The latest Economist has a beautiful picture. It shows the really red hot spicy chillies spread out for drying and an Indian woman in saree and a basket walking checking the chillies. It showed the heat of the moment - the title of the article "Global Warming".
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Similarities between blogs and sending sms to some people: You are just throwing out thoughts - you do not know whether it has struck or not. Sometimes you get feedback, sometimes not. The difference: you do not know whether the sms has reached the person or not.
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I visited the Cinema with Heidi to watch the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We grabbed dinner at the Brussels grill after picking up the ticket. We agonized over whether to have salad and dessert or main course skipping the dessert. We finally settled for the main course. We then ran into the theatre just in time to see the last advertisement comes on. Brussels has a speciality. Just after the commercials there is a small break when all the lights come on for a minute or so. The movie then starts.
Something else I love about Brussels is the variety of people who are there. In the theatre we sat next to a very young couple who spoke a very different language (I am sure I have heard it before but I could not remember which one it is).
The movie was in a way about the circle of life. You start in diapers and you end in diapers whichever you start from and end it. The movie itself moved like art on the screen - many times it felt like I was watching paintings flowing through. The grace at many instances caught me by surprise.
- Kate Blanchett and the attitude/grace and pride she showed through the movie stood out - the way she managed her attraction and rejection, the disappointments and the commitment. The dance aspect was a surprise though and added to the artistic charm of the movie.
- Brad Pitt - the make up was good, the way the young boy in the body of an old man still stood out and was portrayed was interesting. The lisp as a young boy - yet, was there an emotive problem due to all that make up in the initial parts? The effect he had on the audience when he was shown for the first time getting younger (himself again) - there was a gasp through the audience as the wrinkles fell out and nervous giggles amongst the ladies. Not having been a great fan of his looks at any point of time, I must say that I can imagine some people are very much taken up the the kind of effect.
- The clock - Quite an interesting looking one - I would be curious to see a clock that ran backwards though I wonder what purpose it really served to the people coming to the Station where the story was set.
The way the clock turns around in different lives - the rewind effect was very touching. Many times I had found myself wondering same things - it was a surprise to see it portrayed the same way. Sometimes when I sit in a meeting room (I was just there last week), I find myself wondering - what if I had not stayed back that evening in that meeting room, what if I had not got the call that evening, what if ... would 2008 have turned out this way at all? Similarly I have wondered, what if certain events of 2007 had not happened - would 2008 have turned out like this at all? Which one of the events really caused the turning point which changed my life completely? Similarly, if Parmanu's parents had not come in July 2004, if I had not had to cancel my appointment to meet a certain Dr. Thomas something to do check up for Laproscopy, would all those things in 2008 have happened? I will not write more about this as it happens in the movie so I do not spoil the moment for you - yet, the way this was captured - it certainly was a poignant portrayal of events.
The direction was the most important part of the movie but the screenplay also took the cake. The kind of episodes the director has picked to show the difference between the body and actual age very quite common place and yet telling. Things that others discussed with him which he could not have experienced, yet, I felt there was an innocence missing at times - an innocence that comes out of not knowing. However, as my boss remarked the other day to me "nobody can be perfect".
I did feel cheated towards the end though as the movie took an easy route out to end the tale. Again, I will not reveal what it was but it was certainly an easy way to explain away the whole story and an easy way to end it. However, the strong impression did not change much since most of the movie was captured in a leisurely detailed manner at times making me feel impatient at the pace and yet leaving me to savour each moment just as one would look at the details in a piece of art.