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.

Dogma: Comical loopholes in religious text

Humour is generally accepted as an open platform to criticise serious topics through lighter mediums. Most people will accept humour as a tongue-in-cheek method of portraying a point of view or ignore it as a baseless statement made for the pure benefit of harmless fun. However when humour tends to touch upon a nerve that may be above reproach of criticism, it may be a problem if it isn’t dealt with in a respectful manner. Kevin Smith’s 1999 release titled Dogma is a humourous portrayal of the Christian faith and the Catholic Church which probably sits in the league of sensitive comedies since it may upset quite a few sensibilities.

Bethany is an abortion clinic worker who is having a crisis of faith after issues with her infertility led to her divorce. She is looking for a way to rekindle her joy in religion which she once felt when she was a young girl. Elsewhere Bartleby and Loki, two fallen angels who were banished from heaven by God, have found a loophole in Catholic dogma which will allow them to re-enter Heaven if they pass through the gates of a church in New Jersey which will absolve them of all their sins. Unknown to Bartleby and Loki, they may accidentally cause the destruction of existence by entering the gates of the church and disobeying the word of God. An angel appears to Bethany and tasks her on a mission to find and stop Bartleby and Loki from fulfilling their goal. The angel informs Bethany that she will be assisted by two self-proclaimed prophets on her journey. Refusing at first, Bethany changes her stance when she is attacked by three demons and rescued by Jay and Silent Bob, the same prophets she was informed about previously. Embarking on the mission together, Bethany, Jay and Silent Bob face hardships and foes along the way while meeting other folk who help them with their journey.

Written and directed by Kevin Smith, this film takes on the religious doctrines put forward by the most popular religion in the world, and particularly its most widely accepted sect. The title of the film is Dogma which itself speaks of the most popular subject the film deals with. Like most of Smith’s other works, this film is also primarily a comedy. Smith has a particular style with his comedy films which borders on blue humour i.e. comedy involving topics such as sexism, racism, religion etc. This film dissects his views on the dogmas of religion and the Catholic Church with humourous twists and turns in the plot. Smith is also known to adopt character based comedy which carries on in this film as well with the recurrence of his funniest characters titled Jay and Silent Bob.

The film isn’t a laugh riot from start to finish but it is amusing to watch Smith take on the Catholic Church and put forward his own views through the medium of his film. Quite a few scenes provide a laugh out loud experience. The portrayal of God as a female flower child doing handstands is hilarious while the ease with which Silent Bob deals with the disgusting excremental demon also calls for a chuckle. The gullibility of Jay asking for sex in every other scene is also amusing as are the few words muttered by Silent Bob which are anticipated throughout the course of the film. Other funny moments in the film include the insinuation that Jesus was Black and racism prevailed over religious text, the idea that God loves playing skee ball and occasionally takes human form to participate in the activity and the hilarity of a cardinal who does away with the traditional crucifix to introduce the new ‘Buddy Christ’ in the hope of bringing the new generation closer to the Church.

The film does not slander the religion it focuses on neither does it rank any religion above or below others. It is just a funny outlook on the state of religion at the moment and what it was initially intended to be.

Peter Pan: Disney’s classic rendition of the boy that refused to grow up

From the many stories that we learn in our childhood, very few stand out and stay with us for the rest of our lives. We forget most stories as other things take the front seat in our lives and we put seemingly less important thoughts and ideas on the back burner until the point that we forget about them or they hold no precedence at all. But the stories that do get stamped in our memory forever leave us with a sense of fondness every time we think of them again. One such story was that of Peter Pan which was materialised into a film by Walt Disney in the year 1953.

Wendy Darling lives in a beautiful home in London where she is well taken care of by her parents as are her two younger brothers, John and Michael. Wendy has a maternal instinct to take care of her brothers and occasionally boss them around which they do not mind at all especially since she tells them bedtime stories about their favourite hero Peter Pan. As described by Wendy, Peter lives on the island of Never Land with his gang of Lost Boys, all of whom are constantly at war with the pirates headed by Captain Hook. The captain is so named because his left hand was replaced by a hook after Peter cut it off and fed it to a crocodile. One night John and Michael get their father riled up which leads him to decide that it is time for Wendy to forget her foolishness and grow up. Wendy pleads with her father that she doesn’t want to forget about Peter Pan because she is in possession of his shadow and must return it to him. Later that night Peter pays Wendy and her brothers a visit in order to retrieve his shadow and decides to take them with him to Never Land to meet his Lost Boys, the pirates, native Americans, mermaids and the lot.

Of the many films that Walt Disney commissioned in his time, Peter Pan is one of the most important as it tells the tale of a boy who refuses to grow up because of his love for youth and desire to remain a child; not unlike Disney’s own affection for children which led him to build his massive empire. The title character Peter Pan has a balance between innocence – which is shown in his lack of knowledge about a mother but desire to have one – and a naughty persona which is evident since he cuts off Captain Hook’s hand and feds it to a crocodile which sparks off a rivalry between the two. The most important factor of Peter’s character is his desire to stay a child forever and reluctance to grow up. As the narrator points out at the start of the film, it is a tale which has happened before and will happen again because Peter is the constant fixation in the story that never changes and always remains the same. He is a child who loves adventure and has a fascination for being independent but also wants to be cared for.

The protagonist of the film in truth is the character of Wendy who has a wide range of imagination but strong maternal instincts which leads her to not only care for her own brothers but also take on the role of being a mother for the Lost Boys. She is realistic and responsible as she prevents Peter from getting into too much mischief and mistreating Captain Hook. She is also capable of being stern when it is required as she shows when she commands her brothers and the Lost Boys to behave appropriately.

Peter Pan is the fantasy that everyone hopes to be when growing up. The ability to be careless about the rest of the world and live how one wants to live is lost once the process of ‘growing up’ is initiated. The problem with living a Peter Pan kind of life is that sooner or later reality has a tendency of catching up and we have to be responsible for ourselves and our actions.

It is difficult to find fault with a story that we have grown up learning and hold dear to heart. Even if there may be one or two flaws with this particular film adaptation, they are sooner or later overlooked considering it is a children’s tale based on imagination. It is a classic without a doubt.

It Might Get Loud: Documenting a unique perspective on the guitar

The guitar is an instrument which has single-handedly transformed music over generations. Depending on the modifications to the instrument itself and the additional effects and amplification it is set up with, countless sounds can be produced from the guitar which has lead to experimentation and emergence of innumerable genres of music and their variations. The musician also matters when it comes down to splendid music because it is only the most skilled guitarists who can produce truly spectacular music from the instrument. It is probably these factors put together that convinced director Davis Guggenheim to make the documentary titled It Might Get Loud.

The documentary opens with Jack White hammering nails on a plank of wood on a farm, plugging it into an amplifier and producing music from it. This is followed by the opening credits which introduce the musicians in the documentary: Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page. A few excerpts from each musician reveals that they are about to meet at a warehouse and what they expect to learn or establish during the course of their discussion. The discussion, held on 23^rd January 2008, was the culmination of the film where the three musicians were brought together to discuss their views with regard to the guitar, each of them being a representative of a different generation and style of music but each being masters in their own right. The documentary was shot over several days before the actual meeting where each musician explained their origins and influences. This footage is spliced between the recordings of the discussion every now and then as the occasion calls for it. The finale of the documentary has the three musicians performing an impromptu acoustic cover of the song The Weight by the group The Band.

Director Davis Guggenheim covers different aspects to the musical instrument which is in the focus of the documentary. He chooses to tell the story through the eyes and words of the three musicians he is interviewing by allowing them to speak of their journey in music which automatically tells the story of the guitar’s timeline over many decades. He follows each musician as they retrace their roots and how they established themselves as the best in the world in a way that is endearing but voyeuristic at the same time. The audience is left in awe of the musician but also able to understand their modest beginnings and rise to fame.

The documentary is segmented into different chapters which chronicle the journey of music as a whole and the transformation of the guitar as well. The segmentation is also based on each musician’s personal experience as they talk about forming a band and breaking away from popular musical styles of their time to be pioneers in rock music. Each artist speaks of influential musicians who impressed them and talk about their own experiences when writing their own music. They speak in detail about their individual guitar playing style and what drives them to constantly strive to be better. During the course of the documentary, each musician picks out one of their songs and teaches the others how to play them to share a moment with their fellow musicians.

It Might Get Loud is a unique concept which documents the world’s favourite musical instrument through the eyes of three men who have mastered techniques to playing it. It is an interesting documentary as a whole but exceptionally enjoyable for rock music lovers.

I.D.: Football hooliganism and the loss of identity

Everyone has their own unique identity. It is something that defines each one of us and makes us stand out from everyone around us. It stems from what we like, love and hate, the culture we were raised in, the people we interact with and much more than that. Every breathing moment our identity changes minutely because of what we experience and this ultimately defines the person that we are and the person that we will become.

England in the 1980s has tremendous problems when it comes to hooliganism; particularly football hooliganism which stems from jingoistic support for favourite clubs and results in violence and uncouth behaviour on the streets. In the Shadwell district, police officer John and his team is assigned to infiltrate the firm (gang of football hooligans) of the local football club Shadwell FC to bring down the top dogs of the group and put an end to the violence. In order to do so, John and his three colleagues are required to go undercover and win over the trust of some of the most aggressive men from the district. Somehow they manage to join the firm but in his attempts to bring down the perpetrators, John begins to empathise with the villains. He faces a big challenge when he is close to completing his mission but actually losing himself in the bargain.

I.D. was commissioned by BBC Films to showcase football hooliganism. It is a period film set in the 1980s and was directed by Philip Davis for a release in 1995. While the film shows the darker side of supporting the beautiful game of football, it really is about a person losing his own identity in one that he has made up for himself. It involves no mental condition or disorientation of any sort, it is purely about a police officer getting too close to his case and adopting his undercover persona for himself as he starts to empathise with the criminals. Unfortunately he loses out on his regular personal life as his wife and friends abandon him when they are unable to understand the change in his personality and he refuses to listen to reason as they try to connect with him. Eventually, he indulges his character so far that he crosses the line and has to face the repercussions.

Football hooliganism has been documented in many films in different forms. Some films focus on the passion of the supporters while others highlight the fact that hooliganism stems from the need for them to do something with their lives to make it less monotonous. This film touches upon the fact that hooliganism grows out of a mutual hatred for rivals which either first starts in the game and then lands up on the streets or the other way around where social hatred results in hooliganism and ultimately courses through every part of their lives including football. Unfortunately, most of the films and documentaries that focus on football and football hooliganism do not attain mainstream commercial success in spite of the popularity of the game. Likewise, this film did not receive much praise when indeed it should have.

Instead of focusing solely on the sport and the passion for it, this film focuses on the individuals that love the sport. It is more of a character story and appeals to a wide audience.

Silver Linings Playbook: A rom-com tale of a bipolar man

Rarely do films depicting mental illness manage to do justice to real life situations that a mentally unstable person would go through. The norm in films when it comes to portraying a mentally challenged individual is to show them constantly upset, overreacting to simple situations with anger and attempts to show what the character is going through by use of graphic visuals which are meant to represent disorientation. Few films really fair well when it comes to handling characters with mental stability problems.

After spending eight months in a mental asylum to be treated for his bipolar disorder, Pat Solitano is released under condition that his parents will tend to his every need and keep him out of harm’s way. Having dedicated the better part of the eight months on losing weight and shaping up, Pat decides to carry on his workout routine outside the asylum in the hope that his wife would take him back on his release. Unfortunately, a violent incident prior to his hospitalisation resulted in his wife getting a restraining order against him and moving away from the neighbourhood in his absence. He reconciles with his best friend Ronnie and is invited over for dinner where he meets Tiffany. The widow of a recently deceased cop, Tiffany has some mental problems of her own which forms the basis of her friendship with Pat. They soon strike up a deal where Pat will partner Tiffany in a dance competition for her help in communicating with his wife in the hope that she will take him back.

Silver Linings Playbook was adapted from a novel titled The Silver Linings Playbook which draws its name from the protagonist mentioning the silver lining on every dark cloud every time he is faced with a challenging situation and his discussions with his therapist who insists he start making a playbook by which to live his life. It was written for screen as well as directed by David O. Russell. The film is mostly a drama which borders on the edges of a romantic-comedy.

The protagonist is established as a mentally ill person from the beginning. Unfortunately this paves the way for recurring aggressive behaviour throughout the film on his part. Although he is shown to have bipolar disorder he shows very few traits of the disorder itself; he does not seem to have constant mood swings between depression and happiness. Instead he seems to have violent outbreaks when things don’t go his way. Another unnecessary feature is the love interest of the protagonist also having a mental condition. The film seems to propagate a belief that mentally unstable people can only get along with other mentally disturbed people.

The story is easy to predict from the first instance that protagonist Pat meets his future love interest Tiffany. Unfortunately the story doesn’t gradually progress in the direction of the obvious. Pat is seen to be deeply in love with his wife the entire time that he is rehearsing for a dance competition with Tiffany. At the end of the film we suddenly find that Pat, who has been obsessing over his wife the whole film, realises that he isn’t really in love with her in a convenient climax.

The film doesn’t have too many ebbs and surges in the plot. It is mostly a drama with very few instances of dry wit humour. The only refreshing point of the film is the humour which is sparse unfortunately. That aside, the film is quite dry and depicts mentally unstable people far too stereotypically.

Django Unchained: A role reversal on slavery and a bloodlust quencher

Everyone learns from experience. To watch, hear and read is an important part of how we reproduce material in our own way. Paying homage to those that inspire and influence us comes naturally when we have reached a certain pedestal and want to show our gratitude. It was probably the same sentiment which influenced Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film Django Unchained which shows heavy influence of an erstwhile film style, the Spaghetti Western.

The year is 1858 and it is approximately two years before the American Civil War. Django is a black slave in southern America who is about to be sold off in one of the biggest slavery auctions in the land. While being escorted the convoy is intercepted by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist. Schultz bargains with the two brothers who own the slaves and when the discussion turns sour, Schultz kills one of the brothers and strong-arms the other to sell him Django. Schultz later confides in Django and admits that he is a bounty hunter looking for some men that only Django can identify. They agree to make a deal where Django will help Schultz claim his bounty in return for his freedom. Django himself confides in Schultz about his wife Broomhilda and they make another deal for Django to be his deputy in return for Schultz’s aid in freeing Django’s wife. They discover that Broomhilda is owned by Calvin Candie, a ruthless plantation owner who has a knack for violence. Together they hitch a plan to free Broomhilda from Candie’s snare.

The film was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Based on the prominent slavery problem in southern America in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, this film divulges from historical accuracies as the plot takes its own route. The central peg of the film is slavery, flesh trade and the general mistreatment of black people before the American Civil War in 1861. The protagonist of the film is named Django, a black man who joins forces with a German to hunt down and kill his former owners and the current owner of his wife. It is implausible that a black man would be allowed to go about hunting down and killing powerful white men across the southern states at a time when black people were treated horribly for no fault of their own. The film’s historical inaccuracies are a major downfall for the plot.

The film is clearly an homage to Spaghetti Westerns. Tarantino is well known for his action sequences involving gunfights and Mexican standoffs. He takes it a step forward in this film with extremely violent gunfights which are peculiar of Spaghetti Westerns. Also reminiscent of the genre are the characters in the film – southern Americans who dress in suits and speak with a distinct accent. The portrayal of the characters as cowboys is also picked up from westerns with the protagonist riding a horse, carrying a pistol and wearing a hat most of the time. The soundtrack of the film, one of the most defining features of a Spaghetti Western, is also a nod to the genre with similar music being implemented. However, few songs stray away from the typical Spaghetti Western style every now and then with the usage of rap and hip hop which leads to the film breaking out of character.

There are moments when the film seems to drag on with the exhaustive plot. There are many slow moments of conversation which seem partially inconsequential to the main plot. However, one of these breakaway moments does produce a moderately amusing scene as Tarantino takes a pot-shot at the stupidity of the Ku Klux Klan and their initiation of white hats. Tarantino himself appears in this scene briefly, as is his director trademark. He also returns later in the film as a slave owner who comes across the protagonist and wants to help him. Another trademark of Tarantino’s directorial style is the use of grotesque gunfight sequences and with the liberties that Spaghetti Westerns allow, he went all out in the penultimate action sequence in an attempt to make a blood splatter analyst’s job as difficult as possible. The blood splatter in this sequence is particularly hard to comprehend with the walls getting painted red with every gunshot that hits a human body; quite unnecessary apart from just being a director indulging himself. The actor-director relationship between Christoph Waltz and Tarantino does seem to be growing with this film as the actor provides a breath of fresh air with his performance. Leonardo DiCaprio also does a stellar job in his respective role.

Django Unchained has a slow moving plot and a confusing character which is neither Spaghetti Western nor contemporary. The film has its boring moments, is historically inaccurate, fairs moderately as a tribute and just seems to be a finished product of a filmmaker indulging himself with as many uses of the word ‘nigger’ as possible.