Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 295
February 14, 2020
Bombshell – A Review
Bombshell’s teaser was the most intriguing teaser I had ever seen in years – just three big stars playing journalists crammed in an elevator, with palpable tension in that little space. “It’s hot in here,” says Nicole Kidman. You can feel that heat. The teaser gives away nothing.
The movie is about the fall of media mogul Roger Ailes, who headed Fox News and the women who were instrumental in bringing that about. Honestly, I didn’t know much about it, so for me, it was all very new.
The film starts off on a light note, with Charlize Theron, who plays star anchor Megyn Kelly, breaking the fourth wall and inviting the viewer into her newsroom. She tells us about who Roger Ailes is and how Fox News functions.
Soon, the makers dive into the plot at hand – how sexism and sexual harassment is a systematic problem in not just the industry, but the country. “To get ahead, you have to give head,” women are told.
Kidman plays an aging anchor, who has had enough of the sexism, of being put down and finally decides to bring down the head of her channel. Only after she is fired, a move she was anticipating.
The film is riveting and makes you uncomfortable, especially as a woman viewer. Margot Robbie plays a young, go-getter who wants to be on air, but is too naive to imagine the price she has to pay for her dream. She symbolizes all the young women who were exploited by men in power in the industry. Doe-eyed, dolled up, Robbie really nails her role, she is the lamb that gives in to the wolf.
I remember holding my friend’s hand for a brief second, to overcome the discomfort I felt when Robbie is sexually harassed by Roger Ailes, who, in his own words, resembles “Jabba the Hutt”. For those who don’t get the reference, Jabba is a character in Star Wars, an obese alien slug that is disgusting to look at.
None of the three heroines – Kidman, Theron, Robbie – are saints. But they decide to fight the system, the institutionalized sexual harassment of women, even if it’s too late. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” Theron’s character says, when she decides to get more women to speak up and expose her boss. It was slightly disappointing to see Kidman not get enough screen time, even though she is the one who spearheads the campaign against Ailes and sues him, putting all at stake.
The film was pacy and keeps one engaged throughout. The makers used real archival footage of Donald Trump to add to the authenticity of the film. The make-up artists have done a fantastic job in transforming all the actors to look like their part.
John Lithgow as Roger Ailes evokes the kind of emotions from the viewer that is expected out of him – of loathing and disgust. He is characteristic of all the rich, old, powerful men, who feel they are entitled to getting sex out of women who work for them.
Bombshell may not be as explosive as it’s title, but it sure brings in the fireworks that are worth watching. The film’s plot may be limited to one news channel, but it’s a universal tale of how sexual harassment is normalized and how women too are part of the problem.
February 12, 2020
To All The Boys: PS I still Love You Review
The sequel to the much loved ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ is now streaming on Netflix, and I streamed it as soon as I saw it on their home page.
I had seen the first movie with a bunch of my girlfriends and we all loved it. It was a breezy kind of chick flick you would want to watch on a girls’ night out. The second film picks off from where the first one ended – Lara Jean is officially dating and not ‘fake’ dating the hottest guy in school, Peter Kavinsky.
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The movie starts off with an adorable montage of 16 year old Lara Jean trying out different outfits in her almost picture perfect room, despite the slight mess. She excitedly sings a classic romance song from the 80s, until interrupted by her cheeky younger sister who subtly says she doesn’t look ready for her date.
Lana Condor is as adorable as she was in the first film and reminds you of what it felt like to be in love when you were a teenager. Michael Fimognari gets all those ‘feels’ right. I was smiling through the first few minutes, where Peter and Lara go for dinner, then go to a pretty place to light up sky lanterns.
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The makers pick all the right kind of songs for every scene in the film, the music carries the story forward. But all’s not rosy in Lara’s life. While she thinks she has just entered an almost perfect relationship, the first plot twist comes right after her first date. She finds herself face to face with her childhood crush John Ambrose, who receives one of her old love letters that her sister had mischievously mailed to all her crushes. Her heart races again.
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Jordan Fisher as Ambrose is aptly cast as her childhood love interest and makes you wish Lara would pick him in the end. And our heroine too finds herself torn between Ambrose and her boyfriend, while she also battles insecurities over his ex-girlfriend.
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The movie seems to have been shot with a lot of love, almost every frame in this film is like a painting, you feel like you could pause at any scene and it would be picture perfect. That’s a rare kind of feat in teen romance films that are made to appeal to the masses.
But everything is not perfect about this film. While the first half was funny, endearing, in the middle, the story gets a little weary. I haven’t read the book, but there are some cliché tropes – like Lara always getting interrupted when she wants to say something important. The done to death ‘walking down the stairs in a pretty gown’ scene, where the boy find himself gasping for his breath.
Call me cynical, but while at first, I was all excited about the whole teens in love theme, however, towards the end, I found myself sighing and thinking that the makers are making the film a little too serious than necessary.
You really feel bad for Jordan Fisher in the end, the perfect guy who is undeservedly led on and rejected; while Lara manages to get an almost fairy tale like ending. The climax could have been better. But well, it’s a pretty good chick flick for a round two on girls’ night out. It’s a 7/10 for me.
If I had to sum it up in one sentence – Breezy beginning, boring in between, balanced in the end, but the boys deserved better.
Jo Jo Rabbit – Review
I saw Taika Waititi’s Jo Jo Rabbit in the theatres two weeks ago.
When I first saw the trailer, like many film buffs, I couldn’t help but find an uncanny resemblance of the cinematography to that of Wes Anderson’s movies. But I love Wes Anderson’s creations, so I couldn’t wait to see Jo Jo Rabbit.
Told from the point of view of ten year old Jo Jo, a German boy who has been brainwashed in a Nazi youth camp, this film has a refreshingly different take on World War II. Visually stunning, with exaggerated but funny characters, it is moving and an absolute crowd-pleaser.
Jo Jo, branded ‘Jo Jo Rabbit’ by his wicked seniors after his failure to kill a rabbit to prove his ferocity as a Nazi trainee, is a kind and innocent boy who worships Hitler and thinks Jews are monsters with horns.
The director Taika, plays Jo Jo’s imaginary friend Hitler, with a Charlie Chaplinisque swagger. While Scarlett Johansson plays his mother, a ‘rebel’ German who is secretly harboring a young jew girl in the house.
‘Ten year olds shouldn’t be celebrating war and talking politics,” she tells Jo Jo, who swears by Nazi propaganda and firmly believes that Hitler will win the war and wipe out all the Jews.
So when Jo Jo finds out that there is a ‘dirty Jew’ hiding in his own house, one wonders if he will out his family to the Gestapo or will he learn that Jews are as human as him? The plot explores the little boy’s change of heart in a manner that will warm your heart too.
Some critics have accused Waititi of paying too safe and not showing us the brutal and ugly side of war. Of staying away from the concentration camps. Of being too farcical and fantastical about Nazi Germany, almost making the third Reich seem romantic. But for me as a viewer, the film wasn’t a cautionary tale about the brutalities of war. It is the story of Jo Jo, the young Nazi boy, who is capable of change when he has access to the truth about Jews – that they are just like him.
The movie makes one question their blind beliefs and also gives you an insight into how fanatics are made – when they are young. So they are redeemable.
I loved everything about the film, especially the little boy who plays Jo Jo’s best friend in the film. The boy who only wants everybody who he loves to be happy.
At first, I thought I ll just do a fan art sketch to express my admiration for this lovely film. But on second thoughts, I ended up doing both, writing a review and sketching a scene from the film –
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February 8, 2020
Post Office – Review
‘What is the book about?’ a friend asked when I told him I was on the verge of finishing my first Bukowski book.
‘Aimless horny guy wasting away his life at the U.S postal service,’ I said.
That drew some laughs.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about ‘Post Office’.
But I would rate it a four on five because Bukowski clearly knows his way with words. His writing is engaging and makes even the mundane seem interesting.
The main protagonist, Chinaski, narrates how almost 12 years of his life go down the drain because of his boring, almost treacherous job. It’s booze, boobs and betting that keep him going.
So what we get in the book is elaborate details of the job he hates, little acts of rebellion against the system and a whole lot of dysfunctional relationships with women.
At some points I was uncomfortable reading the book because it uses the word “rape” too loosely. But given that it was published in a different century altogether, you have to perhaps view it under the lens of the times it came out.
Bukowski’s wit and ease with words pervades most pages. Making Post Office an interesting read.
This book makes you realize how life can just be an elaborate hangover.
January 28, 2020
Illegal – A Review
Tuesday Read – Illegal by Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin. This book powerfully illustrates what it’s like to leave everything behind, putting all at stake, for a faint distant dream that a better life might be realised at another shore. Very few make it to the shore alive. Told through the perspective of a young boy, Illegal is perhaps more on the innocent side of the spectrum. It’s about “broken trucks & broken promises” and how many migrants perish to their deaths on their way to a better life.
Wide-eyed Ebo is the hero of this book, who crosses the Sahara, lives a dangerous life that involves living in rat infested sewers to save enough for an even more terrifying boat ride across the Mediterranean sea. For a book dealing with a grim theme, ‘Illegal’ manages to be a story about hope, love and dreaming big against all odds.
The book is beautifully illustrated in apt colours. Each panel carries the story forward seamlessly, despite flitting between the past and the present.
January 23, 2020
Little Moments
I read Little Moments of Love last week, a cute little book with even cuter illustrations about a couple and their romantic moments.
Anyone who has ever been in a loving relationship will identify with some of the panels, if not all.
Catana Chetwynd chronicles interactions with her boyfriend, right from their courting days to their “comfortably in a relationship” phase. While she originally didn’t mean to publish them anywhere, it was her boyfriend who encouraged her to make them public. And now they are so popular, that anybody who spends a decent amount of time on social media, must have already seen her work.
What makes Catana’s comics work is obviously the relatable factor. There is so much mush in the book that warms your heart and gently reminds you – it’s the little moments that count the most.
January 21, 2020
Exploring Coonoor
I spent a very chilled out weekend in a hill station called Coonoor which is nestled in the Nilgiri hills of South India. The clouds floated pleasantly close to where we stayed and the green mountains were bathed in a bluish shade.
But here was my first impression of the place as soon as we got off the bus – “wow, what an ugly place”. And that’s pretty much how you feel when you look at a lot of hill stations from their bustling bus stop. Once you move away from the main market below and hike a little upwards, that’s were beauty begins.
The hotel where I stayed at was called Wallwood Garden, an old but pretty-ish property that was away from the maddening crowd, but comfortably close to Sim’s Park. The park is the most visited tourist spot in Coonoor and rightly so. It’s a sprawling park with huge trees and lovely flowers. You feel calm and happy as you walk around there.
I didn’t go to a lot of tourist spots this trip and spent some time in a cemetery called Tiger Hill Cemetery on Day 1. A lot of 19th century folks are buried there.
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It was about 3 kilometres from the hotel, but we chose to walk the distance. It took a little over 30 minutes to get there by foot. The cemetery is right next to a tea plantation and the view from there is gorgeous. It’s very quiet and feels relaxing but I can imagine the place feeling eerily creepy once the sun goes down.
So day 1 was just the cemetery and the adjacent tea garden. Had dinner at a random restaurant and the food was pretty blah, despite us choosing local cuisine. Lunch was pretty good though, it was a chinese place called Jharoka, very close to Sim’s park.
On Day 2, we first went to Sim’s park. Did boating. There were two very annoying couples who loudly kept talking about “oh, how are we going to shoot our tik-tok video?”. The kind of tourists who are so busy making videos for their social media pages that they barely experience the beauty around.
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Anyway, after spending some time at Sim’s park, we walked to a tea plantation which was about 2.5 kilometres. Since the weather was great, the walk was very enjoyable, despite being slightly uphill. A lot of independent but charming looking homes were around the place.
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After exploring the tea plantations, we headed to the Wellington Gymkhana Club, because a lady had told us about an annual winter fair taking place there. Cost us Rs 50 (less than a dollar) by auto to get there from Sim’s park.
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The venue was very scenic & we ended up spending over 2 hours at the fair. We checked out all the stalls and then headed to the food stalls. I tried a plate of chicken 65 which was being sold for just Rs 60 (less than a dollar), it was so damn good, that I had another plate! That’s very rare for me to do. I don’t know when was the last time I ordered a dish twice.
We tried Chhole Bhature (a kind of fried bread with spicy chickpea curry) at another which was very average. At another stall, we tried a dessert called caramel coffee cream cheesecake, which was AMAZING. I went ‘mmmmmmm’ every time I took a bite, savouring the flavours.
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Well, after the fair, we didn’t really have anything on agenda, so we just went back to our hotel. Picked our bags, chilled in two different cafes. Finally had dinner. And took a bus back to our normal lives.
Verdict – It’s a good weekend getaway for people like us who live not too far away. Definitely not something people should plan exclusively if they are staying more that 12+ hours away. Or travellers who are doing a long south-India tour can make it a part of their iterinary.
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P.S – I published a poetry collection called “Death & Darker Realms” which is available on Amazon, please check it out. Following are the links to the e-book-
January 20, 2020
A BL RomCom
I’ll be honest, I was very sceptical about watching the trailer. Most Indian films tend to just make stereotypical jokes about the LGBT community and reduce them to mere caricatures for comic relief.
But the trailer of Shubh Mangal Zyada Sawdhan, is a breath of fresh air and largely steers free from making any stereotypical jokes.
It starts off with lead actor Ayushman Khurrana sitting in an auto with an uncle who asks him “kab decide kiya ki yeh banogey?” (when did you decide to be become this?)
Ayushman asks “what?”
The uncle stammers and says “yeh… yeh.. yeh” (this…. this… ) pointing out to his slightly loud clothes, asking him to take the hint.
“Yeh nahi kehtey hai, gay kehtey hai” (It’s not ‘this’, it’s called gay).
And then Ayushman asks uncle a good question – “when did you decide that you weren’t gay?”.
It’s a counter question every intelligent gay person throws at a hetero who thinks that they just wake up one day and decide “hey, I am going to be gay from today!”.
Anyway, back to the trailer.
Having no comeback, uncle hits where it hurts, asks “do your mom & dad know?”. Burn.
Cue music and the rest of the interesting cast in introduced.
Jitendra Kumar plays what seems like a nerdy simple boyfriend to Ayushman Khurrana’s sassy, fashion savvy stud boy.
Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao nail their roles again, this time as Indian parents who just want their son to be married, to a girl.
Got to admit that you get more of a friends’ vibe from the two, but they pass off as an interesting enough couple. I guess it’s a good thing that the lead actors weren’t made to put on some pretentious fake & exaggerated body language to scream “we are gay”.
The trailer was pretty breezy and promises to be a good entertainment film like Badhaai Ho had turned out to be. I like how the writers slipped in a Roadies joke when Ayushman warns his boyfriend against marrying a girl just to make his parents happy. (Roadies is an Indian reality show where the contestants are made to do tough tasks and Ayushman was the winner of some season of the show).
He says “What do you think? Your story is going to freeze at a happy ending when you get married? Roadies is going to begin in your life from your wedding night. Will you be able to do the task?” *cough cough*
Also, it’s pretty cool to see him play a guy who does not shy away from putting up a fight with his boyfriend’s parents and even calls them out for their homophobia.
Neena Gupta plays the cooler role, the Indian mom, who at first tries to convince her son not to go the gay way. But then, in the end, decides that her son must live his life the way he wants to. Will the father finally accept his son? That perhaps is the only mystery that the trailer spares. Or not.
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Because there is a “Dilwaale Dulha le jayenge” kind of an ending to the trailer. (The big-hearted will take away the groom) Basically, we are made to understand that the two boys get their happy ending.
So yeah, maybe the trailer gives a little too much away. But I am looking forward to watching this one.
January 18, 2020
Good Talk – A Review
Finished reading ‘Good Talk’ a graphic novel by Mira Jacob, who lays bare what it’s like to be a brown American in an ever changing country.
The author gives us a front row seat to her life story and her struggle to explain racial prejudices & paradoxes to her 6 year old inquisitive son. The book chronicles conversations & personal anecdotes, some humorous, some harrowing, but all reflecting the challenges of being a person of colour.
Born in the U.S to Indian parents, Jacob reveals in flashbacks how her colour posed different challenges through various stages of her life. Her interaction with her son Z is the most heart-warming part of the book. Through innocent queries, little Z sheds light on just how problematic racial differences can still be in his country.
The book also very subtly and succinctly explains what’s wrong with Trump’s presidency and his supporters.
What a good read! An essential book for anybody living under the impression that America is an inclusive utopian destination
January 14, 2020
Aya – A Review
I picked “Aya”, a graphic novel, at a pretty good discount two years ago at the Delhi book fair in Pragati Maidan. Set in the 1970s, it’s a fun book on the lives of young African women. The content slightly betrays the title because it’s not centred around Aya, a 19 year old who aspires to be a doctor. There is no clear hero and that works for the story.
The author Marguerite Abouet who grew up in Ivory Coast, in Western Africa, seeks to give us a glimpse into the ordinary lives of teens in her part of the world. She achieves this through a breezy, humorous narrative.
What I liked about the book was that it was relatable in many parts, despite the story unfolding in another far corner of the world. It could have well been set in India. You have overprotective fathers, vexed mothers, distracted teens who would rather party than study for their next exam.
Almost all characters are vibrant and have a distinct personality of their own, even if they appear only in a few panels. Friendship is a stronger theme in this book than love and that’s something I really like.
The illustrations are so good that it feels like you are watching a film. And it gets a decent amount of laughs out of the reader. Don’t know why it took me two years to start reading it.
