Arbitrage; The Words; Lage Raho Munna Bhai (Hindi)

Arbitrage 

Dir. Nicholas Jarecki, 2012

A billionaire who is corrupt, greedy, scheming, philandering, believes only in money -- and yet ultimately we want him to get away with his considerable crimes and misdeeds.  Richard Gere is charismatic and tense at the same time, and we end up rooting for him to escape the consequences of infidelity, a hit-and-run, cooking his empire's books, and using a poor black kid to get him out of trouble.  The script doesn't make easy judgements, is comfortable seducing us with snippets of glamour and the good life, and yet is completely believable in terms of the scale and cravenness of the fraud at the heart of the financial crisis.

My only complaint was that the drama of the poor black kid felt oddly distant.  This may have been intentional: ordinarily it would have made Richard Gere's character unbearably cold, but the distance allowed us to feel sympathy.

3.5*

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The Words

Dir. Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, 2012

A story within a story within a story.  Usually I would find this too clever, too hip, and too full of literary pretension.  But the struggles of the young, ambitious, limited writers is easy to empathize with, although depressing.  And the beautifully shot interiors and attractive characters makes up for too many, well, words.  Voice-over is overused and straight exposition using flimsy devices (a literary reading, for instance) is irritating and ham-handed.  The acting is good -- Bradley Cooper has great blue eyes, Zoe Saldana is stunning, and Jeremy Irons does his thing.  

Interesting that the interracial nature of the relationship between Cooper and Saldana is not even glanced at -- are we at a new place in society, or this is just the film trying to be hip?      

3*

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Lage Raho Munna Bhai (Hindi)

Dir. Rakumar Hirani, 2006

Hilarious, endearing, and surprisingly touching in places.  The hit song "Pal Pal Har Pal" is blatantly stolen from a Cliff Richard tune (Theme for a Dream), but is very effective, and its picturisation is cute.  The relationship between Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan has great chemistry, and Arshad Warsi ("Circuit") is a wonderful foil as well as moral touchstone.

3.5*

The Color of My Words

The Color of My Words
by Lynn Joseph


I bought this book for Kaahini (my daughter) some time ago, and she resisted reading it.  We dropped it, but then recently she picked it up herself and loved it, urging me to read it too.  I took a couple of hours one evening and did, and was surprised.

The writing has a deceptive simplicity and innocence that is quite charming, and feels almost dated -- like the early fiction by post-colonial African writers (Dominic Mulaisho, Chinua Achebe, Camara Laye).  In this case the book is aimed at a young audience, so the style is explained away.

But in fact the style holds power for an adult too, as it gently and unobtrusively reveals a story of poverty, injustice, and oppression brought home to a 12-year old girl through the trials experienced by her family.  There is also infidelity, sex for money, and hidden parenthood -- all directly impinging upon the girl's life -- without it being a tale of Third World misery and tragedy.  The ending, while not neat or happy, nonetheless imparts hope and some closure.

As I read it I was surprised how the book managed to deal with these difficult issues in a manner and a voice that a 10-year old girl could appreciate and enjoy the book.  For that, kudos to the author!  The book earns my highest rating in 2 yrs.

4*
Nov 2012   

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Rachel Joyce (2012)

This review is short because of lack of time.  But, in short, I loved this.

A man walks to the mailbox to mail a letter, and finds he cannot; he resolves to think about it while he walks to the next one, and again cannot... and thus begins the journey of a thousand miles, not only from one end of Britain to the other, but deep into his pain, fears, and regrets.

The journey here is truly the destination, and brings not only the quiet, elderly Harold Fry face-to-face with his most deeply buried sorrows, but also with his buried tenacity, courage and strength.  And so too for his wife, and many he meets along the way.  Some are clearly angels, and some fools and worse; but most are regarded with refreshing compassion and without easy condemnation.

This is the victory of earnestness over hip irony, seriousness over glibness, and faith over matter.  The acclaim the book the book has received is a sign of the times, perhaps.  After experiencing so many fresh betrayals in quick succession -- the banks, the churches, the newspapers -- we search for reassuring, unsentimental earth to tread upon.

4*
Aug 2012