What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the 1993 drama ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ stars Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, and Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s an adaptation from Peter Hedges’ novel, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie.

The movie is based in a small fictitious town called Endora, Iowa. The movie is about Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) a young guy who lives with his mentally handicapped brother (Leonardo DiCaprio), two sisters and obese mother who hasn’t left the house in over seven years. The responsibility of taking care of the family is rested upon Gilbert’s shoulders. When we start watching the movie, the title makes sense; we see what’s eating him. It’s everything around him.

Even though the plot is predictable to a certain extent, the movie succeeds in holding our interest throughout the movie mainly because of the solid performances by Depp and DiCaprio. DiCaprio does an impressive job capturing the character of mentally handicapped Arnie, Gilbert Grape’s brother. He does an indescribably awesome job that for a moment you forget it’s DiCaprio; he is so convincing that, you feel its Arnie himself. Too bad he did not win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for which he was nominated for the performance in this movie. Johnny Depp does a good job in bringing out the character of Gilbert Grape as a young guy who does not think much of his own future out of the town he lives. On the same note Juliette Lewis’ performance as Becky, the young girl who happens come to the town, is also praise worthy.

There is nothing much complex or confusing about this movie. At least not on the part of its plot. This simplicity is one of the key things about this movie which appealed to me. With the kind of story line this movie has, if it had a complex plot it might very well have been really boring. But the characters are somewhat complex. For instance Gilbert is a very complex character we cannot understand easily. He does things the society might consider wrong, but he has every intention of being a good person. He’s trapped in this small town with his family and the other relationships he has and there is no way of getting out of it. His sense of responsibility is what keeps him trapped (not that it’s a bad thing). The movie poster says “Life is a terrible thing to sleep through”; so it’s good to see him taking control of his life without letting life do its worse for him.

Since the movie is based on a small town, it’s shot in a very bucolic kind of an area. This rural setting too adds a subtle awesomeness to the movie. There’s not much of a movie score to talk about, but there is a constant “theme music” kind of a thing that runs throughout the movie in various instances and this goes perfectly with the setting and the dialogues of the movie. Obviously this movie is not a tearjerker, but it is definitely a heartwarming sentimental story.

The Prestige

Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall stars in this movie. Is there anything else I should say about it?

I’m not implying that a good cast means a good movie. But this sure is a movie worth watching. Especially if you are into magic and stuff, you are definitely going to dig this.  ‘The Prestige’ is a 2006 drama mystery film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote it and also produced it. Adapted from Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel, this movie captures the rivalry between two stage magicians Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) also known as The Great Danton and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) also known as The Professor.

The movie is based on London in the 19^th century and it is brought out in a series of flashbacks. At the beginning of the movie we see Alfred Borden is on trial for the murder of Robert Angier, and the plot might be a tiniest bit confusing because it’s kind of a flashback within a flashback. Angier steels Borden diary and while deciphering the tricks in it, writes about it in his diary. After the alleged murder of Angier, Borden gets Angier’s diary while he is in prison, and reads what Angier has written about him in his diary. So the first flashback is Borden reading Angier’s diary and then the flashback moves to Angier reading Borden’s diary. I know this sounds more than a bit confusing, but the 130 minute long movie succeeds in explaining way more than it needs to be explained, and does not leave the audience in a confused state.

I should admit that I found some parts of the movie predictable, but the movie as a whole succeeds in retaining the audience suspense and the mysterious aspect of it. Obviously there’s nothing much to say about the cast, with actors like Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine performing in the movie. Scarlett Johansson’s British accent was something to look forward to and anyway she too does a perfectly convincing enough job.

On a thematic level, this movie is about self-sacrifice (almost too much), revenge and secrecy. And this is one of those movies which depict the grey side of life; it is very hard to point out and say that this is the hero and this is the villain. Even though it might differ from viewer to another viewer, generally we get the same kind of feeling towards both main characters plights. This movie is as same as a magic trick; it is complicated and that is exactly what makes this movie interesting and engaging.

My Week with Marilyn

‘My Week with Marilyn’ 2011 is a biography drama film directed by Simon Curtis. The movie is based on Collin Clark’s memoirs, “The Prince, the Showgirl and Me” and “My Week with Marilyn”.

The movie depicts the year 1956, when Collin Clark goes to London in the hope of entering the film business, and starts working in Sir Laurence Olivier’s 1957 film “The Prince and the Showgirl” which was then called “The Sleeping Prince”. During the filming of the movie Collin Clark meets Marilyn Monroe on set, and the movie is about Collin’s infatuation with Marilyn and the time he spent with her. In this movie Kenneth Branagh stars as Sir Laurence Olivier and Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe and Eddie Redmayne as Collin Clark.

Even though this movie is a biographical drama, it does not capture the whole life of Marilyn Monroe. Instead the movie is much focused; it captures just one week of her life, and gives the audience an in depth look at her character and her life. This short period of time perfectly distinguishes between the lively, charismatic Marilyn we see on screen and the real life Marilyn. Marilyn Monroe is usually portrayed as alluring, flirtatious and is considered a sex symbol; but this movie captures a totally different side of her.

In bringing out this vulnerability and the insecurities she suffers from Michelle Williams does an impressive job. I don’t think even the word magnificent suffices to describe the performance of Michelle Williams in this movie. One of the great things about this movie is, the director Simon Curtis does not try to bring out a carbon copy of Marilyn. There is nothing fake about Michelle Williams acting either; she does not try to be Marilyn. Real acting is impossible to spot. So instead of trying to be Marilyn, she gives her version of Marilyn Monroe to the audience. There is a dialogue in the movie in which a character remark about Marilyn’s acting “when Marilyn gets it right, you just don’t want to look at anyone else”. That was true about Marilyn’s acting, but now that remark can be applied to Michelle Williams without any hesitation. Even though I have seen couple of her other movies, I hadn’t seen anything much significant about her acting, but in this movie she is exceptional. That’s why she truly deserves the Academy Award nomination she received for this movie and the thirty one other nominations for her portrayal of Marilyn. This is not to underestimate Kenneth Branagh’s performance as Olivier and Judi Dench’s performance as Sybil Thorndike which was also brilliant.

  

I think the script too has been well written with cool dialogues like “first love is such sweet despair”. In another instance when Collin tells Marilyn “you should get out more, you should see the sights” Marilyn sweetly says “I am the sights”. Obviously the movie score too adds great color to the movie. Williams sings some of Marilyn’s songs like “I Found a Dream”, “That Old Black Magic” and “Heat Wave”. Furthermore Nat King Cole’s songs like “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and “Autumn Leaves” too are perfectly used to heighten the mood.

You don’t have to be a huge Marilyn Monroe fan to watch this movie. And you can’t just point out and say that this was the best part of this movie; it’s from costumes, film score to the cast which makes this movie a marvelous piece of art.

           

The Town

The Town is a 2010 crime drama, adapted from Chuck Hogan’s novel, ‘The Prince of Thieves’. This movie has been directed and co-written by Ben Affleck, who also stars in the lead role. Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite too stars in this movie.

Having watched the movie more than a couple of times, I can say that this is the movie which gave Ben Affleck’s career the much needed boost, both as an actor and as a director. After his directorial debut in 2007 with “Gone Baby Gone”, Ben Affleck had to prove himself as an actor. With this movie he proves himself as a good director as well as an actor. The movie is about a group of bank robbers, who live in Charlestown, Massachusetts-“The capital of bank robberies in America”, as the poster says.

Ben Affleck stars as Doug McRay; the mastermind behind the bank heists the crew pull off. During the opening heist scene, they break into a bank where Clair Keesey (Rebecca Hall), is the bank manager. And Doug McRay end up falling in love with her. For a person who has watched “Heat”, even though this movie comes out as a bit of a cliché, we cannot totally disregard the pros of the movie. The most important thing is not what the movie says, but how it is said. In this regard we can perfectly commend this movie.

The whole romantic twist added to the movie, as I see is one of the best things about its plot. The script too is well written and contains good dialogues. This is one of the main strengths of this movie. One other thing we should talk about is the performances of both Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Hall. Both their acting adds to the success of this movie and not to mention the Academy Award nomination Jeremy Renner gained as the best supporting actor for this movie. Even though Jeremy Renner’s first Academy Award nomination was for the 2008 movie ‘Hurt Locker’, in the movie ‘The Town’ he does a much praiseworthy job; which might have been the reason for him to be casted in franchises like Marvel Universe Series, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and in The Bourne Legacy.

This is one of the movies, after which you will definitely feel good. If you are in the mood for a movie with drama, romance, and crime kinda thing this is the movie to watch.

The Remains of the Day

Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, ‘The Remains of the Day' is a 1993 drama film directed by James Ivory.  The movie stars Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox and Christopher Reeve.

The movie takes place in 1950s post World War II Britain, and it captures the story of the head butler James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) at Darlington Hall who sacrificed his whole life serving his master. It’s later in his life that he realizes this philosophy of loyalty and service to his master had taken away a bigger part of his life. The female protagonist of the movie is Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), who had been the house keeper at Darlington Hall for some years. The movie is presented in the form of flashbacks and cuts back and forth between 1930s; the days when Miss Kenton worked at Darlington Hall and 1950s; in the present, Mr. Stevens’ journey to visit her.

Despite being nominated for eight Academy Awards and winning none of them, this movie as I consider is a brilliant masterpiece. Most of its credit can be attributed to the masterful cast of the movie.

If we consider the plot of the movie, we can summarize the whole plot in few lines, but the story it brings out is vast. The task of a plot should be to deliver some facts of the story to the audience, because if the plot represents all the facts in the story, on an intellectual level it would be a dud. Accordingly the plot may not always bring out everything directly; there would be some thinking for the audience to do as well. In this movie too, some things are left ambiguous about Mr. Stevens. His character is very hard to comprehend to the audience as well as the characters in the movie.

Among other themes, this movie is about repressed emotions. Hence a major responsibility lies on the actors to convey this to the audience. This is where the acting of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson come in. How they portray the conflicts between Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton and how they bring out the fact that both of them have feelings for each other are subtle and impeccable. The most poignant part is that they can’t do anything about it, except to repress their feelings.

If we put all other good things about this movie aside and just consider the acting, this movie is worth watching just for its acting itself. Anthony Hopkins’ performance in this movie is in par and even beyond his Academy Award winning performance in the 1991 movie ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. Every twitch of his eye, every puff of smoke he blows, every hand gesture contributes to this awesomeness.

One thing about this movie is that, even though the story in the movie moves fast, the plot moves rather slowly. If you feel sleepy please do not start watching the movie, or you will miss the subtleness of it. 

If there’s a movie with a heartbreaking, beautiful story and amazing acting; this is it.

Why Movies?

Hi everyone,

When it comes to movies, we all have different tastes. All of us have a genre of movies we prefer than other genres. But then there are movies, no matter what type of movies we prefer, we all can agree that they are simply awesome.

I've wanted to start a blog for a while, but it never happened until recently our English lecturer made blogging part of our course. Then again it was a question as to what I should write about. I thought of writing about movies, for one thing because, except for reading there's not much of anything I do frequently as watching movies. Another reason is when I am exhausted and stressed out, watching movies help me relax and cool down. But that is, if it's only a good movie. If you sat for about two hours watching a flop, you feel more exhausted. When it comes to the name of the blog, I named it as Movie Niche because movies are the "happy place" I can escape to amidst all other matters.

In this blog I intend to review movies which I think are good and worth watching. And I would try to minimize spoilers as much as possible, so in case you haven't watched the movie it wouldn't hinder your enjoyment.

Please feel free to leave feedback.

Thanks