12 Years A Slave - Review

NEW SLAVES

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

12 Years A Slave is a devastating experience. I don’t think I was prepared to watch this film. I don’t know if anyone can ever be. But we must watch it as it is one of the most important films ever made. Important because it is based on an important chapter in history. Its importance in terms of cinema is elicited by the fact that this is the first film that depicts the reality of slavery. Moreover, this is a poetic and elegant piece of filmmaking. It’s not just a great film but great art.

Top 35 Films of 2013

2013 has been a great year for the movies. I could make 3 and a half top 10 lists of the best films of the year and that’s exactly what I will do. 35 films that you need to watch from 2013!

Before that, I would like to name some films that didn’t make the top 35 but are worth noting. Some of these films were either warmly embraced or harshly rejected or simply overlooked and misunderstood but they all struck a chord with me:

Amongst the superhero films. Man of Steel was my most anticipated superhero film. Since I’m a huge Superman fan, I had a love-hate relationship with the film. There were several things that I found cool and a step in the right direction. Instead of fantasy, they took the sci-fi route. Although, after every step there came a wobble. I’d either warm up to it or hate it more judging by the direction in which Hack Snyder takes the mythology further. Adding Batman to a sequel which Superman deserves doesn’t seem like a good move at all. Iron Man 3 was more of a comedy than a superhero film. I was laughing and enjoying it as much as I could but when they made a complete joke out of Iron Man’s arch-nemesis, Mandarin, the film lost me completely. The Wolverine was several notches higher than the previous Wolverine film and ended up being an actual film with good dialogue and visual thrill rather than just a slam-bam action film. There was one more superhero film, which I thought was the best one. At least, the one I loved the most. It can be found in the Top 35 below.

Oscar Nominations Predictions 2014

This year it is down to 3 films - 12 Years A Slave, Gravity and American Hustle. The nominations will exhibit which film the Academy really loved. Expecting all of them to get around 10 nominations to make this a legit competition.

My predictions:

BEST PICTURE

12 Years A Slave

Gravity

American Hustle

The Wolf of Wall Street

Her

Captain Phillips

Nebraska

Rush

Saving Mr. Banks

Inside Llewyn Davis

Could show up: Dallas Buyers Club and Philomena

Should show up: Blue Jasmine and Prisoners

Top 10 Bollywood Films of 2013

This is my favourite time of year, of being a film reviewer - choosing 10 best films of the year. I don't know if these films are the best but they are certainly what appealed to me the most.

Before I list the top 10, I'd like to name the films that didn't make the cut but are worth mentioning. Starting with EK THI DAAYAN. What an incredible first half! In my review I mentioned it is perhaps the best mini horror film India has ever seen. A crushing disappointment that the second half didn't live up to the first. Another film that had a wonderful beginning but a terrible ending was SHUDDH DESI ROMANCE. Repetition and faux-progressive childishness took over something charming and genuine. A romantic comedy that I thought was unfairly maligned was I, ME AUR MAIN. Now this film had an ending which was truly progressive. The characters don't recklessly reject societal norms and aren't as ignorantly confused. John Abraham is an actor with a limited range and probably other actors could have done this film justice. It's not easy playing a selfish character and I admire him for not playing it safe.

There was one more film that the actor took a big risk with and it paid off. MADRAS CAFE was not struck by the curse of the second half, in fact it had a weak first half but a smashing second! If only it wasn't a methodical procedural and had a personal, emotional story to go with it, it would have not just been on the top 10 but perhaps at the top of it.

There were two films about friendship that I enjoyed - KAI PO CHE and FUKREY. Raj Kumar Yadav aced it and stole the movie from Sushant Singh Rajput. He doesn't enjoy the same popularity but I hope he gets there some day. Fukrey is not a great film but it's such a good one. The characters aren't spoon-fed, we get to hang out with them, actually get to know them. Not many films in India do that. It also helps that the film has some hilarious moments and memorable characters. Someone get Chucha a Campa!

TOP 10 FILMS OF 2013:

10. CHENNAI EXPRESS and YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI (tie)

Chennai Express is probably not the kind of film you would see "film critics" appreciating but who cares. This film is so much fun that it makes guilty pleasures feel unguilty. Comedy is something that needs to be laughed at, not analytically appreciated and I laughed all throughout this film. Stereotyping, bad humour, overacting - these are the words thrown around to dismiss this film. I would throw around the same words as the reasons why I enjoyed it including Deepika's accent and SRK's ham-fest. Pauline Kael (one of the greatest film critics) said: "Films are so rarely great art that if we can't appreciate great trash, there is little reason for us to go". If you still can't understand why I put this film here, I have three words for you: Life of Pi?