Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 266
March 3, 2021
‘Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan’ Review – Your Kind of Bizarre?
The 2021 Netflix animated show ‘Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan’ is about a Japanese Manga artist who experiences bizarre supernatural events and then turns them into stories. The first season only has four episodes which are about 24 minutes long. Each episode starts with Rohan sitting outside a cafe and recalling a paranormal story to a friend or colleague.
Right from the first episode, I wasn’t a fan of the kind of artwork used in this show. While the makers use bright colors, the art isvery exaggerated and creepy, which was perhaps deliberate because of the horror theme; but the characters have these unsettling large eyes that make them look like they are already dead. Some of the living characters in this series appear to be creepier than the demons.
What greatly works in the favor of the show is the fact that each episode is a ‘oneshot’, the Japanese term for standalone stories. So washing Kishibe Rohan is like watching four-short films. The first episode titled ‘At A Confessional’ is about how Rohan overhears a damning confession by a very rich man during a church visit in Venice. The story was slightly juvenile, with parody-like humor, and wasn’t very enjoyable. I almost gave up the show after the first one, but decided to resume watching the other episodes after two days. It wasn’t a bad decision because the second episode was really good. Titled ‘Mustu-kabe Hill’, the story was very classic Japanese horror manga style, with a lot of blood, gore and a twist that goes far beyond the average writer’s imagination.
The third and fourth stories were however underwhelming and uninteresting, for example the last story was about a young man who becomes an obsessive heath freak, so much so that he even steals his girlfriend’s money to pay for exclusive gym benefits. And things get a little out of hand in the end. The third one was just the weirdest and most forgettable of the lot, even though it had a bizarre moral about manners. I would recommend ‘Kishibe Rohan’ to those who have read or watched Japanese horror manga, because otherwise you might just be going ‘what the fuck’ all the time. It’s hard to rate this show, because it has 4 episodes, out of which I felt like one was great, but the other three were very disappointing. It’s all about what kind of bizarre appeals to you. The episode two was my kind of bizarre. I guess I will settle for a 5/10 for this.
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March 2, 2021
‘Aapkey Kamrey Mein Koi Reheta Hai’ Review
A bunch of guy friends land a steal of a deal on a four bedroom flat in Mumbai, where rental rates are higher than New York skyscrapers. What’s the catch? The building is built on a graveyard, so most families are vary of it. What the boys don’t know is that it’s haunted too. Well, that’s the plot of the new Indian Hindi horror-comedy series ‘Aapkey Kamrey Mein Koi Reheta Hai’.
The four friends are Nikhil (Sumeet Vyas), Subbu (Naveen Kasturia), Kavi (Amol Parashar) and Sanki (Ashish Verma), and right after they throw a house-warming party, things begin to get out hand. One of them spikes the drinks to get with a girl. One of them dies post the party after spotting a ghost late in the night. What follows is a police investigation and a lot of madness.
For most parts, ‘Aapkey Kamrey Mein Koi Reheta Hai’ is juvenile, silly and idiotic. But it does manage to get a good share of laughs out of the viewer. The back-story to why the building is haunted was straight out of a ‘B’ grade horror film script from the 80s. Actor Swara Bhasker was pretty good as Mausam – a colleague of the boys, who gets entangled in the police case and is kicked out by her flatmates, so she ends up moving into the haunted flat with the men.
With just 5 episodes, the total runtime of this series is less than 2 hours, so it’s more like a feature film. The first episode was distasteful, especially due to the unsavory bit about spiking drinks at a party with an aphrodisiac. But the boys get kicked out of their jobs for it, because most of the attendees were folks from their office and the girls raise a stink over it, which was quite well-deserved. It gets more entertaining from there on. Out of jobs and stuck in a flat where their friend died, the boys don’t know how to get out of the mess. Funnily enough, the evil spirits are actually quite friendly and add to the comic relief.
If you are not a horror-comedy fan, skip this series, but ‘Aapkey Kamrey Mein Koi Reheta Hai’ is not a bad one-time-watch for the genre. It’s a 5/10 from me.
Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.
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March 1, 2021
‘Crazy About Her’ Review – This Script Is Bipolar
The 2021 Spanish film ‘Crazy About Her’ is a romantic comedy with a unique plot – cocky journalist Adri (Álvaro Cervantes) falls for a mysterious girl Carla (Susana Abaitua) after what was supposed to be a ‘one night stand’, only to find out that she lives in a mental health facility. An unfazed lovelorn Adri admits himself into the facility with a fake psychiatric diagnosis, just to get Carla’s number. But Carla is not interested in his romantic advances and Adri finds himself trapped in the psychiatric facility, because once a patient is admitted, they cannot just waltz out when they feel like.
The first 10-15 minutes of this film was cliche overload, two attractive strangers meet and decide to do crazy stuff together – which is gate-crashing a wedding. It’s not 2005 and wedding-crashers are not interesting anymore. However, that one night of wedding-crashing is enough for the playboy Adri to fall head over heels in love. The story gets a little better once Adri gets into the mental-health facility, but he is an asshole about people with mental illness. It’s only after he his forced to spend a few days with them that he realizes they are fellow human-beings that deserve the same dignity as everyone else.

While initially it felt like ‘Crazy About Her’ trivializes mental health, as the plot progresses it introduces some very likable characters and the script gets more empathetic. There is a touching sub-plot about Adri’s roommate Saul (Luis Zahera who reminded me of Robert De Niro), who is Schizophrenic, and finds himself being alienated from his family. In-fact, most of the support cast was more interesting than the lead pair. Aixa Villagran was fun as the feisty Marta, who suffers from depression due to her tourette syndrome, a disorder that causes uncontrollable repetitive movements by the body and unwanted vocal sounds. We don’t get much background on Carla, so most viewers might just be indifferent to her character.
The script was all over the place, like it suffered from bipolar disorder, because the plot would flit between incredibly cringe-y to witty, with some very heartwarming moments in between. One scene that tickled my ribs was Adri’s first attempt to escape the facility, his roommate Saul seriously suggests that he jump off the window. Adri considers the option for a second, but when he looks at the height, he reprimands Saul, screaming “are you fucking nuts?!”… to which Saul smoothly responds straight-faced, ‘yes, I have been diagnosed’. It was hilarious.
After having an entertaining middle portion, the movie again descends to becoming predictably mushy and I felt like fast-forwarding the climax. The ending was ridiculously cheesy. Despite all its flaws, the makers manage to give a positive message on mental health in ‘Crazy About Her’. As a viewer, I have very mixed-feelings about the movie. I guess I would give it a 6/10.
Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.
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February 28, 2021
Feb Book Wrap – 10 Reviews Under 10 Minutes
Hello fellow readers, February is over and I am feeling a little accomplished after managing to finish 10 fiction books, especially because some of them were really cool graphic novels.
I review all the titles on the latest podcast episode of Abstract AF, so if you are looking for some book recommendations, please listen in. If you’ve already read them, let’s swap notes! Do subscribe to the channel if you like what you hear.
If you prefer movie over books, listen in to episode 10, where I review 10 titles that were made available on Netflix in February 2021.
February 27, 2021
Vampyr Review – Not Enough Fire
Book no. 20 this year – The Vampyr by John William Polidori, a very small book that I was confident of finishing it in an hour, could I have been more wrong.
Published in 1819, the early 19th century English wasn’t easy to read in a single sitting.
It’s about a young rich dude called Aubrey, who befriends a mysterious guy called Lord Ruthven, only to learn he is a blood-sucker. A fact that he learns to late, leading to fatal consequences.It wasn’t a fun reading experience, unlike ‘Carmilla’ another short Vampire book, which came out decades later and had all the elements of a classic gothic story. First off – I had to read a few sentences twice and concentrate more than usual to understand what’s going on. Which is fine by me, but the problem is, the story’s flow wasn’t very smooth. It felt more like an essay, with very few descriptions. Polidori was primarily a physician, so maybe prose wasn’t really his forte.
Except for the fact that Vampyr was path-breaking in the Vampire fiction genre due to the virtue of its early publication date, it’s not very impressive. I would give it a 2.5 on 5.
February 26, 2021
Ginny & Georgia Review – Goes From Fun To Frustrating
Lured by a wittily edited trailer, I ended up binge-watching the new Netflix show ‘Ginny & Georgia’ in less than 24 hours and sort of regretted investing all that time into it. I am one of those losers who feels compelled to finish what they started, thank technology for the ‘fast-forward’ button though.
‘Ginny Miller, an angsty fifteen-year-old, often feels more mature than her thirty-year-old mother, the irresistible and dynamic Georgia Miller.’ – reads the description of the 10-episode show directed by Saraha Lampert. The first few episodes were clever, entertaining, introducing us to Georgia (Brianne Howey), who loses a rich husband but gains all his wealth, with which she decides to start a new life with her two kids. But Ginny (Antonia Gentry) tells the viewer how her mom never lasts too long in the same place and keeps moving every time things go bad, uprooting their lives each time. Little does the teenager know that her mother has more than a few dark secrets that the family needs running from.
There was a fun scene in the first episode where Georgia and her nine-year-old son Austin (Diesel La Torraca) sing the song ‘It Wasn’t Me’ by Shaggy out loud in their car, when Ginny turns off the song and admonishes their mom for playing an inappropriate song. If you have heard the song, you would agree. That scene encapsulates their entire relationship – a free spirited mom, with a mature beyond her age 15-year-old. But Ginny’s growth through the episodes were not consistent with her traits; she is portrayed as a level-headed girl, with 100% scores, who reads literature, but by the end of the series, she is reduced to an annoying attention seeking teen, who is confused about two boys from school. The makers use the classic good boy versus bad boy trope – option number one is Marcus (Felix Mallard), who smokes-weed, cuts classes and makes-out with random girls, option number two is Hunter, who is top of the class, popular at school, part of a band, and the sorts who would rather read literature than text his girlfriend. Ginny’s relationships are basically crap; Antonia Gentry’s performance however is laudable.

Brianne Howey is dazzling as the pretty ‘white trash’ Georgia, always dressed in revealing clothes, turning heads everywhere she goes. She tells her two kids that it’s always going to be the three of them against the world, but there are too many sub-plots and characters stuffed in, so the mother-daughter relationship gets sidelined. Instead, we have two women, who are constantly vying for the attention for the men in their lives and it gets super annoying. As soon as they move, Georgia puts her eyes on the handsome bachelor mayor in town. She also finds herself in financial trouble because her dead husband’s ex-wife contests his will, so all her debit/credit cards are blocked. So she resorts to all sorts of petty scams and tricks to get money, something she is not new to, as we learn from flashbacks. The flashback stories are interesting, but the actor who plays the younger Georgia lacks punch.
The makers try to accommodate a lot of other themes, like Georgia’s rough childhood, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, the struggles of being bi-racial, mental health issues, etc… but all of is dealt with quite superficially. 15-year-old Georgia is overtly sexualized, it would’ve been better if her character was at least 17. She makes an interesting bunch of friends, out of who Maxine (Sara Waisglass) stands out the most, an incorrigibly chatty girl, whose character flits between sweet and pesky. Maxine is openly gay, so the show also has a positive LGBTQ message.
The thing is, each little sub-plot in ‘Ginny & Georgia’ feels like a rehashed version of so many different things we have already seen, that it lacks a certain originality and gets overbearing towards the last few episodes. Most of the characters are fine, but it’s like they have been picked up from a template book for personalities. This show could have been a lot more, it is fun in parts, frustrating in some bits, and mediocre for the rest of it. You may or may not like this show. It’s a 6/10 from me.
Random trivia – Brianne Howey who plays Georgia is 30 in real life too.
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February 25, 2021
‘Xico’s Journey’ Review – Cutesy
The Mexican animated film ‘Xico’s Journey’ (on Netflix) is about two kids and their canine friend trying to stop unscrupulous businessmen from destroying their village’s sacred mountain. Directed by Eric Cabello, the animation reminded me of the popular Indian cartoon ‘Chhota Bheem’, which is a huge hit with the kids.
The film starts with a little girl called Copi running across her village with a kite, while her best-friend Gus and pet Mico follow her around. It’s an idyllic scene, symbolizing the peace and harmony of countryside living. But the next scene is a board-room meeting in a big city, where men in suits are plotting to ruin Copi’s home to dig up hidden gold. The villagers learn that their mayor has agreed to let the men take over their mountain and are swayed by the promise of getting a share of the fortune buried down under. Copi soon finds out that her grandmother is one of the three guardians of the mountain which has special powers and that her mother is trapped inside it. It’s up to Copi, Gus and the loyal Mico to set on journey inside the mystical mountain to find her mom and a way to defeat the men who have cast an evil eye on San Jaime de las Jaibas, their village.

Despite a great educational message on the need to preserve our environment, the makers fail to captivate the viewers. One can imagine eight-year-old kids enjoying it, but with the kind of top-notch story-telling animated films have today, Cabello’s film might not be able to hold the interest of older children. While the first half of the film is enjoyable and cute, the storytelling soon gets slow, boring and unnecessarily dramatic for a children’s tale. For example – a character is killed in shooting by security personnel who were trying to control protests. Also, a lot of random forgettable characters are stuffed into the plot and some kids might get confused about their existence.
While I love watching animated films even if they are aimed at children, but ‘Xico’s Journey’ is too mediocre to be appreciated by adult viewers. It’s a 5/10 from me. But kids might love it.
Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.
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February 24, 2021
Reading V For Vendetta In 2021
Let us start this graphic novel review with some trivia – ‘V For Vendetta’ starts off with a pandemic warning in the very first page, an announcement declares that two areas in London are quarantined and must be avoided.
This is my book number 19 for the year and I felt sort of silly for not having read the ‘classic bestseller’ by Alan Moore & David Lloyd until now. I did see the 2005 film as a teen; buying the graphic novel wasn’t an affordable option back then. So I’ve always pushed purchasing it, since I already knew the story. Finally got the e-book because it was basically free with the ‘Kindle Unlimited’ subscription.
The story is about a masked vigilante ‘V’, plotting to overthrow a neo-fascist government. He wears a Guy Fawkes mask, who has since become a popular symbol of protests in the real world too. Moore wittily merges historical events with fiction.

‘V For Vendetta’ first came out in 1982, with a setting similar to George Orwell’s “1984”. However, Moore’s fiction is much darker and the oppressive mood is amplified by the comic panels drenched in shades of black. While ‘V’ slowly & steadily murders a lot of people at the top, we see a parallel plot about how investigators try to crack his identity. There is a pretty sinister origin story to the mysterious V, whose true identity is never revealed through the course of the book. His potential back-story is revealed through the diary of a dead character, and the investigators have their own doubts about its authenticity.
What a modern reader of this book would possibly appreciate is how the creators deliberately wrote a political satire about their time, but unwittingly also mirrored the future. People from around the world can still draw parallels of the corrupt regime to governments across the globe. ‘V’ himself symbolizes the ease with anybody in a superior position can influence a malleable mind and get them to do their bidding. He is no saint, his actions lead to anarchy and chaos, although the anarchy is justified as the first step to freedom from a totalitarian regime. While the themes are thought-provoking, the story begins to falter a little towards the end.
‘V’ in the comic is constantly quoting classics, poetry and his shadowy behaviour gets overbearing for the reader. I would get confused between some characters because they weren’t very distinctly different. The choice of colors in the artwork sometimes seemed a little too much work for the eyes. My interest in the book wavered a little towards the end & I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Guess this is what happens when you watch the film version first (I really liked the movie).
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February 22, 2021
A Week Away – Looks Way Too Familiar
Netflix just dropped the trailer for the 2021 film ‘A Week Away’ and man… it looks like a mash of 100 other films we’ve already seen. I had a bored straight face throughout the 2 minute 33 second trailer, can one be expected to survive the full-fledged film?
Troubled teen Will Hawkins (Kevin Quinn) has a run-in with the law that puts him at an important crossroad: go to juvenile detention or attend a Christian summer camp. At first a fish-out-of-water, Will opens his heart, discovers love with a camp regular (Bailee Madison), and sense of belonging in the last place he expected to find it.
Netflix Description
Except for the fact that the hero is forced to go to a ‘Christian summer camp’, which resembles any other teen summer camp film you have ever seen, nothing is interesting. He falls for the ‘perfect girl’, who is tired of playing the ‘perfect girl’ and he is hiding secrets from her. So until she knows the truth, they hang out and sing around and be perfect together. Then things go a little awry, before probably becoming perfect again. Yawn.
Actor Bailee Madison for some reason reminded me of Katie Holmes, it’s probably the hair-style. The lead actors have lukewarm chemistry and the dialogues are very last era. Whoever wrote this script, just watched a bunch of Disney summer camp films and regurgitated it on paper. Not sure if I want to watch this one. I prefer writing nice things about films and books.
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Things One Learns As An Indie Author
Abstract AF also is a podcast on YouTube, with new episodes every week. In episode nine, I discuss ten things one learns as an Independent author.
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