The Hindu : New Delhi News : Hollywood wins over the cold and tender-hearted Cinema

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Hollywood wins over the cold and tender-hearted Cinema

ZIYA US SALAM

HIGH ON HOLLYWOOD: Even as Bollywood directors take it easy this week post “Jodhaa-Akbar”, Hollywood dream merchants have filled the gap with “There Will Be Blood” and “The Nanny Diaries”.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

(At PVR, Saket, and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

It is that time of the year again. The Hollywood movie marathon is on as the cineastes wait for the Academy Award declarations. Even as Bollywood licks its wounds in private following the “Jodhaa Akbar” fiasco, the top dogs in Hollywood are hunting in packs at the box office. For instance, “There Will Be Blood”, a film that has hit the silver screens across India with a deliberately understated campaign. Nominated for eight Oscars, including the Bes t Picture, Actor and Director, the film unfortunately does not have very many prints on the circuit. And not very convenient show timings either.

Never mind. The limited release does nothing to detract from the merits of a story that is initially quite hard to relate to, then grows on you gradually, testing all along the viewer’s ability to take in a saga of intrigue, introspection and ruthlessness. No man may be an island, but director Paul Thomas Anderson’s evil man makes for a good film. A film that in many ways has a contemporary ring to it: Anderson talks of oil, the riches associated with the wonder fuel, and the power it invests in those who possess it.

Relating the story of a megalomaniac, played with great assurance by Daniel Day-Lewis, Anderson’s hero – or would you call him villain? – is an oil man who loves nobody better than his shadow. Sorrow fails to move him, and a stranger’s loss only hardens the stone that passes for his heart. He even helps build a church because there is no other for his ambition to reach fruition. Grim, diabolical, almost hypnotising. However, as he takes another step forward in fulfilling his overweening ambition, his insular world starts to come apart. And soon he learns that yes, indeed, no man is an island.

Does that make him more likeable?

No, only more acceptable because Daniel packs in more than a fleeting glimpse of redoubtable class. In fact, his is a master class!

This is a dark cinematic epic that scores simply because the director never indulges in over-statements and the lead actor is focused like a racehorse. Visually stunning with a neat medley of long-distance shots and close-cropped facials, the film has an arresting economy of dialogue and the viewer gets to experience a multi-layered film, a film where it would have been easy to detest the hero; more difficult it is to understand him.

A brilliant film, if somewhat low on easy entertainment quotient, it is meant for those who like cinema with a mean streak. Watch it for Daniel’s riveting portrayal of an oil magnate and Anderson’s ability to attract attention without having to scream for it.

THE NANNY DIARIES

(At Spice PVR, Noida, and other theatres)

It is a pleasant little surprise. At a time when the cinemagoers are hooked on to big and bigger films from Hollywood, here comes a pretty little film that is pleasant as sunshine on a winter morning and sweet as a newborn’s toothless smile. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney, it is an emotional saga of a girl who becomes a nanny before she is quite able to find her feet!

Based loosely on the bestselling work by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus, it is the kind of film that has a different meaning for different age groups. The fresh-out-of-college girls will find Johannsson’s Anne the nanny quite cute -- a young girl trying to earn her bread her own way. The couples long in marriage will find the story of Linney and her hubby quite identifiable: she has her social circle, he his professional responsibilities.

Throw in a moment of weakness and you have a story straight out of many a bedroom, oops, boardroom. Add a few one-liners about how emotionally dislocating the job of a nanny can be and you have a film that can be enjoyed by the entire family!

That is fine, but what is the fuss all about?

Well, directors Robert Pulcini and Springer relate the story of a young anthropologist who flunks her interview at a financial firm. Soon she goes to a park nearby to get the tension out of the system where she makes friends with smart kid Grayer, played with charming ease by Nicholas Art.

One thing leads to another, and soon she ends up becoming his nanny. That is only the starting point of her discovery; her own ignorance, the shallowness of many relationships, and the condescension of the high towards the lowly.

The directors, while narrating the story of girls who mother stranger’s kids while their kids grow up without a mom, are able to leave a little lump in the throat. and a little uneasy feeling in the heart. A leisurely pace of narration, as is apt for a venture of this nature, and good outdoors complemented by some skilful work by the lead actors make “The Nanny Diaries” worth flipping through. More so in this age of nuclear families with working parents when kids often lose out on a relaxed expression of love. This one here rings a bell in time. For parents who have gifts and no time for their kids. And couples who have sex and not much love for each other.

In short, as the catch-line goes, “about life at the top, as seen form the bottom”. Nanny endears herself to the viewer.

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