FILMS THAT MADE ME

Chuck Palahniuk said that "Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known." Well, though that holds true for me too, I do think almost more than real people, he fictional ones have influenced me more. I’m going to make a Bollywood film list later, but true inspiration came mostly from Hollywood films (I know- way to be westernized). The films that have made me the person I am today, for better or for worse, are (in chronological order):

•     Titanic- Instant gratification, life-long love affair. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jack Dawson was my first love and will always be so. Avatar may be graphically cooler and have made a hell lot of money, but Titanic is the greater film.

•     Harry Potter- I will post a huge tribute on these films when the last one *sniff* comes out, but it is Harry Potter alone that changed my entire film-watching perspective. It was the very first film I saw independent of my father’s preferences. And it was after my obsession with them reduced, only a bit, when I started watching as many films that I could. Also everytime a new Harry Potter film comes out, it’s like my entire world comes to a standstill. If Jack Dawson was my first love, Harry Potter will probably be my last.

•     Pretty Woman- The best Romcom in the history of time. I cannot exactly tell how it changed my life, but I know for a fact that it did. It just did.

•     Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl- The film that made me the Johnny Depp fanatic I am today. Need I say more?

•     Ocean’s Eleven- It was a revelation of Matilda-like proportions when the crooks were the good guys…and that too George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon good.

•     Moulin Rouge- For a long time I was struggling to understand what type of person I am. I saw this film, and instantly knew that I was a Romantic. I owe this film a lot…makes me feel like I belong somewhere.

•     Fight Club- I went through this paranoid period in my life where I was scared of everything and hated being that way. Then one night I randomly started watching a film that was coming in some channel- changed me forever. Fight Club is the shit! Made me want a disorder and a split personality more than ever.

•     Edward Scissorhands- Made Tim Burton one of my favourite directors, along with making me a diehard fan of Winona Ryder. Also, changed my outlook on Romantics and true love.

•     Mean Girls- I honestly think I became smarter after watching this bitching-fest. Popularity, plasticity ands mean girls- genius. Also, this is the reason why I want a gay best friend so bad.

•     Dead Poets Society- I’ve always had a secret fantasy of knowing what a boys boarding school would be like. Add that to poetry and uber-talented Robin Williams and you get one of the sweetest and most touching high school films ever.

•     Kill Bill Volume One- The very first film of the master filmmaker Quentin Tarantino I saw. And almost needless to say, I was mindblasted!

•     Lemony Snickets- Dark comedies sort of became an obsession after this.

•     Lord of the Rings- Epic films are incredible. This trilogy gives so many messages, of togetherness, chivalry, love, the victory of the underdog and of course, good versus evil. Add to that the enchanting Middle World and legendary battles…spectacular!

•     Across the Universe- Got me into Beatlemania and the sixties, and everything they stood for.

•     Ironman- I have always loved superheroes but Robert Downey Jr. as possibly the most egotistical and brilliant superhero ever just sort of changed my life. I worship this film. Action movie dream.

•     Before Sunset- A romantic film, but in fact not about romance. I love films which start and finish in a specific amount of time. Also Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke are plain remarkable in this film.

•     The Boat That Rocked- Tom Sturridge. Also an infinitely funny and musical film…really got me into 60s music.

•     Marie Antoinette- The beauty in this film made me a fan of Kirsten Dunst, Sofia Coppola, tainted cameras, French people and creamy sweet dishes.

•     A Clockwork Orange- Proved to me that I do indeed love anti-heroes more than any other types of characters. Alex Delarge FTW. Also, made me fall in love with Stanley Kubrick.

•     Silence of the Lambs- Okay call me a creep but I really wanted Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling to get together. Just the chemistry…one of the best thrillers and horror movies ever.

•     The Purple Rose of Cairo- I’m not sure, but I think this was the film that finally made the choice for me to do something with films in my life. What a beautiful story. My favourite Woody Allen film ever.

•     The Shawshank Redemption- Happy Endings are the way. One of the smartest films I have ever seen. It’s so brilliant that many classics just fade and die in comparison.

•     Taxi Driver- Oh woe to Oscars for giving Departed an award and not this film. Robert De Niro is a dream in this film. Totally do not get why he is considered a villain. Marvelous film.

•     The Dreamers- Beautiful film. Very different and difficult to accept at times but every movie-lover’s fantasy. Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel are just the dreamers that I can almost identify myself with. Cinephiles Unite!

•     Bande- a- Part- My favourite in my French films phase. God bless Jean Luc Godard! So random and awesome. Also the dance sequence that inspired the Pulp Fiction Mia-Vincent dance…oh the inspiration for Tarantino is obviously a superb film indeed.

•     Inception- Christopher Nolan has made a masterpiece that should be studied. It is so exceptional that filmmakers are going to try and make a similar film for many many years and just fail miserably. Tough luck but it can’t be helped. Dreams, ideas, everything won’t be the same again.

I must say that these films are not my favourite films. That is too big a list…but all of these films are there.

"Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude" - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

       Kids bunk school all the time. We too need a day off from the early morning bus rides, hours and hours of dreary class work, dreadful teachers, suffocating uniforms and all the god-forsaken school rules. However no kid has ever or will ever have a day off like the one and only- *insert drum roll* Ferris Bueller. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off showed kids everywhere what having a really good day off feels like- expert faking out parents advice, calling the dean as your girlfriend’s father to get her off school, going to Chicago in your best friend’s father’s Ferrari, getting a table at a ‘snooty’ restaurant, watching a baseball game, seeing and literally imitating art in the Art Institute of Chicago and obviously Twisting and Shouting on a float in downtown Chicago.

    

      That is just the top layer of the film. Like many other John Hughes classics, you have to go through it layer by layer, top to bottom, light to deep to get the various aspects of the film. Ferris is the perfect kid. He’s popular, charismatic, smart, insightful and can do anything that he wants. His one day off creates despair amongst everyone as ‘Save Ferris’ signs pop up all around the city, and a very helpful and slutty nurse is sent to him to make him ‘feel better’. He faces the very common problem of last year in school, and being close to your friends in those last days. He can be called the narrator, as he very often breaks the fourth wall and addresses the viewers, telling them about various things in his life and mostly his best friend Cameron’s life. Matthew Broderick’s most memorable role, he is absolutely delightful as the incredible Ferris Bueller. The people onscreen and the one watching them all want to be his friend. I know this is a lousy comparison as Ferris Bueller's Day Off came out in 1986 and Skins in 2007, but he’s a nicer, cuter and less manipulative, all American version of the character Tony Stonem. In all probability Tony was loosely based on Ferris himself, his “On the Street Where You Live” being a bit like albeit not remotely as memorable or fun-filled as Ferris’ “Danke Shoen” and “Twist and Shout.” Ferris is the person who wants to preserve the little things in life, which he knows make it worth living. Constantly we are told by the other characters how he helps them with their problems. He can solve anything with wit and charm. Ferris is the guy for whom everything always works out, and you cannot even hate him for that as he tries to make everything work out for you as well.

      The other very important character was that of Ferris’ best friend Cameron, played by Alan Ruck. He is the quintessential John Hughes teenager. Eternally frightened of and never loved by his parents, Cameron is the sadder character whose life is a total contrast to that of Ferris’. Again, he is like Sid Jenkins, except he is cuter and doesn’t wear glasses, and not that desperate to get laid- though Ferris does tell us that in his mind it is ‘the end-all and be-all of human existence’. And there is an obvious attraction between him and Ferris’ girlfriend Sloan, though nothing happens. I am going through a major French New Wave phase right now (will write about that soon) and I thought that if one mixes Cameron and Ferris, and adds a great deal of French, the result would be one very beloved Antoine Doinel. He has a very strong friendship with Ferris, who keeps trying to save him by doing daring things, and he makes Ferris happy by doing those things. Alan Ruck was considered for the role of John Bender in The Breakfast Club, and his character is like Bender’s in many ways also. On the outside he can put on accents and call the dean or a restaurant for a bit of fun, but his grief and anger is always built up inside. Apart from the Parade scene, which Ferris does for Cameron, my other two favourite scenes were of Cameron. The first was when he sees the Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. He keeps focusing on the painting until it becomes a set of dots. This shows his weakness of focusing on the problems of his life so much that he stops seeing or feeling anything else. Cameron is always scared of his parents, saddened by their fighting and, he gets sick a lot as that is the only thing that makes him feel better. The other scene is when he kicks his father’s precious Ferrari repeatedly to take out all his anger, and then it falls out of the window. This reminded me of the scene in Rebel Without A Cause when the inspector tells James Dean’s character to hit the desk to let go. The reason why he reminds me and probably many others of all these famous youthful characters is because he faces the many problems of identity, adjustment, happiness, confusion that all young people have to face and overcome in their lives. He is the sadness of our youth Ferris is the joy. Again, he reminds me of Harold and Ferris reminds me of Maude.

      Another important character was Jeannie Bueller, Ferris’ sister. She is played by the Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey. While Cameron is understanding about Ferris’ popularity, Jeannie is envious. She hates the fact that he never gets caught. Throughout the film she is shown resenting people trying to ‘save Ferris’ until she meets the junkie played by Charlie Sheen (I was like WHAT??) in the police station who tells her that it is because probably of her own insecurities and inability to not get caught is what makes her hate Ferris so much. She too is a very obvious teen, envious of the popular but likeable nonetheless. Sloan, Ferris’s girlfriend and a potential future wife is played by Mia Sara is another character in the film. She is just normal and does not appeal to viewers as much as the above mentioned characters and that of the dean does. She is awfully pretty, and makes a cute girlfriend of a cuter Matthew Broderick. The last important character was that of the dean, Edward R. Rooney played by Jeffrey Jones. He is the arch nemesis, out to get the happy-go-lucky Ferris. He is the adult who cannot let kids have fun. He is a comedic villain, a lot like the bad guys of Home Alone and Baby’s Day Out (My Favourite John Hughes Films!). He and his adorable secretary, Grace have many hilarious conversations and the entire incident with the Bueller dog is quite funny. Ferris’ parents are highly desirable fools!

      This film wouldn’t be the classic it is if it hadn’t been made by the superb John Hughes. John Hughes is amongst the only filmmakers who always focused on the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the tears and smiles of youth. His love for Chicago is apparent in the film. Many things in the film like the Cameron-painting scene are about his own youth. Also due to listening the White Album everyday of the shooting, there are many Beatles references in the film. The film has a broad appeal. Though it does show the anger and despair that teenagers from the 80s and even today face, it sugar coats it in the sweetest, most innocent, hilarious way- with witty lines and unforgettable characters. The scenes in the film are legendary- The Parade of course is a dream scene, all of Ferris’ narration, the ending when Ferris rushes home to ensure that his parents don’t catch him, despite running into them in the street many times, and the ‘actual’ ending in which Ferris talks to the viewers saying, “You’re still here? It’s over. Go home.”

      Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is what I call one of those ‘good’ films in which there is humour, storyline, brilliant characters, epic lines, evergreen scenes, a deeper message and well, a happy ending. I know happy endings can get a bit cheesy, but films like these, where you fall in love with the characters, you never want anything bad to happen to them. I like drama sure, but I prefer films in which it’s not the only genre. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a look at life by a happy teenager, (if there ever was an oxymoron…) who has said it many times, and I repeat,

      “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around one in a while, you could miss it.”

The Letter

I shall die here. Every inch of me will perish. Every inch but one. An inch… It is small, and fragile, and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us. I hope that, whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and things get better. But I hope must of all that you understand that even though I will never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

-V For Vendetta

1) Just so Beautiful- MARIE ANTOINETTE versus A SINGLE MAN

So I have decided to write blogs comparing two or more films which are inter-related. When the idea came into my head, it was only because of two films. However as I thought more about it, hundreds of comparisons popped into my brain (okay not hundreds but enough to make a really long post). So I decided to post 1 comparison at a time.

Now to be truthful, I had not thought about this topic at all, forget making it my very first one. I just finished watching A Single Man, a film I watched on an impulse. And it was just breathtakingly beautiful. Before this the only other really beautiful film I had seen was Marie Antoinette. I called it the most beautiful film ever. However after A Single Man, I have a slight doubt about this title.

So basic facts about both- One’s made by Sofia Coppola, daughter of the legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. The other is made by the ex-designer of Prada, the quite dapper Tom Ford. The former is based on one of the most famous or rather most infamous queens in history. The latter is based on a homosexual English professor recovering from the death of his soulmate. The first is set just before and during the French Revolution, in Versailles, while the second is set in early 60s in Los Angeles.

Both films are actually quite different from each other. The only way they are similar is their cinematography. Marie Antoinette starts out in soft colours, like the character itself who is a blooming girl of fourteen, full of innocence and hopes as she is sent from Austria to France to get married and bring about a political courtship between the two countries. Then, as she starts her partying days to fill the void in her marriage, the film becomes bright and colorful and delicious. In the end of her life and happiness, the film becomes grey and pale. Almost similarly in A Single Man, the protagonist George is always in a dullish light, except when he notices the beauty in people and things magically become vivid and warm.

    The thing is that both the films are extremely beautiful in their own way. Marie Antoinette changes one’s perceptions on films about monarchs. It’s fresh and lovely. It is about a princess, who is played just stunningly by the equally stunning Kirsten Dunst- her life, her struggles, her clothes, her hair, her desserts, her lovers, her family. The resplendent French castles and gardens and rooms, the gorgeous dresses, shoes, materials and jewelry, and the scrumptious food and wine, all in a laid-back, fun-filled atmosphere with post-punk music playing in the air- ah the life that never was. But even with all that, one feels for the ill-fated monarch more than ever in this film. Marie in this film isn’t someone who ordered to have cakes given to the poor. She is a lonely young girl who just wants to make everyone happy. She is a teenager and goes through similar problems like many of us today but obviously on a much larger scale. She wants her husband to want her, her mother to respect her, and her country to love her. She is a caring mother and wife by the end of it. I have written it before, and I repeat- this film is a film in which I would spend my entire life.

    A Single Man on the other hand, is a film that shows the fascinating world of exquisite, sensitive men. Colin Firth in his best role ever, quite challenges Dauphine Marie herself, as it is too about his dream-like house, his handsome suits and dazzlingly divine love-interests. His misery, only heightened by afore mentioned lighting and also the chilling and alluring music, is touching and poignant. His relationship with Jim, played by the ravishingly sexy Matthew Goode, is that full of true love and oneness. There is no doubt that they were made for each other and though it was slightly heartbreaking to see the two hunky British men kissing and flirting, it was very sweet. But his relationship with Julianne Moore’s character Charley, the only main female character of the film, is what (according to me) makes the film awesome. She looks incredible, her make-up and clothes and hair. While all women, including the little neighbor girl, looked extremely pretty in the film- Charley was the most bewitching. She is the quintessential lonely woman of the sixties. She drank and smoked and danced. She was brilliant, and her friendship with George is enjoyable and provoking. George’s next relationship is with that of Nicholas Hoult’s character Kenny. Kenny is the confused, good-looking boy who develops an interest in his professor George. Theirs is a more suggestive affair. Though I did not really like Nicholas Hoult’s sweater or hair or accent or the tan a lot, he has one hot body. And his eyes are just enchanting. Lastly, George has a brief meeting with a Spanish male prostitute Carlos, played by Jon Kartajarena, with whom he shares a cigarette or two. Now he was someone I wasn’t aware of and the sheer magnetic beauty of Carlos took me by surprise. With all these people, the emptiness of his life and the brightness of his vision, the one day in his life makes one captivating movie. All I can say is that never before did I want to be a gay man this bad.

    So my final verdict is that there are technically no winners in this category, but Marie Antoinette is the bigger favourite of the two. Still, I repeat that they are both beautiful in their own ways and salutes to Sofia Coppola and Tom Ford for making these beauties.

WE CAN BE HEROES JUST FOR ONE DAY

The Oxford dictionary definitions of a hero are - “1) a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage or outstanding achievements- a person of superhuman qualities. 2) the chief male character in a book, play, or film.”

Now three weeks ago I had a completely brilliant weekend, filled with heroes! However, I was too lazy or busy to write a post on it. Until now… *insert loud triumphant classical music*

They are:

1)      About A Boy- this follows the second definition more or less. I thought this was Hugh Grant’s best performance. He generally plays the charming elusive bachelor, but he perfected that image in this film. In addition, it is Nicholas Hoult’s first film…and he is sooo adorable. He is the other hero in the story. Hugh’s and Nicholas’s onscreen chemistry makes this story of a lonely man and a lonely boy and their relationship an absolute pleasure to watch. Hugh’s character Will thinks of himself as an island, until he meets Nicholas’s character Marcus. Marcus, with his suicidal hippie mum, played superbly by Toni Collette, finds in Will the missing father figure he needs in his life. With hilarious incidents that follow- like Will’s and Marcus’s crushes, a profane hip-hop CD, and Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly, their relationship deepens as each of our heroes find happiness and contentment in their lives. Their co-narration too is quite funny and enjoyable. They are both heroes in each other’s eyes and hence I consider this to be a hero flick. This is a classic example of sheer British comedy brilliance and I would recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour or a Hugh Grant/Nicholas Hoult lover. (I happen to be all of them)

2)      The Shawshank Redemption- First! This film has the highest ratings in IMDB. Why? Because it is one of the best films ever made, and one of the best I have ever seen. It tells the amazing story of a man, Andrew "Andy" Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, who is sent to Shawshank prison for the alleged murder of his cheating wife and her lover. There he meets Morgan Freeman’s character Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding along with other inmates. He also meets the diabolical and bigoted Warden Samuel Norton, played by Bob Gunton, who believed in two things: discipline and the Bible. Andy is no ordinary inmate, as Red, who is also the narrator, understands first hand. He was an educated banker and because of his persuasiveness and accounting abilities, he is able to rise in the prison. He does all kinds of things in the prison and Red, who is his right-hand man and also the supplier of all things needed inside the prison helps him always. Andy spends nearly two decades in the Shawshank prison after which he does something that no one expects and gets brilliantly away with it. I really don’t want to tell what happens in this film, as it HAS to be watched. It is based on a book by Stephen King but I can’t imagine it being any better than the film. Tim Robbins’ acting is so awe-inspiring. He is one of the best heroes ever portrayed in the silver screen. He is brilliant and idealistic and such a complete leader and role model. He makes one want to be like him, or be friends with him. Morgan Freeman is a good sidekick too. I get such happiness out of films like these because they are masterpieces. They teach and inspire and give us hope and make life brilliant. MUST WATCH!

3)      Ironman 2- Again First definition but especially focussing on the ‘a person of superhuman qualities’ part. Ironman is not only a hero, but a superhero and a brilliantly funny, careless, reckless and narcissistic one at that. But it works. Why? Because Robert Downey Jr. is Ironman. Robert Downey Jr. is the coolest actor to ever walk on this planet. Ironman would be nothing without him. And the world would be nothing without Ironman. It is the best action super hero movie franchise that has ever come out. I love Batman etc. but the level of Awesome that exudes from every shot…I do not have words. Plus the remaining cast- Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and John Favreau is GENIUS!!! The action, the dialogues, the effects, the Ironman suits and drones makes this film an action gem and I don’t want to give the synopsis because everyone must have watched it already. If one hasn’t, he or she must because it is THE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE! Blogs cannot describe it.

4)      One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest- it is sort of both the definitions, except the fact that he is absolutely mental. And if any actor can play a mental hero, it is the seraphic master of acting Jack Nicholson. If you don’t believe this description, just watch the one-minute long shot in the film which just focuses on his face. Emotions and expressions ooze out of every little square millimetre of his face. It’s breathtaking to watch. And the film is just so good. It is about a man Randle P. Murphy who is sent to a mental institution after numerous criminal offences to be examined. There he meets all the other inmates, especially Chief who was the narrator in the book. Also, he meets his adversary, the chief nurse Ratched, played by Louise Fletcher. He is loud and different and clever, she is calm and tyrannical and clever too. He wants to make other inmates feel good about themselves, while she undermines and controls everyone with perfected subtlety, except Murphy sees through it. Their clash of wits and trying to suppress each other’s authoritative influence is what the film is mostly about- with all the insanity around it. It has an excellent ending. I love the fact on how the hero and the villain have the characteristics of each other- McMurphy is a rebellious criminal and Ratched is an excellent nurse. The film is among the only three films to have won the Big Five at the Oscars- Best Film, Best Director for Milos Forman, Best Actor for Nicholson, Best Actress for Fletcher and Best Screenplay for Laurence Hauben, Bo Goldman. Again a Must Watch!

So with this my hero weekend ended. I also watched Schindler’s List a day later. I think I’ll write a review about it sometime later. The reason why I did not include it in this list is that even though Oskar Schindler is a hero, a real-life one no less and Liam Neeson is spectacular, I was in love with Ralph Fiennes in this film. And he played the evil, apathetic, cruel, murderous Nazi Amon Goth- not a hero, but a complete villain. But his performance, which is considered to be one of the best ever, just like Nicholson’s, was so chillingly good that I cannot help but hero-worship him. And also Ralph Fiennes’ face was made to be seen in black and white, it is just that gorgeous! This too is a must watch film.

HEROES FTW!!!

CASHBACK

    So after my last post, I actually watched a lesser-known film. However, I watched it because it starred Sean Biggerstaff, who had played Oliver Wood in the first two Harry Potter films. Needless to say he is quite attractive, Scottish and as a plus point liked by Alan Rickman. Also, the original short film was nominated for an Oscar. Still, it’s a start. It is called Cashback.


    I thought it was some kind of awesome. The story is quite interesting. It’s about an undergraduate art student Ben Willes who starts suffering from insomnia after a break up with his long-time girlfriend. To “trade time” as it is said in the film, he starts working nightshift at a supermarket. Over there, he battles time by pausing it as if in a film and noticing all the beauty around him in the world. He is a painter and is quite enamoured by the beauty of women due to a number of incidents that happened in his childhood, the most significant being that of an exchange student who being Swedish, did not require a walk from the bathroom to her bedroom to be a modest one. With him there are a number of crazy, mainly chauvinistic colleagues and one pretty cash girl named Sharon, who he inadvertently falls for.


    The beauty of this film was in its lines. Ben is an artist who is so in love and awe with the world, yet so unhappy by it. His constant struggles with time and him in it might not be relatable situation-wise, but emotionally it makes more than perfect sense. He is also the narrator, and some of the things he says are:


“Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it."
“I read once about a woman whose secret fantasy was to have an affair with an artist. She thought he would really see her. He would see every curve, every line, every indentation and love them because they were part of the beauty that made her unique.”
“I could feel a faint shift in a faraway place. A current of unknown consequences was on its way, moving towards me like an unstoppable wave of fate.”
“I wanted to freeze time. I wanted to savor that moment, to live in that moment for a week. But I couldn't stop it, only slow it. And before I knew it, she was gone. After the door closed I felt like the last person on Earth.”
“The bad news is that time flies. The good news... is that you're the pilot. “
“She caught the wrong second of a two-second story.”
“Within this frozen world I'm able to walk freely and unnoticed. Nobody would even know that time has stopped. And when it started back up again, the invisible join would be seamless except for a slight shudder. Not unlike the feeling of somebody walking over your grave.”
“You can speed it up. You can slow it down. You can even freeze a moment, but you can't rewind time. You can't undo what is done. I thought about what she had seen. I thought about what she hadn't seen. I thought about how I could explain, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew nothing I could say would make her anger go away. How long could I just wait here, delaying the inevitable?”


    Also, the lighting and the cinematography is pretty apt for these kinds of thoughts and feelings to truly be understood. This film reminded me of Trainspotting mixed with Virgin Suicides. Sean Biggerstaff was brilliant and he was perfect as Ben. His emotions were so clear and beautiful. There were actual times in the film I wanted to touch his face because he felt so utopianly real, heavenly yet sad. The support cast was pretty good too, and essential to show the mundane aspects of life. I especially loved his best friend Shaun who went on getting slapped, smacked, things and drinks thrown at by women, but still went after them in the same sleazy manner.


    I watched the short film after watching this. I wouldn’t be lying if I say it consists of the best scene in the film. But there were other good scenes. The music was commendable too. It was a very good film, but it had some drawbacks- things I just didn’t understand. The time-pausing was a bit confusing, especially when there is another person shown as a time-pauser like Ben but only for a second. Also, the fact that Ben’s entire art exhibit was on Sharron. I am no painter and have very limited knowledge about such things (though there is an interest), still I assume that it doesn’t happen very often and not all the critics die over it. I may be wrong about this point but that’s just my opinion.


    But it really should be watched by more people, and Sean Biggerstaff should get more recognition for his acting talent.