RAVI KIRAN

I sometimes wonder how much of the actor in Tom Cruise could have been explored had he not restricted himself to franchise-based movies. So, in that sense, these breaks away from the franchise cage with Doug Liman have been good. American Made is not as great as their last outing Edge Of Tomorrow together in terms of content and impact, but still holds good. This could have been better considering the narrative voice takes the same route as Henry Hill in Goodfellas or Jordan Belfort in The Wolf Of Wall Street but it stops short when it comes to letting the audience explore the psyche of the protagonist or creating an atmosphere for the audience to be a part of. So, the end effect is, it is more of a comic strip given a celluloid makeover. You love the surface and want to explore what lies beneath but Doug Liman is not too keen to show you.

It is not surprising that this French musical influenced Damien Chazelle's La La Land. Filled with striking colours and a continuous score by Michel Legrand, this is a musical for the ages.

La La Land is a passionately made musical from Hollywood where the director Damien Chazelle's love for Hollywood musicals meets composer Justin Hurwitz's love for Jazz. Made with the transitional nature of millennial relationships in mind, this film cannot be missed!

Once in a while, we come across a film that is refreshing in its storytelling approach and at the same time, make us to pause and reflect. Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s Ozhivudivasathe Kali (An Off-Day Game) is based on the acclaimed Malayalam short story of the same name penned by Unni R. The film raises serious questions over societal hierarchy, gender, influence of power, system and explores the flaws of democracy. It has a simple plot but has dark undertones and characters with shades of grey. The dialogues are natural, layered and deep in meaning. The end will continue to haunt you long after the movie ends.