iBlog: Nishit Shah

One thing you can sure of in this uncertain world is that when Pixar makes a movie, it has to be awesome. I am a hardcore fan of animation movies especially from the Pixar stable. I saw the very first show of this movie and straight after watching it, I am blogging about it. I was extremely disappointed to see just 5 people in the entire theater. Pixar succeeds again with Ratatouille, a stunningly animated film with fast pacing, memorable characters, and overall good humor.

No matter how many times I see it, I can’t get enough of it. It is one of the best movies I have ever ever seen. Infact I can go to that extent and say that, there are two types of people in this world - Those who have seen City of God (Cidade de Deus) and those who haven’t. Then there are those like me who have seen it many times !!

Being a hardcore movie buff, I have always been attracted to award winning foreign movies, even though I don’t understand the language they speak. Over the years I have learnt to survive on subtitles

The movie is based on true story and its in Portuguese, the language what Brazilians speak. Its called Cidade de Deus in Portuguese. Thanks to the subtitles I was able to understand this movie and believe me its class apart. The direction, screenplay, dialogue, acting, the plot ….everything is a class apart and so beautifully executed. Something, which I am sure any mainstream Bollywood movie can’t even dream of achieving.

I don’t want to write anything about the movie, I guess the number of awards it has been nominated and won speaks for itself. Also, the very fact that its ranked 18th among the IMDB TOP 250 movies of all time.

The main character in Cidade de Deus is not a person. It is a place. Cidade de Deus is a poor housing project started in the 60’s that became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro by the beginning of the 80’s. In order to tell the story of the place the film tells us the stories of many characters. But all is seen through the eyes of the narrator: Busca-Pé, a poor black kid too frail and scared to become an outlaw but also to smart to be content with na underpaid job. He grows up in a very violent environment. The odds are all against him. But he discovers he can see the reality with a different eye: the eye of an artist. Eventually he becomes a professional photographer. That is his redemption..
Buscapé is not the real protagonist of the film. He is not the one who makes the story moves on. He is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the main chain of events. Nevertheless, not only his life is attached to what happens in the story but it is also through his perspective of life that we understand the humanity of a world apparently condemned to endless violence.

The movie is based on the true story of Christopher Gardner, a family man struggling to make ends meet along with is 5 year old toddler and his struggle to break into the stock brokerage business as an intern, despite a rocky financial situation. The movie is really inspiring and it is funny at times. Christopher Gardner is played by Will Smith and his son by Jaden Smith who is also his son in real life. The unusual spelling of the film’s title comes from a sign Gardner saw when he was homeless. In the film, “happyness” is misspelled on the daycare facility where Gardner’s son attends. The two discuss the misspelling and thus the name is purposely misspelled in the title of the movie and the book by the same name written by Mr. Gardner himself.

Gardner actually makes a cameo appearance in the film. In the last scene he walks past Will and Jaden. Gardner and Will acknowledge each other; Will then looks back at Gardner walking away as his son proceeds to tell him knock knock jokes. Go, watch the movie…

Saw this movie Ghost Rider. Really pathetic. Not even worth putting its image next to the post!

Four stories. Three countries. One awesome movie. There are four different stories taking place in different parts of the world. Its about a couple on a holiday in Morocco, two young boys who take care of their goats in Morocco, a deaf and mute girl in Japan and a nanny in Mexico and how all the stories are connected to each other. This movie like Crash (2005) also explores culture clashes in life by navigating multiple interweaving story lines.

Watch it before it gets off the theaters.

The movie is based on the bestselling book named Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser. Had heard about the book and had read a couple of but couldn’t get hold of it at Crossword however it was easy for me to get my hands on the movie. It talks about the amount of real SHIT that goes in the meat. The movie begins with some agents helping a bunch of poor Mexicans to migrate illegally to US and work in the abattoir of a fictional Fast Food giant Mickey’s where all the cows are slaughtered to make Hamburgers. What goes behind the scenes is really horrifying but they haven’t shown much gore in the movie except in the end where they show a cow being slaughtered and its kidneys removed. A must watch movie..or better still I would recommend the book, though I haven’t read it myself yet because it deals with more of Fast Food like what goes into the making of the French Fries, Pizzas, etc that we all eat with both hands.

Couple of articles worth reading: Unhappy Meals and The Bitter Truth About Fast Food

I have always been a veggie and now will try and cut down on pizzas and fries. In this world one can’t eliminate the amount of crap (junk food) one takes but can surely restrict it. Lets see how long I survive..