Lois_lane18

Man, I've been waiting forever to watch this and damn, was it worth the wait. Got so much to unpack here, but first things first, take a bow Vikramaditya Motwane. His freakin' debut, and this genius already delivered a classic.

I loved what this movie does to Bhairav Singh's character. It gives him much-needed layers to justify, from his perspective, that he always thought his ways of getting to the objective were best. However wrong they were, his intentions weren't. But the ways of achieving them were so demonic, and him being an egoistical, proud, narcissistic patriarch didn't help amend his relationship with either of his sons.

Acting-wise, Ronit Roy was just top of the food chain, brought his A-game. What a generational performance. You just see somebody close to you in him if you had an abusive past, and you start to hate Bhairav to the core. That counts as a big W imo. Rajat as Rohan was a huge surprise to me. Brilliant acting, man. It's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role, especially considering this was his debut movie too. Arjun was such a cutiepie though. I really felt for him, for what he had to go through with such innocence.

Okay, shall we talk about that last goddamn sequence? Nothing could've topped that ending, it gave me literal goosebumps. That's exactly why movies hit you this hard. When Rohan finally outpaced Bhairav, it felt like a metaphor for his emancipation from Bhairav's authority. And his decision to leave that ancestral watch under the tree showed he no longer wanted to carry that generational trauma, he was breaking the chain once and for all. He finally became ol' enough to take responsibility for his brother, which was such a great touch.

An indie movie like this could've easily gotten lost in the abyss, but Motwane managed to bring his own charm and gave it the much-needed life. And, that's what flawless writing, dialogue, score and storytelling feels like. I found myself tearing up so many times especially when he finally broke out of his father's cage was just pure, honest catharsis. That's cinema at its finest. If there's a movie that should represent India globally, this one deserves to be in contention for sure. An all-time modern classic from Hindi cinema. I seriously can't recommend it enough.

There are few films that have hit me as hard as this one. This is as much as about hate or redemption as it's about what happens when you let yourself rot from inside for too long. Derek didn't just walk into ideology, he surrendered to it. That black and white past wasn't a stylistic choice, it was his mental state. Stiff, rigid, frozen. The colour in the present doesn't feel hopeful either, just painfully aware. It's the kind of film that doesn't tell you things will be okay. It just shows you how things break, and maybe, if you're lucky, where they could've changed.

I know It might sound cliché to keep saying this, but honestly, Edward Norton, the actor you are...it's unreal. The way he carried all that rage, guilt, and quiet breaking. That curb stomp scene was terrifyingly unsettling, just makes you feel sick to your stomach, and I'm still not over it. Probably one of the best performances I've ever seen on screen. Highly Recommended!!

This movie moves like grief from the very first shot. We see Travis walks out of the desert like someone who's been burned hollow, lost, but willingly vanished. There's something about the way he moves, the silence, the way he looks at things, like the civilization is no longer something he belongs to.

On the surface, this is a story about a man trying to reconnect, but it also sheds light on what happens to people when they break and keep breaking quietly, long after the damage is done. The kind of pain that doesn't explode but drags itself through years. And love, in this film, doesn't come as comfort but longing. Love is something everyone's trying to hold onto without crushing it and failing. There's something deeply moving about Walt and Anne raising Travis's son like he was always theirs. The kind of quiet, unconditional sorta love. When Travis returns, he's not a hero returning home. He's a man haunted by what he couldn't be. There's no forgiveness here, just an attempt to understand if healing is still possible.

Wim brilliantly used colours especially red and green through every frame. The cinematography especially some of those shots of southwest are breathtaking, it feels sunsets and highways are characters too.

If I ever believed cinema could physically knock the air outta you, that booth sequence was it. Travis on one side, Jane on the other, separated by a wall of glass and years of unspoken hell. He isn't looking at her, but he's never seen her more clearly. His voice is shaking, cracked open, like he's confessing not to be forgiven but bcoz if he doesn't, it'll stay rotting in him forever. Harry Dean Stanton gave everything in that scene. Like he's explaining to himself what went wrong, bcoz he still doesn't fully understand it. And Nastassja Kinski just listens. Frozen. As if hearing it all again is like stepping barefoot into a wound that never closed. I couldn't blink those 15 mins fr. That booth felt like a confession box. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Not in film till yet. It's the kind of moment you don't recover from. One of the greatest moment, ever.

Paris, Texas doesn't try to fix anything. It just lets you sit in the ruin of what once was. And maybe that's what makes it hurt so much. It lets you know the cost of feeling too much, too late. All-timer cinema by Wim Wenders, no doubt. Highly Recommended!!!