“Stranger Than Fiction”(2006): Magic wrapped truth

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

I’m quite a fan of Marc Foster, the German born Hollywood movie director and I do rate him as one of the best Directors. Even his list acclaimed film “Stay” will be on my short list of favorites. I had only one movie of Mar Foster left which I didn’t watch. That was “Stranger Than Fiction” which I watched a few days ago. And, yeah, I’ve been mesmerized by that movie also. What I love most about Marc Foster’s work is that his movies are always captivating. Whether it’s about sensitive issues like “Monster’s Ball” or a fantasy romance like “Finding Neverland” or even an absurd flick like “Stay”, it always keeps the eyes and mind of the viewer busy, through every moment of the film until it finishes. And usually keeps the mind of audience captivated even hours after it is finished- you have to watch his film with full attention, will be moved by it if not you are a total dumb, and should be think over it, at least a couple of times.

Stranger Than Fiction is a fantasy film, but not like Finding Neverland in anyway. Stranger Than Fiction is a pure fantasy, kind of absurd screenplay with some magic realistic twist. Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is an IRS auditor. He is a number-maniac, every least detail of his life is scheduled and assigned with a specific number signifying time or count. His life is basically a series of daily repetition of same activities at the same time. His life stays so until he starts to hear a woman’s voice narrating his life. Later he came to understand that he is the main character of a novel which is being written by a woman whose voice is chasing him from the thin air. And the novel was revealed to be a tragedy ending with the spectacular death of the main character i.e. Harold Crick. The author, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), an eccentric and perfectionist writer who is known for her tragedic ends, also became upset to find out the existence of the main character of her supposedly ‘fictitious’ fiction. But it was too late, she already devised how Harold will die and wrote it in a scrap. And without this ending, the whole novel means nothing, the literary value is totally lost. So, the tension builds up, and the viewer start anticipating about how the movie can possibly end. Well, the ending was not disappointing at all, rather it was the most enlightening part of the movie. Though this was the main stream of the film, many little accounts and other interesting characters added more to the movie. The main cast are (from wikipedia):

• Will Ferrell – Harold Crick, an IRS auditor, who thinks he is hearing his life as it’s being narrated, causing him to seek professional help.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal – Ana Pascal, a baker that Crick meets when he is sent to audit her.
• Dustin Hoffman – Professor Jules Hilbert, a literature professor who attempts to help Harold with his narration problem.
• Emma Thompson – Karen Eiffel, a famous writer and Crick’s narrator who is known for killing off her protagonists.
• Queen Latifah – Penny Escher, an assistant to Eiffel whom her publisher has hired to make sure that she completes her new novel.
• Tony Hale – Dave, Harold’s only real friend at work, with whom he stays after his apartment is partially demolished.

The film is kind of an educating one. It teaches the value of little blessings of life which we tend to ignore everyday. The film is capable to inspire, to change the perspective with which we judge ourselves and react towards life.

And, an interesting thing about the movie was that the naming of the characters was connected with famous scientists and mathematicians in like; Francis Crick, James Watson, Gustave Eiffel, David Hilbert, Nicholas Mercator, Blaise Pascal, Arthur Cayley, and Gösta Mittag-Leffler.

5-min Review

I could not make enough time to make a full review on the films that I’m supposed to do here. So in stead of ‘not posting’ day after day, I thought about a possible way. That is- very brief reviews of the flicks I like to mention. Here goese 3 short reviews.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

 

I’m a bit late to watch this oscar-winning movie. I started to watch it with high expectation and I must say that I got disappointed when I finished watching this movie, the same thing happened with “The Departed” last year. What happened? Is the oscar committee is not doing their job right or is it just me??

I liked the screenplay and visual style of the movie. But the rest is…. well couldn’t match my expectations probably. And the cocky acting of Bardem disappointed me big times. I liked very much what he did in “Mar Adentro“.  6/10

The Diving Bell and  The ButterFly (2007)

Another Oscar-hyped film and another disappointment. The plot didn’t seem novel, cinematography couldbe better, far far better, scenes seemed ‘not associating’ with one another. I liked the performance of Mathieu Amalric and the opening scenes were extra-ordinary. It was so promising for the rest of the film which according to me, could not be maintainted.  7/10

August Rush (2007)

 

Another oscar-nominated film, though not that much hyped. Another film with outstanding opening scenes….. another disappointment at last (is it really just me???).

Halfway through the film, I was so exited about this flick that I called one of my friend and recommended him to watch this movie as soon as possible. It was middle of the night.. then with the progress of the film, it slowly became a over-emotional, emotion-burdened snobby film, and I called that very film in the morning and told him not to watch the movie on my recommendation. “If you want to watch, then watch it on your own!”            6/10

“The Shawshank Redemption”- best film not to recieve Oscar

The Shawshank Redemption tops a poll on films that should have won oscar but never did any. It was an online poll of 3000 people conducted by Pearl & Dean. The Top 10 list goes here –

Oscar Fever: Make Your Assumptions

80th Annual Academy Award is only hours away. Make your assumptions. Here goes the full list. My assumptions are in Bold Letters.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Gloomy Sunday(1999):A Bright Film on Human Relationship

 

Probably you have heard any of the numerous versions of the song popularly known as “Gloomy Sunday“. It is originated from Hungarian “Szomorú Vasárnap”, a song written by the Hungarian self-taught pianist and composer Rezső Seress in 1933.

American Beauty (1999): The Beauty Beneath

What is the duty of a  movie? Or is there any specific responsibity of a maker? How a movie can differentiate itself from a lot of average and below average movies or a lot more trashes?

I don’t think a director

The Shawshank Redemption(1994): Cape of ‘Good Hope’

Every year hollywood produces loads of trashes and a few good movies. Don’t get me wrong, those “trashes” are “eye-candies” for a segment of viewers, I know and I have no problem about Hollywood producing trash movies.

Mar Adentro (2004): Life and Dignity

 

“Mar Adentro” or “The Sea Inside” is a creation of Alejandro Amenábar on the life of Ramón Sampedro which is quite real.

Big Fish (2003): A Heartwarming Journey

 

“It is we ourselves who call forth the spirits through our own myth-making. From the matter we use, or wish to use, there arise later on obstacles to our own development and the future development.”              – Pablo Neruda  

As a matter of fact, we live in a hard and rough world.

“Color of Paradise” (1999): Touching is Watching

The original title of this Iranian film is “Rang-e-Khoda”, which means “color of God”. The central character of this beautifully simple movie is Mohammed- a 9 year old blind boy.