Pink-Panther-Full-Story-Review

THE PINK PANTHER
A film from Columbia Pictures and Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Based on the Pink Panther films of Blake Edwards
Runtime:1 hr 33 min approximate
Cast:
Steve Martin
Kevin Kline
Jean Reno
Emily Mortimer
Henry Czerny
Kristin Chenoweth
Roger Rees
Beyonce Knowles
Story By Len Blum and Michael Saltzman
Screenplay: Len Blum and Steve Martin
Produced by: Robert Simonds
Directed by Shawn Levy
A comedy movie from Columbia Pictures and Metro Goldwyn Mayer with actor Steve Martin acting in the lead role and is playing role of a police Inspector who has been assigned to trace out a most wanted killer and the thief of the national treasure of France, the Pink Panther diamond.
Steve Martin has simply excelled in his role as Inspector Jacques
Clouseau who has brought envy upon the Chief Inspector Dreyfus who wants all the honour for himself but for the wicked ways of solving cases Clouseau is rewarded accidentally all the time.
As the movie begins the Chief Inspector recollects memories of Clouseau and his blunders.In a traffic jam Clouseau mismatches the battery cables of a wheel chair and brings panic. But he has now decided to put on him for a new case. The case is that of a murder and the missing pink panther diamond. It occured during a football match between France and China. According to the Chief Inspector he was invited as a special guest to see the match as he has been nominated seven times for police medal of honour. But sadly he has never won any.The coach of the French team came out to the ground and raised his fist and on it the pink panther diamond.International popstar Xania was his girlfriend who was also a spectator for the match. The match has been won by the French team and team players and news reporters ran to the middle of the ground and among them the team coach. Suddenly the coach fell to the ground. Someone has used a dart on his neck and he died and the pink panther on his finger has been stolen.Thus the case begins. Clouseau makes a fine entrance by helping a lady named Nicole who was fixing pictures of Dreyfus on the wall. It was funny seeing him carrying her in the shoulders and running around and dashing on the walls. After the meeting with the Chief Inspector he has been introduced to the media. Clouseau ends up with a vow to find the killer.
Inspector Clouseau enters his new office and meets Miss Nicole, his
office assistant. He eventually causes a big globe to roll down the office into the streets which causes the cycle rally to collapse and mess up the whole traffic.
The chief inspector actually needed to diverse the eye of the media from the case to Inspector Clouseau who is the worst investigator and in the meantime he will took up the case and earn the real honour by taking much needed time. He assigns a spy who can work with Inspector Clouseau and report all his whereabouts to him. Thus Gilbert Ponton joins Clouseau. After a funny conversation Clouseau agrees him to be his partner in finding the killer.
By this time, the Chief Inspector with his personal investigation team discusses the case. He suspects a chinaman to be the killer as the poison is Chinese. He assigns everyone to take up each mission to solve the mystery. In the office of Clouseau, he says to Nicole that this case is the biggest opportunity of his lifetime.It is very late at night and Nicole offers her assistance. But Clouseau warns her not to stay with him as the slightest gesture may be misinterpreted by today's world as harassment. He by his words gives the most respect for a woman. But the meeting ends in a most humorous way and just opposite the way Clouseau mentioned.
Inspector Clouseau is also conscious to teach the junior second grade officer Ponton the ways of a police officer. He wants to keep him vigilant and for that he came up with a funny idea. He will attack Ponton whenever and wherever he wants without warning. When Ponton agrees to it Clouseau raises his hand to hit him. But Ponton hits on Clouseau's nose before Clouseau could hit him. Thus Clouseau pays the price for the blunder.Thus they together starts the investigation.
Clouseau visits Xania in the recording studio, the soccer trainer, the soccer player who was suspended by the murdered coach. All these scenes are filled with comedy.Later the soccer player was killed.
Inspector Clouseau and Ponton visits the hotel where the murdered coach used to go. Clouseau interrogates the hotel owner. One can surely name him a bafoon as he makes some statement which seems to be important and serious but in real it is just opposite. He clubs two statements which have no connections together. Thus one could feel the idiotic sense of the worst inspector in Clouseau. But with the help of a secret agent, Clouseau became a hero who rescued the people in the hotel from attack of robbers. His news hit the stands. He has been given the medal of honour.
Later the team plans to go after Xania who fled to Newyork. Inspector wants to learn the US accent. He engages a coach. It is very interesting scene to watch when he learns to speak:"I would like to buy a hamburger". He ends up nowhere.

The team goes to Newyork.Ponton finds that Xania made phone calls to some blackmarket diamond companies.They follows Xania under the cover of newspapers. Clouseau falls into a subway while chasing Xania with his face covered by newspaper. Ponton and Clouseau meets some badguys. They had to fight them to move ahead. Clouseau only showed the movements while Ponton engaged in the real fight and in the end Clouseau complimented Ponton that it was a good team work.They met Xania who said she was trying to fix a purse which was falling apart. Clouseau wants to seduce her to know her real intentions. Now Xania invited him to her room for dinner.There he set the room on fire and flooded with water.
The next day Clouseau and Ponton arrives at the airport.In the meantime the Chief Inspector Dreyfus has set trap for Clouseau. In the airport the assignee of Dreyfus replaces Clouseau's bag with that of her. Clouseau had hidden some hamburgers in his coat's pocket. While security check he has been caught. The sniffer dog catches smell of hamburger. While the personnel asks him what is in his pocket, Clouseau makes many attempts to say hamburger but each time pronounced incorrectly. Again his news hit the stands but now for the wrong reason. Clouseau has been taken off from the case. Chief Inspector took over the case and at the press conference he said that an arrest is imminent. He suspected a chinaman who was in the VIP box during the soccer match and had connections with the coach.He is an invitee to a special function in Paris and chief inspector plans to arrest him there.
While in home Clouseau reads the news of his airport tragedy. The site also had a photograph of the incident. Suddenly Clouseau's eye caught something special.He took a closer look at the photo. He called Ponton who had changed his mind and now willing to work with Clouseau. He calls Nicole too. But Clouseau has been refused to took part in the function. Clouseau and Ponton enters the function in disguise.As they are caught by the security personnel, Nicole comes to their rescue and introduces them as the backup dancers for Xania who is performing in the function. But as the personnel asks them to prove it, Clouseau and Ponton shown him some real steps of dance with Xania's song been heard in the background.

In the end Clouseau gets the real killer and recovers the pink panther diamond from Xania's purse which was clearly seen in the photo taken during the security check in the airport and shown in the website.
The film is very good to watch. Several cuts have been made from its earlier old versions and necessary changes also made to some scenes. The director has made an attempt to observe that there is no unnecessary lag in the scenes. Anyhow the cuts are made without affecting the sense of humour. Leading actor Steve Martin also penned the screenplay. The film in its newer version is worth to watch.

Avatar-Full-Story-Review-Pics

AVATAR

Written and Directed by: 

James Cameron

Starring:

Sam Worthington

Zoe Saldana

Sigourney Weaver

Michelle Rodriguez

Stephen Lang

Duration:2 hrs 37 mins app.

The story takes place in the year 2154 on Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system. A corporation named RDA is planning to mine a valuable mineral called unobtanium. It has a private military force called Sec-Ops.

Jake, an ex-marine, on wheel chair is with an investigating reserch team. Up ahead is Pandora. His brother Tommy who was a scientist represented in a significant investment. Since his genome are identical to his, he could step into his shoes. In Pandora one has to wear masks and without masks one falls unconscious in 20 seconds and dies in 4 minutes. The carrier airplane lands in the outer boundaries of Pandora and everyone including Jake comes out. The commander Colonel Quaritch says to them than every living thing in Pandora which walks, craws, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill them and eat them. There is an indigenous population of humanoids called Na'vi. In the biolab there are remotely controlled bodies called Avatars. They are grown from human DNA mixed with the DNA of the natives. Jake sees the Avatars for him in the lab. Every driver is matched to his own Avatar so that their nervous system are in tune. Grace Augustine is the head of the Avatar program. She even wrote a book on Pandora botany. Norm Spellman a driver who was with Tommy in Avatar training program and Jake meets Grace who just came out from a driver's box controlling Avatar. Grace didn't want someone who was not trained at all. But he was assigned with the job as a security escort in her team. These avatars are being used to win their hearts and minds, teach them earthly ways, learn 

them english etc. But as humans exploit them for their greedy ends, the relationship is not still healthy. The team is after a high energy rock deposit named 'unobtanium' which sells for Rs.20 million a kilo. The natives are considered as a threat and the whole team is on the brink of a war. The avatar team's task is to find out a diplomatic solution. Jake and Norm enter the driver's box for Avatars. Jake's and Norm's mind are transferred to their new Avatar bodies. Jake was happy to know that his legs are normal in the new body. An 

overjoyed Jake in Avatar body runs from the lab. He enjoys the power of his legs, the touch of earth, the new refreshing air. Jake had a talk with the Colonel where he portraits some bad things about Pandora. He want Jake to study the core things in Pandora either to make them co-operate or to attack.

Now the Avatar team flies over the beautiful landscapes of Pandora. Trudy, the captain is flying the copter. Jake is armed with gun. The copter landed in a the Pandora forest. Jake, Norm and Grace are in Avatar form. As they explore the forest, aggressive and non-aggressive creatures are seen. Jake is chased by an aggressive creature 'Thanator'. Jake managed to a near escape from the mouth of the creature. He is separated from the pack. As night falls Jake prepares for self-defence. He is being watched by a native girl from a tree armed with bow and arrows. She is Neytiri, a Na'vi. As she aims arrow at Jake, a divine sign makes her to rethink of the plan. She saves him from panther-like predators of Pandora. Jake-Avatar is being caught by native people and brings him to their clan. He meets Eytuken, Neytiri's father and Tsutey, the next clan leader. Neytiri's mother Moat interprets the will of Eywa the god of native 

people. She engages Neytiri to teach Jake-Avatar their ways. Thus he joins the clan to learn their ways. He slees there and his human body wakes up in the driver's link box in the lab. In the lab Jake is shown huge deposits of Unobtanium beneath a huge tree which is 

sacred to the native people. Jake again enters the linkbox.

In Pandora he is being taught to ride in a six-leg horse-like creature. His hair in the head is joined with the creature's and a bond which Neytiri describes Sa'helu is born. Now he may tell it what to do with his mind. He could feel the creature's thoughts. This he can do with 

many creatures in Pandora.

Jake, Grace, Norm and Trudy set off to see the Hallelujah floating mountains. There in Pandora is another separate link unit fully managed by Grace. Jake enters the link box and goes directly to Pandora near Neytiri. Neytiri teaches Avatar how to fly Ikran. Ikran is a flying creature. One hunter must choose one Ikran and the Ikran in turn must choose the hunter and the bond is for the whole life. Jake-Avatar learns from Neytiri how the native people are connected with the forest and the living things. He learns from her that all energies are borrowed and once it has to be given back. He 

becomes a hunter and sets off to choose his Ikran. The Na'vi hunters moves to a group of Ikran. The Ikran who tries to kill Jake-Avatar is the one which chooses him. After a small battle he chooses his Ikran. When they train fly on their Ikran a Toruk(bigger than Ikran) chases them and however they managed to escape in the thick forest. No one rides the Toruk. Neytiri says that her grandfather's grandfather was Toruk Makto meaning Rider of the Last Shadow. He was the last ever rider of the Toruk. Toruk Makto brings the clans together in a time of Great Sorrow.

Now back in the lab, Jake talks with Colonel that he can convince the native people to relocate themselves so that men can obtain the resources of Pandora. Colonel gives him some more time. A ceremony is being held in the Pandora which makes Jake in his Avatar form part of the Omaticaya people. Now in the night Neytiri takes him to show the big tree of souls. There they mate. They fell asleep. Now in the morning the Colonel's party has started to destroy the forest. They came closer to the part where Jake fell asleep. In the lab, Jake was only preparing to enter in the link-box. When Jake woke up he saw the machine coming to destroy the forest. He asked them to stop and as it never stopped he damaged its signals. In the lab, the Colonel recognised Jake in his Avatar. Jake and Neytiri escaped.

In the clan, preparation for battle begins. Tsu'tey will lead the war party. Now Jake comes and tells them not to go for war as so many Omaticaya's will perish. Tsu'tey quarrels with Jake. And as Jake was about to tell everyone the real motive of his visit to Pandora, the 

Colonel reaches at the separate lab maintained by Grace at Pandora and interrupts the signals and opens the link box. Jake, in his Avatar form fell unconscious. Colonel realises that he can never make a deal with the Omaticayas and he prepares for attacking the home tree which was considered sacred by the native people. In order to prevent a bloodshed Jake convinces the partly leader Parker to permit him to talk to Omaticaya people to move away from there home place. Parker gives Jake one hour time for evacuating the native people. Jake enters the link box and the Avatar wakes up between the Omaticaya. Jake in his Avatar form talks to Eytukan the clan leader. To make them believe of the threat Jake tells everyone that he was sent by men to learn about Omaticaya. The whole clan including Neytiri was distracted hearing this. Jake and Grace were treated enemies by the people and they prepared for war against the attackers.

Thus the war begins. Tsu'tey with some hunters plans to fight the planes from above with the help of Ikran. Neytiri and others shot arrows at them. While Colonel and party launches real attacks on the clan near the big tree. Moat, saves Jake and Grace and tells them to save the native people. Jake leads them to the forest. While the Colonel orders fire attacks on the big tree inorder to make it fall, Trudy signs off from the attack. Now after the massive attack, the big tree falls resulting in much despair to the Omaticaya people. Neytiri's father dies in the attack. Jake has been expelled from the clan. Parker orders to stop the link signals and the Avatars of Jake and Grace fell unconscious in the Pandora. Jake, Grace and Norm were made prisoners in the lab. Trudy rescues them with the help of Max, a scientist. Colonel makes a failed attempt to catch them and Grace is wounded by that. Now Jake, Grace and Norm with the help of Trudy flies to the forest. They takes the lab with the help of war plane and moves deep into the forest. Jake enters the link box and wakes up in his Avatar. He need something special to do for gaining trust of the people who had outcasted him. He recollects the story about Toruk which Neytiri told him. He mounts on his Ikran and jumps on a Toruk. He makes up the bond with the big flying thing as soon as he jumped upon it and thus the Toruk came Jake's way. As Jake in Avatar form lands between the Omaticaya people on his Toruk, the whole clan reminded of the old story of the great Toruk hunter who saved the whole people from great sorrow. Thus reclaiming the trust of the Omaticayas, Avatar prepares for battle. Wounded Grace died after an attempt to pass her soul through the Eywa, the mother goddess under the tree of souls. 

Avatar moved to join other clans. Everyone joined on the call of Toruk Makto. While Max in the lab gives uptodate information about Colonel Quaritch's plan to attack. In the night Avatar Jake prays to Eywa under the tree of souls for help. The final battle begins. Colonel's army and Omaticayas are lined up in the sky. Armed men inside robots which sense the human movements enter in forest. Horsemen attacks them. But they are not a match for the machine robots and other armed men. Avatar-Jake and others opened battle in the sky. The large birds catches the war planes and throws it against the floating mountains. As the attack of Omaticayas weakened, the fierce creatures of Pandora joined the attack themselves. By this time, Trudy gives surprise attack to Colonel. But Colonel perished her. Avatar-Jake attacked the main war plane in which Colonel Quaritch was flying and as the warplane lose its control Colonel mounted on an armed robot and jumped into the forest. 

By this time Neytiri has made a bond with the Thanathor. Neytiri attacked Colonel. However Colonel managed to kill Thanator. As Colonel was about to destroy the link unit in which Jake was lying, the Avatar-Jake attacks him. But he was not a match for the machine-mounted Colonel. When Colonel was about to finish Avatar Jake, Neytiri's sharp arrows pierced his chest. Thus the war ends.

Jake was brought from the link unit by Neytiri to the tree of souls. There he was permanently transferred to his Avatar body. And thus Avatar opened his eyes to the new world of Omaticayas. Here the film ends.

The film portraits photorealistic 3D images and the future and prospects of 3D technology. It is said that the film took 10 years to complete. It grossed many billions in box-office around the world. Apart from technological enrichment the movie is a big success on the base of a great story. The film upholds true values and the screenplay is also good. It reminds of the connection of human with nature. It teaches a moral that the nature is to be preserved in its original form. Love and respect for other cultures, love beyond boundaries, and languages, colour, etc are some other morals we could find in this story. It portraits some courageous and strong hearted humans who have love for the nature. It gives a strong message that the nature will one day answer the cruelty done to it by humans and machines. 

In a 3D experience one could enter the exciting world of Pandora and feel like he is a part of the film. Avatar will ever be known as a trendsetter in the world of 3D films with a strong storyline. It is worth watching this great epic movie.

City-Lights-Review-Story-Chaplin

CITY LIGHTS

Running time : 1 hour 27 minutes 11 seconds approx.

Written and Directed by Charles Chaplin

Music Composed by Charles Chaplin

Cast: 

Blind Girl- Virginia Cherril

Her Grandmother- Florence Lee

Eccentric Millionaire-Harry Myers

His Butler-Allan Garcia

Prizefighter-Hank Mann

Tramp-Charlie Chaplin

The scene starts with unveiling of a monument in the heart of a city. The monument is called "Peace and Prosperity". As the monument is unveiled the Tramp is seen resting on the lap of a statue of a woman in peace. He woke up in the hue and cry. As he tries to come down from the statue, his pant got stuck in the sword of another statue. In the meanwhile when cops orders him to move away and he desperately attempts, the national anthem is played and everyone stands in attention. It is funny to see the tramp attempting to respect the anthem. After the anthem however the tramp gets out of the scene.

In the next scene we could see that the tramp is a funny character to the street boys who sell newspaper. After some light humour the main part of the story is introduced. The scene portraits the blind girl who is selling flowers. The traffic is stopped infront of the blind girl and at the same time the tramp crosses the street. For evading the eyes of a cop he enters into a cab which is stopped and gets down through the other door which opens to the footpath where the blind girl is selling flowers. The blind girl thinks that some rich man got down from the car to buy her flowers. The tramp realises that she is a blind girl and had found a place in the softest corner of his heart. He gives one single coin left in his pocket to the girl and as the girl took the balance, the owner of the car got into it and the girl asks him to wait. The tramp realises that the girl thought that it was a rich man who bought flower from her. The tramp doesn't want to break the thoughts of the girl and silently walks away without making a sound. We could feel the mindset of the tramp from this scene. He comes back and sits beside the girl and looks her silently. The girl walks with a cup to the nearby tap and washes out the cup and the water is splashed to the face of the tramp. Thus the scene comes to an end.

The next scene portraits the house of the blind girl. Her grandmother is preparing tea. The blind girl enters her home. She starts a music on her gramaphone and moves to the window. Down the street a boy calls his lover and together they move away. The blind girl feels the presence of love in her heart. The expressions on her face is evident of the impact of first love.

The night falls and on the side of a lake an eccentric millionaire who is drunk comes to commit suicide. He opens the big box which he carried and takes out a rope and ties one end around his neck. Suddenly the tramp also comes to the scene. He sits on a bench and takes the fragrance of the flower which is still blossoming his heart with love. The millionaire ties the other end of the rope to a big rock and seeing this the tramp moves between him and the reservoir. The millionaire drops the rock on the tramp's leg. The tramp stops him and takes hold of the rope and advices him to face life and be brave. He gives him hope that the birds will sing tomorrow. But the millionaire was about to end it all. He takes the rope back from the tramp and accidentally ties across the tramp's neck. He took the rock and threw it in the water and with it the tramp also fell into the water. Seeing this the millionaire takes off his overcoat. He asks the drowning tramp to wait. He sits on the bench and unties his shoe to jump into water. The tramp was struggling in the water. His head came up and seeing this the millionaire ran towards him and gave his hand to the drowning tramp. The tramp caught hold of his hand and in the attempt of pulling him from the water the drunk millionaire falls into the water. Then it was great seeing both the tramp and the millionaire trying to get out of water. As the millionaire tries to climb up the tramp climbs upon his body and both are again drowned. However they managed to get out of the water. Both shake their hands. Now the 'ill-balanced' millionaire bends down to take his overcoat and the tramp bends down to take his hat, the millionaire hit the tramp and he again falls into the water. The next is the ditto of the previous scene. However at last they got managed to be out of water. The millionaire offered him friendship and invited him to his home. The tramp took the flower he bought from the blind girl which he kept on the table and walked away with him.

After some funny scenes in the millionaire's home, they move together to a night party. Both were too much drunk and nice comedy is fit into each small parts in the scene at the hotel. Lighting the cigar, eating noodles, dancing with the waiter and other scenes are surely going to make you laugh. Early morning they drove back home. The millionaire's driving was so rash and when the tramp asked him to be careful, the millionaire asks: Am I driving? With this the tramp takes control of the cab and somehow he reaches themselves to the home. The millionaire allows the tramp to take his car as his own. When he saw the blind girl passing by he asks some money to the millionaire and with it he buys all the flowers from the blind girl. He then takes her to her house in the car. There he expresses his love. He kisses her hand. And when romance was in the air, a cat on the window caused to put down a flower pot on his head.

Now the millionaire comes to his sense after the night when the impact of alcohol is gone. He did not recognise the tramp. While the girl discusses with her grandmother about her man. When the grandma says that he could be a wealthy man, the girl says that he is more than that. That afternoon when the tramp was walking down the streets, the millionaire who again in the impact of alcohol recognises his friend. The millionaire hugs and kisses his friend and invites him for party. At the party the tramp accidentally swallows a whistle blowing pipe and his hiccup causes sound of whistle which results in spoiling the party. Again in the morning the millionaire throws the tramp out from the house. He searches for the blind girl in her usual place and as he did not find her there goes to her house and learns that she is ill. Determined to help the poor girl he tooks the job of cleaning the streets. 

The story reaches another turning point when the Grandmother receives a warning letter from the landlord to pay the arrears of rent or else they will have to move out. As the tramp gets knowledge about this when he takes a short visit to the girl's home during the recess time. He swears to pay it. He reads a news item saying free operation for poor blind and the girl is happy that she could see him if cured. As the tramp get back to his workplace he is fired for being late for the last time. A fightclub member sees this and invites him to perform a fight for getting cash. The tramp moves behind the referree and hits his opponent as soon as the referree moves. The boxing scene is full of hilarious comedy. He accidentally hits the referree also. More than ten minutes full of great comedy in the boxing club is in offer. 

After that the movie subtitles shows that he wandered the city hoping to get money for the girl. On a night he meets his millionaire friend again. He tooks him to his home. While in the house of the millionaire, two thieves got in. This time both the friends enter the house. The millionaire promises to take care of the girl. He gives him some money. One of the thives comes and hits the millionaire on the head and he fell unconscious. The tramp runs after the running robbers. Suddenly a cop stops him. Seeing his master lying unconscious and the tramp running away, James alerts the cop that the tramp has robbed the millionaire. The cop takes the money from the tramp's pocket which the millionaire gave him. As the millionaire got a heavy blow on his head he has come out to his normal sense. He did not recognise the tramp and it results in the tramp being suspected of the crime. As he realises that there is no other way to make them believe the truth he runs away with the most needed money. He however manages to get back to the blind girl and gives her the whole money. 

He is caught by the cops on the road and send to prison. After his term in jail he was released. The blind girl had got her eyesight by then. Her sale of flowers was also flourished. The tramp was wandering through the streets. He searched the blindgirl in her usual place and did not find her. We can see that his dress clothes were damaged a lot. The scene changes to the blind girl's small shop. A car stops by her side. She at once thinks of her wealthy man. The handsome guy who got down asked for some flowers. He gave the order and went away. She realised that it was not her lover. She was so desperate to see him and waiting for his arrival. At this time the tramp passes by her store and some newspaper boys made fun out of his ugliness. He picks up a rose from the road. And when he turns he sees his girl who has now got her eyes and for whom he went to jail. She did not recognise him. She picks a rose and a coin to give him and he tries to move away. But as she calls again he goes to her and takes the rose. She then gives the coin to him. But as he stands there without taking it she drags him by her side and takes his hand. As she gives the coin to his hand she sensed the touch of her lover. She at once recognised her lover. The tramp says: "You can see now" and the girl answers :  "Yes I can see now". The film thus comes to a good end.

The film goes through very light and pleasant comedies and with a great story. The ending statement made by the girl is so meaningful. We could sense the power of love in the words and the scene. A tramp risks his life for a poor blind girl in this movie. Even if he has nothing for himself he gives everything to the girl for  love. The girl in turn awaits for her lover. The movie has a place for soft feelings of the heart. Each part of the movie is pictured with some meaning. The movie cleverly blends drama and romance with some great comedy. A must-watch masterpiece from Charles Chaplin.

2Death-at-a-Funeral-Review-Story

DEATH AT A FUNERAL

Film Directed by: Frank Oz

Distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayor(MGM)

Duration: 1 hr 30 minutes

What all things do not happen in a funeral? It is a moment when all the relatives, friends and local men gather together. Many men meet after long time on the day of a funeral. They will have many things to discuss more than the funeral itself and the innocent who died and waiting to be buried. Seldom men pity the family of the dead as they have their own sad things to share with others. Some may even make business proposals, wedding proposals at a funeral. These are few interesting things happen in such a gathering. The movie called “Death at a Funeral” portraits some funny things which happen in a funeral.

The very punch of comedy can be sensed from the scene bringing the coffin with the dead body of the wrong person and when the son says “This is not my father”. From this very first scene itself we will realise the amount of comedy the film is set to bring when it advances. The dead man has a wife living and two sons. One son, Daniel is now living with his wife Jane and mother in the dead man’s house and the other son is in New York City. He is a famous young writer. Now Jane wants to move together separate from her mother in-law to another flat. She oft asks Daniel about the plan. Daniel is actually in ‘running to seed’ situation. He expects his writer-brother to share the expense for the funeral.

People from different places arrive to the funeral. Simon and Martha are going to be married. Martha, Daniel’s cousin, is going to tell her uptight father about this at the funeral and her boyfriend will meet his future father in-law for the first time, in the funeral. Martha’s father is the brother of the dead man’s wife. Another two men who are friends of the Daniel are also on the way to the funeral in a cab. The driver is a funny guy. He does not act so funny but his dialogues and innocent submissions make his character so interesting in the story. His friend Justin travelling with him is longing to wed Martha. His drive for her is so expressive to us when he says to Martha in black outfit dressed up for the funeral, that how beautiful she is in the dress. The driver is actually so sensitive regarding his skin discolouration in the wrist. He often scratches his skin and wants to discuss the problem with others. However his friend Justin is not a good partner to share it. The driver gets a phone call from Daniel to pick uncle Alfie also to the funeral. Uncle Alfie is an old man who is handicapped and sits on a wheel chair. Driver is tensed and sad to hear this as he knows uncle Alfie to be an arrogant old man.

We get the cause behind Daniel’s wife’s plan to move separate from the dialogue of Daniel’s mother when she asks her to keep her hands away from the coffin as she might leave smudge on it.

Now Martha and her boyfriend Simon are heading to pick up her brother, Troy who is studying to be a pharmacist. Troy actually does some strange experiments from his little study and makes drug which hallucinates. When Martha knocks the door he puts some of his hallucinating drugs into a bottle of ‘Valium’ tablets, a normal drug, in order to hide it from her. Now Simon and Martha enters the house and without knowing the content in ‘Valium’ bottle, Martha gives one tablet thinking it as ‘Valium’, to a tensed Simon who is going to meet his future father in-law. Now the drug starts its impact when Simon on the way to the funeral searches for a dog which he thought was inside the cab.

In the house, Daniel is preparing for presenting a eulogy to his father. He takes a quiet place away from others and takes some paper bits from his pocket and studies “My father was an exceptional man....” The writer brother comes and he is not intending to share the funeral expense. He seems to be distracted with the fare of first class plane ticket by which he came. The priest arrives and he has time only since 3 O’ clock. Now Daniel saw a little guy Peter(dwarf) who was standing near the coffin and staring at him.  Peter meets Daniel oft and wants Daniel to tell something. As Daniel was busy with the eulogy to be presented he ran away from everyone with his bits of paper in the pocket. His wife meets him every time and asks about the plan to move to a flat.

Bringing Uncle Alfie from the car was a very interesting scene in the movie. Simon and Martha stole the parking space for the driver’s car. Suddenly another car came in front of the driver’s car. He had to drive reverse to make way for the car and Uncle Alfie has to be pushed upwards the hilly sloped way to the ceremony as Justin went after Martha without a helping hand to the driver. Uncle Alfie often complained of the driver. We could find a timely helping friend in Justin when in the presence of Daniel he lifts up Uncle Alfie only at the doorstep of house and gets all praise from Daniel.

While Daniel in the house is tensed to study the eulogy, Simon outside, behaves strangely to everyone due to impact of the hallucinating drug. The introduction of Simon to his future in-law by Martha was a kick-starter for the humorous moments by Simon to be created in the story. Martha’s father noticed the weird looks of Simon and Simon hugged dead man’s wife and says he is sorry for the death. The hug lasted for sometime and ended with a lusty flying kiss.

Now the service begins and the priest prays and reads some story from religious text. When he finished, Daniel has been asked to say a few words about his father. We could feel the heartbeat of Daniel as he starts to the coffin. Daniel sees the staring look of Peter. Daniel starts “My father was an exceptional man...”Suddenly Simon laughs. Daniel thought he was laughing at him and therefore took the paper bits from his pocket and reads: My father was an exceptional man. Simon again shouted “the coffin is moving”. He stood up tips over the coffin to the floor and the dead body was thrown out. The whole service was spoiled.

Now the main part of the story happens in the interim of tea break to settle the tense situation occurred after Simon’s performance. Peter reveals his connections with Daniel’s father. He shows some interesting photographs took with Robert and tries to blackmail money from Daniel. Peter is tied and he is served with some ‘Valium’ to calm up. Later misbelieving that Peter is dead, he is kept along with the dead body in the coffin. And when Daniel speaks up again in the eulogy, Peter comes up from the coffin and the photographs are seen by everyone and in the chaos, hue and cry, when Daniel shouts “My father was an exceptional man” we could sum up that this is a very good comedy movie.

The movie is neatly blended up with humor scenes with real sense. Uncle Alfie going to the latrine and Simon's naked show are all mixed with good reason. I rate this movie as a must-watch film.

1Review-Story-Perfume-movie1

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
Film Directed by Tom Tykwer

Ben Whishaw in leading role as Grenouille

Distributed in US by DreamWorks Pictures

Duration: 2hrs 25 minutes approx.

Official Site: www.perfumemovie.com

Rating: RESTRICTED-Aberrant behaviour involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images

This is a book-based movie. The film is named after the book of same name by Patrick Suskind, a German writer. It reveals the story of a young man who is obsessed with scents and smells right from his birth. His obsession guides him to a series of brutal killing of beautiful young ladies to extract their scents.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was born in a fish market and abandoned by his mother soon after birth in fish and meat waste surrounded by street dogs. His cry alarmed some people in the market and the guilty mother was hanged to death. This was the first death occurred because of Grenouille. He was sent to orphanage to be raised there and other young inmates wanted to kill the baby as to save their space. But the boy survived to make some infamous history. He had a special sense of all smells. It is something which was feeding him in the place of mother’s milk. It was not really the smell, but the inner thing of smell which haunted him. It was something divine to him. It was something born with him. It is the moment when we love Grenouille as he takes the real smell of a decomposed rat. It is not the smell, but the inner thing of every smell which haunts men that he loved and for which he lived and perhaps, died. He was forced to work like a slave with a skin vendor. Once at the time of a festive mood in the town he got a special scent. He wanted to know its origin. He sniffed like a dog and ran after the smell until he found out that it came from a young beautiful street girl selling some fruits. He followed the natural scent/odour of her body. She suddenly realised that someone is following and stopped. She knew that he was not following for fruits. She however vanishes and Grenouille finds her and accidentally caught her when she screamed and released her when he knew that she died as he accidentally suffocated her. That was unintended. But sooner he came back to his motive and stripped her to take all the scent before it fades.

When the story takes a turning point, Giuseppe Baldini, an old perfumer is buried with his good old days of a great perfumer. His shop is located in the middle of a bridge. That time Grenouille meets his shop with a skin coat. The twist in his life occurred when he prepared a perfume which was so special and newest for Baldini. He bought Grenouille from the tanner for huge amount. The tanner was killed sooner by thieves. Now coming back to the perfumer-his business flourished like the old days. It was like the days-gone by are coming back. Baldini found a good student also in Grenouille and taught him the basics of perfume and perfume making. He told him a legacy about perfume that there are harmonies of thirteen scents and only twelve are found out. There arises the desire for thirteenth scent in the mind of Grenouille. The perfumer taught him how to extract scent by distillation. Grenouille was a curious student. He worked overnight and one day the perfumer noticed that his pet cat was distilled by Grenouille as an experiment to capture scent. Eventhough he was sad, the value and curiosity of Grenouille makes him calm sooner. Grenouille once tried to extract the scent of glass and some stained iron and disheartened by the result. Grenouille falls ill and the perfumer felt sad as he could not teach him how to extract the scent of glass. He decided to send Grenouille to city of Grasse to learn newer methods of perfume making and heard by this Grenouille recovers. The film gives its essence by a scene when he takes a bath in natural showers and waterfalls and learns that he has no smell of his own. This is the true point on which the movie relies to reach its end plot. Grenouille lost all his joy when he realises that he has no special smell of his own and thinks that he is of no value in the world without a scent. Now he wanted to preserve that special scent of human forever. It is in Grasse where he murders beautiful women and distilled their bodies to extract scent.

I rate it as a ‘must watch movie’ and for it I am not detailing the rest interesting things happened in Grasse. Rarely we find Grenouille speak something. But the end was something like this. Grenouille was sentenced to death and when he opens the top of his life’s motive which was filled in a small bottle, the whole men who wanted to have him killed most brutally were on their knees before him.

And when Grenouille came to knew that the people became mad of the perfume which is not his scent and he is such a valueless creature almost hated by everyone, returns to his motherland and when unnoticed by bad people who were roaming the streets including whores, he pours the perfume over his head....Now you must really go and watch the film or buy the DVD. Someone may feel semblance with the anti-hero/hero Grenouille. I promise, you will like it.