Udaan...a liberating flight...

Udaan..the story of Rohan(Rajat Barmecha), 17 year old teenager having embittered relations with his father, Bhairav Singh(Ronit Roy). Being expelled from boarding school, Rohan returns to his father not having met him for 8 years. A budding writer and inclined towards studying literature, his dream to be a writer, is forced into engineering college by his father and forcibly made to work in a steel plant which is his fathers' business.

Rohan comes back and discovers he has a step younger brother Arjun. Such a cutie pie! I almost wanted to pull his cheeks and what acting by the newcomers! Applaudable! The best part in the movie is the relationship Rohan shares with his kid step brother. Arjun is just so adorable and a natural actor. Its shown in such soft light, their relationship and one very uplifting part of the movie.

Ram Kapoor as always exudes a lot of warmth in his character as the caring and loving uncle. Ronit Roy succeeds in his role so much that you abhor him throughout the movie! Flawless acting by all the characters. At one point you really feel for Rohan and Arjun..Wonderful depiction of emotions!

Some lighter moments shared by the actors in the movie..like the drunk scene with Rohan and his seniors, "Disgraceful" said by the father every morning when he wins the race and then repeated by Arjun, this was hilarious :D The picnic scene when Rohan says "kabhi rakshas kabhi bhedh" for his father after knowing it was his idea, the picnic :)

The music score is very liberating and on the story lines. As one of my friends rightly pointed out, watch the movie first and then listen to the sound track :) You come to appreciate the music more and it works! Amit Trivedi does an incredible job as music director.

The beautiful poems recited by the protagonist in the movie are so impressive and inspirational, am trying to get my hands on them. How Rohan struggles to free himself from an authoritative, arrogant and sadistic father and pursue his dreams is what the whole movie is about.What a welcome change from the stereotypical romantic and masala movies that we have in Bollywood. Kudos to the director Vikramaditya Motwane and the producer Anurag Kashyap.

Udaan is a journey to stand up for what you want in life, break free from the chains of fear and just fight against the injustice.Its a liberating and inspiring experience, go watch for yourself!! 

Find the magical poems of the movie here

Singin' in the Rain

What a sweet classic movie. After watching this one, I got a feeling that all movies should be like this. Light, hilarious, mushy and all things that make you feel good. Personally am not a big fan of musicals, but I did like Once and now this has been added to my list of favourite musicals.

Don Lockwood(Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont are the stars of a silent movie production. Don meets Cathy Saldon, falls in love and the love story unwinds into a pretty nice musical. With the advent of voice in cinema, Cathy Saldon is discovered as a budding star, a petite pretty girl.

Cosmo Brown adds such good touches of comedy and dance to the movie and is just phenomenal. The faces he makes, gosh!! he is superb. Lina Lamont with her shrieky shrill voice :D she is a typical piece, cawing away like a crow. The ascent trainer working on her is just hilarious. The tapping shoes dances, the classic songs, the sets, the lighting, the costumes is just so amusing. Don looks dashing and Cathy so cute, both having good chemistry.

Each one of the songs is adorable :D Please please watch this movie and laugh away..it will make your day! :)

Enjoy this video from the movie :)

Also love the lyrics of the song "You were meant for me"

Life was a song,
You came along
I've laid awake the whole night through
If I ever dared to think you'd care
This is what I'd say to you

You were meant for me
And I was meant for you
Nature patterned you
And when she was done
You were all the sweet things
Rolled up in one

You're like a plaintive melody
That never lets me free
But I'm content
The angels must have sent you
And they meant you just for me...

But I'm content
The angels must have sent you
And they meant you just for me...

PS: Video embedding is disabled for these particular videos. But clicking "Watch on YouTube" will take you just to these very videos!

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Source:http://www.poemhunter.com/

Invictus in Latin means unconquered.

A truly inpirational movie about Nelson Mandela during his first year as South African President and how he unites the nation through their love for Rugby. As always Clint Eastwood at his best, Morgan Freeman immaculate and paying an honorable tribute to Nelson Mandela.Matt Damon delivering his best. A must watch!
 

The Secret in Their Eyes

This Oscar winning movie will leave you mesmerized and glued to your seat, not allowing you to budge from your place. Just finished watching the movie, I did not know its an Argentinian movie, but realized its true that movies in other languages do not lose their lustre or emotions or effect if you need to watch them with subtitles. This one will leave a long-lasting impression on your mind.

 

The whole experience left me so shaken that I do not know where to begin writing about it. Right from the beginning, when the brutal rape and murder case of Liliana Coloto  comes into picture, Benjamin Esposito the justice agent who is assigned the case has his doubts that the suspects arrested for the case are not the real culprits but a childhood friend of the victim named Gomez. As the story unfolds, how Gomez is caught and at large again, never does the movie lose its pace or passion. How Esposito struggles till the end to gain some closure for this case, which was 25 years ago, how he comes across all the characters in the process of writing his novel.

The apparent physical tension between Esposito and Irene, the train scene and after 25 years how Esposito gets the courage to say what he wanted to long back, to Irene. Pablo discovering from the letters as quoted by him in the movie passion is one thing that cannot be changed in behavior, Benjamín learns now that that premise still holds true even for Molares, twist in the tale this one. With an 8.4 IMDB rating, I would strongly recommend to watch this movie! The actors are superb, the direction flawless, the story gripping!

Some likeable quotes from the movie.

Benjamin : Have you ever seen things from a different angle? You see someone else and what the other person is going through helps you see your own life

Pablo: A guy can change anything. His face, his home, his family, his girlfriend, his religion, his God. But there's one thing he can't change. He can't change his passion.

Benjamin: You are better than I am

Molares:  What do you care? Its my life, not yours

Benjamin: No Molares, its my life too!Your love for that woman..I never saw it again!In anybody! Nobody! Ever!

Molares:Choose carefully. Memories are all we end up with.At least pick the nice ones.

Irene: Its a novel. It doesnt have to be true or even believable

Benjamin:  Yes..No, What? It isnt believable?

Irene: No, Benjamin. That part when the guy leaves for Jujuy..

Benjamin: What's the problem?

Irene: Crying like he's all broken up..So what? Her running on the platform after the man of her dreams..

Benjamin: Well..

Irene: Touching hands through the glass, like they're one. And her crying, as if she knew her fate was mediocrity and never loving anyone, practically falling on the tracks, proclaiming love she'd never had the courage to confess..

Benjamin: Thats what happened, isn't it?

Irene: If that's what happened, why didn't you take me with you?

What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.

I am sure you must be wondering about the caption. Well, am going to write my views about the movie "Groundhog Day"

I just loved this movie! It was unique from other movies in so many ways. Now I did not know what is Groundhog day, so heres something for those who don't like me.

Groundhog Day may seem like a newfangled ceremony — what with Punxsutawney Phil living in a climate-controlled environment in the town library (where he is fed dog food and ice cream) and being transported once a year to Gobbler's Knob where tuxedo-clad gentlemen await his exit from a heated burrow at 7:25 a.m. on February 2 and bend down respectfully to receive his meteorological prognostications and convey them to a breathless media and an attentive world...by the way Punxsutawney is a rat or squirrel I do not know..also know and woodchucker a search showed. Source: Answers.com

How a weatherman Phill Collins(Bill Murray) hates this very day and for consecutively third year is in Punxsutawney to report this very event, finds himself living the same day again and again. Every morning when the alarm rings, its the same old day. First he uses each day for his own selfish motives, to hurt people he doesnt like or do worthless things, and then after he starts knowing his producer, Rita, he realises each day can be lived in a worthwhile manner, helping people, saving peoples lives which was obviously easier for him because each day he knew the exact sequence in which any event or mishap would occur. His transition from leading an ego-centric, selfish life to a selfless, worthy life is noteworthy and along this time, how he falls in love with Rita, how he realises that he is capable of being generous and kind. The scenes where one night he admits the old beggar to hospital and the poor old fellow dies, and he tells the nurse "Not Today!". Next repeated day he takes the old man and makes him have a nice warm breakfast, sadly the old man still dies, as the nurse says sometimes people just die and he was old. Suddenly his humanity awakes in him, all these events manifest well.

With every repeated day, Phil realises there is so much good that can be done with each day. I mean think of it, how would you spend each today if you know it will get repeated the next day. What a thought! I mean who could imagine this! When Phil says "Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today." :) Gosh, if the same day is repeated everyday, I just can't imagine what I will do.

Something to muse about.

Well, what I learnt and what I felt was the central theme was that live in the now, live in each moment for now is the moment you can make someone happy, help someone, make your life better. Its like this saying..Live today as if there's no tomorrow..

A sweet movie and a must watch!

I Love You Phillip Morris

Quite a hilarious movie based on the book I Love You Phillip Morris by Steve McVicker. The story of Steven Russell, who after a car accident has this sudden epiphany as he calls it, and decides to live life as he wanted to without any compromises or without any secrets.

He was gay and his wife Debbie did not know this fact. After his car accident he reveals the same to her and thus begins a new life altogether. He has a boyfriend Jimmy and commits all sorts of frauds to shower his bf with expensive gifts. And when he's caught he tries to flee, unfortunately ending up in prison.

In prison, he meets Phillip Morris and both strike such a connection that it looks like both are made for each other. Although a normal person would not be able to fathom or understand the feelings a gay couple share, but I realised feelings or emotions are as is, they are not discriminated as feelings between a normal straight couple or a gay couple. Steven and Phillip are shown to share such a great chemistry and are so much in love.

Steven Russel has been potrayed as such an incredible and versatile con man, he fools people into believing he's a lawyer, gets Phillip out of prison, fools the chairman of a big company and becomes CFO of that company :D goes back to prison again because of all his frauds, tries to escape n number of times, and all that he does or tries to get away from is to meet Phillip Morris who is now pissed with him because he's been made an accomplice in all the illegal activities that Steve has been doing.

The most amusing and gut-busting dupe that Steve does is faking his death. That was too much. How he got away with so many dupes is beyond my understanding :D Faking AIDS, its just too much when he says the private care facility people never bothered to run him for an AIDS test :D

No one could have potrayed Steven best as Jim Carrey has done also adding an element of humor here and there. Quite a unique movie. Love the end scene! Watch it for yourself :D

An interesting review/post on this movie here

Road, Movie

An unconventional movie, with a rustic feel to it. Charmingly simple and yet conveying all emotions with par excellence.

Vishnu, the typical modern son of a typical middle class family. Father is trying a business to sell oil. आत्मा तेल लगाया बाल भर सर पाया, बाकी सब माया :D Abhay Deol plays the reluctant son well. 

Vishnu catches hold of an old mans truck and offers to do a favour to him by taking the truck to Samudrabhar, a city by the sea. How his journey unfolds varied experiences is quite a story to tell. Its rather life changing as depicted. Satish Kaushik in the role of Chacha or the mechanic, the kiddo Mohammad Faizal was just a natural when it came to acting. Tanishtha Chatterjee added a new dimension, the only female face of the movie, a beautiful Rajasthani Banjaara in search of water. And Abhay Deol as always did not need an effort to act. The best thing I like about Abhay Deol is his unsophisticated ordinary looks, I like his unglamorous boy next door look unlike the hunk look that some of our Bollywood heroes have, I think that gives him the edge.

Road, Movie is quite entertaining and has a good pace, how the truck has a movie projector system and how Vishnu and the other three tap it in the mela is awesome. The moments in the movie like the one when the police wala threatens them to show a good movie and how the whole village enjoys it, the scene when Tanishtha breaks into a song, the Charlie Chaplin scene when Chacha passes away with a smile on his face, the smiling faces of the village people amused by Charlie Chaplin, all are scenes just so worth watching.

You should definitely visit the official site of the movie which is this http://www.roadmoviethefilm.com/ A lot has gone into the making of the movie and the site has some nice facts and videos about the same. Also I like the look and feel of the site. Dev Benegal has made a gr8 movie and I think you shouldn't miss this one....

The film being aired in so many international film festivals itself speaks volumes...Need I say more?

500 Days of Summer

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.

A fresh breeze, unique, every scene of its original and watchable more than once. Thats what led me to watch it for the 2nd time and looks like I am going to watch it more than 2 times :) Such an adorable movie. Such lively characters, ones you can actually relate with. Summer(Zooey Deschanel), with the 60s hair cut, cute as a button. Tom(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) with the boyish looks and the sweet smiles( the smile that makes the eyes close :P)

Tom is looking for "The One" for him when Summer comes along as an assistant in his office. The greeting card one-liners writer falls for a girl, is totally mesmerized by her only to know that she is not looking for a real relationship. The randomly numbered days spent with Summer and the contrast between each is so awesomely shown, great originality here. How Tom swings from an elated mood to a sulky one when Summer makes it obvious that she is still not looking for a relationship. The small talks with the younger sis(she's his love guru :D), the conversations with mckensie and his other friend are adorable as well. The chemistry of the characters with each other is awesome.

Summer though is shown quite unpredictable. On one hand, she is sharing her darkest of thoughts with Tom and on the other hand, she doesn't feel for him as she should feel for a boyfriend. That part is quite queer.

What I also fail to understand that even after making him miserable, Tom falls again for her when they meet in the train only to have his heart broken again. The movie misleads when Tom and Summers in those scenes are shown so much in love. How they dance at Millie's wedding, so much in love, a made for each other couple. How Tom's "Expectations" do not align with "Reality" when he arrives at the party thrown by Summer is just fantastic. So true, seldom do our expectations align with reality. What impresses me is that this movie is closer to reality and still manages to entertain..

How in the karaoke session, Tom and Summer argue over the definition of Love and if it really exists! And how Summer whos afraid of relationship falls for another guy, just so agreeing with what Tom said "you will know love when you feel it" and how Tom is led to believe that nothing is meant to be, its just pure coincidence, everything that happens and so he moves on with his life..The end though is so Bollywood movie-like :D another gal comes along for him :) Well..A Happy Ending..

Not a love story..But a story about Love..

Paa

As one of my friends rightly said, that hasn't Big B been given an ugly face makeup with an egg like shape? Its not really pleasant to look at. But I consented but after watching the movie, also understood that suffering from Progeria ( an extremely rare genetic disease that causes accelerated ageing) did make that look inevitable.

Auro is a 12 year old kid suffering from progeria.His mom is Vidya(Vidya Balan), a gynaecologist and also a single mom. Thankfully for the director, we are not dragged into the flashback for much time. The whole flashback is cleverly shown in just one song(Ittifaak se) and for what turns out to be quite obvious, Abhishek Bachhan(Amol) does not want to marry Vidya(she is carrying his child) because he wants to help his father in politics and is not ready for so much responsibility.                                                                              

Vidya stages a walkout because she wants to have the kid. In another scene between Vidya and her Mom, its queer how Vidya keeps saying she can't have the kid because of the society, because she still has 3 years of her medical education left and how her mom keeps asking her whether she wants to have the kid. Bollywood normally has torturous scenes where the unmarried girl is forced to abort her child to escape the wrath of the society and lo! here for a change, maybe in a way manifesting the changing mentality of our parents, the scene is moving in quite a contrary direction.

Meantime, Amol has become a budding politician keen to show the masses that politics ain't that dirty as they deem it to be. In one of his political appearances that he makes, he lands up in Auro's school totally unaware that Auro is his own kid, yet totally awed by Auro's thinking. The blank globe, where its not about my country or your country, there are no regional bounderies and we are all one. Its humorous how Auro explains to his mom, how he stole the globe from the staff room and painted it white, not too much effort for the "Visionary of India" prize that he was bestowed upon :D

How Amol meets up with his son Auro and the uncanny attachment between them is shown well. How Vidya explains to her son that they do not want to be a "hichki" in Amol's life is a good scene but again flawed considering the fact that its a 12 year old we are talking about.

The script is flawed in many places, may it be Amol openly getting infuriated at the media or Auro speaking quite maturely like a grown up. The scene where he asks for pickle,not for himself but for his mom, telling her not to sacrifice something that she does not have to. Or the kids at Auro's school, talking about the meaning of Bastard, its very strange how kids are brought upto the level of grown-ups and are shown to think like mature 20 plus something guys or gals.

Big B,Vidya Balan have given their best performance, Vidya being given a befitting role. Abhishek looks convincing as a politician but I wish he was given better dialogues, and please why was he made to say that he was happy "not wearing a condom" :| and that was why he had Auro. That sounded quite stupid. Auro calling his granny "Bum" because she has a big bum :D the obsessive talk about potty :D there are some witty one liners here and there which keep you in the movie thus saving itself. Not to forget Arundhati Naag who plays Vidya's mother. Quite an impressive performance, hers.

Overall, Paa is a good effort by ABCL after a long gap. Amitabh Bachhan in one of his best unconventional roles steals the show followed by Vidya Balan, no other actress could have done this role better than her.

A lot of credit goes to Stephan Dupuis for a very realistic make-up.And hats off to Big B cause it wasnt easy to get the makeup applied either. An article about that here

A Thumbs up and 3 stars to Paa ***

UP is UPlifting..UP you go :)

Picture courtesy : Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures

This is the first 3D animation from Pixar, yet another triumph for them.Pixar and Disney have done it again.

Indeed, Up is a charming and such a sweet movie. In some of its scenes, it touched me more than any non-animation movie. There are such real emotions in the movie that you might actually want to shed a tear or two while watching some scenes.After Ratatouille and Wall E, its UP :) And yes UP is going to go very up in its ratings.Currently, its IMDB rating is 8.5. And the tomatometer is 98% :) yey!!!

The movie's characters exude such warmth. Carl and Ellie as a sweet couple, taking life's ups and downs with a smile and Russel, the cute plump wilderness scout who is keen to earn an elderly assistance badge.Kevin, the trotting peacock-like bird, Dug the talking dog :D

In the beginning of the movie I thought its similar to Wall-E where there were such minimal dialogues. Since early in UP too, there is a non-verbal set of scenes potraying how Carl and Ellie met, fell in love, got married, could not have any children and finally slipped to old age. What superb story telling without a single word. And so profoundly moving.   

Carl and Ellie share this dream of having a Venezulean trip to the Paradise falls. Which Carl gets an urge to fulfill after Ellie expires. I love the balloon scene :) The house soaring with a bouquet of balloons...its such a happy scene :) its a balloon house cum plane :D looks so cool,so swell, so colorful in the blue sky..people exclaiming at it sight.What imagination!!  How Carl and Russel in their eventful journey bond and come to like each other, how Carl fulfills Ellie's dream and also learns an important lesson about what really matters in life. Quite a heart-moving story.

My favorite scenes in the movie, are the soaring house for one and the scene where after placing the house on Paradise falls mountain, Carl again flaps the pages of Ellie's adventure book. He stumbles on the many photos of theirs, capturing all their happy moments, each photo placed with care and thought :) These pages were meant to be filled once her dream of building the house on Paradise falls mountain got fulfilled. This very scene conveyed such a simple learning. We might not always get what we dream. The things/goals achieved in the process of achieving your dreams hold equal or maybe much more importance :) Wonderful, just a wonderful movie..

Personally I was glued to the movie every single moment while I was watching, was spellbound by it, so mesmerizing at times. An incredible movie, kids would love it, adults would enjoy it. UP is a must-watch, go watch it!!

Some extras:
See The director Pete Docter and the production designer Ricky Nierva discuss their work designing characters for the 3-D animated film “Up.” here
Quite interesting to see each character has been given such thought, some study has been done for each like for Dug, the talking dog

Watch the gallery of UP pics here

 

Atonement..You can only imagine the truth

Atonement implies making amends for a wrong doing. Here the atonement is being made by Briony Tallis, a 13 year old precocious girl who lives with on her family estate with her mother and sister(Cecilia Tallis/Keira Knightley).She is shown to be an avid writer.

Robbie(James McAvoy) is the family's servants' son whose education at Cambridge was kindly paid by the Tallis family. In an encounter between Robbie and Cecilia near the fountain, both of them realise the attraction and heat they both feel for each other, but the same encounter witnessed by Briony from the window is mistaken by her. Also because Robbie is Briony's crush.

After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a sex maniac as the letter was quite sexually explicit.Robbie never meant to send that version of the letter but mistakenly does. Robbie arrives for dinner at their house. He and Cecilia discuss the letter and admit their love for one another. They make passionate love in the library but are discovered by Briony

When Briony' cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed when in fact it was a visitor to the estate.

A Wounded and vexed Briony deliberately gives witness against Robbie without realising its repercussions. Robbie is taken as a war soldier, an option given to prisoners. Cecilia becomes a nurse warden, Robbie and Cecilia meet before Robbie goes on the duty of war, Cecilia wants him to come back.

The immense feeling of love that both feel for each other. The postcard that Cecilia give Robbie to remind him of her. Alas, Robbie dies on the last day of evacuation and Cecilia died a few months later when a German bomb burst a water main and flooded the subway tunnel in which she and other Londoners had taken refuge during the Blitz.

In the climax, Briony is shown in a TV interview in which she is talking about her 21st novel Atonement, which is also her last novel as she is dying. Atonement is an autobiographical novel in which she has tried to give the happiness to her sister Cecilia and Robbie which she so prevented them from having in real life. The scene when she goes to meet her sister to say how terribly sorry she was for having given the wrong evidence, the audience might think happened really. But here in the interview, its clarified that she never had the guts to do that.

She wanted to have a happy ending for both of them in her book to atone of her sins. The movie ends with a happy scene.Robbie and Cecilia walk down the beach on a bright, beautiful day. On the steps of the seaside cottage, they look at the beautiful white cliffs, then disappear inside.

What an extraordinary atonement..a heart wrenching story..

Revolutionary Road

Kate Winslet has played a remarkable role in this movie released in 2008.As April she is shown to manifest varied emotions, disappointing as an actress, trying hard as a housewife, still lost in life and trying to find a meaning in the hopelessness and emptiness. Trying to find a place of her own in the world.

Her husband Frank, having a typical office job is frustrated with the emptiness too. Then one day April recalls the fire that was in Frank whilst his youth. His talk of going to Paris and she puts forth a plan, where they should move to Paris. Why? So that he can really find the time to know what he really wants to do in his life, while she would be working in one of the government organisations and be the bread winner.Frank agrees to this irrational, impractical plan. Thereafter, they are shown to be in a state of such happiness, they proudly tell their friends that they are moving away for good, for discovering the real happiness, for witnessing the beauty of Paris.

In the meantime, Frank is getting offered a promotion to work with the chief executive on a new project: computers and hence is in a dilemma as to what to do. When April comes to know of this and also that shes pregnant, the whole plan goes to ashes.

April is shown so unhappy, this part that Kate Winslet has played so brilliantly. In her misery, she still puts up a smile in front of her husband before she gives herself an abortion. Her misery finally takes her life.

The perfect Wheeler couple story is shown to end in sheer tragedy

A melancholic movie with some great acting by Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet, based on a novel by Richard Yates.

Ajab Prem ki Bore Kahani.

Well..this movie certainly qualifies to be added to the list of movies which are advised to be watched leaving your brains at home..The movie scored in nothing, the only consolation was watching the gorgeous Katrina Kaif and the chocolate boy Ranbir Kapoor although both wasted in underrated roles.

The story begins with this school dropout guy Prem(Ranbir Kapoor who runs a certain Happy Club, members being all good-for-nothing people. A total निकम्मा guy to be precise. Parents keep cursing him for doing nothing..In comes Jenny (Katrina Kaif), an orphan who lives with her parents, who just want to get rid of her by marrying her off to some rich Christian guy Tony. And here we are shown another agonizing set of scenes where Prem helps Jenny to elope..only to realize that she already has a boyfriend Rahul(Upen Patel) My God, why on earth he was given that role, I fail to understand.  Gazab kahani actually :|

Finally Jenny falls for Prem.I do not want to go into the details why and how.There is lil humour here and there, but its not enough to save the movie..Even the music fails to impress..A total bore, this movie. Thumbs down for Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani.

Magnolia - The Movie

After having watched the movie, I endeavored to reason how the name of the movie was apt enough.

Well Magnolia is a flower as the movie poster vividly depicts and just as every petal is different, similarly the varied characters. But just as all the petals are connected to the one flower, so too are the people in the film interconnected. Marvellously thought name.
IMDB rating of the movie:8.2, Director:Paul Thomas Anderson

Brilliant interconnection of characters and the story of each.

Story of a dying man,Earl Partridge repenting having left his son at the age of 14 and a dying wife, repentful that he cheated on his wife. Married Linda.

The nurse Phil brilliantly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who endeavors to contact Frank T.J Mackey(Tom Cruise), the dying mans' son. As opinions go, this is by large the best performance given by Tom Cruise in the year 1999. Personally, am not a big fan of his. And plus his role in the movie, that of a Seduction Guru is well played by him.Although the character has been made to use some over offensive language.

Linda(Juliaane Moore), the dying mans wife, shown hysterical and maniacal. Mostly shown swearing in the movie, the part I disliked most. Self-realization dawns on her in the end and eats her conscience.

William H Macy, the Quiz kid Donnie Smith who is no longer smart as he deems himself and need a pair of braces just to befriend someone he think he loves, a bartender! Parents who never treated him well..the once whiz kid now shown desperate for love.

Jimmy Gator, the quiz anchor, who confesses to his wife about their daughter Claudia and how he had ravaged her.


Not to forget the cop who gets all cry baby when he loses his gun.


As quoted by Cole Smithey http://www.colesmithey.com/reviews/2009/03/-magnolia.html, I liked these lines of his best

Just as something so reliably surprising as the weather can modify people’s behavior, "Magnolia" encompasses an inter-connective human bond that accepts reality’s blind spots. Purity of intention, as the story suggests, is a happy accident that can hit everyone.