The Descendants: A simple story of a complicated life

Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. We never know what life has in store for us but we carry on living and hoping to move on the path that we set for ourselves. But sometimes we fail to realise the little things in life where we should be paying attention. Working hard and focusing on a job might guarantee a successful career but also results in the loss of a happy family life. This is exactly the case in the 2011 film The Descendants which was directed by Alexander Payne and stars George Clooney.

Matt King is a lawyer who works hard and spends most of the hours of the day in his office. He barely sees his family which results in his daughters being emotionally disjointed from him and causes his wife, Elizabeth, to take up dangerous sports to keep herself occupied. One such activity results in a boating accident which lands his wife in the hospital with a coma in a critical condition. Matt struggles to cope with this tragedy as he tries to bring his family and friends together and keep them wary of the fact that they may never see Elizabeth again. Matt is also a land baron of a huge family property which was passed down through many generations of his family who are native to the islands of Hawaii. Matt is tasked with the job of signing off on a deal that will take the property away from his extended family and into the hands of foreign investors, something which no Hawaiian wants to see happen. Matt must make some difficult decisions as he learns new truths about his wife and struggles to cope with her condition and the rest of his life.

The film moves at a slow pace as the story unfolds itself. The plot has an appeal which makes it seem like a real story that could happen to anyone. The film has many comedic moments. In spite of dealing with grave topics, the film has a light tone which allows the audience to relax every now and then. The humour is a blend of deadpan and black which is subtle throughout the film. The use of traditional Hawaiian style music adds to the feel of the film as well.

Although the film does come across as boring, if one sits down to watch it from start to finish, the film is quite a nice story of difficult decisions to be made in life.

Little Children: Tales of people who are forever young

Little Children is a film which is entirely about children. It seems a bit tricky to land up at that conclusion, especially considering that there is no child who is a protagonists or even a supporting character in the plotline; but in some way or the other, children are the focus of this 2006 film which was directed by Todd Field. So, it seems appropriate that the film, and novel it was scripted from, would be named Little Children.

Sarah Pierce is the mother of a 3 year old who is uncomfortable in her own skin. Her daughter is a jovial little girl who gets along fine with other children and adults but Sarah somehow seems to lack the natural maternal instincts which would endear her daughter to her and make her in-sync with her every need. On the other hand, Brad is a stay-at-home dad who is an aspiring lawyer but is unable to clear the bar exam. He takes his little son to the park where the other mothers ogle him but are too shy to talk to him. Sarah is dared to get Brad’s number on one such visit and she complies by getting Brad to hug her before they decide to completely freak the other mothers out and lock lips. The split second of contact is enough to send both their lives whirling as they are unable to think of anything other than each other for the next few weeks and eventually end up having an affair. On the other side of town, Ronnie McGorvey has recently returned from a 2 year term in prison for indecent exposure to a minor and is being harassed by former police officer, Larry Hedges, who is adamant on making Ronnie’s life a living hell.

The script for the film is adapted from a novel of the same name. The script was written by director Todd Field and author of the novel, Tom Perrotta. The use of narration in the film makes up for the lack of being able to see into the mind of the characters. The narration by Will Lyman features a deep voice to give a background on the character’s thoughts while also adding to the tone of the film, which in some parts is almost comical, owing especially to the narration. The narration also makes the film more endearing to the audience since the film otherwise has a very distant effect. Other techniques used in the film include a split screen during a telephone conversation to show the actions and reactions of people on both sides of the line simultaneously and an opening montage of shots taken of clay figurines of children, a way of establishing in the beginning of the film that the crux of the film revolves around little children.

The film has its ebbs and surges with a slow moving script which takes time to establish the characters and then speeds up as the action takes place to end with a seemingly rushed conclusion which leaves many questions about the final resolve of the characters and how each of them arrive at their individual conclusions which seem obtuse from their character sketches. Mainly, the film is about children who are the heroes of the story. While children by themselves are key to the plot, since they bring two main characters together and, in another instance, are cause for a rift between two people, the idea of a child being in each one of us is a subtle influence in the plot. The idea of a mother who is unable to figure out her own child because she hasn’t grown up enough to be a mother or a man wasting his time watching teenagers skate instead of studying for his exam and establishing his career, or a man being intent on bullying another man as a sense of retribution for his own crimes in the past, all are signs of growing old but not growing up.

Not a great film but an amiable film. It has its moments and its elements which make it stand out from the clutter of ordinary drama films.

Burlesque: Small town girl dreams of the big city life

Musicals are always fun to watch. The infusion of song, and occasionally dance, in a film lends a different tone to what would otherwise be perceived as merely drama, romance, comedy or whatever other genre it falls under.  Many musical films of the past have been declared as classics and few of which have been created recently can be seen as tributes. But, one of the interesting styles which have been adopted in recent musical films is that of stage performances; particularly cabret and burlesque.

Ali is working as a waitress in a small town diner with dreams of making it large as a singer or dancer in a big city. She abruptly quits her job and leaves for Los Angeles with no plan for the future but no hint at looking back either. After scanning through classified advertisements and being turned down at very job, she finds herself standing outside the doors of a burlesque club. She is enticed to walk in and finds the atmosphere enthralling. She begs the owner, Tess, for a job as a performer but her only respite is a position as a waitress which is given to her by the bartender Jack. She tends to the customers, flirts with Jack - who is engaged - and learns the routines of the female performers until she finally gets her big break in the form of one of the performers getting pregnant. Her brilliant audition gets her the job and eventually lands her in the spotlight after her boss decides to model the entire show on her ability to sing. Ali begins to shine in the limelight but makes an enemy by taking the headliner spot away from Nikki. She also receives attention from Marcus who is trying to buy the club away from Tess as she risks foreclosure. Ali has to struggle between her love for Jack, her awe for Marcus, her loyalty to Tess and her rivalry with Nikki to come out on top at the end.

Burlesque is a 2010 musical film which was written and directed by Steve Antin. The film was the debut for lead actress Christina Aguilera while the rest of the cast had relevant experience in acting in Hollywood films, television shows and other entertainment platforms. The other actors include Cher, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Eric Dane, Dianna Agron, Julianne Hough, Kristen bell and others. Aguilera as the star of the film does a decent job. Her acting skills are limited but she does put on a good show with her singing and her dance performances. While Aguilera has sung most of the songs in the film, the vocals of two songs were provided by the mature voice of Cher.

Unfortunately, the only element in the film that stood out was the music and performances. The story of the film is a terrible cliché. It features a small town girl who is trying to make it big in the city while struggling with her personal life and love triangle; a concept which is done to the death. The finale of the film can be guessed from the very first dialogue itself which leaves the entire experience of watching the film to be a bust.

If someone were to watch the film only for the songs and performances, it would still be a terrible disappointment and waste of time. This film does not rank anywhere in the realm of a tribute and doesn’t do much for the audience. Not one to be watched over and over again; or at all for that matter.

Project X: It’s all about one epic party

What would you wish for if all your dreams could come true? If you had one chance to set everything right into place the way you wanted it, would you take the chance no matter the risk, no matter the outcome? It is kind of a story of life to take your chances and hope that everything falls into place the way you want it to. That is the story of Project X, the 2012 directorial debut of Nima Nourizadeh which was co-written by Matt Drake and Michael Bacall and produced by Todd Phillips.

Thomas is a nobody in high school. The jocks make fun of him and he is afraid to lift his head from fear of ridicule and failure. His two best friends decide to throw him a party for his 17^th birthday on the weekend that his parents leave town to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Costa is the loud mouthed, obnoxious teenager who is always in praise of himself while putting others down while J.B. is the soft spoken, naive one who goes along with the ride and plays the game. Costa convinces Thomas to let him host a huge party at his house and everything gets blown out of proportion as the crowd turns out to be larger than anticipated. The hosts struggle to keep the party going as the party poopers come knocking on the door to shut down their shenanigans.

The film is about an introverted high school teenager who wants to be noticed. It is about a group of friends trying to make a name for themselves by throwing a huge party and hoping that everything goes according to plan. Although the drastic scale to which the event goes out of control is well beyond the bounds of imagination, the final outcome is a sort of morbid perfection. It is a case where things just seem to perfectly work out in favour of the characters, the script and the director. The way that things just seem to fit into place at the end isn’t particularly believable but it is acceptable all the same.

The entire plot of the film revolves around the party. The main action takes place during the course of the party with everything preceding and following it being only a set up or an outcome in the plot which is a direct relation to the event of the birthday party. As such, the whole plot rests entirely on the way the party was executed in the film. The use of home video style footage was a refreshing technique to make the film interesting and is generally appealing. The actors, who are relatively unknown, have done a good job to make the characters endearing.

The film is all about one epic party. And the proportion to which the film takes it is marvellous. It is a youth-oriented film; not one that all ages will necessarily enjoy. It is fun and vibrant but applauds behaviour that is otherwise considered as morally wayward. Although most would probably enjoy this commercial production, quite a few may have an alternate opinion.

Why We Fight: A look at USA’s aggressive military policies

There is one common theme which can be witnessed to be present in all of the world’s recorded history. This theme is war. War arises, mostly, due to conflict of interests and in defence of certain ideas. As humans, we are bound to have our own ideas and be loyal to them and defend them, this ultimately creates a conflict of interests and on the larger scale, between countries for example, such a problem can lead to a war.

Why We Fight is a 2005 documentary which takes a retrospective perspective of America’s involvement in many large wars over a period of six decades since the end of the Second World War. The documentary was directed by Eugene Jarecki and features many interviews with top correspondents and former officials from the American military, aids to Congress, armament manufacturers and other significant personalities. It also includes stock footage of various past Presidents of the United States of America including Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Bill Clinton and George Bush. The documentary also features personal bytes from a Vietnam veteran who lost his son in the 9/11 attacks, two stealth fighter pilots who dropped the first bombs in Baghdad at the start of the 2003 Iraq war and a young man who has volunteered for the American military service. Most of the documentary features the policy making agenda of the American Congress which leads to America’s ever increasing involvement in wars, particularly the Iraq war in 2003. The documentary also has snippets of interviews with locals from Iraq about their thoughts on America and their involvement in the political affairs of their country.

The documentary’s main focus is President Eisenhower’s farewell speech which warns the American people of the military-industrial complex which in foresight appears to have been fulfilled. Eisenhower was increasingly aware that America’s military growth would lead to growing need for ammunitions which would increase the competition among arms manufacturing companies which would eventually increase jobs resulting to a complex that would not be viable to shut down. Since the end of World War II and America’s growing need of acquiring arms, the United States has participated in a major war in practically every decade under the stewardship of a different president. The documentary focuses mainly on the most recent war which is the Iraq war in 2003 which was first attributed as retribution for the 9/11 attack on America but then later swept under the carpet as a move to end an oppressive regime and bring democracy to the country. The documentary also focuses on America’s policy-making decisions which change phenomenally with every new president and especially their foreign policy of pre-emptive strikes. America’s policy of pre-emptive strikes can be defined as declaration of war against a country which might in the future declare war upon its neighbouring countries or which have the capability of launching a full military operation which may be counterproductive to America’s ideals.

The documentary begins from a neutral standpoint by merely gathering facts and placing them together. Through the interviews of officials and stock footage of the past presidents, the documentary brings different viewpoints into the mix for an overall perspective. As the documentary starts to focus on the topic of the Iraq war, the perspective of the documentary gradually shifts towards being a propagandist film. Through the viewpoints of the interviews conducted, the documentary speaks about America’s rash use of explosives and the carless attitude of its military in treatment of civilian lives in the war zones. Although the documentary does use bytes from both sides of the argument, towards the latter stage of the film, the criticism of America’s use of military power takes stage.

The main premise of the documentary is to unearth America’s military policies and the reasons for America’s increasing involvement in major wars which have occurred since the end of the Second World War. The documentary continuously poses one simple question which forms the title of the documentary, why do we fight?