Candy: Drugs and a broken relationship

In most cultures, drugs are looked upon as being morally wrong. Through popular culture it is evident that civilised and well respected people are not associated with drug users who are seen in the light of being rundown and hopeless. The effects of drugs have been chronicled in a few films by showing hard-hitting consequences due to drug consumption. One of the few that took up the topic was the 2006 film Candy which starred Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish.

Dan and Candy are deeply in love. Dan is a poet and Candy is an artist but neither has produced any work for an extended period of time because of their addiction to heroin. From the beginning it is evident that Dan is a user and initiates Candy into drug use which becomes the base of their relationship. They do whatever is required to gain hold of enough money to buy heroin just so they can have their regular fix. As time progresses their addiction grows stronger and borrowing money does not cut it; soon they resort to stealing which later gives way to prostitution. They realise they have spiralled out of control and try quitting to no avail. In the hope of leaving their past behind them and starting a new life, they move to the country side and try leaving the world of drugs behind. But their past life and dependence on drugs catches up to them when Candy’s parents come to visit for a Sunday lunch. Dan realises that he brought Candy into this mess and watches helplessly in the hope that they can finally change their life.

Candy was the feature film debut for Neil Armfield in the directorial role. Apart from his directorial contribution, Armfield also wrote the screenplay for the film which was adapted from a novel by Luke Davies titled Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction. There aren’t too many standout points in terms of direction which is simple and realistic. One of the most important scenes in the film is when Dan and Candy isolate themselves after moving to a countryside bungalow in the hope of permanently quitting drugs. This scene was both shot and directed well as a continuous overhead shot was maintained over a three day time lapse in the film which depicted the pain the characters were undergoing at the time. The performances of the lead actors were quite good through most of the film as well. They were able to get into the skin of the character to display the emotion and physical agony which would be expected from someone who is detoxing from drugs.

The highlight of the film comes in the breakdown of the story. Most of the story is told from the perspective of the protagonist Dan who even narrates a few scenes. After the establishment of the relationship between the two lead characters, the plot is broken down into three main segments which is the course of their relationship and drug addiction. The three segments of the film are Heaven, Earth and Hell. In the segment called Heaven, the lives of the protagonists are comfortable. They are able to fend for themselves by borrowing and stealing money to take care of their drug addiction which is at a level of elation since they have plenty of drugs to manage their cravings. In the segment called Earth, they are faced with problems that an adult couple would normally face. They have stronger cravings for heroin and not enough money to satiate themselves which leads to the need for prostitution. The lack of money sees them losing their house and strains develop in their relationship. In the segment titled Hell, they find each other’s company and habits to be annoying. They are not able to stay at peace with their relatives and friends and find the need to ignore them for extended periods of time. Their drug problems are escalated here since they are attempting to give it up forever and find violent physical manifestations developing during their detox period.

The film has a stronger human angle than most other drug related movies. It shows real problems and human interactions which are caused due to drug problems. It proves that storytelling does not require shock value in order to be effective.

Dreamgirls: The emerging music business of Detroit through the eyes of one group

Looking back to when the popularity of recorded music was picking up steam in the 1950s and 1960s, there are many amazing stories that can be told based on the lives of the musicians who made it big as well as those who tried but failed for numerous reasons. In the strife of racial hate at the time, it was very difficult for African American (Black) musicians to establish themselves; yet, the ones that did were quite remarkably talented and paved the way for others besides giving the world amazing music and new ideals to live by. Hence, it only makes sense that the lives of one such set of musicians should be celebrated in a musical-drama film as was done in the 2006 movie Dreamgirls.

While struggling to get some form of recognition in the early 1960s through small talent shows, Effie White, Deena Jones and Lorell Robinson are signed by car salesman turned artist manager Curtis Taylor Jr. as a girl group called The Dreamettes to be the backing act of R&B singer James ‘Thunder’ Early. The Dreamettes gain fame and recognition and go on to be a successful act by themselves when James Early’s career fizzles out. Lead singer Effie falls in love with Curtis but both her personal and professional life take a hit when Curtis decides to appoint sexier looking Deena as the lead singer of the group. Effie quits the group and wallows in misery as The Dreamettes go on to make a bigger name for themselves completely unaware of the condition that their former best friend and partner is now living in.

The film, directed by Bill Condon, is an adaptation of a musical of the same name which ran on Broadway in the 1980s. The film uses fiction to chronicle the lives of various people in the music business in Detroit from 1950 until 1980. The story is a direct nod to the R&B group called The Supremes which was headed by Diana Ross. Certain record artworks which are shown in the film were similarly crafted to resemble those released by The Supremes. Other supporting characters in the film are also representational of real-life musicians who performed for the top R&B label Motown started by Berry Gordy Jr in 1959 which is directly represented by Rainbow records started by Curtis Taylor Jr. in the film.

Being a musical, it would be expected that the soundtrack of the film would be exceptional; and it is. Employing the voices of Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson for most of the songs, the soundtrack of the film is a heavenly experience for anyone who enjoys R&B and soul music. Other personnel who have lent their talents to the making of the soundtrack have also done a fabulous job to tie up an excellent musical experience for the viewer.

The movie is a fictional account of true events that occurred in the music business in America’s 1950s, particularly for African American musicians who had a difficult life. The plot and music are the standout points for the film which is the best one can hope for from a drama-musical.

Pan's Labyrinth: In the world of a little girl’s imagination

Imagination is one of the greatest gift human beings ever received. It is through imagination that we dare to dream, to create ideas that did not exist before, to think beyond ourselves and actually make things happen. Imagination can also be a brilliant defence mechanism or a way of escaping from our mundane lives when it becomes too much for us to handle. Especially for children, imagination is a great boon of keeping yourself entertained and possibly having an alternate world to go to when the difficulties of the current one seem overwhelming.

Ofelia is a young girl living with her pregnant mother in the fascist Spain of 1944. Her mother has remarried a tyrannical army officer and Ofelia must accompany her mother to her stepfather’s post in the middle of the forest where Ofelia’s mother will give birth to his son. Ofelia was always obsessed with fairy tales and when she comes across a fairy at the encampment, Ofelia is ever willing to follow her into the forest and through a labyrinth. After reaching the centre of the maze, she meets an old faun who tells her that she is the lost princess of a faraway land who has escaped into the human world and must complete three tasks to prove her royalty and return to her father, the king. Ofelia agrees to complete the tasks unaware of her mother’s troubled pregnancy and the impending war between the army commanded by her ruthless stepfather and the rebels who oppose him.

Pan’s Labyrinth was directed by Guillermo del Toro and released in the year 2006. Crafted with a style that brings about a balance between the real and the imagined, this drama-fantasy film has plenty of positive points and a livid script which can be quite confusing. The film lies in a grey patch between the realistic human world with the ongoing Second World War and the imagined world of the protagonist, Ofelia. Because of the dates and actual human timeline added to the plot, it becomes difficult to figure out if the magic and fairy tales told in the story are meant to be real or imagined by the protagonist. At the same time, with the magical events in the film that cannot be explained by rational thinking the audience can’t help but believe that the magical events are actually meant to be real and not just a figment of Ofelia’s imagination; an example of this would be Ofelia escaping from a locked room using a magic chalk given to her by the faun.

The film’s plot was intended by the director to be up to the explanation of the audience. By that definition, it gives the viewer plenty of opportunity to use their own imagination and rational thinking to decide their own understanding of the film.

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.

Babel: Four stories that spiral from one rifle

A film with a non-linear storyline is always intriguing to review, especially if it has been made well. Babel, the 2006 release of Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, has a non-linear plot which actually ties together four different storyline across four different countries in three continents. The effort of making four different stories, with individual protagonists, must be hard enough, but to see them have relevance to each other in a way that has them connected is quite a remarkable feat.

In the remote mountains of Morocco lives a poor goat herder with his family. In order to keep the jackals away from his flock, he has purchased a gun from a friend which he hands over to his sons as they take the goats out to graze on the mountains. The rifle is meant to be for the protection of the goats, but the kids have their own pissing contest as they aim a tourist bus traveling through the mountain pass. Richard Jones and his wife Susan are on a vacation in Morocco when tragedy strikes the couple. Susan is struck in the shoulder by a stray bullet and struggles to hang on to life as Richard fights his way to get her proper medical attention. Meanwhile in the United States of America, Amelia is tending to Richard’s children as he and his wife are away. Amelia is unable to find a babysitter for the children and is forced to take them along with her to Mexico to attend the wedding of her son where she has a run in with the law. In Japan, the deaf and mute girl Chieko is fed up of being ignored by boys her age because of her disability. She reaches the end of her wits as she tries to engage anyone who will be willing to sleep with her, just about the same time that police officers visit her home to interrogate her father.

Babel brings together tragedy in more forms than one. With themes of death, rejection, legality, police brutality, and more, it shocks the viewer out of a comfortable shell. It puts forward a drastic situation which leads to a ripple effect across different nations for individuals who are connected but entirely unaware of the fact. The film has both the drastic, as it deals with a hard-hitting issue as death, and the subtle, as it shows that rejection can be a big part of someone’s psychological changes.

The film has a plot-line which moves back and forth between the four stories. At some points in a particular story, it peaks before switching to the next story so as to leave a minor cliffhanger; at other times it solves the problem in a situation before cutting to the next story. It brilliantly portrays each protagonist in detail so the audience has an idea of what goes on in the head and heart of the character. Richard Jones, the American tourist and overall protagonist of the film, is a caring father who has to face a test to prove his love to his wife when tragedy strikes and their already rocky relationship meets a challenge. Yussef is just a poor boy living with his family in the mountains who faces turmoil as his family is ripped apart because of a single mistake made by him. Amelia is a loving old woman who takes care of the Jones children as if they were her own but is put in an unfortunate circumstance which she can’t manipulate and eventually leads to trouble for her and the people she cares about the most. Chieko is a deaf and mute teenager who wants to be treated as a normal girl despite her disability, but unfortunately finds that she has to do something drastic in order to enjoy her first sexual experience.

The fact that director Alejandro González Iñárritu has made all four stories revolve around and kick off from a single rifle is what holds the film together quite interestingly. There is a certain sense of anticipation with every new fact revealed in the film and every time the story cuts off and starts at another place. The non-linear format helps the script quite a bit since it builds up a level of anticipation. Even the performances put in by the actors are quite special.

Babel is an example of a butterfly effect, or ripple effect, where the plot takes off from one focal point to change multiple destinies. It is quite a special film which can be easily appreciated.

The Departed: A symphony between the mafia and police

Everyone loves a good mafia story, especially if it is done well. For a mafia based film, this requires a well written script which is matched with a great representation on film. We have seen many good mafia stories in the past but quite often they fall short of hitting the benchmark of being truly spectacular. This may be due to the fact that most people automatically put a gangster-mafia film on a pedestal, when in actual fact, it needs to be made well to become one of the ‘greats’.

The Departed is a mafia based drama film which covers two sides of a coin by portraying the atmosphere in both camps; the cops and the gangsters. Frank Costello is the kingpin of the Irish Mafia in Boston. He is feared in the city and receives tribute from every small and big business which helps him keep his reputation intact and run his side business of drug peddling. He takes Colin Sullivan under his wing as a kid and trains him to be an important asset for him. Colin eventually graduates from the police academy and joins the Massachusetts State Police to become an informant to Frank about how the police are running their investigations which helps Frank stay away from their radar. On the other side of the tracks, Billy Costigan also attempts to join the Massachusetts State Police on graduating from policy academy. Unfortunately for him, his family history is riddled with the who’s who of the city’s mafia which is known to his commanders. He is given the option of becoming an undercover officer in the mafia to work as an informant for the police about the mafia’s plans. Frank and the police both become increasingly aware of informants in their ranks and both try to smoke them out. The situation becomes grave for Colin and Billy as both try to keep their cover while exposing the other.

The Departed is a great film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay written by William Monahan. This film which was released in 2006 was based on a 2002 Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. The Departed is a gem of a film which shows all sides of the coin of law enforcement. It goes into depth for the three main characters and shows their development as the story progresses with the police informant getting unhinged, the mafia informant becoming increasingly paranoid and the head of the mafia being calm and collected. It shrouds the character of Madolyn in mystery, the psychiatrist who carries on relationships with both the informants while being unaware of who they really are until the end of the film.

The film has a certain sweet symphony to it, especially during the main action sequence which sees a standoff between the police and the mafia. It shows both the emotions and the mental state of the characters as they chase down each other being entirely unaware of who they are but the audience knowing their true identities. Every close call for the characters in the film is a skipped heartbeat for the audience. The title of the film comes from the death of a subsidiary character and in hindsight, there is a bittersweet way in which it ties to the end of the film.

Scorsese has also taken the opportunity to pay tribute and show his audience what influences and drives him. The multiple mentions of Sigmund Freud and his theories show that Scorsese has respect for his ideas and put them in the film. He has also used a quotation by John Lennon which shows his background and interest in music. This is also reflected in the background music which involves music from Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and others. The music was selected in collaboration with a close friend of his, Robbie Robertson, a member of the band called The Band and the use of the song I’m Shipping Up to Boston by Dropkick Murphys features heavily in the film.

Scorsese brings impeccable style to all his films. Although he does not have a particular recurring style in every one of his films, each film has a unique identity to set it apart. The use of music to coincide with the events of the film and the edits to go along with the music are a part of Scorsese’s style and can be seen evidently in this film.

The Departed is one of Scorsese’s best works. It is a must watch film for lovers of mafia-themed films and those who enjoy good cinema.