Jan 11, 2011

Irrfan, I Love You

New York, I Love You is the second of the "Cities of Love" features and follows the hugely successful (and far superior, in my opinion) Paris, je t'aime.  While I absolutely adored Paris, je t'aime, I had no interest whatsoever in seeing the New York iteration, in part because I tend to hate sequels and copies, and also because I don't have even a passing interest in NYC.

However, I do have an interest in Irrfan Khan--ever since seeing Maqbool and The Namesake I've been head over heels for him, and I consider him one of India's most talented actors.  One of NYILU's little vignettes is a piece directed by Mira Nair (swoon) which stars Irrfan alongside Natalie Portman (swoon again) so off to Netflix I went.

I have to say I have somewhat mixed emotions about the piece.  Irrfan is great, Natalie is mostly great (unconvincing accent aside) but the piece as a whole didn't hit the right notes for me.  It felt a bit preachy, a little bit too "let's celebrate what we have in common" and all that jazz.

Irrfan plays Mansukhbhai, a merchant in NYC's bustling diamond district, and Natalie Portman is Rifka, a Hasidic gem dealer who comes to see Mansukhbhai about some diamonds the day before her wedding.





The hard bargaining begins right away, with Mansukhbhai discussing the price over an intercom with an associate in Gujarati, and quoting a higher price to Rifka.  She understands enough Gujarati to call him on his numbers, and they have a laugh--this isn't the first time they've played this game.

He eats as she considers his offer.

"You can't eat meat right, you Hindus?"

"No, we are not Hindus.  We're Jains."

They discuss food--for Mansukhbhai it's no meat, no fish, no potatos and no garlic.  For Rifka it's no pork, no shrimp, nothing that hasn't been blessed.  In the customs of food they have much in common.

"That is why there are no Christians in the diamond market.  How can you trust a person who will eat anything?"






They agree on a price, and he reaches to shake her hand.

"Mazel."

"I'm sorry, I can't shake your hand.  I'm not allowed to touch any man who isn't my husband."

Talk turns to family.  Rifka asks about his children, whose pictures hang on the office walls.  Of his wife Mansukhbhai reports that "last year she decided that marriage is a sin.  Now she's in India, with her head shaved, going door to door collecting food in a bowl."

Rifka then displays her own shaved head--her hair a banished memory in accordance to her strict Jewish faith.

"And now for the rest of my life I have to wear some other woman's hair."





At this point the story turns from one of believable simplicity to surreal (and possibly imagined?) romance.  Mansukhbhai tells Rifka that her wig might be made of his wife's hair, as so many wigs are made of the hair that Indian women cut off and leave in temples, and Rifka, who wouldn't allow Mansukhbhai to shake her hand only a few minutes earlier, not allows him not only to touch her bald head but to kiss it. 





Fast forward a day to Rifka's wedding.  We see her being joyously hoisted aloft on a chair, her husband the same on the other side of the partition which divides the men and women at the wedding.  As her husband bobs in and out of sight her face changes, and we see instead the happy face of Mansukhbhai across the wall.






Meanwhile, Mansukhbhai drives his car along the city streets and smiles to himself as he, like Rifka, imagines himself with a very different partner and a very different life.




I wanted to like this so terribly but I ended up finding it somewhat tacky (particularly when Mansukhbhai sees them reflected in his diamond).  I might have felt better about the short as a whole if it had ended with their eyes meeting over the partition at Rifka's wedding--the last thirty seconds seemed somewhat cheap.  And I certainly expected something more from Mira Nair--granted, this is a five minute film but it could have been so much more.  Instead it preached and wandered--"what's so wrong with women's hair anyways?"  The short seemed set up to be a lesson on religion and culture rather than a story to get lost in.  It was contrived.

Irrfan, I thought, was excellent, as he always is, and Natalie was lovely, though as I said her accent was somewhat...stereotypical.  Interestingly enough there was supposed to be a third character, a real-life Hasidic man was cast to play Natalie's husband.  The Hasidic community threatened him if he continued, as participating in a film was against the community's values.  He withdrew from the project only a few days into filming.  It would have been interesting to see how the story was originally meant to play out.

If you have Netflix then you wouldn't be completely wasting your time to check this bit of the film out (it's about ten minutes into the movie), but otherwise don't bother renting New York, I Love You just to see it.  It's sadly not quite worth the trouble.

Jan 10, 2011

The Many Shirts of Sid

Over the course of the year Wake Up Sid has become one of my favorite movies.  It's not convoluted or contrived or overly sappy, it doesn't try to hard to be cool, there's no faux-badassness or celebrity vanity showing through.  It's just a sweet, simple story about two people and the lives they make for themselves.

There's a freshness in the film that you unfortunately don't see a lot of in Bollywood these days--it's the type of film that could have easily been overlooked in favor of some of the flashier fare that shows up in theaters if it weren't for a few of the bigger names associated with it (Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, and Karan Johar).  Yes, there's a trendy urban sensibility on display, punctuated by a good-sized dose of "spending my father's money" but the characters don't live in a bubble, which is something I appreciate about the story.

I'll save further comment for a proper review but the one thing I really love about Wake Up Sid is, well, Sid.  Let's face it:  Ranbir Kapoor is a beautiful man.  One or two films aside (*cough* Anjaana Anjaani), I'm a huge fan of his.  It helps that he's more than a pretty face--the boy can act.

What else can he do, you ask?

He can wear a freaking t-shirt.  And seeing as how the production team went to great lengths to feature him in every version of "pop culturally-relevant graphic t-shirt" known to man, I feel it's only appropriate to ogle...erm, observe him in a few of them.

Who am I kidding?  Let's look at alllllllllll of them.  :)

 Sid wakes up.

 Let's get some Scooby Snacks ya'll!

 Daaaaaaaaance the night away...

I can't come up with a witty caption for this one, I'm too busy staring at Ranbir's arms and drooling.


I was thinking that Anupam Kher always rocks as the father...except for RDB, of course...


 Incorrect.

Nothing's wrong with me...I'm wearing a Joker shirt!  What's wrong with YOU?


No.  No no no no no.  Take this off immediately.

Beavis and Butthead Do India.  

Silly Aisha.  No one enjoys work.

Win.

Sneaky sneaky.


HULK SMASH.

Your guess is as good as mine on this one.  Digging the salmon though.

"Soooo Aisha, I'm wearing this spiffy Mr. Spaceman t-shirt..."

Joe failed.  Joe sad.

Sid wears approximately 57 different shirts in this movie but only two different pairs of boxers.  Hmmm.

Mumbai = Gotham.  Can't believe it took me this long to figure out.

Who you gonna call?  (Psst!  Ranbir!  Call ME!)

There's pretty much no color that this boy can't pull off.  And Tom and Jerry!  I love me some Tom and Jerry, those little rascals...


I think someone in the costume department is a Trekkie.  Just saying...

No cartoon characters--this is Sid's most formal interview t-shirt.

I pretty much expect to go to Mumbai and get a job that lets me wear random tshirts at work now.

And so is this shirt.

An homage to me, his American girlfriend.  Obviously.

Arms again.  Drool.

What a pretty shirt you've got there, chai-wallah.

It's cool Ranbir, I don't want guns either.  Peace love and understanding, baby.

The real beef between Sid and Rishi?  Sid got all the cool shirts and Rishi was mad jealous.

They call me Mellow Yellow...

This is like that scene in BILB where Jonathan Rhys-Meyers shows up at the Bhamras' house in his sexy white shirt and Pinky's all like "yeah?" and he's all like "hello" and I'm all like "melt."

Plaid?  Next thing you know he'll be living in Williamsburg and reading Hipster Hitler.

Dull, grey, and no cartoon characters?  Sid, man, I know you're depressed and lovesick but COME. ON.  You can do better than this.

On the one hand, he's wearing women's clothing.  On the other hand, his shirt is see through.  I'm gonna call this one a draw.

Jan 9, 2011

The Tweeple Film Awards

Wandering Twitter the past few days you may have noticed the #TwiFi hashtag floating around.  What's the deal?
It’s a Tweeple Choice Award – a truly democratic award that is Of the people, By the people and For the people, to honour the most deserving in Hindi Cinema 2010. It’s a movement started by film buffs on Twitter to counter the bullshit that ‘Bollywood’ film awards are.

 Yours truly is in the running to be one of the ten bloggers chosen to join established critics in selecting the real best of the best in Hindi cinema--if you're a fan of this blog I'd love your vote (you can vote for three bloggers!).

You need  a Twitter account to vote--cast your votes here!  Voting closes on Tuesday.  For a list of all the excellent bloggers in the running, as well as more information about the Tweeple Film Awards, check out their Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/TwiFiAwards

And make sure to follow the awards on Twitter for updates and results!  http://twitter.com/twi_fi_awards

Dec 29, 2010

The NY Daily News Is In Horrible Need of An Editor (And a Clue)

I don't have much to say on the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan/Elle "controversy," except that the entire cover looks washed out and I'm not willing to give Aish any props for having refused to endorse lightening creams when these ads are still out there for the world to see:




HOWEVER.  This morning the New York Daily News decided to tackle the topic.  Naturally the NY Daily News is a highly reputable (snicker) totally professional (chortle) error free (rollicking laughter) publication, but even so I was surprised (actually was I?  Hmm.) to see this crap floating around.



Let's talk about the three things that are wrong here.

1.  Her name is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.  Not Bachran.  This isn't just a typo, it was done consistently throughout the article and in the accompanying sidebar.  I was so frustrated by it that I had to tweet (TWEET! gah) a message to the NYDN to get them to fix it.  There's no excuse for misspelling a major celebrity's name--it's on the cover of the magazine in the picture they included for the story.  Can't spell her name?  Just look at the picture!  Lame.

2.  She did not "say she may take legal action" as the headline suggests.  The Times of India (in a typically obnoxious, vague, and poorly sourced article) said that "someone close to the actress" said that she was upset and "might do something."  The source never said she would sue and Aishwarya certainly has not given a quote to anyone about this.  So how about we try to be a bit more accurate in our headlines?

3.  "Consider" suing.  Not "conside" suing. That one was probably a legitimate typo but I'm feeling especially bitchy today.

Grumble grumble grrrr.
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