film however that makes you tap your feet with its instantly catchy folksy tunes and sing aloud as well. It is also something that gives a genuinely flawed character who represents everything that is wrong, messed up yet redeemable about our world. And above all, it is a musical that comes off as the finest portrait of humanity. As Mrs. Gorfein, with her quirky glasses, may say- ‘Music is the best way of expressing your soul’.

My Rating- 5 Stars

Captain Phillips- Tense Filmmaking Ahoy!

The premise is nothing new. We have seen it all before- an idealistic, instantly likeable protagonist finds himself- or herself- in a situation fraught with danger and dread in which he or she has to survive against all odds. Add a slightly sentimental touch to the climax and you have done the job. But while many-a-filmmaker- from Alfred Hitchcock to Andrew Davis- has done the same job again and again, you need to remember that with Paul Greengrass, the man who revitalized the action genre with the two solid ‘Bourne’ outings, it is anything but Hollywood formula.

Because ‘Captain Phillips’- a sweltering account of the true-life freighter hijack by Somalian pirates some time back ago- is more than just Hollywood’s clichéd take on a real-life hostage situation- what it has is smartly crafted, brittle action and peril, a solid, pacey plot and enough intelligent characterization to satiate all our hunger for real thrills and chills.

Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) ships out for a mission on the massive freighter Maersk Alabama and halfway through the seemingly routine journey, moments after receiving an alert about sea piracy, is plunged into a deadly game of cat and mouse. It is barely 15 minutes into the film and Greengrass, that typically competent action master, tugs us into the scenario, building up a storm of cold sweat and choppy sea spray. This is a film that cuts us loose from every bit of assurance or safety- it plunges the action right on our face.

Tension seethes throughout and matters are made even more sudorific as Phillips is eventually hauled up at gunpoint by the pirates, led by their de facto leader- the opportunistic, wily and utterly determined Muse (Barkhad Abdi). And it is from this heart-stopping confrontation where Greengrass pulls out all the stops and what unfolds is thriller-filmmaking bordering on masterpiece territory.

Greengrass has always been a master of solid action sequences, sequences that pull you by your collar and cram you into claustrophobic situations and ‘Captain Phillips’ is no different. Authenticity reeks throughout the super-charged sequences of move and countermove- from the early splashing chases through the sea waters to the edge-of-the-seat tension on board the ship. And later, when the film heads into more murky water, the tension and excitement mingled with dread and paranoia never really dip.

But what powers this gritty actioner is how Greengrass keeps the characterization and screenplay intact without letting down on the speed, energy and dramatic thrust. This is a film which is not afraid of conversations- both heated and introspective- as an increasingly jittery Phillips tries to negotiate with Muse, while the others- from the desperate crew members to the slick SEAL troops and to Muse’s fellow agitated comrades- make their own silent and nifty moves.

Writer Billy Ray delves an expert-like precision into the proceedings and capitalizes mostly on the verbal sparring between the two unlikely captains- Muse calls Phillips as ‘Irish’ with a sneer of confidence while Phillips tries to probe for chinks in his armor, trying his best to reason with a fellow captain who is wise yet embittered, essentially a torn apart soul. Abdi gives it his all and this is indeed a startlingly effective performance- coming from one who is acting for the first time. Despair shows up in his eyes, in his heated actions while he is wily enough to stick to his own position as a captain with honor. And towards the grilling finale, the seams begin to show and it is here that Abdi shows his real edges- his vulnerability in muttering a simple sentence ‘I have come too far, I cannot give up.’ Priceless.

Greengrass of course is the real captain of this tight ship. His approach is now endowed with enough emotional balance; he finely contrasts high-stakes peril with enough emotional heft and yet knows precisely how not to make it sentimental. Phillips is an every-guy- we feel a natural sympathy towards him but our sympathies also lie with Muse, our anger directed towards the world that makes people as desperate and ruthless as Muse. Greengrass smartly keeps politics out of the scenario and adroitly avoids stereotypes. 

Barry Ackroyd’s urgent, crackling cinematography perfectly captures the contrast between the two men and their lives- early on, the insulating, comforting greys of Phillips’ Vermont abode with the scorching, blazing heat and dust of Somalia and Muse’s makeshift shelter. Greengrass uses the contrast to full effect to draw up superb parallels- Muse’s attempt at capturing leadership prior to the raid is perfectly held up against Phillip’s democratic attempts to keep his panicking team intact in the face of danger.

It is up to Tom Hanks to play Phillips out, complete with the every-guy essence of the person and to be true, it is clearly a challenging performance. Stripped of his usual comic charisma, Hanks is in a completely different light here. And yet, he lives up to the challenge completely. He is calm throughout but beneath the surface there lies an emotionally tortured soul, one which springs out in a shattering climax- in which he breaks down into a mess of disorientation, shock and dread. It is a moment that confirms quiet why Hanks is one of the finest actors around here.

And Greengrass pulls it off with terrific flair. It is a moment of truth for us all- a moment where we expect release from the grip of tension that precedes it. But Greengrass wants us to remember- he wants the tumultuous events, their hidden causes and dramatic effects to linger. ‘Captain Phillips’ does not just thrill you. It sobers you to silence.

My Rating- 5 Stars

American Hustle- Worth Being Conned For!

David O. Russell's 'American Hustle' begins with a wordless moment of sheer brilliance.
In a room in Plaza Hotel, a paunchy and bald-pated Irving Rosenfield (Christian Bale) is seen dressing up...his hair. He first combs out a strand, then takes a toupe and applies some glue on his bald pate and then applies the wig with heartbreakingly meticulous care. The entire sequence takes merely a minute or so but Russell and Bale do not shy away from the stark, obsessive precision of the procedure- for that is how Rosenfield, a skilled con artist, would want his life to be; both actor and director lay down the groundwork for the elaborate deception that follows.

And therein lies the wonderful revelation of a film as obsessed with style, sensuality and quirk as 'American Hustle'- that this is a story in which people put on masks to become different people, to hide their messed up selves and their inner demons, simply to survive. And while this is as brazen and breezy as a really good caper can be, the genius of 'American Hustle' lies in occasions in which these secret lives come out open to create a glorious mess.
Indeed, a mess but this is the kind of a messy meal that nevertheless sharp to taste and lip-smackingly, ingeniously delicious.

Russel and co-writer Eric Warren Singer take quite some time to linger on each of the lovable pretenders at the helm of things, much at the risk of plot and tension. But it is wholly welcome as long as each one of them delivers the fireworks of romance, intrigue and wiseass humor in huge dollops. 

And that is why 'American Hustle' is one hell of a caper.

Rosenfield is a self-made man, a con artist who 'would not get taken' the same way as his glass-selling father and he meets his match when he encounters the sensuous and gold-digging Sydney (Amy Adams), a girl who smoothly moves from a stripper to a mundane job in 'Cosmopolitan' and whose infatuation with glamorous attire further leads him to love Rosenfield as well. Both know each other's true selves which further puts them together even as Rosenfield's devious and divorce-averse wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) refuses to relent.
The rest is something that goes against Rosenfield and Sydney's plans- curly-maned Federal bloodhound Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) manipulates our happy couple into a crazy plot to entrap the top brass of New Jersey's politicos in a real estate development scam. And from then on unfolds a wicked game that is both a wild, swinging party and a nail-biting game of chess with every player making move and counter move.

Obsessed as it is with a cast of charisma-flaunting characters, Russell's film comes off as a strikingly realistic character study, which is quite an accomplishment given the sumptuous aesthetic lavished on the film. Russell has always been a master of visual style- from the scratchy, bleached out war-torn visuals of 'Three Kings' to the ducking-and-diving fast shots of 'The Fighter' and this film's authentically preserved milleu gives him plenty of opportunity to use style to the maximum. Along with lesnman Linus Candgren channels his inner Scorsese and Altman but all of the style is put to amazing use- never a shot feels indulgent but extremely well used to capture the quirk that flows out of the script and the romance that blooms between its characters. This is an energetic film- a film which rumbles and races even as its plot slows down and all of its blazing visual brilliance just shows how Russell has now mastered balance as a director.

But this is also a film in which laughs and tears come in equal measure and 'American Hustle' seamlessly shifts gears from the actual scam (loosely based on the Abscam operations) to the sexual fireworks and verbose repartee that unfolds between the leads. Together with hilariously written dialogues and pitch-perfect characterization, Russell and Singer craft an oddball comedy, a farce of epic proportions, a comedy of manners and a heartbreakingly hilarious romantic comedy all rolled into one. And as the masks come down one by one, this is where the drama ratchets up.

While slightly indulgent, Russell's focus on his main players mostly pays off because he endows his flash and dash with welcome nuance and heartfelt emotion. The film revels in the detailing that emerges from the characters- Rosalyn and a fellow upper-class housewife discuss nail polish scents which would seduce their respective men, while Irving's supposed mark, the want-to-do-good Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) enters unwittingly into a warm friendship with the very man who is about to con him. Sydney, trying to put on more than just a single disguise, struggles with her feelings while DiMaso's high-strung, nervy actions are propelled by his personal demons, demons which he hides away. It is only Rosalyn who emerges as the real revelation in the film.

It is undeniably stylish, pacy and thrillingly sensational and sexy but Russell also has a gift for subtlety and it is the self-assured, slick way in which he mixes suspense, romance, humor and drama in a cocktail that gives you a high which lasts long. Russell's flair for quirk and humor is now in top form with the cleverly flowing humor gaining a welcome satirical tinge- such that the mirth comes off as intelligent and yet chuckle-inducing. And the way he blends music with stylistic imagery and split-second editing is perhaps a sign of his emerging brilliance as a major filmmaker.

And finally, there is his ultimate triumph- the superb cast of 'American Hustle' who further take this con-game and make us willingly fall prey to it. Amy Adams is utterly delightful and exceptionally seductive as Sydney- a woman who emerges as vulnerably tender yet slyly clever in turns and twists. In a particularly emotionally raw scene, she filches from simmering sensuality to lingeringly painful and she nails it with a full-throated scream to match the loud music in the background. Terrific.

Yet, magnetic as she looks with her strategically revealing dresses, she is no match for the dynamite that is Jennifer Lawrence. Her Rosalyn is mostly kept aside from most of the center stage action but she is still an explosive character, a ticking time bomb who is never predictable. Lawrence might look a tad young for the role but her essence more than compensates. Not only does she deliver some of the finest, most crackling scenes and lines with blistering confidence and aggression but she also emerges as the most poignant character in the film. It is a masterclass performance.

Bradley Cooper is slightly disappointing as the constantly tense DiMaso. He does some comic, standalone scenes very well indeed and in a priceless scene with curlers in his head, he shows off his nasty edge without fear, even when he is pitted against his own boss. But the overall impression is slightly overwhelming, given the solid competition around him. And somehow, he feels like the douche bag he is intended to be.

Jeremy Renner, in contrast, is a true surprise as the firm yet warm-hearted and generous Mayor Carmine, carrying off his Joe Pesci-inspired hairdo with elan and delivering a memorably lovable character worth rooting for.

Yet, no one hits the mark quite as Christian Bale as the film's leading man and the closest that the film has to a hero. Right from that unforgettable opening sequence to his flirtatious banter with Adams' Sydney and from the intense stares from inside his glares to the De Niro-style dialogue delivery, right down to the despair with which he tries to sort out his life's mess, it is such a marvelous performance that has the 70s written all over it and the talented actor captures acid, anguish and anxiety all in a stunning act. Then, there is the man himself- De Niro showing up himself in the film's most tense scene as a sinister gangster who sizes up the crowd around him.

'American Hustle' feels like a lavish meal served on a gala occasion. It is served extremely in deceptive fashion so that we willingly dig in into its indulgence. And yet, as we find ourselves tasting it deeply, there is much to admire at the nuances and clever ingredients that Russell and his cast bring into the meal. And then you feel that it was worth being conned for.

My Rating- 4 and a half stars out of 5

The Best Of Bollywood In 2013

    
So, it is that time again. When I go back through memories of surrender to the magical delights of the silver screen, when I pick out the best films of the year, the best that Bollywood had to offer, despite all its hangovers of 100 crore clubs and item numbers and so on.
And yet, I am pretty disappointed. In 2012, we got more than a handful of genuinely stunning films by top directors at the peak of their game- this time, it all went downhill right from the beginning. Instead, it was the most unexpected names that made us sit up with attention- directors who shelled out mostly conventional fare that came out effectively good and well-done.
Still, this is a hardly a year to celebrate, despite the fact that it had nearly half a dozen blockbusters competing for attention. This time, it was even more difficult to pick out 10 proper names. I chose 9 and out of these, there may be barely 4 or 5 films which really rocked the house. The rest get credit simply for being well-intentioned efforts which did click, in fits and starts.
So, there are 9 films here but before we start, let's have a look at some of the year's worst films
1- Ghanchakkar- On the face of it, the story of Rajkumar Gupta's beguiling caper has an interesting premise- a master safecracker (Emraan Hashmi) gains amnesia and befuddles his wife and partners-in-crime. But the way how the deliberate, ridiculously over-the-top and farcical movie unfolds is terrible disastrous. From stretched-out, forcible jokes to mostly hammy acting (Vidya Balan, ugh), this film starts with a fairly hilarious robbery but then drops dead and becomes a dull mess of a film, with a climax that makes you laugh for its sheer stupidity.
2- Chennai Express- You know how, how bad Rohit Shetty's juvenile film is when you see a night-shot ripped off from Walt Disney's introduction credits (yeah, right, check it out!). This is scrappy filmmaking, neither here nor there- with the worst kind of racial stereotypes passing off as merely bad jokes, useless dance numbers and a plot which might work better in a Cartoon Network series. And all this might have been forgivable- had only Shahrukh Khan not made cringe-worthy facial expressions, had only Deepika Padukone not taken her comic role seriously and had only Shetty not indulged in much pointless car-crashing and those ridiculous action scenes which he models himself. Don't underestimate the stupidity of this one.
3- Besharam- The very fact that the otherwise dynamic and talented Ranbir Kapoor chose to do a film this asinine is worth shuddering at. Given the year's other monstrosities however, Abhinav Kashyap's no-brainer does pack in some decent laughs and there is a priceless moment when Kapoor's streetwise goon, recklessly OTT throughout, recovers his subtle acting strengths but the very fact that full-blown entertainment could be so regressive and outdated makes this otherwise harmless entertainer an unashamed disaster. Rishi Kapoor playing a Haryanvi cop for the second time this year is the only saving grace.


The 10th Place is one in which we will look at some films that tried quite valiantly enough but ended up falling short of the required mark...
'Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola' was fairly intriguing in its twisted plot of pink buffaloes, rural Communism and land grabbing but eventually succumbed to silliness than satire; 'Aashiqui 2' gave us a fair amount of old-school candyfloss romance between its leads and featured a melodious soundtrack but failed to push the envelope and ended on an outrageously embarassing note; 'Go Goa Gone' gave us extraordinarily invective-laden one liners without any hiccups, Saif Ali Khan in a killer cameo and three male leads who were far more real than most of the heroes in films but eventually became yet another zombie movie.

And now come the winners

9- Dhoom 3-

Let me quote John Lennon in brackets. 

Forget its lapses of logic and reason ('it's easy if you try'). Forget also the dysfunctional Jai and Ali pairing and the slightly slack pace in the second half ('I wonder if you can'). 
Sit back and enjoy superstar Aamir Khan take center stage as an illusionist-cum-thief-cum-action hero as he buzzes through the streets of Chicago in the intense first half and then emerges into a vengeful thief and even more. 

Sit back and enjoy, with a healthy dose of indulgence,as director Vijay Krishna Acharya go gloriously nuts with hi-tech bike daredevilry, gunning engines, police sirens, high-flying acrobats and gorgeous song sequences. And finally whistle at Katrina Kaif turn a daring acrobat act into a simmering striptease. 

Unabashedly, gloriously, lip-smackingly escapist yet endowed with a heart.

8- Bombay Talkies-

It is first and foremost a really innovative idea to come up with four nifty segments helmed by four leading Gen Y directors to celebrate the Maximum City, or more precisely, the gaudy yet glamorous sheen of its film industry- from acting aspirations to star-struck infatuation, and from addictive item numbers to the Madan Mohan tunes of yore. 

A well-intentioned and unique, if flawed, effort, 'Bombay Talkies' emerges as a fine mosaic of the mainstream and mind-challenging- four individual strands of talent coming together to stitch a vivid tribute to cinema.

A boy who models himself on Katrina Kaif, an unusual love triangle, a Simple Simon who nurses acting aspirations and a hilarious story of fanboy obsession involving a jar of murabba, each little film is lively and distinguished, even as two of them don't quite hit the mark. Eventually, it is the unconventional nuggets- coming from Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap- that score the most and paint everlasting portraits of film fanaticism in our land- alternately hilarious and heartfelt.

7- Aurangzeb-

Atul Sabharwal's classy yet unshowy debut is a confident and self-assured throwback to the supercharged Salim-Javed and Yash Chopra yarns of the 70s, one which works better than those films with the terribly long 'Once Upon A Time' titles. 

The plot- centering on a swap of twins to bring down a supposedly illegitimate real estate empire in the sprawl of Gurgaon- is predictable yet fairly tight; Sabharwal perfectly balances emotional drama with firecracker tension and menace in a loopy script that is perfectly accentuated with intense images of the pervasive real estate development contrasted by those of the barren land that lies outside- a perfect metaphor for corruption of good and loss of honesty.

After a slightly awkward buildup, the film gains terrific momentum in the latter parts as Sabharwal ties up multiple story strands into a satisfyingly exciting scramble for power among a lineup of intriguing characters. Most of the power-packed punch comes from the stellar actors and while Arjun Kapoor struggles with a dual role and poor dialogue delivery- not to mention the bland newcomer Sasheh Agha- the rest- Prithviraj, Amrita Singh and an exceptionally vicious Rishi Kapoor steal the show.

6- Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani-

Ayan Mukerji's unashamedly escapist yet subtly poignant film is the year's most sprightly and heartwarming romantic comedies, one which is unafraid to let sparkling chemistry develop between its characters while letting us revel in the glory of unabashed entertainment- from a fun-filled hike in Manali to the wedding fiestas in Udaipur's sweeping lake palaces and from Ranbir Kapoor waltzing with a camera on the streets of Paris to Madhuri Dixit shaking a leg in a gorgeous ghagra. 

At the fun-filled core of a dead-simple plot of romance and bromance, is Kapoor's dynamic, raffish hero Bunny, a suitably bushy-tailed youngster with split-second comic timing yet with a heart, lending Mukerji's film with both hilarity and humanity.

The stellar first half packed with clever one-liners and quirky characters gives way to a slightly sermonizing second half in which Bunny, facing a definite romance to his old buddy Naina (Deepika Padukone), tries to figure out his priorities- freedom or romance and relationships? Nevertheless, Mukerji breezily wraps up everything with a flair for feel-good visuals, sparkling character rapport and more. Pritam's chartbusting songs are worth tapping to while Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapur bring in terrific supporting turns.

5- Madras Cafe-

Shoojit Sircar's flawed yet honest and impeccably executed thriller tells a gripping tale of one of history's most gruesome chapters- the spree of Lankan terrorism that claimed many lives, including one of Congress behemoth Rajiv Gandhi. Names and titles have been changed but the story that Sircar and his team set out to tell is true nevertheless- the buildup of the heinous conspiracy and the desperate attempts of the Indian secret intelligence to uncover the truth. 

By expertly blending conventional heroics with documentary-style realism (ala Paul Greengrass), Sircar pulls off an action movie endowed with welcome insight and intelligence.

John Abraham throws in what can be called his most heartfelt, restrained and convincing performance ever whilst being amply supported by a solid cast- Prakash Belawadi nails it as the oily, suspicious Jaffna spook. While the film does falter a bit from openly revealing harsh truths and sticks a bit too much to espionage rather than politics, it is none the worse for it, builds up twists and turns extremely deftly and culminates in a terse, heartbreaking climax that impressively leaves enough room for more debate.

4- Kai Po Che!-

Most directors stick to formula when it comes to our youth films. Others try to break the barriers. And then there is Abhishek Kapoor, the director who made the glittering 'Rock On!' who superbly blends both styles into his second venture- a confident, soul-stirring adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel and perfectly lifts the mundane source material into a finely detailed movie about friendship and politics.

The bond between Ishaan (Sushant Singh Rajput), Govind (a superb Raj Kumar Yadav) and Omi (Amit Sadh) is captured in Kapoor's sepia-toned and vibrant visuals and is perfectly set against the simmering backdrop of cricket and communal politics in turn-of-the-century Gujarat. 

While slightly long and meandering, the film nevertheless succeeds in keeping both feel-good camaraderie and religious tensions on an even keel- the light, optimistic tone gives way to a second-half which darkens quite intensely and through it all, Kapoor handles his craft- from nuanced direction to pitch-perfect performances- with immaculate ease to nail a poignant and heartwarming film.

3- Shuddh Desi Romance-

It is nearly impossible to root a fomula cooked up by Woody Allen- of confused romance, post-coitus smoking and more- into the heat and dust of the pink lanes of Jaipur but that is what Maneesh Sharma's smooth and breezy direction and Jaideep Sahni's blazing, if episodic, script does with amazing panache. Mildly disguised as a delightfully twisty and loopy love triangle, 'Shuddh Desi Romance' actually turns out to be a bitingly perceptive, hilariously wordy and cheeky satire on romance, marriage and sexual freedom in an India that is slowly rising from slumber.

Finely contrasting warm, sizzling intimacy and spectacularly earthy romance with an endless barrage of incredibly hilarious dialogue, chatup sessions and pervasive confusion of marriage, this is the cheekiest and most ribald romantic comedy in recent times; and while the last 10 minutes can be a bit of a stretch, its biggest triumph lies in how Sharma and Sahni turn every single cliche on its head and come up trumps with a deliciously off-the-wall and comically anarchic take on relationships and romance as well as the generation gap in small-town India. 

The characters are themselves the smack of real- Sushant Singh Rajput's hapless lover-boy is perfectly overshadowed by the women in his life- the bubbly Gayatri (a spontaneous Parineeti Chopra) and the manipulative and mercurial Tara (Vaani Kapoor in a stellar debut) while Rishi Kapoor's wacky wedding planner not only makes everything hilarious but also real.

2- The Lunchbox-

It is amazing how a film centering on a simple detail- like a tiffin box delivered to the wrong address- can turn out to be smashingly stunning in its simplicity and yet universally appealing to all. Writer-director Ritesh Batra lifts the mere lunchbox detail into a multi-dimensional masterpiece- it is a stunning romance between two people who do not know each other; it is a searingly honest and extremely personal portrait of Bombay's relentless energy and unforgiving alienation and above all, it is as real as film-making can really get.

Irrfan Khan gives a world-class and nearly wordless performance as Saajan Fernandes, a mild-mannered, laconic clerk who opens his tiffin box one day to discover an Open Sesame to an unusual bond. It is from the stunningly simple beginnings that Batra sets the tune- flipping wonderfully from the odyssey of the city's famed dabbah-wallas to a distraught housewife (played exceptionally well by Nimrat Kaur) packing up lip-smacking delicacies in her husband's tiffin-box. Between the two emerges a heart-rending and soul-stirring romance that is as much a celebration of the city as it is of love that spans across age, generation and other barriers. 

Moving leisurely at its own languid pace,turning elegiac and intense by deft turns and its most humorous moments provided by the reliable Nawazzudin Siddiqui as Fernandes' slippery protege, Batra's film emerges as an ever-lasting portrait of life, with its ups and downs, without sounding even a bit preachy. And that is quite an achievement for us all.

1- Lootera-

Talk about its sheer courage. To cast two yet-untested and hardcore mainstream starlets into a film that breaks every single rule of filmmaking even as it sticks to a solid conventional romantic angle is brave enough. Yet, it is the brilliance of director Vikramaditya Motwane that makes 'Lootera' one of the finest mainstream films to have rolled out of our over-indulgent Bollywood- a finely crafted, impeccably shot and lyrically intense romance that takes an old, much-loved O. Henry short story and turns it into magnificent, mesmerizing filmmaking at its best.

The story is as predictable as it can get- a clean-cut pinup boy meets a spoilt and effervescent girl with a cloistered life in the languid 50s and as sparks fly off, there is much deception in store as well, but almost everything about 'Lootera' is deceptively simple.

Rather, what makes this a sure masterpiece is how Motwane, with a directorial hand so assured of its craft and premise, weaves the oft-told story into an entirely new yet utterly real world. This is a film that uses its staggeringly precise period detail to unprecedented limits- songs of Dev Anand starrers effectively portray transitions in time while complimenting the shifts in mood and pace while the landscapes and sets reek of texture rather than glamour- lending the film an authentically decaying and rugged feel rather than pomp and show.

Cinematographer Mahendra Shetty creates miracles out of the most minimal things- grainy sunlight, luminous mosquito nets, pale white lace curtains and the powdery snow falling on the streets of Dalhousie. Motwane seamlessly blends elements of intrigue, moral questioning and high-stakes action into the central romance while Amit Trivedi crafts a meticulous score that sometimes lends a voice to the deep silences. And then, there are the performances.

Ranveer Singh as a robber caught between his fugitive life and his love nails a solid, effectively poignant and heroic performance while Sonakshi Sinha, as his lady love, a woman on the throes of both bertrayal and certain death, gives a performance, both enthusiastically clever and heart-breakingly passionate, to mint Motwane's film as a modern classic.