Gone Girl - disturbingly brilliant!

David Fincher is not a bad director at all, he's a master of edge of the seat material that usually involves dark doings or violence against women. But 'Gone Girl' would not have challenged him on the screenplay level as that aspect of the movie has been more than ably handled by the author of the titular tome Gillian Flynn. Having read the book a while back I was expectant but not very expecting of the movie and Fincher executes well and delivers the right emotional twangs mingled with the thrills Flynn's page turner provided.

Point of view movies(not to be mistaken with the soon to arrive point of view perspective movie) are not uncommon but to look at things from literally two sides of a marriage sometimes needs a neutrality which is not what Gone Girl is all about. A husband walks into his house on his fifth anniversary to find signs of a struggle and his wife missing. Quite naturally he raises the alarm but seems a little disconnected. Why that is forms part of the near two and a half hour twist-and-turner. A fairytale romance of guy meets girl in big city, blows her socks off for all intentions and gets married. Wife being a trust fund daughter of difficult parents adores him and really does love him. But does love survive time and turbulence also forms a part of the dark entertainment thats guaranteed from the movie.

The casting is smack on the money with Ben Affleck neatly pulling off the blocked writer with the shitfaced grin(a very important part of his character study), which convinced me that the rest of the movie was going to be pretty good as far as he is concerned. Starting out as the guy who's bound to have all the answers in exacting form when posed questions by a prospective beautiful companion for the night, Affleck plays his heart out as the husband going dark on a marriage which has its layered shades. His chemistry with his twin sister Margo, difficult as it was to establish in the book is brought out as sharp as the razor edge it walks in the source material. Did he have a hand in the violence surrounding his wifes disappearance? Affleck leads us into the story beautifully. Which bring us to Amazing Amy, Rosamund Pike deserves an academy award this time around. Yes, the movie is not really what can be considered Oscar worthy but to convincingly play a character thats as disturbed as is disturbing is a challenge that has been made to look like a cakewalk by Pike. Neil Patrick Harris departs from his usual slapstick camaraderie roles to essay one that carries a certain depth in and of itself, suffice to say his handling of the role is more than perfect. There is a list of supporting characters whose performances can be summarized in saying that from every suburban housewife neighbour to disgruntled detective, individual performance lives up to the spunk or the scorn demanded by the role.

Stylised and dark as it is, the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross once again provides superglue factor in keeping the viewer and their attention riveted to the screen. Sound design complements the on screen material so well that sometimes a drawn out groan almost sounds like a continuing death rasp when in fact it is the background that sets up the goings on in front of us. The music plays out like a beautiful summer song accompanied by a dentists drill. Accomplices in crime as they are with Fincher since 'The Social Network' the composers are not strangers to the moody and ominous pictures that he paints and aid him tremendously here as well.

A good movie in its entirety is all that a fan paying good money looks out for. A review of movies like 'Gone Girl' and a fair few others cannot be complete if viewed in India without going into detail and recording for posterity the hypocritical posterior orifice type characters that comprise the Central Board of Film Certification of India. Manning their prudish scissors and other such douchey tools they strive to save the Indian populace from the brazen and adulterous nature of Hollywood movies. There is no dearth of completely misogynistic suggestive and objectified brazenness in Indian cinema, especially in movies such as the vacuum fluff that was 'Happy New Year'. However the Censor board chooses to cut out minutes of 'full frontal nudity'(easier to access than the days newspaper), 'thrusting movements'(you only need to watch any south Indian movie and its unjustifiable 'item' songs to find a couple of thousand such) and dialogue with 'American slang for genitals'(I distinctly remember a Tamil film song which described copulation in ugly and sly disguised terms being allowed to screen with a general certificate). In a country and a city where headlines of child abuse echo blaringly every day, would you rather the adults be adults regarding topics that you deem taboo or titillate them by making such topics taboo. It does not take genius level intelligence to figure this out but thanks to David Fincher for allowing the babboons their cuts rather than disallow us from watching a brilliant movie(the last one we missed out on being 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'). In closing do not miss the movie in spite of the 'intercoursing' Censor Boards 'American slang for female genitals' attitude.

Rating - Three and three quarter stars

Annabelle - starring Annabelle!

From the producers of the enjoyable retro take on horror 'The Conjuring' comes a prequel that looks very promising in its promos - 'Annabelle'. Titular doll having been featured as capable of moving itself on a whim while fixating everyone with a disturbing grin in 'The Conjuring', this movie goes into a little more detail about who puppets it about and how it came to be.

I for one can list about three scenes where my heart jumped to my mouth, but the deficiency of scares is not what makes the movie dangerously close to being mediocre. Director John R Leonetti works on a script by Gary Dauberman that tries hard to make us sit down and take notice of how Annabelle became Annabelle-ish in the first place. The cast headed by Annabelle(yes, it looks coincidental, just normal not demonic) Wallis and Ward Horton play retro American couple Mia and John who are expecting a baby. Tony Amendola and Alfre Woodard round out the main cast playing the Forms' priest and neighbour respectively.

The first half hour keeps us interested by mixing in the Manson murders and the advent of the cult-culture in America. Cue expectant mother and a truly disturbing intrusion after the introduction of Annabelle the doll as a gift from her doting husband. Sound, scene and character set up, even dialogue proved to be elements that worked well in 'The Conjuring'. Strangely all those successful elements do not fully feature in Annabelle. A tracking shot to reveal previously unnoticed elements from the backdrop works well in horror but when a left to right pan is all we see in every scare inducing scene even the most non technical among us will feel the stirrings of a yawn. One other haunting question(if you'll pardon the pun) that you might leave the theater with is what happened to the grafitti kids?

Negativity aside, 'Annabelle' proves again that the classics can never go wrong by borrowing elements from 'Rosemarys Baby' and from pulp Satanic horror movies where the devils hand in dealing with deceit features as a plot element. A scene in a storage vault in the basement is probably one of the best implementation of a haunting in a long while. Talking about which plot elements are never really developed to a serious end. Ominous cartoon warnings, neighbourly noises, the role of the Church, the curious vulnerability of Church entrances - none of these things are provided enough screen time or a proper explanation as to why it did or did not work. Mia is almost thrust into a nervous mother with postpartum problems before things take a devilish turn leading to the climax.

What leaves us exiting the theater with the lingering afterthought of why couldnt this movie have worked is the fact that there is scope for 'Annabelle' to have been a horror classic. Call it the writers reluctance to make this doll dance to its full evil potential or a reworking the movie could have sunk its teeth a little more into dark territory instead of stopping at sewing machine and popcorn tricks.Curious about where else it has worked well? I would suggest 'Angel Heart' and 'Rosemarys Baby' for a satisfying and disturbing horror kick.

Annabelle - Two stars and a half