Category Archives: Movies

1-By Laksh, Books, Movies

‘The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo’

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‘The Girl With A Dragon Tatoo’ is about two individuals–an investigative journalist and a freelance researcher–whose paths cross when the journalist (Mikael Blomkvist) is offered an assignment to track down a missing woman belonging to a rich business family.

Mikael, having just suffered an ignominious defeat in the courtroom and facing the imminent danger of losing his magazine ‘Millennium’, reluctantly agrees. He shifts his base to the countryside and under the pretext of writing a memoir of the ageing and semi-retired patriarch of the business house, starts probing into the family. Mikael solicits help from the girl researcher (Lisabeth Sandler), and both embark on a risky journey to unravel the dark secrets of the family.

 

 

The movie stays pretty much faithful to the novel, trimming the not so important aspects of the novel (like Mikael ‘s affair with Cecilia Vanger etc). David Fincher as usual does a very good job of unveiling the serial killer and his den towards the end.  Special mention for the production design (Donald Graham Burt) and music (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)

1-By Laksh, ET, Movies

“Julayi” : Some Musings

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One of the very few movies in the recent past, that are meant for family audiences.
Bunny looked his best in this film and it was great to see him in a normal, part of a middle class set-up.

Here some quick observations about the film…

  • “Setpieces” like the bank robbery, the sequence before the interval, pre-climax fight and the climax sequence should have been planned/executed well. Same is the case with the associated VFX.
  • The movie has two main story threads. One the “Julayi” becoming a responsible person and the second, Ravi’s conflict with Bittu. Couldn’t help wondering how the scenes/narration would have changed. if the story were developed as a double role film where the  same star would play both Ravi and Bittu, and then tone down the scenes to suit the anti-hero being played by someone else. And, the parallel narration that is used throughout could have been extended a bit more to show that the two actually think alike
  • Could the genius in the “Julayi” be shown early on like his fascination with electronics etc, to justify his later involvement with tracking devices, detection etc. It could have been easily established with a small gag at his home, with his sister/father. Or some scene/shot while creating the atmosphere. The spark of genius in Julayi needed some establishing footage, other than solving the rubik’s cube in the car?
  • Psychologically, a boy like Ravi who doesn’t get along with his father, usually seeks another father figure. This was taken forward to some extent by Rajendra Prasad. It would have been nice if in the ending, Ravi at the bus stop is greeted by Ileana, but soon picked up by Rajendra Prasad to solve another massive heist, and the commentary on the radio changes accordingly.
  • Some of the comedy scenes like the Vennela Kishore scene, Brahmanandam’s exploits as a thief who gets caught are reminiscent of old Jandhyala films and could have been re-designed.
  • Music/ Back ground score/ Songs placement?

 

ET, Movies

‘Brave’ artist Emma Coats shares her storytelling wit and wisdom

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EMMA COATS’s 22 “STORYBASIC” RULES FOR STORYTELLING:

■NO. 1: You admire a character for trying more than for her or his successes.

■NO. 2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.

■ NO. 3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about till you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

■ NO. 4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

■NO. 5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff, but it sets you free.

■ NO. 6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

■NO. 7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard — get yours working up front.

■NO. 8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

■NO. 9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

■NO. 10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

■ NO. 11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

■ NO. 12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

■NO. 13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

■NO. 14: Why must you tell this story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

■NO. 15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

■NO. 16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

■ NO. 17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on — it’ll come back around to be useful later.

■ NO. 18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

■NO. 19:Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

■NO. 20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

■ NO. 21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make you act that way?

■NO. 22: What’s the essence of your story? [The] most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

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