Tanay_LKO

A mismatch, a façade and a wordy-tale about what lies beneath the mismatch and that façade.

This R-rated dramedy comes out as a surprise - even for the viewers who are expecting a simple story here. It may not feel outright, but this is indeed a shrouded-satirical take on the way our society conducts itself.

Amidst the sea of formal visitors, old flames and new associations we meet our two ultra-realists (read - "staunch pessimists") - Frank (Keanu Reeves, "John Wick") and Lindsay (Winona Ryder, "Stranger Things") who are brought together at a special event - the titular 'destination wedding'. Set in the scenic locales of the wine-county of Paso Robles, California our 40-something protagonists are miserably and visibly unpleasant. They can't tolerate the fact that why someone needs to travel so far to be at a place where everyone is putting on a show of friendliness amidst absolute dysfunction, when in fact everyone's usual lives are filled with hypocrisy.

Now, going by their initial introductions we would think that they are bound to be together (as romance goes), but not quite true. Frank, a marketing head has to dislike Lindsay, a prosecutor, for her over-correctness (esp. The way she pronounces "Paso Ruh-Blays"); while, she can't come to terms with his hawk-phlegm-crassness. Yet, they stick along for the sheer reason of being oddly placed.

Truth be told, they both craved company as simple as that.

Therefore, even for the hopeless, it doesn't hurt to think romantically even when the past was misery, the present is livid and the future doesn't look promising either.

Writer-Director Victor Levin ("Mad Men", "My Sassy Girl") has twisted out these narcissists who can't let go and neither dwell on. He carves a grand-irony of seeking belongingness while talking to indoor plants or mocking game-show contestants, hoarding hotel amenities, using spa-coupons, et al. All this seems harmless and neatly palatable because we as people are part of such luxury-seeking-bourgeois, for one. Two, the film's scoring (William Ross from the Oscars) with its whiff of mariachi style, club-jazz is a plus; and three, Winona and Keanu are an absolute surprise on-screen with their chemistry and comic timing.

What may come out as a distraction here is an over-written, pedantic narrative of dialogues between these two (literally, all the time). So, at best this film is "Before Sunset" meet "No Strings Attached" meet "Modern Love" kind of a tale - which could have been told best as a play and still, may not impress.

Having said that, this is exactly the kind of film for a bad day when nothing is going right and can't get worse because, at an off chance, this may actually bring a little smile to your face.

Maybe, all that ends kind of well isn't all that bad either.

"Some memories define us, others consume us" (inspired from horror-poet CK Williams)

I was scared of "Aamis", much before I even saw it. I was scared by all the intrigue, the reviews about the "genre-defying" cinema and above all, its surprisingly humble precinct. After rounds of some of the most coveted film festivals, there is still so little known about this one. Perhaps, that's how "intrigue" works - in a curious, silent imaginative sense of fear.

Sumon, a young research student, has a field of study cum leisure pursuit in the form of a self-proclaimed "Meat Club". The members prepare the freshest, self-sourced and self-cooked delicacies of diverse meats from North-East India. So when a vegetarian friend falls sick after gobbling up one of such pursuits, it's caused less of the meat itself but, its gluttony. At this time, the young student crosses paths with Dr Nirmali, a married middle-aged paediatrician sharing a similar curiosity for those delicacies. Needless to mention, this was the beginning of a friendship - unusual nonetheless.

Nirmali, missing the presence of a man in her life, and Sumon, expecting a matured romance in his, end up falling for each other; but they never cross boundaries or even so much as touch. Their lack of any physical contact was only catalyzing their simmering desires. They do satiate them, of course with mouth-watering food. However, as they leave their taste buds unchecked to a point that unearths the most shocking of cravings.

Aamis ("Ravening; or "non-vegetarian" literally) is a text-book work in smart storytelling, but not the slightest of it is clichéd. It has all the right circumstances to make it seem natural amidst the natural locales of Assam (cinematography by Riju Das) with constant allusions for the friendship to bud into a forbidden romance - be it a bat-eaten apple, the sensual visuals of stomach or just food itself.

Writer-Director Bhaskar Hazarika has a rich, simplistic style of narrating a benign-seeming story which by ACT-III grew claws and canines, piercing through my mind and sinking it well within my imagination. As Dr Nirmali says, "a beautiful amalgamation of food and hallucinogenic". Aided by a fine background score (Toronto-based composers Quan Bay) and 2 fine debutants - Arghadeep Baruah and especially, Lima Das whose eyes spoke incessantly even when she wasn't in focus. As, I was wishing that the inevitable doesn't happen the film leaves on such a tender note - nearly poetic - that it's hard not to think about it even after days of viewing it.

As spoken the best by American film-critic, Owen Gleiberman, "...(it) doesn't rub our noses in the horror... It shows us just enough, keeping the horror where it belongs, in the recesses of our imagination, where it remains what it should be: dark as midnight, and altogether too much to fathom."

Triumphant gastronomic terror, in the offing and please do not miss this one even on an empty stomach (pun intended). 9/10

As a middle-aged man amidst a personal crisis, calls on his long moved-on college friends, he also invites the memories he didn't even remember he forgot. As they together recollect with the flashbacks to the era of the early 90s when they all were a bunch of simple-looking individuals coming together in an engineering college, where their lives became so entwined within the micro-universe called "hostel - college". Therefore, all felt better together except for the tag of "losers". Thus, united, our losers begin on a journey with past and present juxtaposed to fight against all odds to absolve themselves off a tag and to gain beyond the downward psychology of failure.

To encapsulate the stupidest idiosyncrasies, the utter nonsense of life and fantasy combined that only a privileged few are aware of - is perhaps the simplest way to describe "Chhichhore". Like that glorious song by the Rembrandts, "...even at my worst, I'm best with you", those imperfections that seem to others are the joy of real-bonding between some people, which could come out to be more profound than love and family - viz. "friendship".

Director Nitesh Tiwari with writers Nikhil Mehrotra and Piyush Gupta ("Chillar Party", "Dangal") recreate some impeccable characterizations and precise dialogues (& slangs) for the most relatable of sensible and ludicrous. It's not rare, but certainly occasional, that the trip to a cinema theatre combines sentiments, laughter, romance, sadness and joy.

Here the songs by Amitabh Bhattacharya have got it more right than Pritam's music. This film has one thing right till the end - the exceptional casting. Right from the college staffs, to the leads are fitting but esp. are its supporting actors. Varun Sharma ("Fukrey") as the mischief addicted guy, Naveen Polishetty ("24") the spit-fire foul-tongue, Tushar Pandey ("Pink") the geeky-homely guy, Tahir Raj Bhasin ("Mardaani") being the senior with smokes and agenda, Saharsh Kumar Shukla ("Highway") the 'liquor-training' senior and Prateik Babbar ("Dhobhi Ghat") as the cool college antagonist - are the most likable. The lead pair - Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor - may have fared better this time.

This drama is not a "Student of the Year" (no pun intended), instead is a happy cross between "Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander" and "3 Idiots". Despite creative liberties and a dull climax, this is a fairly honest representation of what a college looks like in India. The latter is reason enough to sit through the odd two-hours and happily reminisce the times once lived or living in the present.