Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 199

‘The House’ Review – An Unusual Anthology

(Click here for the audio version of this review or scroll to the end)

The 2022 Netflix special is a weirdly dark animated anthology consisting of three short films, all centered around the same house through different periods. Those who enjoy watching offbeat creations like ‘I Lost My Body’, would most likely be able to enjoy ‘The House’ too. While there isn’t any violence or graphic content, the unsettling nature of the stories will be best appreciated by adult viewers, children would only be left confused or scared or both.

Originally conceived as a series, the makers eventually chose to compile all three stories in a three-part film. So here’s a spoiler-free look at them, one by one.

Part One: Directed by Emma De Swaef, the first short film uses stop-motion animation and the sets are evidently hand-made with ardor. The story follows Mabel, a girl who lives in a humble home with her impoverished parents and baby sister Isobel. She is quite content with their circumstances and doesn’t understand the materialistic trappings of the adult world. After a night of drinking, her father returns home a changed man and claims a wealthy acquaintance/architect has offered to build them a magnificent house for free, all they must do in return is leave their home. The family soon moves into the lavishly constructed house, but Mabel instantly feels a sinister presence in the premises.

All the characters are made from wool, and the fabric adds a certain strangeness to them, making them seem eerie. One of the opening scenes has Mabel playing with a doll house, which immediately reminded me of the odd little girl from ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’. But this animated short is creepier than Bly Manor. It’s a horror themed cautionary tale about greed and how it blinds people. Mabel and her baby sister symbolize the untainted innocence of childhood. So while the kids remain safe from the diverse effects of the house, the parents begin to lose themselves to its malevolent charms.

Part Two: Directed by Niki Lindroth Von Bahr, the second story follows a real-estate guy having a hard time flipping and selling a house. The same house. I didn’t enjoy this one particularly, owing my aversion to creepy-crawlies, which this one had plenty of. So if you don’t like to watch disgusting bugs infesting your screen, you might feel the same. The theme and mood is slightly similar to the first one, but the animation is slightly different, it’s a lot brighter and colorful and feels less ominous.

Part Three: The last installment was the least strange and probably the most entertaining of the lot. Directed by Paloma Baeza, the animation has cats as protagonists. Rosa runs a boarding house in the same foreboding building featured in the last two stories, but all her tenants have left due to flooding in the area. She is left with two guests who haven’t paid her in the longest time and she fed up with their ways. When the eccentric free-spirited hippie boyfriend of one of the lodgers arrives at Rosa’s property, he nearly drives her up the wall, forcing her to change her world view.

On the surface, it looks like a silly funny tale about a nutcase landlady, but if one dwells deeper upon its message, one will find it’s really about knowing when to let go of your dreams. It isn’t always wise to hold on to certain goals and desires, and the wise know when to quit. Because quitting doesn’t necessarily mean losing. The stop-motion animation in this edition was delightfully nostalgic and childlike. It’s also the only one that doesn’t have a tragically twisted ending.

Overall, it’s a 7/10 from me for ‘The House’. Stream it on Netflix.

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

‘My Father’s Dragon’ – Movie Review

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Set against a painful period of recession, the 2022 animated film ‘My Father’s Dragon’ is a simple escapist fantasy film which will charm younger viewers. Directed by Nora Twomey, who made the wondrously dreamy ‘Secret of Kells’, the story is based on a book of the same name by Ruth Stiles Gannett.

Protagonist Elmer Elevator helps his mom run a shop, but with a financial crisis engulfing the nation, the two are forced to shut the business and move to a cramped rundown room to make ends meet. After an argument, Elevator runs away from home and finds his way to the mysterious ‘Wild island’ where a fire-breathing dragon is being held captive. Elmer hopes to rescue the beast and get help in return, but Boris the dragon isn’t what the little boy expected at all.

The colourful crayon painting like animation was lovely, those who are familiar with Nora Twomey’s work will be reminded of her older animated creations. The smooth, clean artwork adds a touch of childlike innocence to the tale. However, some of the character designs needed a lot more work. To be more specific, two characters were too basic and looked like a child had hurriedly drawn them – a rhinoceros and its child. The baby rhino looked like an overgrown caterpillar. So, every time those two appeared on screen, they looked jarring and out-of-place in the otherwise cute landscape.

Jacob Trembley of ‘Wonder’ fame voices Elmer with heart. I love how relatable Elmer is as a boy, he is willing to work hard for his mother, but is just too young to understand the complexities of the adult world. Armed with just candies, a broken mirror and some fresh tangerines, the hero thinks he can conquer the world; a delightful representation of the bottomless optimism of the innocent eye. Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin from ‘Stranger Things’) voices the spirited sweet Boris, a chubby baby dragon who immediately takes a shine to Elmer. Ian McShane is the wise old Saiwa, a simian who runs things in the mystery Island and has his own reasons for keeping an innocent dragon captive.

The key theme in the story is about being brave and facing one’s fears, and since it’s not too blatant, kids won’t necessarily get the message. Since this is a dragon themed animated movie, a lot of fans started making comparisons with the ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ franchise much before its release. But these two works are a world apart in their story, treatment and animation styles; a comparison doesn’t make much sense. ‘My Father’s Dragon’ is essentially meant for kids and makes for a fun watch.

It’s a 7/10 from me. You can stream it on Netflix.

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Listen To – ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Better Than ‘1917’?!

Rajkumar, Huma Starrer ‘Monica, O My Darling’ Is A Whole Mood

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Three men who work at the same firm are being blackmailed separately by the same woman they had an affair with. Together, they hatch an elaborate plot to murder and dispose her off, but things don’t go as planned. Directed by Vasan Bala, the 2022 Netflix thriller ‘Monica, O My Darling’ is a gripping dark comedy of errors and murders. Based on Japanese mystery novel ‘Burutasu No Shinzou’ by Keigo Higashini, the story gets a complete Bollywood do-over by writer Yogesh Chanderkar,

Rajkumar Rao, Sikander Kher and Bagavathi Perumal play the trio extorted by Huma Qureshi’s feisty femme fatale character Monica. Rajkumar Rao gets maximum spotlight as Jayant Arkhedkar, a rising star at a robotics company called Unicorn, who lands a plump promotion and is also dating the CEO’s darling daughter Nikki (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor). Bagavathi Perumal is amusing as his colleague Arvind from the accounting department, who is also a married man with two kids. Sikander Kher on the other hand is slick as the arrogant devious Nishikant Adhikari, it’s his character that smoothly convinces the two other men into getting rid of Monica.

Huma Qureshi gets an introductory dance track as the opening credits roll in, and that whole number is a whole mood, Bollywood fans who appreciate a-la-Helen style song would love it. In-fact, the whole movie is laced with retro music, which evokes and maintains a nostalgic noir mood throughout the runtime. A murder takes place, a body is discovered, and with it a whole lot of questions emerge. The cast is so fantastic, viewers would have little time to dwell upon much other details. Rajkumar Rao comes through as usual, and unlike his last thriller movie ‘Hit: The First Case’, the story does justice to his talent. His character Jayant Arkhedkar is a small-town boy who climbs the ladder through hard work, but he isn’t quite the ‘good guy’ he appears to be. Radhike Apte appears somewhere midway in the film as nutjob cop ACP Naidu, who has her own weird jokes and tactics to intimidate suspects. Sukant Goel plays Gaurya, who is in love with Jayant’s sister (Zayn Marie Khan) and has an interesting cameo.

There are plenty of red herrings planted in the movie to make the viewer suspect pretty much every second character, which is a sign of a good murder mystery. There’s plenty of foreshadowing done to cast a cloud of doubt on everybody, so when the case is finally cracked, regardless of who you believe the root cause to be, at least you don’t feel cheated or waylaid as viewer. Towards the climax, the story does begin to falter a little and Vasan Bala could’ve wrapped things earlier, but it still manages to be a thrilling watch. This was a great Friday evening pick.

It’s a 8/10 from me. Stream it on Netflix.

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Listen To – ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Better Than ‘1917’?!

‘The Good Nurse’ Review – Could’ve Been Better

A true-crime movie about a serial killer? Count us in! Directed by Tobias Lindholm, ‘The Good Nurse’ is based on a book of the same name by Charles Graber.

Jessica Chastain plays Amy Loughren, an overworked nurse-cum-single-mom, who is diagnosed with a serious heart condition but cannot afford to take a break because she doesn’t have health insurance. Eddy Redmayne is new nurse Charlie Cullen, who befriends Amy, and they begin to rely on each other for everything. Their friendship is tested when Cullen becomes a suspect in the unexpected death of a 77-year-old patient. It’s a death that could’ve been easily overlooked, however, an investigation led by upright officer Danny Baldwin (Nnamdi Asomugha) exposes the staggering scale of corruption and noxious negligence existing in the health-care system.

Despite a solid cast and an intriguing real-life story to build upon, the production value of this tale feels lacking. What could’ve been a fantastic thriller, is ‘watchable’ only because of compelling performances by Eddy and Jessica. Had this been in the hands of less experienced actors, ‘The Good Nurse’ would’ve been completely forgettable. One gets that the story is dark in nature, but it’s hard to understand why the makers had to shoot the film like a horror movie. Most scenes are shrouded in a depressing dark tint and the background music does nothing to heighten the mood. It all feels slightly underwhelming. Also, the plot unfolds in the early 2000s, and even looks like it was produced in the late 90s, which is probably deliberate artistic choice, but dilutes the cinematic experience. The same technique worked favorably in ‘The Viewing’ by Panos Cosmatos, a horror noir short-film set in the 70s.

Jessica Chastain is emphatic as the ‘good’ nurse, and her emotional struggles and fears are palpably relatable. Eddy Redmayne is eerily ordinary as Charlie Cullen, which is meant as a compliment, because most serial killers get away with their crimes for longer than usual because of the the exact same reason – their sheer outward ordinariness. They could be your friendly next-door-neighbor or your compassionate colleague at work. Eddy’s performance as Charlie slowly thrums to a crescendo and he scarily unravels in the climax.

Watch this one for the actors. It’s a 6/10 from me. You can stream the film on Netflix.

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Listen To – ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Better Than ‘1917’?!

‘The Least We Can Do’ Issue #3 Review

How intriguing and stunning is the cover of ‘The Least We Can Do’ issue 3? It promises an action-packed follow up and creators Iolanda Zanfardino, Eliza Romboli delivers just that. The first page bursts with blood, violence and buried trauma. Uriel, the protagonist is still struggling with her ‘medium’ and fighting skills and some think she isn’t ready to seriously fight alongside the Eclipse Rebels against the brutal Eden Army.

(Read: ‘The Least We Can Do’ – Issue #1 Review for a quick recap)

Eliza Romboli’s artwork and different color choices for each section of the story is absolutely vibrant and engaging. Story-wise, Iolanda is slowly expanding each character’s background with compelling flashbacks, while simultaneously adding more information on the mystery stones called ‘medium’ around with the entire plot is centered. This issue heavily focuses on the aggressive Samael, the intimidating ‘captain’ who pounds Uriel to the ground while training her for combat.

The mood and tone of this issue is darker and sombre. Readers get a tragic history of a ‘coal medium’ and how a village unsuccessfully tried to rebel against the powerful Eden Army. Those panels were dexterously drenched in shades of red, heightening the scale of the harrowing back-story. The art starkly brings out the pain, grief and loss of the losing side, the crushing defeat suffered by the common folk rings through the panels. It would be interesting to see how an underground group can hope to take on those in power and bridge the divide between the ruling class and the oppressed.

While Issue 2 had ended with a mysteriously exciting cliff-hanger about Uriel’s identity, this issue’s climax gives away who her family is. It’s a big reveal that sets the stage for future conflicts – the lead will have a lot of explaining to do.  

It’s a 4.5/5 from me.

Also Read: ‘The Least We Can Do’ Issue 2 Review

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Ep 79 – Five Graphic Novel Adaptations Worth Checking Out

Spy x Family Episode 16 Review

Two supporting characters I’ve been looking forward to seeing some more, make their appearance in Episode 16 of Japanese anime series ‘Spy x Family’ – Yor’s younger brother Yuri and Loid’s goofy friend Franky.

(Read Spy x Family Episode 1 Review if you have no clue what the show is about)

Titled ‘Yor’s Kitchen/The Great Romance Scheme for the Informant’, the episode starts on a deceptively serious note – Loid is worried about Yor coming home late for a few days, especially because she has visible cuts on her hands and looks exceptionally tired. But like the title suggests, turns out Yor is simply learning how to cook, since both Anya and Loid cannot stand the food she prepares. Her brother Yuri visits her and there are some cute/funny scenes which display the endearing bond between the siblings.

The second half of the episode features my favorite supporting character Frankie, Loid’s friend/informant who expresses desperate need for dating advice. While Loid shows no inclination to help him at first, he eventually caves in and drafts an elaborate plan to help his friend have a successful date. But will things go as planned?

Family and friendship was the focal theme in this episode, the spotlight is on the personal relationships of the protagonists, instead of ‘Operation Strix’. The title might mislead some fans into thinking something more romantic is going to brew between the fake Forger couple… but not yet. However, Loid does make a cryptic admission in the end, which is intriguing. With a generous dose of funny moments, episode 16 was quite entertaining!

Stream the series on Netflix.

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Listen To: ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Better Than ‘1917’?!

‘Bullet Train’ Review – A Swift, Bustling Wild Ride

A white man walks along a busy Tokyo street streaked with neon lights. He is a chatty assassin, discussing his next assignment on the phone with his ‘handler’. Code-named ‘Ladybug’, Brad Pitt’s character in the 2022 movie ‘Bullet Train’ instantly reminded me of American hit man Bryce from Marvel’s ‘Hit Monkey’. Which isn’t a bad thing.

Based on a novel called ‘Maria Beetle’ by Kotaro Isaka, the action-comedy-thriller has been directed by David Leitch. It follows a bunch of assassins who are all aboard a high-speed Shinkansen train on different assignments, but their tasks are mysteriously inter-connected with each other. Most of the action revolves around a suitcase loaded with ransom money, which belongs to a dreaded mob-boss known as ‘White Death’. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry play brothers Tangerine and Lemon, who rescue White Death’s son & are on the train to return the boy and the suitcase. Andrew Koji plays former hit man Kimura, who boards the same train to exact revenge upon a person who pushed his son off a building; said person turns out to be a deceptively devious girl called ‘Prince’ (because her parents wanted a boy) who has her wicked plans.

Brad Pitt might be the biggest star in the film, but this is an ensemble movie where pretty much everybody else is more psychotic and intriguing than Ladybug. But Ladybug sure knows how to fight and the action sequence are pretty damn great, reminiscent of the fun old Jackie Chan movies, but with a lot more blood and gore. Leitch and team turn even a harmless little laptop into a lethal weapon in the hands of their characters. There was scope for the team to get even more creative, but most deaths in the story occur in non-surprising ways. The shiny squeaky clean interiors of the train makes for a fun contrast against all the guts being spilled on its floor and bathrooms.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry made for a weirdly comic duo, and were a lot like the time-traveling assassins Hazel and Cha-Cha from ‘The Umbrella Academy’. Joey King was surprisingly delightful as the evil Prince, the only lady who gets as much screen space as the men. Because Zazie Beetz has an almost forgettable cameo as a lethal murderess and Karen Fukuhara (Kimiko from ‘The Boys’) was wasted in an even smaller bit-role. Although, given the exciting script, it’s easy to see why actors took up blink-and-miss roles. Hiroyuki Sanada was an absolute show-stealer in his brief cameo as Kimura’s father, also a former mob member, who takes it upon himself to tell Ladybug an interesting story about fate and vengeance. With his sombre dialogue delivery, Sanada manages to strike an emotional chord with the viewer despite the limited time.

While most movies with a 2-hour-long runtime begin to test the viewer’s patience these days, ‘Bullet Train’ was fast-paced, packed with crazy characters, crazier coincidences and exudes a strangely calm vibe for a chaotic violent blood-fest. Vengeance and karma are the two strongest themes of this darkly humorous tale, which dives into some flashback story-telling to give viewers slight breaks from the limited confines of the train. Wish the writers had trimmed down some of the dialogues, because for an violent mafia kind of movie, the characters talk too bloody much. It’s just unsettling sometimes, instead of being entertaining. That said, the climax was quite explosive (literally) and there’s a poetic justice to it that makes the end pretty satisfactory.

It’s a 7.5/10 from me. The film is available to stream on Netflix.

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Listen To – ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Better Than ‘1917’?!

‘Blue Lock’ Episode 5 Review

The game is on! Episode 5 of Japanese anime ‘Blue Lock’ continues from where the last one ended; Team Y and Team Z facing-off each other in a tense soccer match. The whole ‘do or die’ atmosphere makes this one of the best episodes yet. Protagonist Isagi Yoichi and all his team players put all their might into outwitting and outplaying their opponents.

(Read ‘Blue Lock’ Episode 1 Review if you have no idea what the show is about.)

The script slowly and systematically adds additional layers to each character in Isagi’s team, so every episode he speaks to different player for viewers to learn about their traits. For example, in episode 4, Isagi bonds with Kunigami at the cafeteria, while in the fifth one he interacts with the elusive red-haired Chigiri as the two boys watch game footage of the previous match.

There’s a lot strategy, sweat and tears during the match and Isagi finally gets a taste of what it means to be an egoistic self-centered striker. ‘Does that make me a jerk,’ he seriously wonders. I love how the series strikes a balance between both male camaraderie and rivalry. One one hand Team Z players have to ensure they survive through the competing matches, on the other, they are all also acutely aware that only one person will emerge as a winner at the end of the ‘Blue Lock’ program. So, they have the dual challenge of both working together and also against each other.

Things are only getting more interesting in this sports anime! You can stream the series on Netflix.

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Listen To The Review of All Eight Episodes of ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’

‘The Ghost’ Review – Scary Bad

Few minutes into the 2022 movie ‘The Ghost’ and it was already difficult to watch cradle-snatcher Nagarjuna Akkineni romance his almost 30-year junior Sonal Chauhan. The film starts with the two of them killing a bunch of terrorists, then smooching, followed by a song where they are lounging on a yacht, hugging in front of camels, squabbling at a convenience store. All this chaos in just the first five minutes. For a lead action hero, Nagarjuna looked tired, washed out and in need of rest. But director and writer Praveen Sattaru wants viewers to believe the 63-year-old actor is a one-man army, who strikes fear in the hearts of his opponents.

Nagarjuna is Vikram, a former Interpol officer, whose childhood friend Anupama (Gul Panag) tasks him with protecting her teen brat daughter after receiving death threats. ‘Vikram’ was an unfortunate choice of name for the protagonist because you immediately compare it to Kamal Haasan’s Vikram, which looks like an Oscar contender against ‘The Ghost’. Anikha Surendran plays Aditi Nair, the teen in need of protection. She is obnoxious – Aditi never goes to school on time, skips breakfast to eat burgers, cuts classes to go to the spa, sneaks out in the night to go clubbing and engage in underage drinking. To discipline her, Vikram uses a taser on her whenever she acts out, which was just bizarre. But the writers think it’s ‘comedy’.

Nothing about this film was interesting, neither the characters, nor the action, or the family politics the plot hinges upon. To make Vikram seem interesting, the writers give him some baggage – he is a child survivor of a violent riot and suffers from PTSD. Though it seems the director did his research on mental disorders, because this seemingly troubled guy was untroubled to make out with his girlfriend surrounded by a bunch of guys they had killed. Well, that’s thorough research. Yes, definitely.

Like dudes, if you want to make a masala no-brainer entertainer, go all out, don’t confuse yourself and try to be woke. What a confusing, cringe-worthy mess. It’s a 2/10 from me. You can stream it on Netflix if you are a die-hard Nagarjuna fan.

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Listen to Ep 79 – Five Graphic Novel Adaptations to Read

‘Roommates of Poongduck 304’ – Quick Review

Kim Ji Woong and Yoon Seo Bin looked so freaking good together in ‘Kissable Lips’, of-course someone had the good sense to cast them as a romantic pair again. Thankfully, their 2022 Korean series ‘Roomates of Poongduck 304’ has a better developed plot and gives the actors more time to develop a believable relationship.

The story follows Ji Ho Joon (Kim Ji Woong), a wealthy 29-year-old womanizer whose father takes away all his credit/debit cards and forces him to live life on a regular employee’s salary. Ousted from his posh apartment, Joon takes up a room in the humble Poongduck villa, which is owned by the closeted Seo Jae Yoon (Yoon Seo Bin). The two start their tenant-owner relationship on the wrong foot, quarrelling the minute they meet, but in an unlikely co-incidence, Ji Ho turns out to be Seo Jae’s new boss at work. Can the two new roommates/workmates make things work between them?

This was a simple and cozy looking series, with warm tones (like most Korean shows) and pretty spaces. For a change, the writers aren’t ambiguous about a protagonist’s sexuality; because a lot of Asian series tend to be weird about labelling their leads and go the “he/she is not gay, they just happen to fall in love with someone from the same gender” route. Seo Jae is honest about being attracted to men, while Ji Ho Joon seems to be bisexual and isn’t too hung up about who he dates. Singer Holland has a small silly cameo which triggers the incidents in this romantic comedy. And while there’s no antagonist, Kang Woo Jung plays Seo Jae’s exploitative friend Yoo Seung, a sales professional who cheats people to meet his targets.

Eight episodes long (with 30 minutes each), ‘Roommates of Poongduck 304’ could’ve used a few more episodes to make the relationship progression of the lead couple seem smoother. One minute they are fighting, the other minute they are swooning over each other, but their romantic moments are cute. Kim Ji Woong is very charming as the suave Ji Ho Joon, it’s strange the actor hasn’t gained more fame, because he looks like he was handcrafted to be a romantic lead and will remind K-pop fans of Kim Taehyung. Actor Seo Jae Yoon needs more work with his acting skills but is a lot better in this series than he was in ‘Kissable Lips’. Their chemistry has vastly improved, and they make an adorable pair.

For a fluffy romance series, it’s a 7/10 from me.

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Listen to Ep 79 – Five Graphic Novel Adaptations to Read