imeanSURAJ

Today, as I was having my lunch, my eyes went to a well drawn tattoo  almost completely under the sleeves on his triceps,  of my colleague sitting across the table. The tattoo was of a horned gigantic male sheep, ram. I asked him, what importance does it carry in his life and he was more than happy to explain it to me, giving an impression that not many must have asked him the question. He told me, when he was growing up, his family owned a lot of rams in the village, and that, he considers them very brave and powerful. This took me immediately to the time my dad used to come to me doing “hmm hmm” when I was as young as only 6 years old until I was about 16. He used to come to me some days when I was studying, and make “hmm hmm” sounds, squeezing his lips inside his mouth and pressuring my finger nails with his tight fisted knuckles. It was around my early adolescence I suppose, I once asked him, “Why do you keep doing this pappa? The sounds you make and the pressure to my nails.

The film doesn't really carry a full fledged narrative with a conclusion, instead it just follows the life of a little girl who wants to be a part of the dancing team where one after another everyone is having fits. She slowly feels the fear creeping in, until she finally gets the fits as well, after which she feels free. It is more of a philosophical commentary depicted in an over-simplified manner, with flawless acting.

This is possibly the most in depth stories one may have ever heard related to the expeditions of the 2 scientists who traveled the Amazon to study their culture and tribe extensively, ultimately for their selfish goals, though never getting there. Its also a beautiful study of human character, how the greed has eaten up the earth and how the lives of the tribal population can teach us a handful of lessons on how to keep in sync with the nature, at least in these times of global breaking point of the environment.

Like his previous film, uncle Bonhomee, even this carries a story telling which includes many scenes with cryptic social commentary on thai politics. This film, is like being in someone else's dream, there is an image of one guy taking a dump, now one may wonder how does that help. As Sheila puts it, "This is the potential of cinema, to show us experiences that lie beyond words. There is value in conventional narrative, and value in a good story told well. But being prescriptive about what cinema is, or what a good story needs in order to be effective, contracts the possibilities of the medium."

This film is refreshingly new, it has a fantastic mix of humour and horror. The plot keeps serving surprises until the very end when you sure are going to have a smile after all the thrills, wait did I say thrills, yeah it’s also a thriller. It’s one of the only 6 films ever to have a super high of 99% RT score (The Wizard of Oz, Metropolis, Toy Story 3, LA Confidential and Finding Nemo). The best part is, it doesn't serve a specific audience, and it serves people with any kind of taste. It was made at a meager budget of $4.5 m and went on to earn $189 m, 42 times its budget. Could I be more convincing?

The film hardly builds up anything in the 1st half, but picks up well in the 2nd especially towards the end. There aren't plenty of jokes or even as funny as 1st one, but the film still stays enjoyable with the fantastic playlist from the Sony Walkman that keeps playing in the backdrop and the baby groot which also seemed to be the focus for mischief away from Rocket this time. The over saturated palette used for the graphics could have been reduced a notch to help us realize we aren't watching a video game recording, for some scenes particularly. It's still definitely watchable.