vinylvanilla

"Bulbbul" attracted my attention for being the story of a woman written and directed by another woman. We need more female voices in cinema and storytelling - and the beauty of the narrative created by a woman is the poetry present in every aspect of the story. Here, Anvita Dutt masterfully creates a story about love, pain, revenge and sacrifice, with a magical touch and genius references to Hindu mythology.

This is the story of Bulbbul, a girl who has to marry, at a very young age, Indranil, a much older man with whom she grows up in a lavish palace. But Bulbbul, for being still a child, is obviously not close to Indranil, but to Satya - Indrani's youngest brother, who's Bulbbul's age. Together they play, laugh, and share stories about a witch that haunts a forest nearby. They grow together and their friendship strengthens, but circumstances of the future will make Satya travel abroad and this ends up shattering Bulbbul's heart.

Unfortunately, this separation from Satya is not the only thing that lets her down - Bulbbul still will have to face many other obstacles and disturbing moments that will leave scars in her body, heart and soul. And that's when the main premise of the movie comes to the light: a story about the coping mechanisms that a woman will create to cope with her dark, painful past.

Wrongfully classified as horror, "Bulbbul" is actually a fairy tale, a visual myth - a magical dramatic narrative that has elements of suspense and horror, but that is not horror per se. I don't like making comparisons between two different directors, but for those who want to know if there's anything similar to "Bulbbul", think of Guillermo del Toro's magical stories and you'll understand the kind of movie that "Bulbbul" is.

Not only the great screenplay makes "Bulbbul" a great movie - it's also incredible for its gorgeous cinematography, lavish set and costume design and amazing cast, with Tripti Dimri doing a fantastic job as the lead character. It has some elements that are outdated - the soundtrack may be emotionally manipulative at times and the sound mixing sometimes is a little cliché. But these small flaws become imperceptible when compared to qualities of this great original work.

Another point that makes "Bulbull" highly remarkable is its non-linear narrative, that though may seem like a confusing patchwork in the beginning, with many flashbacks, slowly starts making sense as the movie goes on. Those who criticize the movie claim its is predictable, but we have to understand that "Bulbbul" is not about outsmarting the audience with a plot twist: it's about telling a myth, a magical fairy tale in the most obscure and yet engaging way - the movie makes you feel like someone is telling you the story by a firepit - you feel the warmth and coziness of the moment, but you're also eager to know how the story ends.

If you enjoy Hindy mythology, I'm almost sure you'll enjoy "Bulbbul" as much as I did. The references to Kali, the Hindu goddess who destroys evil forces, is clear in "Bulbbul". Kali, with her disveled hair and strong appearance, holds a severed head that represents the human ego and all evil in the world. She's the warrior against every destructive force of the nature, imposing her justice with merciless yet precise actions. And that's what "Bulbbul" is all about: love, justice and strength - in a bloody, brutal, yet necessary way.

I guess Jordan Peele's "horror" is not for me. First, it's not horror, because it's not scary - well it's only scary if you find movies like "Scream" or "Scary Movie" scary. All the horror clichés are there. Some very cringe worthy comical moments with jokes that weren't funny. Plus, there is no character development. No character development at all. Only a solid first act, then followed by very disappointing second and third acts, with killings and more killings and a predictable "plot twist" I could guess right during the first 15 minutes of the movie. The concept of the movie is nice, cinematography is also nice combined with the soundtrack but these technical aspects don't save a plot that is very simplistic, with a terrible self-explanatory and predictable conclusion. Lupita's amazing acting is the only good thing in it.Now that I have watched the second movie by Jordan Peele I can say that his movies are basically acclaimed by the critics and they are as disappointing as they are overhyped. Don't believe the hype.

I don't know how I've lived without this movie until today. It was released the year I was born and it spoke to me as if it was fresh and new. This is definitely Oliver Stone's masterpiece, and my respect for the director only increased right now.

In Platoon, we not only see the horrors of the Vietnam war - we see a brutal and honest portrait of the many war crimes the American army committed, how millions of Vietnamese civilians were murdered, how entire millenarian villages were decimated and how, in the end, this is one of the most ignorant, gratuitous, unwarranted and pathetic wars of all times - aren't them all?

But although all these facts already make Platoon one of the greatest movies of all times, surprisingly, they are not what make it a masterpiece. The real geniality in Platoon is to raise philosophical questions about the relevance of war and the duality of humankind - with its flawlessly constructed and complex characters, we see that nobody is entirely bad or good, and we also see that sometimes morally condemned acts will be justified by opportunists as an "unnecessary evil".

Technically speaking, the movie is impeccable. A 2-hour-long war movie that feels like it lasts only 30 minutes, because tension and action is maintained at their peak the whole time, and you don't want to blink to miss anything. Edition is something to be acclaimed as well, because the war scenes were absurdly difficult to be filmed and yet in a multidimensional environment which is a battle camp scene where everything happens simultaneously they managed to show everything that was happening without confounding the audience - all scenes were explicit, clear and understandable. Everything had a point or a reason to be shown.

Needless to say, this is the quintessential Willem Dafoe movie. I have always thought he is one of the greatest actors of all times and he's terrible underrated. I now am very sorry for the fact he didn't win any relevant award for this performance - few actors could deliver the emotion and the charisma he delivered only with his eyes and his body language. I have to say the same thing about Tom Berenger - that acting was the work of genius - and yet both Tom and Willem were nominated for an Academy Award and neither of them won, in the year when Platoon won for Best Picture. Charlie Sheen and Forest Whitaker also shone as well - it's absurdly refreshing to, every once in a while, to watch a movie in which the ENTIRE CAST can actually ACT and do a great job.

As if this movie didn't have enough qualities, cinematography is another undeniable quality of this capolavoro - the green palette in the entire movie highlights the blood and the human expressions amid the horrors of war - and beautiful and iconic scenes (such as the one portrayed in the movie poster) were filmed in such a gorgeous way that they will certainly be in my mind forever. I have never seen aerial shots done so masterfully like I did here.

Platoon is neither a horror show or a gruesome war movie - you won't see a blood battle here, though the battle scenes are relevant. The point of the movie is, fortunately, not to shock the audience with blood or mutilated limbs - the aim of this work is to startle us with the horrors of human nature - and how apparently normal people can hide monsters that will be only released in the right conditions.

There were scenes halfway into this movie that made me cry in desperation and lose my breath like any other movie could. To think that events like that happened in real life only made me feel even more miserable and question how exactly humankind evolved throughout the years. Are we really civilized? Are we actually becoming a better species? Oliver Stone, with his brilliant plot and direction, created a masterpiece who will be imprinted in our minds not only as the portrait of one of most terrifying genocides of all times - his work will resonate as the fire that stirs philosophical questionings about the true meaning of life, humanity and morality. Unfortunately, when we watch this work of genius we realize the world hasn't changed much since then. That says a lot about what kind of humans we've become. That proves how relevant this movie is today - and it has impressed my mind and heart like only very few movies could.

May God bless the souls of whoever died in those very dark times.