Review - The Revenant

Breathtaking. Brutal. Brilliant.

Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki creates visual poetry onscreen.

Most of the survival dramas are pretty simple in their thematic approach. The protagonist rises above all the odds and fights against the adversities by sheer will and courage. However, Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant breaks the mould - here, our hero isn't alive by his mere strength or will to survive, but he sustains because of his luck. Gods must have blessed him. Otherwise, he would have been a part of clear blue waters and icy frozen soil of wilderness. 

Our guide to stark naked landscape of Wyoming is outstanding Leonardo DiCaprio, playing  fur-trapper Hugh Glass, who gets brutally mauled by a bear during an unfortunate expedition. Set in early 1800s, this is the time when the rivers were deep blue, the land was pristine and untouched, the air was clear and non-toxic. Glass becomes a liability soon after he is assaulted by the bear, the team leader (played by Domhnall Gleeson) decides to move ahead, while assigning three of his peers to "watch over" suffering Glass. One of them is a cunning man called John Fitzgerald (played by Tom Hardy), who has some other plans rather than to nurse Glass.

What follows is the tale of revenge, greed, back-stabbing and pain. Pain, the most universal emotion, is conveyed in the most unflinching manner. Not only the physical pain, but the pain of losing loved ones and the pain of the past. Glass is haunted by the memories of his wife, presumably dead because of a colonial attack. However, Iñárritu's film isn't merely about elementary feelings. It is about humanity and wildness waltzing with blood and sweat to stay alive. It is about cyclic nature of life, which morphs into one violent instance to another. In one of the most haunting scene of this year, Glass cuts out a horse's belly,  takes out his guts - not to eat any of the flesh,  but to take shelter. To stay alive from the icy cold weather. What is dead for one, is the means of life for another.  This thought has never been so powerfully established by any other film of recent time.

Leonardo DiCaprio has given his heart and soul to this film. Undoubtedly, it is his most physical performance, for which he must have physically suffered along with his character. Shot on icy cold locations of Canada and Argentina, clearly The Revenant is challenging for any actor. But what holds about Leonardo's performance is his raw and genuine emotions. His face expresses grief, agony and his eyes are fueled with revenge. He deserves whatever accolade is thrown at him.

The conjurer of light and shadows, the ever-outstanding Emmanuel Lubezki takes another leap forward. His cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful and raw, that every frame of the film evokes some certain feeling. Shot in natural light, you can actually take any random snapshot of the film and frame it on your wall. He owns this film as much as Iñárritu or Leonardo.

There is blood and beauty, violence and grace together in the same film. Man and the nature have never been more close. Apart from slightly long runtime, The Revenant delivers an enthralling, visceral cinematic experience which will stay with you for a long time.

4/5 

Review - Carol

Carol is beautiful, elegant piece of art but unfortunately lacks dramatic conflict.

Carol perfectly captures the 1950s Manhattan, with its detailed set design and marvelous costumes.

 "You're my angel. Flung out of space", remarks Carol Aird during film's most intimate scene. Therese and Carol are having an affair in 1950s America, where the words "gay" and "lesbian" were not even common. Rightfully so, the pair was indeed flung out of space, in the extremely hetero-normative and stringent society. Director Todd Haynes' Carol, however, does not tackles the issue of sexual orientation or social stigmas - but instead, it tackles on something much more universal - love. And unfortunately, this approach is the film's both boon and bane.

Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), who is in her early 20's and Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), a glamorous older woman who is to divorce her husband Harge (Kyle Chandler), meet at a toy store during Christmas. Love at first sight and so it happens. Therese and Carol immediately form a connect, their eyes spark with unspoken allurement. Therese, new to her own feelings and desires, plays shy and coy, while Carol, a mature player, unabashedly flirts under the permissible limits of the homophobic society. Some few meetings and an excursion to the American West, the pair falls in love. But Carol's "immoral behavior" and its impact on her daughter's custody looms like a constant peril over the relationship.

Both Blanchett and Mara are at the top of their game. Blanchett's little hand movements, shift of eyes and subtle body-language is something to behold. Her performance glows with elegance and class. Without a sight of naked flesh, she dazzles with the aura of an ethereal seductress. Mara on the other hand, gives a more humanly and realistic touch to her character. She plays Therese with much required naivety and innocent. More often than not, it is Mara who steals the show with her newly discovered self, giving the film much required (and lacking) dramatic conflict.

Carol is a thing of beauty. It is graceful and dazzling with visual sheen. The holiday season, decorations and lights, Christmas songs on the radio, crowded restaurants and snow falling on the streets of Manhattan are so vividly shot that you are transported to the film's settings instantaneously. The meticulously detailed production design, pitch perfect costumes by Sandy Powell and the lush, glowing cinematography by Edward Lachman are worth thousand accolades. Carter Burwell's score, with wonderful use of strings and oboe, is melodious and captivating.

But what Carol suffers from, is its subtleness and lack of narrative heft. Haynes never focuses on the turmoils of being a homosexual during 1950s. Instead, he mostly devotes himself capturing the limited perspective of two people in love, which ultimately causes a lack of dramatic conflict. The film plays more like "In Mood For Love" than "Brokeback Mountain", which is never-the-less not a bad thing at all. Carol shines with its elegance and powerful leads, but it could have been so much more.

3.5/5