We know she can star in a controversial TV series. We know she can play a decent supporting actress in a Ben Affleck movie. We know she can get married, have a baby, and still look as beautiful and thin as ever. But, can Blake Lively carry an entire movie on her shoulders?
Here’s what I think.
I posted my review of Love, Rosie yesterday and one of the key points I made was the slim odds of a book-to-film adaptation succeeding. Last year’s The Giver was a travesty and Love, Rosie, though better, is not a good example as well. This movie, The Hundred-Foot Journey, is a prime example of when written word is translated beautifully into a genuine and emotionally captivating film.
Ang Buod:
In “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, it is both picturesque and elegant – the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own escalate to all out war between the two establishments – until Hassan’s passion for French haute cuisine and for Mme. Mallory’s enchanting sous chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), combine with his mysteriously delicious talent to weave magic between their two cultures and imbue Saint-Antonin with the flavors of life that even Mme. Mallory cannot ignore. At first Mme. Mallory’s culinary rival, she eventually recognizes Hassan’s gift as a chef and takes him under her wing.
from: http://www.dreamworksstudios.com/films/the-hundred-foot-journey
Ang Maganda:
Where do I begin? There’s just too many good things to say about this movie!
The screenplay. Translating something from page to stage is no easy task. Maraming elemento ng kwento ang kailangang alisin. May nawawala rin sa bahagi ng audience dahil books force people to interact with the material more than film goers do with film. We read what the author says, but we add so much more using our imaginations. That’s why fans of books have to keep an open mind when watching film adaptations. It is one of the screenplay writer’s hardest tasks to pick and choose which scene, plot points, and story elements to include in the script. With only roughly an hour of dialogue to establish characters and move the story along, this requires more wisdom than creativity. I think in order to succeed in doing this, the writer has to understand that the characters are more important than the events. That’s what Love, Rosie failed to do. Instead of giving us well-fleshed out characters, we were shown a series of events. The Hundred-Foot Journey, on the other hand, made sure that we knew each character (which was challenging because they had way more characters who mattered in this film than Love, Rosie) well enough to care about them. Stephen Knight enabled us to see these characters as people by giving them clever dialogue instead of long monologues.
It is a visually stunning movie. Each shot was a perfectly Instagrammable moment. The use of natural light and cutaway scenes was very artful. You won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen. Each scene and setting was also a core component of the story. It wasn’t just there for the sake of existing or to fill in the empty seconds of the film. They served a purpose and enhanced the storytelling.
The musical score was very emotional. A.R. Rahman managed to create a fusion of traditional Indian music with strict classical, very French, score. There were also scenes where the Indian pentatonic scale was set against a very modern, techno, beat and it worked. There were grand swells in moments where the audience had to be swept away and there were moments of almost complete silence to create even more drama.
The actors. Of course, Dame Helen Mirren did a spectacular job. She managed to turn a character who can easily be a caricature into someone human. She was strict without turning mean. Her character changed slowly, gradually, without turning into a completely different person. Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon portrayed star-crossed lovers without turning into archetypes. Om Puri was Papa not only to the people in the film. He was so perfectly flawed that I may never know him by his name. I’ll probably just call him Papa for the rest of my life.
The direction. Lasse Hallstrom is the man who brought us equally beautiful scenes and multi-layered characters in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, and Chocolat. He is a master of storytelling without literally telling the story. He spoke through transitions. He showed each character’s complexity through small clues like a sideways smile or a tilt of the head. Even the supporting characters like Hassan’s brother, played by Amit Shah, had enough life and character breathed into him with the one-liners and tiny nuances that I cared about him. This was not easy to do.
Ang Pangit:
During the last scene, it was implied that Hassan and Marguerite did something physical in Le Saule Pleureur’s stockroom. I don’t think this was necessary. I commend them for not showing this in detail, but I still think the movie could have done without it. It is both unnecessary and unsanitary.
Ang Paghuhusga:
This is a movie worth watching. It is a beautiful story about love in its many forms. This showcases love of family, love of what you’re passionate of, love of humanity, and romantic love. At isa pang maganda rito is that this is the kind of movie you can keep watching over and over again. This brings me to my…
Rating:
Make sure you own a copy of this movie!
(in Blu-ray if possible)
Watching this movie made me sad not because it was bad, but because I was reminded that we lost a very powerful actor when James Gandolfini passed away. The Drop is one of the greatest movies I’ve seen this year. Medyo disappointed ako sa mga pelikulang na-release this year and this movie made me believe that people are still able and willing to create creative, well-written, well-directed movies.
Ang Buod:
James Gandolfini plays a guy called Cousin Marv who used to own a bar that now serves as a drop point for the mob. Tom Hardy plays Bob, the bartender who hid a deeper, darker persona behind his innocent charm. Nadia (played by Noomi Rapace) is Bob’s love interest and serves as the audience’s “in” on the story. By “in,” I mean that she’s the character shares the same journey as the audience. She gets to know Bob, grows to like him, and eventually has to choose if she can keep him in her life.
Everything’s going well until the bar gets robbed. This event prompts us to take a closer look at the characters to try to figure out who was behind it and what he is planning to do next.
Ang Maganda:
Everything about this movie is well done. The acting was on point except for Tom Hardy’s Brooklyn accent that came and went at whim. The storytelling was good. The clues were well placed. We have enough time to get to know the characters on a deeper level. Plus, they had a dog! A pitbull named Rocco was what changed everything for Bob’s character and that adorable puppy turned this dark movie into a perfect Animal Rescue ad.
The look of the film is something that I appreciate so much. Everything was cold and blue and it was so good that I felt cold even though the Philippine heat is as fierce as ever. Pagpasok mo palang sa unang eksena, you already know that you are watching something dark.
Ang Pangit:
The movie’s a little bit too long. I didn’t mind sitting through the entire film, but I see how some people can find some of the scenes as unnecessary or too long drawn.
Ang Paghuhusga:
I really loved the movie. Movies that try to show us different dimensions of a character and, through that, human nature always grab my attention. Hindi ito nagkulang dito. The characters were flawed, but you can’t help rooting for them.
I also filmed myself talking about this movie. If you have time, please click play.
This movie will not be forgotten.
One of the reasons why I had the worst Christmas of my life last year was because I couldn’t see this movie the same day as the rest of the world. I had to make do with the pretty bad MMFF entries of this year na hindi man lang tumapat sa kalidad ng mga nakaraang taon.
So, when it was finally time for me to catch this on the big screen, I was as excited as a kid looking up at Disneyland. Habang nakaabang kami sa mga taong palabas ng sinehan, kapansin-pansin that everyone had this dazed look on their faces. Parang may namatay sa loob ng sinehan. Kung sabagay, totoo naman. Marami naman talagang namatay. Pero yung way kung paano parang lahat ay tahimik na parang something metaphysical happened sa loob made me even more eager to see the film. And when I did, naintindihan ko. Kaya naman pala e. They truly witnessed something amazing.
Piling Pelikula 