In July (German: Im Juli)

Movie: In July

Year: 2000

Director: Fateh Akin

Language: German, Turkish

Synopsis: A shy trainee teacher wanting to settle down and a beautiful girl has a crush on him. She decides to make the first move and get him. Too good to be true right!! But then the trap goes wrong and the man ends up with a different lady. Dejected she decides to move to a different city by hitch hiking with the first car presenting itself. Surprise surprise. There begins the craziest road trip movie which is fun as well as touching. And half way through you say its so predictable when the director throws in a spin.

My own take: before you start thinking that I have been only watching and reviewing dark movies let me make myself clear that there are also good entertaining movies which I love to watch again and again and this one definitely falls in that category. A light movie which is good at any point of time and just the right amount of mush to watch it with your girlfriend and yet not feel bombarded by candy. The story is so quick and moves so fast that there is never a boring moment. However I do like the thriller beginning of the movie which keeps you glued for sometime. Watch this movie before you get to see a Hindi remake of the movie. It will be lapped up in no time and its better to watch the original. Like in one scene on the Romanian border the director making a cameo appearance makes a funny scene which I doubt will cause the laugh in other settings.

Old Boy (Hangul: 올드보이)

Movie: Old Boy

Year: 2003

Director: Park Chan-Wook

Language: Korean

Synopsis: Oh Dae Su suddenly finds himself in a small room when he wakes up from a drunken stupor. The room which looks like a hotel room has every facility including a TV which shows all channels. Yet he has no clue why he is in there. He tries begging to the lone hand that gets him food, bangs the walls, screams but nothing stops his ordeal. His attempts to suicide are foiled every time and his room is cleaned everyday when he is sedated. Finally he gives up and starts counting the number of years he needs to wait as his anger builds up. Only the fried dumplings he gets everyday keeps him in touch with the outside world’s reality. Fifteen years after his imprisonment he finds himself on the roof of a building. A cellphone given to him directs him to a sushi restaurant where the young chef Mi-do picks him up. His story of the search for revenge starts here.

My own take: If you think this is another of the brutal gory action movies from the east that will have lots of kung fu and theatrical blood then you will be sadly mistaken. This story is just too gripping to be told. Originally from the manga series of the same name this movie's strength lies in laying bare human emotions and makes you think on a platform which is beyond normal reasoning. One of the everlasting lines of this movie is “ a grain of sand and a rock sinks equally in water”. The reference to zen philosophy is a constant pattern in the movie. Brilliant editing and equally brilliant usage of camera. Leaves a lot to be imagined. Do not watch this movie when you are looking for a light or easy entertainment. Watch it when you can take serious stuff and remember the idea of Korean violence can be very different from yours. I would rate this as an art work by a surrealist who succeeds to shock you in the end.

Scenes from a Marriage (Swedish: Scener ur ett äktenskap)

Movie: Scenes from a Marriage

Year: 1973

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Language: Swedish

Synopsis: Originally a TV series which was later released on DVD. The six part series attained cult status worldwide when it was condemned for allegedly inspiring a spike in Scandinavian divorce rates, which almost doubled in the year of its release. The movie is split into 6 chapters where a married couple Marianne and Johan go through their marriage and take us through the aptly named chapters Innocence and panic, Art of sweeping things under the rug, Paula, The Vale of Tears, The Illiterates and In the Middle of the Night in a Dark House Somewhere in the World. Each part is shot in about one or two set ups with elaborate conversations about events which have happened in the past. Each of these chapters are separated by months or years. The complexity of the movie is in the intense acting, claustrophobic sets and the realistic story.

My own take: The movie hits you with an impact that takes quite some time to sink. The intense scenes and the underlying grief and tension in a marriage when you keep a calm exterior for social needs is beautifully depicted in this movie. The story sounds familiar yet brings out from the closet the obvious elephant in the room which no one seems to mention. Strongly recommended but not when you are already in a serious mood. The iconic dialogues that they are "the emotional illiterates" and, like many people, are incapable of marriage; yet they do not separate sums a large part of the movie theme.

Run Lola Run (German : Lola Rennt)

Movie: Run Lola Run

Year: 1998

Director: Tom Tykwer

Language: German

Synopsis: The movie is pretty simplistic in its story line. Lola’s boy friend, Manni runs into deep shit at some point of time and needs urgent help with Money. Manni has to get the money within 20 minutes before his boss finds out, and plans to rob a nearby supermarket. Lola urges him to wait and tells him she will sort out the money.Lola won’t let the moment slip away and runs to save her Manni. The run ends with a dramatic closure. Lola wakes up to have another run at saving his boy friend only this time its Run 2. The outcome is like life: a result of the choices you make.

My own take: I remember having seen a Calvin n Hobbes strip long back where he moves about the whole house trying to zap people with a remote control. I know we all wished if it were true. If we could have saved our life at a specific point and gone back there and made different choices. Lesser heartbreaks, lesser pains and more control over “life”. However the fantasy that’s shown in Run Lola Run is the one we all want to live. Lola runs from her phone to the street to meet Manni and in between crashes with a lot of people and every time their response is different. However as the choices are different, the outcomes are different and more importantly the twists are different. The deep desire to have life as a video game where you die only to realize you have 2 additional lifes saved is the thrill. One of the rare films where the language is just not important to get into the skin of the movie.