5 Amazing Films I Watched Recently

I am leading a very simple life and the only entertainment I indulge in is my dose of movies. An addict or not, I love watching films from various genres. Recently, I have watched a few very popular films for the first time that were released long back. I wish I had watched these gems before, but better late than never. So, here are the films.

1. Mother!: (Fantasy)No wonder this 2017 film was the work of the same director, Darren Aronfsky, whose creative brilliance startled us in "Requiem for a Dream."While watching the film I wondered if it was depicting the mental and psychological abuse of a housewife. It can be interpreted in that way however upon reading few prior reviews and a thorough observation led me to realize that it is actually the Bible depicted in a Fantasy story. Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) is a young wife who, little by little builds up a wonderful mansion into a warm and comfortable home, where she lives with her much older husband, Him (Javier Bardem). Him is an accomplished author who has been trying to work on his new novel, but in spite of his wife's constant support, does not get motivated. Him invites Man (Ed Harris), a sick and dying man who is a huge fan of Him and then his wife Woman (Michelle Pleiffer) also moves in, much to the despise of Mother. Woman is rough, reckless and disrespectful towards Mother. Following their entry into the mansion, their two sons also step in, fighting amongst themselves and taking no heed in Mother's constant plea to stop fighting. Mother slowly realises that her home is becoming a free entry to anyone and every one and she is concerned as she is also pregnant. But she does not say much as she realises Him is getting motivated to write again and finally finishes his work. Him throws a sudden party in the house without pre-announcing and the guests almost destroy the house. Mother and Him are cornered into a room, where Mother gives birth to a baby boy. Him wants to show the boy to his fans who are eagerly waiting outside. Mother protects her child but ultimatley gives in to her husband's request. The final scene is brutal to the core and shows the craze and beastly side of human beings. The violently beautiful movie shows Mother Earth and God creating the Garden of Eden. God creates Adam and Eve, whose lust gives birth to Caine and Abel, whose greed and jealousy create havoc. The baby is Jesus, the child of God and Mother Earth who is tortured and killed by bloodthirsty humans. The seven sins of human beings are thus accomplished, and the Garden of Eden is destroyed. The next day Mother gets up to work again on her and Him's creation. The cycle continues forever. 

2. Revolutionary Road: (Drama) The 2008 film stars Leonardo di Caprio as Frank Wheeler and Kate Winslet as April Wheeler, a young couple whose student life romance blooms into a marriage and a seemingly perfect life with 2 adorable kids. The Wheelers move to a lovely house on Revolutionary Road, where they are almost looked up as a picture-perfect couple by the other neighbours. But there is so much going undeneath which even they themselves fail to realize most of the times. Frank works a White Collar job in the city at a very prestigious firm, however he is not much interetsed in his work. April, who had aspired to be an actress once, has now immersed herself in her day-to-day life of a housewife and mother, much to her discomfort. They often fight, and no matter how much Frank tries, he is never able to make April happy, who most of the times remains grumpy, making a sweet face to the outside world. Frustrated at his job and unhappy family life, Frank starts a whirlwind affair with one of his office juniors, and suddenly April decides that they should move to Paris where she will run the house and Frank can be a stay-at-home husband, exploring his creative side. Although Frank agrees to this absurd idea and announces it to their neighbours, most of them laughs at the idea. Meanwhile when Frank wants to leave the job he is given a higher position with a better salary. When he tries to convince April that they can create the perfect and happy life at their home on Revolutionary Road too, she becomes furious and starts an affair with one of her neighbours who had a crush on her. April beocmes pregnent much to her dismay. She wants an abortion but Frank insists her to keep the baby. After the abortion period is over, April performs an abortion at home by herself which finally turns out to be fatal. This film is a fine representation of the complexities of married life where people often have to give up on their dreams and desires under the pressure of responsibilities. Di Caprio is as good as ever as Frank, the often confused husband who is mostly patient, in spite of his wife's mood swings and carelessness towards him. But Kate Winslet as April conquers the film with her part violent eruptions, part demure elegance and mostly destructive ways of showing her "don't give a damn" attitude to her husband. 

3. Lovelace: (Biographical) Linda Lovelace made quite a name for herself in the world of Adult movies in the 70s. This 2022 film starring Amanda Seyfried in the lead role, explores Linda's life before and after her short span in the industry. Linda becomes pregnent while in her teens, and her mother is always harsh towards her. She meets a man, Chuck and after getting her parent's consent moves in with him to the city. Slowly Linda realises she is getting trapped in Chuck's dark world where he forces her, mentally and physically abuses her to work in the adult film industry and often pimping her too. When she tries to confide to her mother about domestic violence, she shuns her indicating that she might have done something wrong to make her husband angry and she should obey her husband as a good wife. How she finally gets out of the industry, and also from the hands of her violently abusive husband, is what follows. Later she becomes a regular housewife with a happy family and an active anti-pornography advocate. Amanda Seyfried is good as Linda, specially due to her natural innocence she fits into the role quite well. The film could have been made a bit elaborate. The portions on how she finally gets herself out of the dark chapter of her life and how she healed from her trauma could have been explored a bit more. I liked the movie, but somehow found it incomplete and a bit hurried towards the end. 

4. Fargo: (Dark Comedy) After watching the movie, I actually scolded myself for not watching this 1996 sheer brilliance until now. Where was I? Every frame of the film deserves special accolades. This is a story about a staged kidnapping of a wife by her husband, to extract money from his wealthy and abusive father-in-law. His whole "short, sweet and simple plan" goes all wrong after turning into a series of sudden murders. Here comes the investigating officer, a very pregnant lady with a loving and caring husband, who loves her job and lives a very simple life in spite of her heroic achievements. She is almost a one-woman-army in her station helped hastily by her incapable and uninterested subordinates. The film explores the dark side of human nature humorously. It shows every possible filthy act of greed in a light-hearted way. You laugh at the scenes, but then you realize what kind of horrible thing is actually taking place. One gets shocked at the trivial execution of deception, lies, treachery and double-crossing and other violent acts. The only people who can relate to good and normal human beings are the police officer and her artist husband. This film is an eye-opener on how unbothered people can be, just for a few bucks. I am honest here to confess that other than William H. Macey and Steve Buscemi, I am not much aware of the rest of the cast. But one should watch the film as even a person present for 5 seconds is worth mentioning. The uncomfortable moments of pause and the closeups of the blank expressions of every face in between conversations show the director duo Coen brother's(No Country for Old Men fame) mastery in the genre of dark comedy. 

5. Gone Baby Gone ( Crime): This 2007 Crime film, the directorial debut of Ben Affleck tells a story of a 3-year-old girl, Amanda's abduction. A private investigator couple, Patrick (Casey Affleck) and Angie (Michelle Monaghan), takes up the case and assists the investigating officers too. Everyone suspects that Amanda has been abducted by the local druglord, Cheese as her mother, who worked as a mule under him, had stolen a huge amount of money. But Cheese denies the charges and later gets killed in a police encounter. During the encounter, it was believed that Amanda died by falling off a cliff into the river. Meanwhile, the Police Chief, Doyle, whose only daughter was abducted when she was 12, leaves his job following public protests against police inefficiency to protect kids of the locality. After Patrick finds out the abuser and killer of another 7-year-old boy, he kills him. Patrick, a faithful Christian who regularly visits the church, repents the act of killing and is left with guilt. Later one of the police officers, Remy, tries to console him out of his guilt but reveals a lot more in the process. Patrick, who is a truth-seeker, starts doubting Remy for Amanda's abduction. Later when he finds out that it was Remy who had actually abducted her, with the help of her uncle, he further investigates and finds out that there is much more to it. This leads him to Doyle, the now-retired police chief,  leading a peaceful family life, and as Patrick had doubted earlier, he finds Amanda with Doyle. The Doyles were bringing her up in a very loving and caring way, with lot of love and affection that she deserved, and she looked happy here, which was a far cry in her own home, with her drug-addict mother. Patrick's righteousness does not allow him to leave Doyle as he had promised the girl's mother that he would find her. He informs the police, and after the Doyles get arrested, the girl finally returns to her mother. In this process, Patrick loses his girlfriend, Angie, who knew that the girl would not be happy with her mother. One day Patrick visits to see Amanda and her mother and is shocked to see that she is going on a date, without properly arranging for anyone to take care of her daughter. So, she asks him to take care of her. Patrick is shown disappointed as he realises what a big mistake he had made by taking the girl away from the Doyles. The title Gone Baby Gone is an apt one as it is clear at the ending, that how miserable the child's upbringing is going to be.