War, Inc.

Shirah and I just watched the movie, War, Inc. tonight. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. It's an intelligent, funny, hard core political satire. No wonder it did so poorly at the box office. It was way too ambitious for American audiences. Luckily, it has made over $1 million in US DVD sales, so hopefully it will find its audience somewhere.

I was reminded of Wag the Dog, a political movie that in fact did very well at the box office. However, Wag the Dog had a couple advantages over War, Inc. First of all, it had the megastar wattage of Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro...together. Second, the movie clearly explained what it was trying to do, and it didn't deviate from its central theme throughout the film. Audiences clearly knew what they were watching. It was easy to write the blurb.

War, Inc., on the other hand, is much more frenetic and disjointed. It's primary theme is the outsourcing of wars to private contractors. What would happen, the movie asks, if an ENTIRE war was outsourced to a private contractor? Furthermore, what would happen if a Middle Eastern teenage pop icon found her life controlled not only by the world press but also by a war zone, a patriarchal culture, and her own need for self-actualization? And what would happen if a CIA hitman, who was thrown into the 'Emerald City' in Turaqistan, was trying to carry out a hit while dealing with his own personal demons, self doubt, growing conscience, and distraction by a left-wing reporter (Marisa Tomei, one of my favorite actresses)? And where exactly is the fictional country of Turaqistan? And why does Ben Kingsley have a southern U.S. accent?

See? No wonder American audiences couldn't follow it.

Roger Ebert did not like the movie. Roger Ebert did not understand the movie. Roger Ebert has difficulty with complex plots. Fine. That's his own problem.

Bottom line...War, Inc. is a very funny, very ambitious movie that frankly should have received much more attention. It has a top shelf cast (John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff, Ben Kingsley, and Montel Williams in a surprise role), it has clever writing, it has lots of action and explosions, and it has a sharp political message.

Just don't watch it with Roger Ebert. You might have to explain it to him.

The Mistress of Spices

I have to admit that I’m a pretty big Aishwarya Rai fan. I think she is a fine actress and an excellent dancer. Okay, fine. I also agree with Roger Ebert who commented that the former Miss World is, “not only the first but also the second most beautiful woman in the world.” She makes bad Bollywood movies bearable and good Bollywood movies that much better. She walks onto the screen, and even my wife stops staring at Sharuch Khan, if only for a minute, to watch her. When Harpers and Queen back in 2005 dropped her from “most beautiful woman in the world” to ninth place directly after Kate Moss, I was convinced it was proof that the last vestiges of sanity had finally been ripped away from global civilization. This is all a very long-winded way of saying that Aishwarya has my complete and total attention in any movie that she stars in.

So, I was very surprised last weekend when I watched her 2005 movie “The Mistress of Spices” and found that I was watching the spices nearly as much as I was watching her. In fact, I would argue that the spices were a distinct character in the film: a sexy, sensual, and utterly fascinating character.

The movie is a romantic drama based on the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (sorry, guys, she’s married), Dylan McDermott, and a shop full of exotic spices. Aishwarya plays Tilo, an Indian woman who was blessed as a child with a sort of second-sight future-telling ESP vibe. When bandits looking to use her gifts for their own ill-gotten gains kill her parents and kidnap her, she escapes and ends up on a shoreline where an old woman is teaching young women to be “mistresses of spices.” In this religious order/coven/cult, the women learn the secrets of spices, where the spices come from, how they are grown, and how they are used to heal and influence people. I could go on for paragraphs on this back story, not because it took up much time in the film, but because I found the whole concept fascinating. Spices are not just culinary, but also medical, botanical, and most definitely magical.

As a grown woman, Tilo is sent to San Francisco to runs a spice shop called the Spice Bazaar. As a mistress of spices, her mission is to help her clients accomplish their desires with the spices. However, there are rules. She must never use the spices to accomplish her own desires, she must never leave the store, and she must never touch another person’s skin. Her eclectic customers include a grandfather (played by Anupam Kher being as grandfatherly as always) trying to come to terms with his decidedly NON-traditional granddaughter, an Indian-Muslim taxi driver trying to better his socio-economic status, and a handsome Nigerian man who is learning exotic Indian cooking to impress his girlfriend. All is good until a brooding American architect ends up in her shop after a motorcycle accident (Dylan McDermott at his most McDermottish), and she suddenly has the urge to break all three rules at once. As she ends up breaking each rule (no touching, no leaving, no personal fun with the spices), the luck of her patrons starts to change for the worse, and she faces the horrible possibility of losing her intimacy with the spices forever.

That’s all I’m going to tell you of the plot. It’s a romantic drama, not a romantic tragedy, so you know that somehow the guy and girl are going to get together at the end. However, like every good amusement park ride, the fun is not in the destination but in the journey.

And then there are the spices. Ah, yes, the spices. Director Paul Mayeda Berges uses them to amazing effect. The spices are at once exciting, erotic, and sensual. As the camera pans through the shop, you can smell each spice. As Tilo chops the red chilis, you can feel your eyes water. As she crushes the cardamom, you can feel the warmth on your skin. And when she lets the sesame seeds cascade over her hand...well, OK, I was watching Aishwarya once again.

The Mistress of Spices is not a fast-paced film. There are no explosions, no Bollywood dance numbers, and very little comedic banter. However, the movie is a feast for the senses both visually and emotionally. Like any good feast, the movie must be savored slowly.

And now, I have an incredible craving for palak paneer.

Roy Scheider (1932-2008) o.b.m.

On Sunday, Roy Scheider died at the age of 75 after battling multiple myeloma for several years. Since I have long been a fan of Scheider's work, and I have a very personal interest in multiple myeloma treatment, I took more than a passing interest in his obituaries.

Most of the articles cited his role in Jaws as the police chief with the immortal line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Fewer remember his wonderful role as a pill-popping, Bob Fosse-type choreographer in "All That Jazz." To me, "All That Jazz" was his greatest work, partly because of his quotable line, "Showtime!" but mostly because throughout the entire picture, you completely forget that the choreographer NEVER DANCES. Only a true actor can pull off a mind trick like that.

I was a big fan of SeaQuest DSV, at least I was during its first season before it got...well...bad. Scheider lent an air of respectability to the show and raised it from an uninspiring sci-fi knock-off, to a fun, fascinating, scientific, and almost complex show. When the producers started to mess with the quality and format of the show, Scheider had the good sense to leave.

I never saw his stagework, which (from what I have read) was superb. In the 80's, he costarred with Raul Julia and Blythe Danner in one of my favorite plays, Betrayal by Harold Pinter. I really, really, really hope that someone filmed his performance, and that a bootleg copy is floating around eBay somewhere. Julia, Danner, and Scheider on the stage together...it just doesn't get any better than that.

I will miss Scheider's many flawed yet extremely likeable characters. Luckily, NetFlix carries most of his works. So, if you'll excuse me, I've got some movies to add to my queue.

Note: According to his fansite, in lieu of flowers, the family requested memorial donations to the Myeloma Institute of Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

One Night with the King

A couple of nights ago, I saw One Night with the King, a movie about the Book of Esther. Well, actually, the movie is based on the novel Hadassah: One Night with the King, by Tommy Tenney. But, since I've never read the book, nor do I plan to, I can only comment on the movie.

To be fair, I had ulterior motives in seeing the movie, and believe it or not, they were not Tiffany Dupont (seen on the left). Purim is the underdog of Jewish holidays. It's fun, it's raucous, it's frivolous, it's deeply philosophical, it's family-oriented, and you are commanded to get drunk. In Israel, it borders on Mardi Gras or Carnivale. In the U.S., it borders on obscurity. It just doesn't have the calendar real estate of Chanukah...you know, right next to Christmas. Frankly, it deserves much better than that, and I take every oppportunity to push my Purim agenda. Consider me a Purim champion.

So, naturally I jump at any movie that promotes, advertises, or in any way exposes Purim to the greater goyische public. Even if it simply retells a Biblical story. Even if it's made by Gener8xion Entertainment, a Christian company, with (potentially) an agenda separate from mine.

Back to the movie. Well, the movie could have been worse. That's not a ringing endorsement, but it's also not a scathing indictment. As a movie, it's not bad. It creates an entertaining love story out of an Biblical tale, and makes you believe that Esther's life is truly on the line as she goes to plead King Ahasuerus (well...Xerxes in the movie) for the lives of her people. Tiffany Dupont plays a spunky, buoyant Esther, and she is Jewish-looking enough to pull off the role. John Rhys-Davies as Mordechai is...well...John Rhys-Davies. He looks and sounds like Mordechai should sound, although you do keep expecting him to burst out with "Indy, my friend!" (a la Raiders of the Lost Ark). James Callis plays a suitably vengeful and evil Haman who hates the Jews with a passion due to the wrongs the Hebrews done to his people 500 years earlier. Yeah, it's nasty stuff, right out of the Bible.

The sets are gorgeous, the acting is decent, and, most importantly, the dialog is not as stilted as one would expect from a Biblical movie. I did like the fact that the movie was RELATIVELY faithful to the original story (the Bible, not the novel). Considering that the novel was written by a Pentecostal evangelist, I was not expecting a very faithful treatment of the material...or at least not a Jewish treatment.

However, the movie (or the novel) tries to turn the story into Midrash by adding some bizarre back story about a pending war with Greece. This would have worked better if the movie hadn't muddied the waters by mixing up some key plot elements in the story. I could just see fans of the original book shouting at the screen, "No, you fools! Mordechai hears about the decree AFTER refusing to bow down. After! After! After!" And of course, it has to add some typical Hollywood elements of mistaken identity and fear of infidelity.

For some reason, all of the secondary characters are played by Indians. It used to be that Italians and Jews were interchangeable in Hollywood. I guess in Biblical epics, Indians and Jews are interchangeable. I would have loved to see Aishwarya Rai play Esther. But anyway...

I guess my biggest beef is that I still have not seen a movie based on the Book of Esther that is truly faithful to the story. The story of Purim is one of the hottest, raciest, most exciting books of the Bible filled with vanity, honor, vengeance, love, bravery, and, of course, clan warfare. It doesn't need a Hollywood treatment.

But keep Tiffany.

Munna Bhai

I'm back. Three months is a long time to let a blog go fallow. Sorry about that...

I must recommend two Bollywood movies I recently viewed: "Munna Bhai" and "Lage Raho Munna Bhai". Sanjay Dutt stars in both movies, and although I must admit that I haven't been a particularly huge Sanjay Dutt fan, I like him a lot more after these movies. Dutt, from what I've seen, usually plays the kindly oaf who either gets the girl at the end (because he's just too nice) or gives up the girl in the end (because he knows she loves someone else...and he's just too nice) and looks absolutely morose throughout the entire process. His character in the Munna Bhai movies, however, is that of a small time hood who has to convince his family and friends that he is either a doctor (1st movie) or a history professor specializing in Ghandi (2nd movie). Wacky hijinks ensue. Netflix can give a better plot synopsis for you.

Gracy Singh stars as his love interest in the first. You may remember her as the extremely cute love interest in "Lagaan", which is an absolute must-see for anyone looking for a good introduction to Bollywood films. Lagaan has a wonderful sound track, an exciting storyline, and is possibly the only film in the history of cinema to make the sport Cricket actually interesting.

But I digress...Vidya Balan is the love interest in the second film. Like most Bollywood actresses, she is impossibly beautiful...but she is also very entertaining. And like the main character in the film, I was becoming entranced by her shouting, "Good Morning, Mumbai!" But enough of that.

Arshad Warsi, who plays "Circuit", Munnabhai's sidekick, is very funny. As far as I can tell, he seems to be making a career of second tier character actors. If anyone knows of any movies that showcase him better, please let me know.

I just read that Lage Raho Munna Bhai" did very well at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, and has been praised in India for promoting "Ghandiism". Cool.

But of course one mustn't forget the requisite song and dance numbers, of which there are plenty. And there pretty good. The songs from both movies are very catchy, and it was a long time before I stopped humming "Munna Bhai MBBS."

Oh, terrific. Now I'm humming it again. Damn.