Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 251

‘In the Shadow of the Moon’ Review – Starts Strong, Gets Shady

The 2019 film “In the Shadow of the Moon” starts with a bang, there’s blood spouting everywhere, and if you haven’t seen the trailer, you might mistake it for a dystopian story involving a lethal pandemic. However, this is a genre-blending time-travel/thriller film directed by Jim Mickle.

The year is 1988 and at least three people are shown to suffer a sudden violent death while they were on their jobs. Police officer Thomas Lockhart (Boyd Holbrook) smells a pattern and manages to track down the killer; however she accidentally dies during a scuffle, leaving the cops clueless over the motive of the killings. Nine years later, another person dies a similar violent death and the investigating team is baffled when CCTV footage reveals the suspect to be the same serial-killer who died in 1989. While everybody dismisses it as some deranged ‘copy-cat’ killer, Lockart is convinced she is a time-traveller with a weapon from the future, back every 9 years to kill someone.

The first twenty minutes of the movie is gripping, gritty and packed with interesting action. You have sudden violent deaths, lots of blood, cops looking for a suspect and a nicely paced chase sequence that is followed by some good action scenes. I loved how the killer (played by Cleopatra Coleman) is able to beat the shit out of fully-grown men and defend herself.

However, towards the second-half, the plot begins to lose steam, especially when the time-traveller’s apparent motive to kill a bunch of people is revealed. It felt a hare-brained and silly, right out of a children’s comic-book. It might have sounded great on paper, but looks a little ludicrous on screen. Also, the makers add in some unnecessary melodrama that ruins the mood of the thriller.

The character of Thomas Lockhart starts out as a smart ambitious cop, but is reduced to a sad emotional mess, who gets obsessed with the time-traveler’s case. He vows to kill her, but is not motivated to crack the case for professional reasons anymore, but out of a twisted sentimental notion he holds. He feels like if he kills her, he can somehow fix his own past. So the ‘cool cop’ protagonist becomes this ghost of an old man who really needs to see a therapist.

The climax was quite disappointing and doesn’t live up to the excitement of the first-half at all. Some viewers might end up feeling like they wasted their time on this one. With a stronger script, ‘In the Shadow of the Moon’ could have been a lot more kick-ass; the script pales out and become shady by the end. It’s a 5/10 from me.

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop – Review

The 2020 Japanese animated film “Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop” is one of those movies that have a weak first half and pick up steam quite unexpectedly, hitting you with a wave of emotions. I have to admit – I actually gave up watching the film after 40 minutes, not because it was bad, but because it was slightly slow. Finished it only the next day.

Directed by Kyohei Ishiguro, the story is about how an introverted boy called Cherry who likes to write poetry (haikus) meets shy girl Smile who is quite popular online. The basic premise in the beginning seems like the boring old “opposites attract”, things move at snail pace, even though there are some cute little moments in the first half. Cherry is old school – he is not very social and unlike youngsters his age who are busy playing games and chasing girls, he loves to write poetry and is constantly tying to improve his vocabulary. He literally has a mini-dictionary stuck along his phone cover.

When I resumed watching it on Netflix the next day, the story took a whole new turn – Cherry & Smile team up to find a record for an old man called Fujiyama, who suffers from Alzheimer’s.

“I used to hear it all the time, if I could only hear it one more time, I will remember” Fujiyama says, staring wistfully at an empty record cover that he carries with him all the time.

“Remember what?” Smile asks him. And the old man tears up, crying, saying he doesn’t want to forget, but cannot remember either. It was the first powerful moment in the film, cathartic, starkly reminding us how fickle the human memory can be. The scene also was a strong metaphor for the power of music and how they can hold key to our past. When we hear a song we haven’t heard in years, it might trigger a memory associated with it, an incident we thought was buried and lost in some part of a brain forever.

From the second-half, the film is poignant and gripping. While the animation isn’t as beautiful or sharp as some of the other popular films in the genre, like the 2016 movie “Your Name”, it’s decent enough, with a loud bright color scheme. The story also has the typical exaggerated Japanese animation style of emoting, so if a character feels embarrassed, their whole body would turn red. A lot of viewers love Japanese anime due to these overdone effects that add a lot of hilarity. Same goes for this film too.

The climax was quite typical and dramatic, but there is a heartwarming message at the end of this young romantic story. “Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop” offers a calming, slow and sweet romantic story set in the digital era, but without any complications that come with the age of social media. It’s a 6.5/10 from me.

10 Book Reviews Under 10 Minutes #7thEdition

If you are looking for book recommendations, we quickly review 10 different books under 10 minutes on our podcast.

From a 1949 psychological novel exploring an unheard mental illness (as of then) by Shirley Jackson, to an adorably drawn illustrated book about death, we cover a range of interesting books.

Listen in & do subscribe!

‘Unreliable Memoirs’ Quick Review – Unmemorable

I’ll be honest – I never heard about the book or author, only bought it because it cost about two dollars. Plus, the blurb claimed that the reader would laugh their ass off.

However, “Unreliable Memoirs” by Clive James isn’t as hilarious as it promises to be & most of it is about him being an obnoxious brat, who is constantly giving his poor windowed mom a heart-attack. Any other mom would’ve probably bludgeoned him to death.

I imagine I would’ve died laughing reading this book as a 12 or 13-year-old, but the content isn’t exactly kid-friendly, so not like my parents would’ve gotten me a copy. Even though half the book is about Clive’s memories of being a pre-teen, there’s a decent amount of graphic sexual content involving the kids.

Clive talks about having the biggest crush on an older boy (for almost 2-3 years). I despised the fact that Clive constantly tries to prove that it was just a “phase” and that he is “not queer”. Not like he is a homophobe, just that he is annoyingly apologetic, even though it’s subtle. Well, the book was published in 1980, so maybe we could cut him some slack. But as a 21st century reader, I didn’t enjoy it much.

Some parts of this memoir were definitely hilarious. It’s like Enid Blyton’s “Naughtiest Girl” for adults, with a boy in the lead.

‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Review – Riveting

Most horror productions usually fail to impress viewers because of one strong reason – they have weak plots. And that’s where the 2018 Netflix horror series ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ shines. It has a solid story circling around five siblings, the Crane children, who briefly lived in a haunted house, where their mother Olivia Crane allegedly killed herself. While the father packs off all his kids on the night of that tragedy, the ghosts of Hill House continue to haunt the children into their adulthood.

Created by Mike Flanagan & loosely based on Shirley Jackson’s novel, this gripping horror mystery is backed up by a great cast, each of them slipping effortlessly into their roles. In-fact, the child actors almost overshadow the adult line-up. The series unfolds during multiple timelines, so we see constant flitting between the past and the present. The past is broken into two timelines, one where Olivia (Carla Gugino) is still alive and the second is right after her death, where patriarch Hugh Crain (Henry Thomas plays the younger version) gathers his children and faces police investigation over his wife’s death. In the present, another tragedy strikes the forcing them to re-unite and confront buried demons.

Some viewers may have a hard time following the multiple timelines that are interwoven together, but it all makes for perfect storytelling and is not confusing at all, if you just pay enough attention. The Haunting of Hill House is more of a psychological mystery, with just enough scares to satisfy horror fans. For those looking for a lot of blood, gore and monsters, this is not the right pick. The focus is heavily on the Crane siblings and how living in a haunted house changes their lives forever. Their relationship with their father becomes strained because he never reveals to them how their mother died and becomes estranged, leaving the kids in the custody of an aunt. Each sibling has an episode to themselves, and the makers poignantly give us a peek into their lives and minds.

What works perfectly for the plot is the fact that it’s not just your usual scream fest, and the Crane crew is led by an atheist Stephen Crane (Michiel Huisman), the eldest sibling, who is a supernatural author, but doesn’t believe in ghosts. As a child, he did not experience traumatic supernatural events like the younger ones and is constantly applying logic to anything that seems off. He strongly believes that their family is damaged and in need of therapy. What makes the show more interesting is the fact that there isn’t just one ‘ghost’, but multiple of them. So just when you feel slightly disappointed when they reveal what the phantom looks like, (if a supernatural being’s face is shown much before the end, it kills the joy of watching horror), they introduce a new specter. The makers also avoid the temptation of avoiding jump scares where viewers most expect it.

“Sometimes, a ghost is a wish”, Stephen says one of the most powerful quote in the series. He explains how some people would rather see their loved ones as ghosts, than to never see them at all. And while the analogy makes perfect sense, it’s made clear that the Crane siblings do experience paranormal activities, both in the past and the present. The biggest question that continues to remain unanswered for them is their mother’s death. Mike Flanagan and his team of writers ensure that they keep the viewer intrigued about it, by giving us constant crumbs from the past, just the smallest of scenes from that fateful night, without explaining how Olivia Crane actually dies. Did her husband kill her? Did the ‘ghosts’ do something sinister? Did she really simply kill herself? And was she trying to attack her children that night? Because that’s what is implied in the very first episode of the series, with father Crane hurriedly packing off his cubs in a car and driving them away from the house.

‘Haunting of Hill House’ vividly touches upon PTSD, mental health, drug addiction and strained family ties. Despite fraught relations, the Crane family tries to be there for each other in times of need. Towards the second-half, the emotional drama does feel a little overdone, for example, Shirley Crane (Elizabeth Reaser), the second sibling, who is a mortician with a funeral home business, keeps seeing a man’s ghost. The writers explain his identity towards the end, and that little sub-plot was completely unnecessary. It’s understandable that they try to show how each sibling is ‘broken’ in their own way, but everybody doesn’t need to have crippling problems for viewers to feel empathy.

Victoria Pedretti and Oliver Jackson-Cohen who plays the Crane twins Nell & Luke are fantastic as the most fragile members of the family. Pedretti was quite annoying as the lead character in ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, but here she really delivers a moving performance. Kate Siegel as the middle sister Theodora Crane was first-rate, exuding the aura of a cold therapist with a strange power (she can sense events by touching things/people). McKenna Grace was perfect as the younger practical Theo, who prefers being by herself, but deeply cares for her siblings. Violet McGraw & Julian Hilliard were absolutely adorable as the little Crane twins, making the viewers feel terrible each time they witness something sinister. Lulu Wilson as young Shirley was perhaps the only weak link in the cast & isn’t able to emote aptly.

I like how there is a lot more action and dialogue in this series and not excessive dreams or hallucinations like in most horror/zombie series these days. It keeps you very invested in the story, especially because there is just one family that is involved in the plot. All the weird, scary flashbacks from the past culminate into a powerful ending, with a chilling explanation of the Olivia Crane mystery.

‘The Haunting of Hill House’ leaves no loose ends, it doesn’t leave the viewer with more questions, but with a wholesome horror mystery that’s absolutely worth your time. It’s a 8.5/10 from me.

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Listen to Episode 40 where we discuss some fun Zombie tropes

‘Mimi’ Review: Skewed Surrogacy Script Buoyed By Solid Starcast

The 2021 Bollywood film “Mimi” picks an interesting plot – how foreigners visit India for cheap surrogate shopping & sometimes decide to dump the goods they ordered, because shoppers can be fickle.

Directed by Laxman Utekar, it stars Kriti Sanon as Mimi, a dancer who agrees to be a surrogate for an American couple because she needs the large paycheck to fund her dream of becoming an actor. Pankaj Tripathi plays Bhanu, a driver who helps seal the deal between the couple and Mimi, for a lump sum of course. Mimi spins a yarn about landing a movie deal to her small town parents played by Manoj Pahwa and Supriya Pathak, and claims she needs to be away for 9 months for the shoot. Things get complicated when the Americans decide they don’t want the baby, when Mimi is already heavily pregnant with their child.

The first half of the film is fun, filled with stereotypical but witty jokes that will get easy laughs out of the average Indian viewer. Pankaj Tripathi is the heart of this film, with his perfect comic-timing and impeccable acting as the greedy driver with a heart of gold. Up until the first big twist, ‘Mimi’ was largely entertaining and breezy, but it soon becomes dangerously preachy, when it tries to peddle the conservative line of ‘pro-life’ over ‘pro-choice’. Mimi’s character starts off as a vivacious ambitious woman, who has no inclination towards motherhood and becomes a surrogate only for the money. However, when the American couple flees India after suggesting she abort their child, Mimi turns into this emotional pro-life advocate, hamming about how about abortion equals murder and that parents should keep their kid, no matter what. So Mimi gives up on her Bollywood dreams and raises the child. And yes, that’s a choice too, we appreciate it, but it shouldn’t have been pushed as ‘the only right choice’.

Tempted to reveal a few other twists to explain some other problems with the script, but will hold those details back. The second-half of the movie gets slow and the story is dragged on for no reason, it’s 25 minutes too long. Laxman Utekar could’ve either wrapped it up half-an hour early, without a fresh and extremely predictable turn towards the end, or should’ve at least sped-through the ‘mother-child’ moments between Mimi and the kid. It doesn’t help that the child actor cannot speak a work of Hindi and his lines are badly dubbed. The background music and a few songs in the movie are quite forgettable and do little to enhance the story.

The biggest relief for viewers in this movie is the fact that it’s not overtly emotional, in-fact, Mimi’s parents are almost unrealistically accepting, even though they do shed a few tears and are shocked beyond belief. Manoj Pahwa and Supriya Pathak don’t have a lot of screen-time, but are adorable as Mimi’s small-town parents. Kriti Sanon pulls off the role with ease, although her character traits are inconsistent (blame the writers).

‘Mimi’ is a funny drama, which doesn’t dwell too deep into the problems of surrogacy or prenatal science, but touches just enough points to give viewers a very superficial idea of how it works. The last half-hour feels too long, but is an interesting example of the proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”. Largely entertaining, Mimi is a 7/10 from me.

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – Abstract AF

Listen to episode 29 for some fun movie recommendations.

Class Act – Quick Book Review

A follow-up to “New Kid”, the graphic novel “Class Act” by Jerry Craft is pretty much as entertaining and colourful.

The book follows the stories of a bunch of kids who are starting a new year at school, and each of them has their own fears, some serious, some funny. Like one of the characters Jordan is worried that he isn’t smelly & sweaty like the other guys in school after a game. “When do I get my big-boy stink” he asks his father, all upset.

Craft hilariously captures the anxieties of being in a competitive school. And his drawing style is fun. Just like “New Kids”, the dominant theme in “Class Act” is how kids of color feel like outsiders in a posh school dominated by white students.

Since it’s contemporary fiction, the story unfolds at a time when “Black Lives Matter” was gathering a lot of steam. So, we see how the school administration tries hard to work towards “diversity” and making students from different ethnic backgrounds feel comfortable. A lot of the measures only make some of the characters feel more out of place.

I loved how Craft humorously makes one of the meaner kids called Andy experience what it feels like to be an outsider, by subjecting the character to a practical joke. Andy comes as Hulk for Halloween, but realises his brother painted him with a green color that doesn’t come off in one wash. So he ends up going to school looking all green for almost 5 days and is made the butt of endless jokes. Even the teachers can’t help but laugh a little. When he talks of how it was hard being “green” for a few days, a classmate points out how them being of a different colour is permanent, and not temporary like his experience. This really hits home for Andy.

For young readers, “Class Act” serves as a clever and fun tale about racial and economic disparities, without getting too preachy. Graphic Novel enthusiasts will love how each chapter name puns with popular books of the genre & the art resembles their cover page.

It’s a 4/5 from me.

Feels Like Ishq Review – Only Two Out of Six Hit The ‘Feels’

By the time I was watching the third short film in the 2021 Netflix short-film anthology ‘Feels Like Ishq’, my hands were on my head, exasperated with the pretentious emotions of a privileged brat of a girl doing her first ‘solo trip’ to make her ex-boyfriend ‘jealous’. Ugh.

Only two out of the six films were worth the watch, everything else made me hit the ‘fast-forward’ button, especially the first one starring Radhika Madan called ‘Save The Da(y)te’, where the makers try to hard to be ‘cool’, but the story is as old as old can be – bride gets cold feet on her wedding day and runs off to who knows where. It’s up to the best friend to find her before all hell breaks loose, so she catches hold of a guy (Amol Parashar) and the two go bride-hunting. Radhika was dazzling in her little cameo in ‘Ray’, another Netflix anthology, however, in ‘Feels Like Ishq’, not so much. While visually, the first short looks great, it’s shot in the scenic Goa, and the transitions are very artsy, but the story is just ‘blah’. The banter between Amol & Parasahar sounds scripted as fuck and is almost cringe-y. And the less said about the runaway bride, the better.

Okay, maybe we should take a break from all the negative opinion and talk about the best short film in this anthology. The fifth one titled ‘Interview’ was the clear winner of them all, largely due to lead actors Neeraj Madhav & Zayn Marie Khan, who play two rival candidates up for a sales job at an electronics showroom. While this short film had the simplest plot, it only goes on to prove that you don’t need complex twists or ‘cool’ dialogues to make a movie work. Zayn as a confident ambitious Mumbai girl and Madhav as a Mallu boy trying to make a living in the city of dreams are matched to perfection. The two light up the screen with their easy chemistry as two strangers who bond before their job interview.

The other short film that seemed heart-felt was ‘She Love Me, She Loves Me Not’. Again, its the easy charm of the two lead actors – Saba Azad and Sanjeeta Bhattacharya – that makes it an interesting watch. Although, the story is sweet and quite layered for a half-hour show. Sanjeeta plays the bisexual Muskaan crushing on her new pretty colleague Tarasha (Saba Azad) who is openly gay. While there are some exaggerated & funny moments in this plot, viewers might enjoy the quirky balance of funny stereotypes & serious insights into the lives of queer people. So on one hand, Muskaan tries to convey her sexuality by ‘dressing like a lesbian’, Tarasha talks of how her ex-girlfriend was an abusive prick and that all is not hunky dory with lesbian couples. It ends on a predictable but sweet romantic note and definitely felt like ‘ishq’.

‘Quarantine Crush’, the second short starts off cute, but soon gets boring. It’s about a young boy who crushes on his newly arrived neighbor from Canada, who he immediately looks up on social media and keeps staring at from his window. While the girl is self-isolating, the two strike up a socially-distanced friendship. A simple enough story, but the actors aren’t able to carry their roles off. Again, it all felt a little too scripted, like the first one. The last short ‘Ishq Mastana’ was the most pretentious and skippable of the lot; fast-forwarded most of it. Maybe some people think a protest rally is a fun idea for a date with someone they don’t know, but it just doesn’t hit right on the screen.

Overall, this anthology has a mixed take on love, even though all of it is overwhelmingly simplified. It’s a 6/10 from me.

Five Interesting Zombie Tropes

Zombie flicks are the most popular horror sub-genre and each creation has its own set of rules, depending on who is writing/directing the script.

In the latest podcast episode of Abstract AF, We talk of five quirky ones from five different productions. Listen in and please do subscribe to our YouTube channel.

‘His House’ Review – Slow But Engaging

The 2020 horror-thriller film ‘His House’ is a gripping story about how a South-Sudanese couple manage to flee their country and try to start a new life in a British town. However, the house they are allotted as refugees by the government seems to be home to some sinister secrets.

Directed by Remi Weekes, this film stars Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu in the lead couple Bol & Rial. The duo knows enough English to manage daily conversations, but in a apparent white dominated area, day to day life is not going to be easy. The story unfolds in an English neighborhood that looks sparse and stone-cold – not an easy places to blend in. It’s these little details in the film, that add to the oppressive atmosphere of the story, making it palpable enough for viewers to understand just how difficult it is for refugees to settle down in a new place.

Both Bol & Rial are haunted by supernatural visions in their new house, including those of their daughter Nyagak. who couldn’t survive the treacherous boat journey from Sudan to Europe. But time and again, the viewers are given hints that Nyagak’s death wasn’t a simple tragedy in stormy waters. The fact that they suffer supernatural visions in a boring suburban house, makes it more eerier. Horror fans have had enough of the grand old mansions in the middle of somewhere, so ‘His House’ offers a fresh take on the haunted-house trope.

A lot of South-Sudanese culture and folklore is interwoven into the story, making it both intriguing and a little weird. The story however gets a little slow in parts, especially when Rial hallucinates about her past. While it makes for a compelling watch, some viewers might wish there was a little more back-story to the couple. The climax was slightly underwhelming, but explain the tension we see between the couple, while they try to start over. What works best for ‘His House’ is how the makers don’t let it become just another refugee story that’s about ‘outsiders versus natives’, but instead, they dwell deeper into the inner demons of the protagonists.

It’s a 7/10 from me.