Moo-fee

No spoilers, I promise.

Three films in the past twelve hours. *nods*

1. The Prestige (2006; dir. Christopher Nolan)
Cast: Hugh Jackman (*drool*), Christian Bale (*melt*), Michael Caine

The good things: It's fast-paced, engaging (I didn't glance at the clock even once, and few films do that to me), slick. The script flows smoothly, in non-linear narrative. The characters are played well, though they're possibly not explored very well. But whatever flesh is there is exposed very well.

One gets a good idea of what the characters are working towards: their fears, obsessions, the lengths they will go to keep their secrets and the perfection to their art. It is also a telling piece on competition and what it does to people, and also, I felt, an exploration of morality and the nature of it.

There are so many themes explored in the film that none are explored thoroughly: questions of professional dedication, competitiveness, sacrifice, the reason for doing something and of revenge. The film tells one of what these two stage magicians, whose lives it is chronicling, believe and act upon. What it does not do, is preach.

There is no outright distinction or final conclusion about what's right and wrong. All one knows is what Angier and Borden do, and why they do it. Perhaps their actions are justified; perhaps not. Perhaps the price they paid was too high and Angier and Borden were just plain foolish, but that's for one to decide. Moral and ethical right and wrong is not the film's preaching; it's just telling a story, and a darn good one, too.

Added bonus: one gets to see Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in drool-able, melt-able roles that can leave one up high in the air and clouds. :)

***

Okay, maybe slight spoiler. But I've warned you.

2. Before Sunrise (1995; dir. Richard Linklater)
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
This has to be one of the sweetest love stories I've ever seen on screen. To be honest, there's not much to it: two people meet on a train to Vienna, decide to get off together on an impulse and spend the evening together roaming the city and talking (they talk a lot) and falling in love.

So what makes it all that special? Because it's refreshing, and I'll tell you why.

Before Sunrise is a film that you can watch and actually think, "Hm. This could happen; Vienna or no Vienna." There's something about it that's real and magical, and most of it is just conversation. There are no cliched romantic moments and hand-holdings and sexual tensions, and if there are any, they seem uncontrived, natural and in the flow of the narrative, which so rarely happens.

Jesse and Celine are just two normal people who meet, talk, talk, and talk some more, walk, and realise they feel a connection with each other. What it did for me was to highlight how diverse and easy conversation can be, and how tonic, too. And hope, too, because the two are just like you and me on a street in Cochin or Bangalore or Brisbane or Singapore, and it could happen to us too. :)

PS - Btw, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100% positive rating (thanks, Verun!) and it's considered one of the best romantic films of the indie genre. :)

***

More spoilers, sorry.

3. Before Sunset (2004; dir. Richard Linklater)
Cast: Same, same.
Okay, so things don't always work out the way you'd want them to, but then, there's always hope, ne? Because people don't really change; not the core, anyway. So if you're an optimistic person, you should still be hoping, and if you're a pessimist or a cynic, you never had much to begin with.

Shock 1: It's nine years down the line, and Jesse and Celine are not together.
Shock 2: Jesse is married to someone else, and has a kid.

He's also just written a bestseller about that night with Celine in Vienna, and accidentally-on-purpose just met her in Paris. The sequel is like a window back into their lives, and here's why this film is so lovable.

They've changed, the two lead characters. And the change is what you might expect of someone ten years down the line - mature, a little less madly optimistic, wisened by the experiences of "life". But in essence, they're still the same. There're periods of dejected realism, and those of mad, soaring optimism; like on an impulsive, unplanned for trip to... somewhere. Hope is an underlying theme all through both films, and so is change, and the desire for fulfilment and understanding.

Hawke and Delpy do a wonderful job of making the characters more or less open books in both films, and I loved watching them to figure out what each was thinking and feeling. They make the movie run, obviously, and do it so well you're not feeling bored at the end of an hour and twenty minutes.

***

Watch.