Tag Archives: Cast Away

Trapped (2017)

Trapped Review

written by Souranath Banerjee

Up above the sky so high, invisible to the world, you cry, whisper and sigh!   

My Ratings: 4.1/5

When was the last time you were in a spot where there was no food and water – like literally – ultimate survival crisis – and you have to hunt animals for food and go ‘Morarji-Desai’ for your drink?

I know what you will say – that such extreme situations are only for the celluloid; like the shipwrecked Tom Hanks in Cast Away, marooned in an island with no company other than the mute round-faced Wilson; then there was this young James Franco who accidentally put his leg in-between some boulders and sat stuck Trapped-Poster-5alone for 127 Hours. I think WALL·E also did a decent job, forlorned up in the space – but then, he didn’t get much hungry or thirsty, if you know what I mean!

Now what if someone gets ‘trapped’ in an apartment, an ordinary flat in a multystored and otherwise uninhabited building, right in the middle of the concrete urban jungle (say around Mumbai’s Prabhadevi area); cooped up for days, without food, water, phone or electricity, entirely cut off from the outer world – with a birds-eye view of the entire city but still invisible to everyone!

This is exactly what happened to Shaurya (Rajkummar Rao), when he by a twist of fate gets locked inside an apartment in a high-rise, without any hope of ever getting rescued!

Trapped-Poster-1And the most scary part in the film comes from the sensation that it can actually happen to any of us so called ‘city-people’ out here!

Salute to the writers Amit Joshi and Hardik Mehta for such a brilliant idea and script. And then what a marvellous ‘jugalbandhi’ from director Vikramaditya Motwane and performer Rajkummar Rao!

National Award winning actor Rajkummar Rao was outstanding in the film. The combination of Rao’s boy-next-door looks and his brilliant portrayal of someone desperate for survival is what makes the film so real.

And for director Mr.Motwane, with only one character to tell his story, that too pinned in one location, he still managed to successfully Trapped-Poster-3grasp the attention of the audience till the very end!

Another very interesting human psychology portrayed in the film is that, when someone is in the brink of possible extinction, it is the general human tendency to discover an unfamiliar longing for some of the most banal things in their lives.

For example in the film, Shaurya trapped for days, often hallucinating from stress and malnourishment, never desired or yearned for anything particularly unique or remarkable. Rather he wished to relive those regular day to day events; his journey to the office in those overcrowded Mumbai local trains packed with sweaty co-passengers, those crammed up buses with irritating conductors, a simple plate of pav-bhaji with a dash of butter on top – in the time of an inevitable Trapped-Poster-4catastrophe the most ordinary things from our life become so special and desirable!

Geetanjali Thapa, in the short role as the love of Shaurya’s life was commendable, though honestly I thought her character wasn’t really required in the film other than the simple incentive for Shaurya to hunt for a place.

Siddharth Diwan‘s cinematography makes the film look very real while Nitin Baid‘s editing keeps it crisp and to the point. Alokananda Dasgupta‘s music works well, very subtle and used only when required. 

I just thank God, Shaurya has musophobia (fear of rats) and not vertigo (fear of heights), or else, it would have all gone down pretty worse!

Poster courtesy: www.moviescut.com

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Swiss Army Man Review

written by Souranath Banerjee

A bit over-glorified but then again, certainly the most eccentric film of this year! 

My Ratings: 3.6/5

Some films have pretty weird storylines (in Hollywood standard) but a rare few can really define the word ‘weird’ in its true context, and Swiss Army Man is one such film.

A young man named Hank (Paul Dano) gets stranded in an island all alone – yup, exactly like Tom Hanks in Cast Away but instead of a swiss-army-man-posterfloating Volleyball named Wilson, Hank gets a farting dead-body named Manny (Daniel Radcliffe)!

A dead-body who soon starts talking!

But then again, Manny is not just any ordinary talking-dead-body.

He is an unique multipurpose friendly-body who farts away on water like a speed-boat, his penis can be used as a compass, his fingers for lighting fire, his vomit as pure drinking water and he can also spit out things with superhuman velocity!

Didn’t I tell you in the beginning that this would be a very weird 1hr 37 min journey?

And so, Manny the super talented dead-body gets very friendly with Hank and tries his best to make Hank survive and return to swiss-army-man-poster1humanity or what we in general refer to as the ‘normal’!

Being a satire on our current society, writer/director duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert through their over the top loud gags and often pretty gross comic situations does manage to give us some deep imbedded messages through their film Swiss Army Man

Acting is superb, specially of Daniel Radcliffe as the dead body!

Imaginative, often really humorous and even cinematic, overall, Swiss Army Man is a film that embraces the absurdity and irrationality around us and makes us question and redefine our current social scenario (to some extent).

A decent one time watch if you can survive the repetitive dead-farts till the end!

Poster courtesy: www.impawards.com.

The Walk (2015)

The Walk review

written by Souranath Banerjee

My Ratings: 4.2/5

Viewers who have vertigo will want a refund for their tickets!

How must it feel to be on the top of the world (literally); high above the sky so high with the wind and the silence as your only companions, the power of determination, the beauty of an incredible imagination becoming reality, and finally a few moments of Zen?

There is only one man who has the answer to the above question – Mr. Philippe Petit.

philippe-petit-posterIn his stunning book ‘To reach the clouds’ (originally published in 2002) Philippe Petit describes his daring experience as a tightrope walker who made eight crossings within one hour between the Twin towers of America (World Trade Center) on 7th August 1974.

That day, more than 100,000 people watched this incredible feat of unimaginable audacity as French street-performer Philippe Petit’s childhood dream comes true!

In his own words ‘People ask me “Why do you risk death?”. For me, this is life.’

In 2008, James Marsh‘s brilliant documentary Man on Wire was released, based on the same event – Philippe Petit’s 1974 history-making-sky-walk in New York.

walk-poster2And finally, it’s time for the biopic.

Director Robert Zemeckis best known for Who Framed Roger Rabbitthe Back to the Future series and also for his collaboration with actor Tom Hanks in films like Forrest Gump and Cast Away comes up this year with his spectacular tightrope-walker biopic, named simply The Walk.

Now the problem with biopics (specially if dependent on some specific event) is that the audience in general remembers what exactly happened in reality and thus the director’s chance of playing with the element of suspense is almost nil.

But then also, when the viewers sit on the edge of their seats thrilled and scared to death while experiencing THE famous Walk between the two towers, that alone proves the success of the director and his film.

walk-poster4Of course the brilliant CGI and impeccable visual effects helps a lot and Dariusz Wolski as the cinematographer has enormous contribution in the film’s success, but still Robert Zemeckis as a director has nailed this one. The drama, the tension, the courage and the fear, all executed in perfect proportions and the effect is awesome!

One other guy who is very much responsible for making the film a memorable one is Joseph Gordon-Levitt

An actor with immense potential and many super cool past performances (in films like Mysterious Skin(500) Days of SummerHesherInception50/50Don Jon), this time he is ready to charm us with his perfect French accent, wearing blue contact lenses and a boyish smile as he plays Philippe Petit in the film.

walk-poster1Trained by Philippe Petit himself (and with the help of a stunt double as well) Joseph Gordon-Levitt played the part to perfection.

Other actors like Charlotte Le Bon, Guillaume BaillargeonBen Kingsley were all at their best.

Though essentially based on a French guy and almost all the characters in the film are French but still with the pretext of ‘practicing their English to make it better’ the dialogues are mostly in English. That’s kind of understandable though, otherwise the film would have turned into a French film!

Overall The Walk is an amazing experience, a celebration of freedom and spirit (and the loving memories of the Twin Towers); a tale of one man’s dream being fulfilled though it was an illegal and not to mention the most dangerous dream to come true.

P.S. Please watch it in 3D. One of the very few films that justifies the purpose of 3D glasses.

Poster courtesy: www.impawards.comwww.businessinsider.com