Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 191
December 30, 2022
‘My Tooth Your Love’ Review – Watch for the lead pair
A serious successful dentist is forced to deal with a paranoid patient due to repeated requests from a senior doctor who he knows from medical school and soon a romance starts to brew between them. Directed by Ray Jiang, 2022 Taiwanese series ‘My Tooth Your Love’ follows two love stories, that of Bai Lang (Andy Wu) and his friend Zhou Cheng Hao (Alex Chou) who run a restaurant together. While Bai Lang falls for the aloof but charming dentist Jin Xun An (Yu Jin), Zhou is attracted to He Quin Tian (Michael Chang), a young new waiter they’ve hired at their establishment.
Spread over 12 episodes, the series is breezy and fun for most parts and largely due to the electric joyous chemistry between Andy Wu and Yu Jin who plays leads Bai Lang and Jin Xun An respectively. There was no need for a second romantic story, but the makers stuff go ahead and stuff in a third couple too. A lot of shows these days tend to have secondary couples who are far more interesting than the primary protagonists, but that wasn’t the case in ‘My Tooth Your Love’.
One of the strong points about the series is how it weaves in childhood trauma and mental health issues with a sweet romance, but the writers are unable to strike a smooth balance between the serious stuff and the fluffy love. Bai Lang and Jin Xun have some genuine grown-up conversations about their feelings, anxieties and how a relationship between the two can be challenging. But between the sensible relatable discourse, the writers slip in childish conversations and moments that would’ve made more sense in a teen romance.
Some parts of the series is too rushed, but it’s also filled with a lot of chunks to serve unnecessary sub-plots. A concise eight episode long series with primary focus on one lead couple instead of splintered stories would’ve worked better for ‘My Tooth Your Love’. Overall, it’s a decent one time watch for those looking for a romantic mini-series to watch on a weekend.
It’s a 6.5/10 from me.
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December 29, 2022
‘At the End of the Matinee’ Book Review
Ever since I read ‘A Man’ by Keiichiro Hirano, a slow-burn investigative fiction book about identity theft, I have been wanting to explore more titles by the Japanese author. ‘At the End of the Matinee’ is a wistful romantic drama about how classical guitarist Satoshi Makino falls in love with journalist Yoko Komine who’s already entered her 40s and is two years older than him, but their instant attraction transcends the cynicism of their age. They are introduced after a performance by Makino in Tokyo and the guitarist is drawn to Yoko’s intellect and beauty, while she finds his musical genius and storytelling prowess magnetic.
The first half of the novel is absolutely riveting, Keiichiro’s vivid descriptions make the reader yearn for the classical music Makino plays through the pages, the melodies that comfort Yoko when she is surrounded by death and despair. Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, it’s hard to imagine if there was anything lost in translation, because the prose flows smoothly and the story-telling is beautifully fluid. But like the Makino’s musical career in the book, the novel too dips in the second half and becomes listless/directionless. What starts off as an intriguing romance between two adults in their forties, turns into a cliched soap-opera for a while. At least the first twist, the one leading to the biggest conflict in the novel read like something a villain from a dramatic television show meant for bored unemployed adults would do.
Even though a lot of the plot is steeped in a calming sense of reality, the two protagonists are a little too idealistic, each viewing the other as someone worth putting on a pedestal on. Neither Makino, nor Komine are relatable and you get the gnawing sense that the Japanese are too repressed when it comes to their emotions. Divided by continents, the two adults connect over Skype and phone calls, but when faced with a crippling crisis, they resort to talk in circles and leave things unresolved. So, the novel gets frustrating towards the end.
Keiichiro Hirano redeems the book with a poignant romantic climax, which unfortunately doesn’t end in a conclusive manner, but swells to an optimistic closure; an end where the reader can gather their own conclusions
It’s a 3.5/5 from me.
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December 28, 2022
‘Double XL’ Review – Huma, Sona Sweeten Tedious Comedy
‘Double XL’ narrates the tale of two strangers bonding over their crushed ambitions and crippling body image issues shared during simultaneous breakdowns in a public washroom. Directed by Satram Ramani, the 2022 movie is a comedy about body-shaming and absurd beauty standards, but ironically, tries to pack in too much. Regardless, Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha make an entertaining duo and both their characters are driven, motivated, sassy and sweet.
Huma is Meerut girl Rajshri Trivedi, who dreams of becoming a sports presenter but is rejected for an important job because she is fat; while Sonakshi plays Saira Khanna, an aspiring fashion designer who is ridiculed for her weight and catches her model-boyfriend cheating on her just days before they were set to fly to London for an important shoot. The two women team up to shoot Saira’s designs and hope it would help them with their respective career goals.
This could’ve been a simple buddy comedy about two independent women lifting each other up, but the makers foist double romantic sub-plots on the viewers and Huma and Sonakshi’s chemistry is far superior to the men who play their romantic interests. Zaheer Iqbal plays Saira’s Line producer Zorawar in London, a character who is supposed to be charmingly impish, but the actor just didn’t fit the bill. Also, for a 2022 film, ‘Double XL’ is slightly out of touch with reality about notions surrounding ‘fat’ women. For example, Rajshri goes for an interview and is surrounded by skinny candidates dressed in suits while she, in turn, is shown as a jhola-toting, dressed down journo. As a journalist myself, I can attest to the fact that Rajshri’s attire is likely to be more common in any newsroom versus snappy-suit wearing folks.
With a two-hour runtime, ‘Double XL’ is long drawn, with two song-dance numbers that should’ve been chopped. While some of the banter between the characters are witty and fun, a lot of the script is soppy and sounds like it was written for a stage play. Huma and Sona make the hair-brained script work with their endearing performances and dialogue delivery.
It’s a 5/10 from me. Stream it on Netflix.
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December 27, 2022
Top Ten 2022 Poetry Books As Per GoodReads
‘Call Us What We Carry’ by Amanda Gorman won the popular vote on GoodReads to become the best poetry book to have come out in 2022. With 44,813 votes, Gorman’s book had almost twice as many votes as the runner-up. Following are the other titles that made it to the top ten list of the popular website –
2. Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
3. Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace
4. Serenity by F.S Yousaf
5. On Sun Swallowing by Dakota Warren
6. And Yet by Kate Baer
7. The World Keeps Ending and The World Goes On by Franny Choi
8. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire
9. Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros
10. Musical Table by Billy Collins
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‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ Review – Pisceshite
“Oh, it’s so dumb, it’s brilliant”
“NO! It’s just dumb”
That’s an excerpt from an exchange between two characters in the 2022 movie ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ and can probably serve as the synopsis for the plot for some. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film sees Daniel Craig reprising his role as detective Benoit Blanc and has an impressive ensemble cast. With a different set of actors this ‘mystery’ could’ve been unbearable, especially because it’s more of a parody mystery, one that doesn’t take itself seriously at all… so, those hoping for a legit serious murder mystery are going to be disappointed. It nowhere as amusing or entertaining as Knives Out.
Plot overview – Eccentric billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites his close set of friends to his lavish remote island property to spend a fun weekend together solving his fake murder, but things get awkward when his estranged business partner Andi Brand (Janelle Monae) also shows up for the reunion. However, the clear odd man out in the party is world-famous detective Benoit Blanc, who claims to have received the exclusive invitation too. Miles doesn’t mind the detective’s presence and it turns out to be a boon when one of them really ends up dead.
If the intention indeed was to make a parody mystery, ‘Glass Onion’ isn’t even funny enough and has childish jokes. For example, when someone asks a question about the name of the Island, the captain says “Pisceshite” in a Greek accent. It’s supposed to be a joke, okay… ha ha ha.
Cynicism aside, Rian Johnson gets a lot of ingredients right, except for the basic plot. The cinematography is gorgeous, all the actors are great, everybody is armed with decent motive for murder, but the primary suspect is glaringly obvious. Most people will lock on a guess in the first 20 minutes and the movie drones on for almost two and a half hours, with rich people doing dumb shit and an amused detective trying to figure out the wealthy morons.
The plot unfolds during the pandemic, all the characters are masked up in the first few minutes, then don’t need it on the remote island anymore. So, except for making the story dated, the pandemic timeline serves no purpose. Thing do get a little interesting in between but the climax was juvenile. Overall, ‘Glass Onion’ has the potential to be quite entertaining movie if you keep your expectations low. Mine were high.
It’s a 5/10 from me. Stream it on Netflix.
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Spy x Family Episode 25 Review
Finally an episode that bears direction connection to Loid Forger’s ‘Operation Strix’ in the anime series ‘Spy x Family’! Titled ‘First Contact’, Loid AKA agent Twilight finally comes face to face with his primary target Donovan Desmond at Eden Academy, the elite school where their children study. While Loid doesn’t have direct access to Donovan, he creates an opportunity to talk to the highly elusive man by using Desmond junior.
(Read Spy x Family Episode 1 Review if you have no clue what the show is about)
Even though I’ve been looking forward to the story moving forward, ironically, this episode wasn’t as entertaining as the past few episodes, with minimal comic relief and zero action. The first few minutes were almost tedious and were spent in Loid explaining how tight the security at the school is for a meeting meant for ‘imperial scholars’ and their parents.
The character animation for Donovan Desmond is ghost-like and stands out like a sore thumb amid the other regular looking characters. Both viewers and Loid get very little insights into Donovan’s personality, he seems like a robotic distant father, who doesn’t care much for his little son. It’s going to be interesting to see how our hero spy will establish a relationship with the weird zombie-ish man to gather intelligence for his mission.
Stream the series on Netflix.
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Listen To ’10 Graphic Novel Reviews Under 10 Minutes’
December 26, 2022
Spy x Family Episode 24 Review
Creators of the anime series ‘Spy x Family’ have lately been serving episodes that are more like ‘fillers’, with little do with the main mission of the tale and more to do with random shenanigans of the protagonists, yet, it continues to be fun. Titled ‘Mother and Wife/Friends and Groceries’ episode 24 has hero Loid Forger attempting to sort things out with wife Yor as she feels threatened by his new colleague Fiona. Meanwhile, Anya goes shopping with her rich school friend Becky.
(Read Spy x Family Episode 1 Review if you have no clue what the show is about)
The new supporting character Fiona doesn’t actually make an appearance in this episode, but her presence looms strongly over Yor’s conscience. So, for the first time, Loid invites Yor for a drink to assure her that she has nothing to worry about. It was fun seeing the pseudo-couple out of their usual domestic setting and their meeting turned out be comical. Okay, maybe this wasn’t a filler episode after all, because the plot serves to advance the slowly-developing relationship between the two characters.
Anya on the other hand has made no progress with Damian Desmond, she is still not friends with him and has lost all hopes of excelling at education too. Becky thinks Anya has a crush on the boy and insists they go out shopping for fashionable clothes, so the two little girls have a memorable day out and viewers get some insights into Becky’s privileged life. While Anya has won over a great friend, it still remains to be seen if she can get close to Damian to help Loid Forger’s mission.
Stream the series on Netflix.
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Listen To ’10 Graphic Novel Reviews Under 10 Minutes’
‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical’ – Movie Review
By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
In an exaggeratedly colorful maternity ward that screams “welcome to the eighties”, dozens of mother and fathers coo over their newborns, singing joyously about how their little one is the cutest. Amidst all the happy faces there is a lone sour-faced pregnant woman who does not want to have a baby; Andrea Riseborough is hilarious as the caricature-like Mrs Wormwood, who becomes a negligent mother to the titular protagonist in 2022 Netflix movie ‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical’.
Directed by Matthew Warchus, the musical is quite faithful to the original children’s classic and follows Matilda’s adventures in her new school, where she meets kind teacher Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), who is quite unlike her horrible biological parents or the terrifyingly villainous Principal Agatha Trunchbull (Emma Thompson).
It took me a while to warm up to the mousy Alisha Weir as Matilda, while her squeaky singing voice isn’t exactly music to the ears, she is delightfully spirited as the rebellious child-genius, who resorts to deviant tricks to annoy her nasty parents and quickly wins over her new classmates by standing up to the biggest school bully – Principal Trunchbull. Villains can make or break a movie and Emma Thompson does a splendid job of portraying the spiteful Trunchbull who detests kids and considers them maggots. It makes you think she would have made a fantastic Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter series, easily one of the most hated villains from a children’s book.
The music by Christopher Nightingale and Tim Minchin was foot-tapping, especially the songs that unfold at school, with a whole entourage of students excitedly singing through the campus. However, fewer songs and a crisper runtime would’ve benefited the film, with an almost two-hour long runtime, the makers overestimate the thinning attention spans of both adult & younger viewers for a children’s tale like this.
Dahl’s decision to portray Matilda’s parents as heinous is the most enduring aspect of the classic. While there is a classic ‘evil step-relative’ trope, there is also the contradictory sub-plot about a couple deliberately mistreating their biological child for no good reason. The wicked Wormwoods are a lot more relatable as the moronically mean parents than most sacrificing/idealistic moms and dads we see on screens. Overall, Matilda was an entertaining children’s movie with lavish cinematography and an enjoyable musical score.
It’s a 7/10 from me.
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Listen to – Twelve 2022 Holiday Releases To Stream
December 25, 2022
10 Graphic Novel Reviews Under 10 Minutes
It’s the end of the year and if you’ve fallen behind on your reading goals, listen to the latest episode of Abstract AF’s podcast for ten graphic novel recommendations. From breezy teen romances to dark psychological horrors, the titles fall under different genres.
‘The Elephant Whisperers’ Review – Stunningly Shot
Set against the gorgeously green cover of the Theppakdu Elephant camp in Tamil Nadu, 2022 Netflix documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ is a brilliantly shot account of how two care-takers successfully managed to raise two orphaned baby elephants.
Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, the documentary is spread over 40 minutes and features Bomman and Bellie, a couple who fell in love after they were tasked to look after baby elephant Raghu, a playful elephant who was separated from his herd and needed human help to survive. While the animal-human friendship in the documentary is heart-warming, it’s the splendid beauty of India’s flora and fauna captured by the cinematographers that will enthrall viewers. As far as the content is concerned, it’s a rather one-dimensional documentary which keeps it focus simply on the relationship between the elephants and their guardians. There’s some brief exploration into the lives and beliefs of the tribal community, their connection to the forests, but the makers never dwell too deeply into any larger themes or questions.
Raghu is puppy-like in his affection for his human caretakers, even displaying pangs of jealousy when the pair is asked to take care of another baby elephant called Ammu, just months old and left to fend for herself. But under the devoted care of Bomman and Bellie, the two giant softies become friends and family. Kartiki Gonsalves keep this documentary free from frills, with no interviews apart from the principal pair, making ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ a sumptuous visual treat.
It’s a 7.5/10 from me.
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Listen to – Twelve 2022 Holiday Releases To Stream (and Some to Skip!)
