Freeks on Film: Mr. Brooks

Hello my yellow (and other coloured) Freeks, is time again for us to visit our famoulsy fiendish friends ( yes, yes i have alliteration diorrhea!) on silver screen, time for yet another episode of "FREEKS ON FILM"

Episode III: Mr. Brooks

(click me for the trailer!)

Mr. Brooks (directed by Bruce Evans) starts off with an innocuous enough premise, that of a loving family man, good natured neighbour, and lauded community businessman bearing a much darker side to his personality (much...much darker!!!) Yes indeedy, Kevin "dances-with-wolves" Costner plays the said goody two shoes, who harbours a "murderous" addiction, which he is trying desperately to kick to the extent of joining an Alcoholics Anonymous Group for the same!

What makes Mr. Brooks, succeed in sending that cold tingle down our spines ( besides the quirky casting (imagine the all american costner as a killer!!) are the little twists that the films throws up as it proceeds.

Two become one!

An inspired twist is the casting of the always brilliant William Hurt who plays, wait for it..Costner's muderous alter ego (yes freekies, in effect both these actors play different sides of Mr. Brook's mind!) the moral debate that these two engage in prior to Costner's embarking on each of his murderous escapades is creeeepy to say the least! Other deft touches include the clinical manner that Brook's (in his murderous avatar called "The Thumbprint Killer") embarks on his killings, in a manner mirroring the clinical way that he otherwise goes about being a good husband, father and neighbour.

The Freekiness meter goes off the chart in the movie's successive reels when Brook's character becomes obsessed with the life of the hard-nosed police detective (played brilliantly by the long-forgotten Demi Moore) and is blackmailed into accepting an accomplice (played by the comedian Dane Cook) , lastly and certainly not leastly is the return of Mr. Brook's daughter who may be more like daddy dearest than meets the freeking eye!!

If this sounds like more twists and turns than your neighbourhood roller-coaster, then fello freekies it most certainly does!!! and this is perhaps where Mr. Brooks has its undoings in trying to pack in more scare than the average movie Freek's belly can handle.

Nevertheless, Mr. Brooks, remains an under-rated gem, and surely Kevin Costner's finest performance in a looooong time!

A Freeking Watch!!

Freek

A Little Freaky: Costner once mentioned that Mr. Brooks was intended to be part of a trilogy, can't wait!!!

Let Sleeping Slumdogs Lie!!!

Hello fellow freekies,

is been a while that I have been visiting these pages...is a new year, a time for new beginning, and from the media buzz screaming at you from every rooftop, it is the year of the dog or rather the SLUMDOG!!

That's right fellow Freeks, Slumdog Millionaire, seems to ready to topple "Gandhi" as the most widely watched movie, that ever featured us Desis!! (umm, there was that little number called Monsoon wedding).

Given its fast frenetic and unapologetic pace, Slumdog has come in for equal amounts of pace and criticism including some from that aby-baby sr. himself! (perhaps he is miffed upon being caricatured in the film?...surely Mr. Bachhan, u are aware that imitation is the best form of flattery! )

Adapted from the Vikas Swarup novel "Q&A" (which ironically had its share of sales increased in no small amount by who else, but slum kids peddling it across traffic signals; the movie features the twists, turns and trysts (yes, i alliterate quite well , thank u!) of Mumbai slum-kid Jamal Malik (voiced in a Brit accent by the otherwise earnest Dev Patel) who has to come to terms with his winning the jackpot in India's version of "Who wants to be a millionaire!" , all the while trying to win back his ladylove Latika (played by the lithe Freida Pinto!!) from the clutches of the stereotyped Mumbai king-pin (played by Mahesh Manjrekar) the movie also features crackling cameos by Hollywood's favourite Indian Irrfan Khan, and yes, Anil "jhakaas" Kapoor!

The movie, in an uncanny way bears semblance to Boyle's other masterpiece "trainspotting" in its frenetic pacing, wicked dialogue, and yes that scene involving a toilet (or well at least the indian slum equivalent of it!) .

To give the devil (or in this case, the slumdog) its due the movie, has its share of flaws, the very very least of what could be the stark portrayal of the Mumbai street-life; and the alleged "stereotyping" of Mumbai's poverty by a "firang" or "gora" aka white director, but then is it such a raw deal? for mountains of trash, and shit that dot the mumbai slums in which the protagonists thrive, can only be portrayed as well...mountains of trash and shit, and isn't our own bollywood guilty of stereotyping the "gora" as either the foreign business-man or drug lord out to rob Indian treasures, or ravage the modesty of the buxom bollywood beauty - only to be thwarted in his plans by the son-of-the-soil hero! ask our very own Bob-Christo (yes click on the link!) or Tom Alter who have paid their bills for years in playing such stereotyped roles. And in resting my case, isn't the aforesaid Mr. Bachhan guilty of at the very least, of all such stereotypes in just of his movie masterpieces called "MARD!"

So , fellow Freekies flush away your frets , for beneath all its sheen, and wisecracks, Slumdog is at its heart, a coming-of-age movie, and nowhere is this more evident than in the scene where the street kid of today (Dev Patel) sits across the host of "Who wants..." played by Anil Kapoor.

yes that very Anil Kapoor who has played the street-element in several movies of yore (Tezaab, Mashaal, Loafer and even Parinda, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the latter portion of this movie), this fellow freeks is a passing of torch moment from the old street "tapori" to the new "slumdog" the new breed of Mumbai's street-smarts who are not just content with running the local gambling-den, or flirting with the grocer's daughter, but are gunning for the big-time, the prize-money, the girl, and yes the celebratory dance at the end of it all!!

"JAI HO!"