THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN REVIEW

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (2012) Belgian Movie

The title tells everything about the movie. "Life is a circle" is a common quote. "Didier,Elise and Maybelle's" circle is broken,and how it breaks-down is what we have to deal with in the movie and I personally couldn't deal with it as it left me in blues for some time.

                         Didier is a bluegrass musician.Elise is a lusty looking tattooist and a singer. Maybelle is their cute little daughter. Maybelle has cancer and how the family deals with it is the story.As simple as the story may seem ,there is no present time period in the movie. The movie fluctuates between varied events of varied time periods.This has worked wonders for the movie.I guess the screenwriter might have given his kid to play jumbled sentences with the storyboard.
             
                       When does one feel the pain in relationships I wondered. When there are beautiful memories to relish there comes more pain. That's were the screenplay has been woven beautifully. After every scene of suffering there is a lovely scene from the past which makes the suffering more painful. The screenplay is as brilliant as it can be for a story as simple as this.

                       The world has a obsession with the united states,and Didier is no exception.He takes up bluegrass music from the west and plays them with his friends in local bars and is always in a awe for the united states. Elise is very expressive.She is so expressive of thoughts that her entire body is full of tattoos.
This pair comes together for a such a realistic portrayal of love,life,dealing with struggles and death.Their emotions are so realistic and none of them looked overcooked.

                        Performances are flawless and music is energetic and soulful .The Broken circle breakdown is full of episodes to cherish and sticks with us .The scenes like the marriage of Didier and Elise were Didier's friend acts as a pastor , When George Bush announces Stem-cell research for cancer after Maybelles death and Didier's atheist reaction to it, When Elise names herself Alabama and episode around it,the stage song performances,the climax and so on, makes Broken circle breakdown some movie.
                 
                        The pain of a father and a mother of their daughter's death and how they deal with it is so realistic and hard hitting and their love for each other and their conflicts with their inner beliefs makes us so touched and sorrowful for quite a time.

             The Broken circle breakdown is a powerful and deeply moving story not to be missed 
                                    
                                                                My Rating - 8/10

DANCER IN THE DARK REVIEW

1962 ,U.S.A, a single mom Selma and his son Gene, immigrants from Czech live in a trailer in the backyard of Bill's house.Selma works in a factory with her close friend Kathy.Selma has eye sight problems and is becoming blind each day.What is the real reason for her to come to the united states and what secrets is she hiding from her closed ones.The dancer in the dark is an astonishing musical drama

Take out your umbrellas as as I have got a monsoon of accolades.
Believe it or not ,I couldn't think of a single negative point in this movie.Even if it was there,I was deeply immersed in the movie that  even for a single moment, my mind dint wander to think of any mistakes or negatives except for the lengthy musicals in between the movie which does not do any harm to the feel of the movie as it is nicely justified for the main plot of the film

A big thumbs up for the director Mr.Lars Van Trier a Danish filmmaker.I had never heard of this name before this movie , but he has now made a impression that ill never forget it.Later found out he was the director of "Dogville" and a list of films.

Musicals are not everyone's cup of tea.I haven't crossed the first few minutes of " Les miserables" for almost a year nor did the musicals in "Frozen" or "Mamma Mia" amuse me.But Dancer in the dark's plot is such ,the song sequences where so necessary for the plot.

The Dancer in the Dark Writing:
This film is written in a very positive manner.The main character Selma played by Iceland pop singer Bjork is so lovable.The first few minutes we'll get a impression that she's retarded with her looks ,her mannerisms and her glasses.But it doesn't take long enough to understand that she is one of the most  pure hearted characters ever written similar to the likes of Tom Hanks character in the Terminal .She is so positive and  so strong .Starts day dreaming as if she is in a musical song at times of  her hardships.She never at a single moment does create sympathy for her blindness with others .There is so much to admire and learn from Selma.
 If Selma was  lovable her friend Kathy's character was charming and  adorable ,so is the character Jeff  who has a pure crush on Selma, and the prison guard ,Gene, we can name every character in it.Everyone could do with such characters around us.
This is one film where the audience literally plead to the antagonist to leave Selma alone.Even the antagonists character is such well written that he is good in his nature but succumbs to situation and  his evilness overtakes his kindness.
If characterizations were powerful ,more so was the plot.The dialogues are not over the top with punchy lines but yet powerful .One powerful film

The Dancer in the dark filming:
This film was made in early 2000's but the color tone , props and all the aspects wonderfully depicted the 1960's.The acting of the casts are praiseworthy.I even thought why Bjork was casted as she doesn't look impressive.But  she fits the character so well and literally lived in her role.She has sung all the songs too.Each and every one excelled in their part.David Morse as Bill was excellent.
The director didn't put one foot wrong..
There is still more but i think enough is said , go and grab a copy of The Dancer in  the Dark,if you haven't watched it.

We feel for Selma ,we admire her ,we love her friends ,and we Dance with her.
One lovely movie not to be missed

                                                   Dancer in the dark-Pure and powerful

                                                                My Rating 8.5/10

The length of the songs and the fact that some minute moments were emotions in the audience could have been elevated higher but was rather kept subtle,makes this from getting that extra vow factor and rating it from 10/10 .Having said that this is one great film

POOVARASAM PEE PEE REVIEW

3 kids ,Small beautiful town and their summer holidays..Adventure,baddies, childhood crushes, transition from childhood to teenage,how intellectual the present age kids could be and more ..the story itself makes us to give it a try.but is it a perfect summer holidays.

We have to cherish how far our Tamil cinema has grown from mindless commercial flicks few years back week in week out to current scenario.

Positives

• The Directors thoughts 
• Cinematographers eyes 
• Matured handling of the topic "childhood to adolescence"
• The biggest asset is the story and the concept
• Brought the mood and the feel of a summer vacation in front of our eyes

Negatives

• Acting from the castings
• kids handling of situations and their dialogues were way too matured for their age in some scenes
• missing the magical moments 
• amateurishness of the director in some footages
• music and songs 

Though the movie seemed to have many pitfalls it isn't a bad movie .

Halitha shameem is a bright prospect to look out for in the near future.
With so little women directors in tamil industry she is the brightest of them all in what i have seen.

Like a vacation the movie also has some dull moments which ironically created the mood of a summer vacation perfectly where the kids wander here and there passing times without much ado.There is inconsistency in characters .In some scenes the baddies act like kids and kids like adults

But the director intelligently weaves lots of social issues and minute acts into the story which along with the pleasing visuals makes us engaged

The movie looks promising in the presented draft.Had the final draft been re-edited with better engaging moments and made it shorter this would have been some movie

Its a decent enough summer holidays

My rating:  5.75/10

Did you know:

• The Director of the film Halitha shameem worked as assistant to Myskin and samuthrakani
• Manoj paramahamsha the cinematographer of films like Eeram,vinnaithandi varuvaya,nanban produced the film and helmed the camera after listening to the story.
• Chennai's leading multiplex sathyam cinemas distributed the film all over tamilnadu which is a very rare feat

Rating scale

1 to 3 - avoid it 4- bad 5-average 6-decent 7-good 8-verygood 9-excellent 10-epic