Sundance Film Festival - Movie Review Example

Sundance Film Festival A Most Wanted Man A Most Wanted Man is the movie based on the thriller novel by John le Carre. The movie has been directed by Anton Corbijn and written by Andrew Bovell. The cast of the film includes Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Nina Hoss and Daniel Bruhl. The movie, released in 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival, belongs to the genre of espionage/thriller and revolves around a young Chechen ex-prisoner and a devout Muslim, Grigoriy Dobrygin. Dobrygin illegally arrives in Germany with a claim to a fortune in a private bank, left by his late father. The movie focuses on the international war on terror and the money laundering business. The movie also highlights through its screenplay the conflicting interests of various law-enforcing agencies and the layman, and how these interests affect the laymen. Philip Seymour Hoffman dominates the plot as a spy of old school who is dedicated towards tracking the Hamburg’s Muslim terrorists who had also planned the US attack. Grigoriy Dobrygin also depicts in the movie as a Muslim who contacts the Muslim community leader, Homayoun Ershadi, whose credentials are doubted by the law agency forces. Robin Wright plays the role of the local CIA operative who is focused on exposing the terrorist funding run under Homayoun Ersahdi. And this is followed by complicated controversies and the depiction of the Eastern immigrant-laden Hamburg with the darker side of the picture. The movie has the capability to absorb the attentive audiences, and is indeed not for those viewers who need everything spelled out for them. Dear White America Dear White America is a movie extinguishing across the stereotypes and returning to the Black art-house of the 1980s. The film is teaching white kids that just because they like Flo-Rida or date a black man they are not vitally real concerning their agreement of Blacks. Is this a bad thing? Is it an affirmative thing? Is agreement nowadays a stereotype that merits to be mocked? Are Blacks "just as intelligent and cool" as whites lacking demanding the acceptance? A satire that follows the reports of four black students at an Ivy Association college regarding a riot that breaks out over an accepted African American themed party thrown by white students. The film discovers racial individuality in post-racial America as interlacing a universal report of forging ones exceptional trail in the world. Dear White America illustrates the tie amid a quickly changing and increasingly varied populace and the obstacles we as a state face, going forward. People, exceptionally older, extra conservative ones are resistant to change and they are resistant to come to terms with new norms and cultural changes. They find a reassurance in "the methods things utilized to be", and distinguish each deviation from the process they were increased to be a threat. Its why they can call people "illegal," ignoring their own migration past, instead of discovering public ground. Astute displays that this understanding, or reasonably, nonexistence of one, poisons us as a people, stops us from growing and evolving. Only if people can move past this can they start accepting changes new norms and end their conservative terms. The Lunch Box The Lunch Box is a 2013 Indian movie directed and written by Ritesh Batra. The cast of the movie includes Irfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Denzil Smith, Bharati Achrekar, Nakul Vaid. The movie is also available in English, French and German subtitles and is of 105 minutes duration. The main idea of the movie starts when the dabbawallas, make a mistake by delivering the lunchbox to the wrong person. Mr Sajan (Irfan Khan) is a grieving husband who is trying to recover after his wife’s death and Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is a housewife who wants the attention of his husband and to strengthen their relationship with love. When Ila realizes that the lunchbox was mistakenly sent to Mr Sajan she writes an apology note to him. This initiates a change in their lives where they start sharing sincere notes with each other through the daily lunchtime dabas. Ila soon finds out that his husband is having an affair and sends a note to Mr Sajjan that she wants to move to Bhutan where the people are much happier. She expresses her wish to meet him but Mr Sajjan doesn’t show up on the decided date as he realizes he is too old for her. Ila feels dejected and goes to meet Sajan at his workplace but he has already quit. The climax of the movie shows Mr Sajjan searching for Ila. The movie received good reviews from the audience as well as the critics because of its beautifully captured romantic story and expression of the desire of the humans in constant search for love and compassion. The Trip to Italy The Trip to Italy is directed by Michael Winterbottom and written by Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan. The cast of the movie includes mainly Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, and takes the viewers through a colourful ride of delectable food, laughter and rivalry between the friends. The movie starts with the two men having a road trip starting from Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and ending in Capri. They enjoy six different meals in six different places. The two men have decided to visit and review half-dozen Italian restaurants ranging from Cinque Terre to Sicily. As they cruise along the various eating places, they indulge in interesting and amusing conversations with their companions about a list of famous movies which were captured at the place they visit. Some of the movies they discuss include Journey to Italy, Roman Holiday, Beat the Devil and Contempt. The trip is not just about the Italian food and the movies, but it also offers the viewers the opportunity to cruise along the two men across the beautiful sceneries of Italy such as the breath-taking Almafi coast in top-down Mini Cooper. The viewers would feel a sense of envy when they see the luxurious hotel suits, the delectable restaurants and the shots of chefs in restaurants. The movie also has a subplot of infidelity where Brydon is the cheater and Coogan plays the good boy. Coogan captures the attention of viewers by diverting the trip to rescue his son from the boring trip to Ibiza. The movie is supported with nice references to aging, tourist sites, love for nature and food. Wetlands (Feuchtgebiete) The German film Wetlands is directed by David Wnendt and written by Claus Falkenberg, David Wnendt and is based on the novel by Charlotte Roche. The cast of the movie includes Carla Juri, Christoph Letkowski, Meret Becker, Axel Milberg, Marlen Kruse and Edgar Selge. The movie is focused on a teenage girl who likes exploring with new and unusual items for her sexual satisfaction. She is not afraid of using even the unhygienic things for masturbation and is also not hesitant about talking in public of her experiences. Carla Juri delivers a firecracker performance in the movie making it one of the main reasons to watch Wetlands. The story of the movie is quite off-putting and there is no delicate way to deliver it, however, Carla Juri’s acting is most watchable and she delivers a sense of ease with her body and shows that she is more intimately in touch with her body than any other young actress in the recent films. Carla plays the role of a woman who is obsessed with bodily fluids and does any possible thing to keep her intimate parts dirty enough to emit an odour to captivate the men. The opening scene of the movie itself highlights the disgust and filth the movie is filled with. However, as the movie progresses, it is filled with more meaningless revulsion rather than focusing on the Carla Juri’s experiences and her psychoanalysis. The performance of Carla Juri however remains captivating through the end of the movie. Blind Blind is directed and written by Eskil Vogt. The cast comprises of Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Vera Vitali and Marius Kolbenstvedt. The Norwegian movie is of 96 minutes and is also with English subtitles. In the movie, Ellen Dorrit Petersen plays the role of Ingrid who has lost her eyesight and copes with her disability by isolating herself within the four walls of her apartment. The movie is a directional debut and the director manages to display a complex story with a combination of thriller, drama, relationship, fantasies and emotion. In the voice-over, Ingrid tells about her thoughts and past perceptions about the world before she lost her eyesight Ingrid has a devoted husband who wants her to leave the apartment and interact with the world for her own good. Ingrid tells about a man, Elnar, who is addicted to porn to such an extent that it is harming his life. She also tells the story of her neighbour across the street who is a single mom and is being a subject of attention of Elnar, unknowingly. The movie also depicts Ingrid’s suspicions and fantasies about her husband. She sometimes thinks that he might be flirting with other people or he doesn’t leave the apartment and sits with her, observing every move. The movie is creatively crafted, asking the viewers to think and see from their own mind and perceptions. The line between reality and imagination are quite blurred and real-life events might seem like Ingrid’s visions while her imaginations might be a part of reality. Infinitely Polar Bear The movie “Infinitely Polar Bear” is directed and written by Mara Forbes. The principal cast includes Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashely Aufderheide. The movie is pictured in the background of the year 1978, where the Stuart family is trying to maintain their bonds and struggling to hold it together. Cameron is a manic-depressive father who is facing unemployment because of a recent nervous breakdown. His wife is also struggling between the jobs and the family is broke. The movie revolves around parental travails trying to find jobs and protect their daughters. When Maggie, Zoe Saldana decides to accept a scholarship to pursue her MBA, Cameron has to be left as the only caretaker of their two daughters. The movie depicts the eighteen month heart-tugging, unpredictable experience of the daughters with their father struggling to be a primary parent to his precious little girls. Infinitely Polar Bear is a loving, compassionate portrayal of the pain and frustration of the daughters as well who are not gifted with a normal father like other girls. It exhibits their insecurities and discomfort throughout the journey of having a bipolar father and also tells the gifts of not being secluded from this grave reality. The movie is a bittersweet experience which also throws some humorous and pleasant moments towards the audience. The movie reflects that even complex and imperfect circumstances can be transformed into beautiful and somewhat bittersweet experiences if they are handled with love, compassion and hope. Appropriate Behaviour Appropriate Behaviour is directed and written by Desiree Akhavan. The main cast includes Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson, Halley Feiffer, Scott Adsit, Anh Duong and Arian Maayed. The movie revolves around Shirin, Desiree Akhavan, who plays the role of a Iranian-American bisexual woman who is trying to survive in the hipster background of Brooklyn. The movie is much more of an autobiography of Shirin who has recently broken with her lesbian girlfriend and moved into a shabby apartment with a pair of pompous artists. It is a critical depiction of the current youth culture and the arrested development and very shrewdly displays in a comical manner the cultural and social dilemmas in Shirin’s life. She manages to get a job as a teacher of 5 year olds in an after-school filmmaking project. The movie is a blurred line between a sexual and cultural theme. The play unfolds as an exploration of sexuality and fantasies and much less as a cultural conflict and social inhibitions of her personal choices of sexuality. Shirin comes as a character which is difficult to like who has very few aims in her life, very few motivation yet very high opinions and plenty of gripes. She struggles to maintain her role as a politically correct bisexual, an ideal Persian daughter and a hip Brooklynite, however she fails to fulfil any of her identities completely. During her struggle she realises that failing miserably at holding on to her identities, and unable to be a part of the clichéd roles, she is left lonely and secluded. Read More