Seven weeks. That's all it took for this feature to get onto the topic of sexy ladies. If I'm honest, I'm surprised that I managed to hold out for as long as I did. This week's topic has been the most fun to research but the most difficult to decide on so far. Even up to a couple of minutes before I started writing there was a last minute change (sorry Oona) and I've decided to break the rules slightly because of my indecisiveness/perviness. Instead of the usual six I've chosen twelve and in a vain attempt to quantify the decision besides greediness, I've decided to feature six current and six former actresses. I brand myself on reviewing one hundred years of film so it would only be right. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. For fear of losing my female readers who may think (rightly) that I'm just using this feature as an excuse to look at pretty ladies, next week's list will redress the balance and feature Six of the Best... Actors my Girlfriend Wishes I Was. Her six currently also stands at twelve and there are lots of 'ooh' 'ahh' and 'yummy' noises coming from her direction whenever I bring up the topic. So make sure you come back next week for the actors but now, here are Six (Twelve) of the Best... Most Beautiful Actresses, beginning with those still working.
Showing posts with label Freida Pinto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freida Pinto. Show all posts
Sunday 16 June 2013
Tuesday 26 March 2013
Slumdog Millionaire
In early 2009 I was stunned by a cinematic experience so
bright, colourful, exciting and interesting that I saw the movie twice within a
week. The film was Slumdog Millionaire
and a month later it won seven BAFTAS and eight Oscars including the big one,
Best Picture. The film is a somewhat fantastical but highly engaging story of
love, hardship and fortune told from the point of view of young Mumbai tea boy
Jamal Malik (Dev Patel). Through his eyes we are told the story of his eighteen
years and of his continuing search for his lost love Latika (Freida Pinto). In
the hope that she sees him, Jamal becomes a contestant on India’s highest
rated game show Who Wants to be a
Millionaire but when he fortuitously answers several difficult questions
correctly the host (Anil Kapoor) and Police (Irrfan Khan) want their own
answers, most pressingly how he knows what he knows.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that I love this movie. I
love everything about it from the direction, the soundtrack and the story to
the cute child actors and cute adult actors (Pinto). After my initial double
viewing I didn’t see the film again until today, over four years later. As soon
as the titles rolled I got the little tingle that I got on my first viewing and
by the end I was sure that my affection for the film hadn’t diminished at all.
Labels:
10/10,
2008,
Anil Kapoor,
Crime,
Danny Boyle,
Dev Patel,
Drama,
Freida Pinto,
Hindi,
Irrfan Khan,
Romance,
Slumdog Millionaire
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Trishna
Trisha is a modern
take on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the
D’Urbevilles set in India
and starring Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire). Trishna (Pinto) is the eldest daughter in a
large rural family who has to work in order to help support her family. Jay
(Ahmed) is the son of a rich businessman who was bought up in England and is on a tour of India with
friends. At a chance meeting there is chemistry between the couple but their
different backgrounds and social taboos make a romance impossible. After
Trishna’s father is severely injured in an accident, Trishna is forced to take
on more work and is offered a well paid job at Jay’s father’s hotel in Jaipur.
After taking up the job a romance begins which is played out in Jiapur and Mumbai.
The relationship is strained by Trishna’s feelings of being torn by her duty
and traditions of her family and the opportunities her meeting with Jay has
provided for her. Jay meanwhile increasingly exploits Trishna for his own
gratification and their relationship is further strained with dramatic
consequences.
The film’s setting is truly beautiful. This is the second
film I’ve watched this week set in a Jiapur hotel (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and I’d happily watch another two.
The scenery and cityscape is that beautiful. The film also features beautiful
music and dancing and in my mind the worlds most beautiful actress, Freida
Pinto. The film successfully transports the social themes that are present in
Hardy’s novel to modern day Rajasthan as many of the themes of class, sexual
taboo, exploitation and a deep gap between rich and poor are still common place
in 21st Century India .
The film has a good stab and at least looking at some of those themes and its
two characters’ are well written to deal with them.
Riz Ahmed, perhaps most famous for his role in Four Lions but who I first discovered as
a rapper (Video Here) is excellent. He is believable as the rich English-Indian in the first
two acts but his gradual transformation to something more sinister is even more
successful. He does it very subtly while the audience are still rooting for
him. Freida Pinto is even better. This is definitely her film. She is
thoroughly convincing as a poor Indian villager who is wowed by the trappings
of Western riches and manages to maintain her shy victim like persona even when
she isn’t. The hurt she shows towards the end of the film is felt by the whole
audience and her last few scenes are shocking but she pulls it off well. Her
only downfall unfortunately is her looks. When sat in a peasant house is rural
Rajasthan she does stick out a bit, but you can’t really hold that against her.
Dang! |
The film is a successful translation of a popular and
frequently adapted literary source. Both actors are great and you feel like
their relationship is real and not just on screen. The film looks beautiful and
manages to get across both modern and traditional India ’s successes and failures. I
really enjoyed it.
8/10
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