Guild Reviews
Emilia Pérez
Drama, Thriller (French)
Rita, an underrated lawyer working for a large law firm more interested in getting criminals out of jail than bringing them to justice, is hired by the leader of a criminal organization.
Cast:
Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Edgar Ramírez, Mark Ivanir, Eduardo Aladro, Emiliano Hasan, Gaël Murgia-Fur, Tirso Pietriga
Director:
Jacques Audiard
Writer:
Jacques Audiard
Thu, December 19 2024
Did the French auteur Jacques Audiard watch Chachi 420 and feel inspired to make his latest film, Emilia Pérez? Stranger things have happened this year. Nick Jonas has celebrated Holi in Greater Noida, and Ed Sheeran has fried a batata vada with Sanjyot Keer. Is the idea of Audiard, a Palme d’Or-winning maestro, watching a Kamal Haasan rip-off really that outlandish? The genre-fluid mess that it is, Emilia Pérez certainly has origins in mainstream Indian cinema — it can go from Ekta Kapoor-style drama to Farah Khan-inspired musical in a matter of minutes. And like so many of our country’s films, its gender politics aren’t entirely above reproach.
Senna
Drama, Documentary (Portuguese)
Fascinated by cars since childhood, Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna became a sports legend — until tragedy struck, changing Formula 1 forever.
Cast:
Gabriel Leone, Kaya Scodelario, Matt Mella, Patrick Kennedy, Arnaud Viard, Steven Mackintosh, Camila Márdila, Marco Ricca, Susana Ribeiro, Gabriel Louchard
Director:
Vicente Amorim, Julia Rezende
Writer:
Gustavo Bragança, Alvaro Campos, Álvaro Mamute, Rafael Spínola, Thais Falcão
Thu, December 19 2024
If nobody were to speak in the new Netflix show Senna, it would immediately warrant at least two extra stars. But each time any of its wafer-thin characters opens their mouths, you’re likely to be overcome by an intense desire to pump the breaks and make a pit stop, or perhaps rewatch Asif Kapadia’s seminal documentary on the subject. Based on the life and career of the legendary Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, the six-part biographical drama is flat, uninteresting, and most criminally, boring. It is perhaps the least effective way in which his extraordinary career, and lasting influence, could’ve been commemorated.
Woman of the Hour
Crime, Drama, Thriller (English)
An aspiring actress crosses paths with a prolific serial killer in '70s LA when they're cast on an episode of "The Dating Game."
Cast:
Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale, Nicolette Robinson, Autumn Best, Pete Holmes, Kathryn Gallagher, Kelley Jakle, Matt Visser, Jedidiah Goodacre
Director:
Anna Kendrick
Writer:
Ian McDonald
Thu, December 19 2024
Sometimes, the wiser thing to do is to scale down. Not every film needs to be a sweeping epic, especially not one that demands a tight telling. Directed by the debutante Anna Kendrick, the darkly humorous thriller Woman of the Hour is based on an intriguing real-life story, but suffers from an under-confident execution. The movie would’ve worked wonderfully as a claustrophobic chamber piece, but feels compelled to jump across timelines and juggle between characters with an haphazardness that only does it harm. Kendrick is like an overeager Indian mum, checking the pressure cooker more often than she needs to, thereby releasing all the steam.
Sat, November 30 2024
The saying ’truth is stranger than fiction’ hits harder in films adapted from true-crime stories. The drama feature, Woman of the Hour, tells the unbelievable story of a serial killer who somehow ended up on a dating show as an eligible bachelor in the late 1970s. The shocking story is told by actress Anna Kendrick in her promising directorial debut that is sure to leave an impact.
Joy
Drama (English)
A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, Louise Joy Brown.
Cast:
Bill Nighy, James Norton, Thomasin McKenzie, Charlie Murphy, Rish Shah, Cecily Cleeve, Eoin Duffy, Mariam Haque, Abbiegail Mills, Olivia Sellers
Director:
Ben Taylor
Writer:
Jack Thorne
Thu, December 19 2024
A well-intentioned drama that teeters on the edge of self-parody, Joy is a film that absolutely deserved to be made, but certainly not in this form. Some years ago, the utterly forgotten The Current War had all the messy ingenuity that a film about the creation of literal electricity demanded — the movie’s tone captured the spirit of its themes. Joy, which dramatises the events leading up to the first in vitro fertilisation (IVF) birth, would have you believe that all conception — let alone that of the artificial kind — is a cakewalk.
The Piano Lesson
Drama, Music, Horror (English)
A brother and sister's battle over a prized heirloom piano unleashes haunting truths about how the past is perceived — and who defines a family legacy.
Cast:
John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, Gail Bean, Jerrika Hinton, Stephan James, Skylar Aleece Smith
Director:
Malcolm Washington
Thu, December 19 2024
It is easy, one would imagine, for a filmmaker to be overwhelmed by the words of the great August Wilson. Especially if they’ve never made a film before. Musical and marauding, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s language is a vessel for the ambition and anger of his people. Netflix’s The Piano Lesson — the latest adaptation of Wilson’s celebrated Pittsburgh Cycle of plays — is directed by the debutante Malcolm Washington, whose father, the legendary Denzel Washington, has publicly devoted this stage of his career to shepherding Wilson’s work onto the screen.
The Teacher
Drama (Arabic)
A Palestinian school teacher struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students and the chance of a new romantic relationship with a British volunteer worker.
Cast:
Saleh Bakri, Imogen Poots, Muhammad Abed Elrahman, Stanley Townsend, Paul Herzberg, Mahmood Bakri, Andrea Irvine, Asmaa Azaizeh, Ruba Blal, Muayyad Abd Elsamad
Director:
Farah Nabulsi
Writer:
Farah Nabulsi
Tue, December 17 2024
A house, lived in for years, bulldozed by the Israeli military in front of its inhabitants, leaving behind a pile of tangible memories under the rubble. A youth resisting the burning down of an Olive orchard shot down by a settler with practised ease and nonchalance, just as if it were the most normal thing to do. Soldiers violently barging into every single home in a village in search of an Israeli military man who was abducted.
Young Hearts
Drama, Romance (Dutch)
14-year-old Elias increasingly feels like an outsider in his village. When he meets his new neighbour of the same age, Alexander, Elias is confronted with his burgeoning sexuality.
Cast:
Lou Goossens, Marius De Saeger, Geert Van Rampelberg, Emilie De Roo, Dirk van Dijck, Jul Goossens, Ezra van Dongen, Olivier Englebert, Olga De Saeger, Wim Opbrouck
Director:
Anthony Schatteman
Writer:
Anthony Schatteman
Tue, December 17 2024
Sometimes, the most gentle turns in a film can create a considerable emotional impact on the viewer. The filmmaker need not necessarily move a mountain to achieve that. Belgian filmmaker Anthony Schatteman’s Young Hearts, with its fresh take on teenage gay romance, is filled with several such moments that flow organically one after the other. Being screened in the World Cinema section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), this rather small film about young people has gained appreciation amid a flurry of bigger films boasting wider festival play.
Pierce
Drama, Mystery, Thriller (Mandarin)
Shy and sweet-natured Zijie spends his time learning the art of fencing and listening to his widowed mother, Ai Ling, sing at a local nightclub. When Zijie’s older brother Zihan – a three-time national fencing champion – is released from juvenile prison, Zijie remains intent upon seeing him, despite his mother’s wishes. As Zihan starts mentoring his younger brother, their bond strengthens. But as Zijie develops newfound skills as a fencer and a romance with his teammate blossoms, Zihan’s innocence becomes more questionable.
Cast:
Tsao Yu-ning, Hsiu-Fu Liu, Ding Ning, Rosen Tsai, Benjamin Tsang
Director:
Nelicia Low
Writer:
Nelicia Low
Tue, December 17 2024
While watching Pierce, the debut feature of former Singapore national fencer Nelicia Low, one would assume that the sport inspired the film, for fencing is at the very centre of the narrative which deals with brotherly affection and psychopathic tendencies. The trademark moves in the sport, which one character defines as chess played with swords, also parallels the behaviour of the characters in the film, screened in the world cinema section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) on Saturday (December 14, 2024).
Body
Drama (Hindi)
In the post covid world, Manoj, a young, struggling actor, is trying to cope with his personal trauma. On a village trip with his theatre peers he gets brutally bullied in the name of drunken fun. His friends leave him. He tries to find his way out of the village, battling shame and fear, without a stitch on. He comes back to Mumbai and starts stripping in public spaces. His life starts fragmenting to pieces. In his almost dysfunctional state he makes friends with a little boy living in the opposite apartment and finds that he is regularly abused by his father. This discovery sets him off on a complex journey of uncertainty and intrigue.
Cast:
Amol Deshmukh, Khushboo Upadhyay, Sandeep Shridhar Dhabale, Shivam Parekh, Jatin Negi, Manoj Sharmaa, Kritika Pande
Director:
Abhijit Mazumdar
Writer:
Abhijit Mazumdar
Tue, December 17 2024
Once adulthood sets in, and once we’ve accumulated enough years, most of us have two types of recurring dreams (and nightmares). One revolves around the terror of remembering that the exam is tomorrow and we haven’t touched the school syllabus. The other is shaped by the horror of finding ourselves naked in routine situations, while being totally helpless about it. Both of these are trauma responses to our fraught relationship with society. Both feature a link between social conditioning and shame, but Abhijit Muzumdar’s Body confronts the steeper task of exploring the second dream. It’s a testing watch, but ultimately quite a rewarding one.
Pushpa 2
Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime (Telugu)
As his smuggling empire grows, a brazen Pushpa longs for power and respect on his vengeful journey, while facing old rivals and new.
Cast:
Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Jagadeesh Bandari, Rao Ramesh, Sunil Varma, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Ajay, Kalpalatha, Pavani Karanam
Director:
Sukumar
Tue, December 17 2024
Why do we like Pushparaj? He doesn’t care to look conventionally attractive. His shoulders are lop-sided, his hair unkempt, his speech brimming with contempt. His work? Smuggling red sanders. His retribution? A fierce defiance of systematic oppression, making him a figure of political utility. And his manner of retribution? Ruthless. As he says, he kills “without mercy.” In this sequel, Pushpa seems almost possessed, his machete slicing through limbs as though they were branches from a tree.
Sun, December 8 2024
“Pushpa naam nahi hain, Pushpa matlab brand hain”, (Pushpa is not just a name; it signifies a brand) states Srivalli, portrayed by Rashmika Mandanna, in this sequel anticipated to shatter all box office records. This statement prompts reflection on whether it is the character speaking or if the filmmakers are conveying their confidence through her words. Following the success of Pushpa (2021), the sequel is grander in every aspect, running an exhausting 200 minutes, though it does not necessarily surpass its predecessor. The filmmakers have amplified every successful element from the first installment, leaving no stone unturned in terms of scale and ambition. However, the narrative, or lack of it, remains unchanged—if the first part emphasised “Pushpa flower nahin, fire hai main”, the second part shifts to portraying him as a wildfire, whatever that may imply.
Sun, December 8 2024
Despatch
Drama, Thriller (Hindi)
Determined to break the next big story and refashion his complicated personal life, Joy embarks on a relentless odyssey through the heart and gut of Mumbai.
Cast:
Manoj Bajpayee, Shahana Goswami, Archita Agarwal, Anand Alkunte, Mamik Singh, Riju Bajaj, Veena Mehta, Rii Sen, Kabir Sadanand
Director:
Kanu Behl
Writer:
Ishani Banerjee, Kanu Behl
Tue, December 17 2024
इस फिल्म का बेहद कसा हुआ, तेज़ रफ्तार ट्रेलर दिखाता है कि मुंबई के एक अखबार ‘डिस्पैच’ का क्राइम रिर्पोटर जॉय बाग एक ऐसे मामले की तह तक जाने की कोशिशों में लगा है जिसमें हजारों करोड़ का घपला है और बड़े-बड़े लोग शामिल हैं। ज़ाहिर है कि इतना सब है तो खतरे भी बड़े हैं। जॉय बाग कर पाएगा इस काम को? कैसे करेगा वह इसे?
Mon, December 16 2024
Sat, December 14 2024
Those who have experienced Titli and Agra would vouch that Kanu Behl’s cinema is not easy to watch. Always reflecting dark shades of everyday reality, the filmmaker has this knack for scratching the soul of his desperate characters struggling to cling to their little power structures and, in the process, leaves impressions on the conscience of the audience.
Agni
Action, Adventure (Hindi)
In a city plagued by a strange rise in fires, fireman Vithal and his policeman brother-in-law Samit reluctantly team up to solve the escalating crisis. Battling personal conflicts, they race against time to crack the case and save Mumbai.
Cast:
Pratik Gandhi, Divyendu Sharma, Jitendra Joshi, Sai Tamhankar, Saiyami Kher, Udit Arora, Kabir Shah, Pramod Pathak, Kundan Roy, Sakhi Gokhale
Director:
Rahul Dholakia
Writer:
Rahul Dholakia
Sat, December 14 2024
In Indian tradition, fire alludes to love and conflict, devotion and anger, eternality and death. The ever-youthful element that demands sacrifice plays the central character in director Rahul Dholakia’s ode to the unstinting spirit of the firefighters. Capturing a daze’s multiple faces and colours, Dholakia removes the smokescreen that covers the firefighters’ work and opens a window into the lives of those who keep us out of its fury but whose services are not duly acknowledged by the system and society. The action takes us into the heart of the evacuation process, the drama unravels the sacrifices firefighters make and the thriller elements seek to find the answer to the source of the firestorm.
Fri, December 13 2024
Hindi movies have played with fire several times before. Those with long memories will remember such films as the 1980 adventure ‘The Burning Train’, which may have picked up inspiration from an earlier Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Towering Inferno’, but those who fight the flames at the risk of their own lives, have never been in the limelight.
Wed, December 11 2024
I couldn’t help but be left with the feeling that there’s an enjoyable disaster film somewhere within Rahul Dholakia’s Agni, which surely owes a debt to The Burning Train (1980). There is more than one echo of the Ravi Chopra-directorial, where the spectacle is foregrounded by professional rivalry – Danny Denzongpa and Vinod Khanna’s in the 1980 film; emulated by Pratik Gandhi and Divyenndu’s characters in Dholakia’s directorial. The innate Bollywood melodrama after an unexpected death, the high-voltage social commentary and righteous anger fuel both spectacles. Both Chopra and Dholakia’s film balance a strong ensemble, offering everyone their moment, and yet Dholakia’s film fails to stick its landing. It might have to do with what Hindi films have become in 2024 – too self-conscious, cautious, and reverential towards any uniform.