dreamtrove

I have to say, expecting nothing, knowing nothing, I was impressed. This is one of those rare hidden treasures to run across, in its chaotic unnerving kind of way.

If you liked Let the Right One in, Hellboy, Neverwhere, and some of the more offbeat horror noir, like Close Your Eyes, this one should appeal to you.

There's a minor thematic anti-abortion, understandable if you consider Russia's population decline, but I suspect that's what earned the film its haters. That said, the criticisms are pretty off base, the acting is quite good. There's an intentional dry-noir feel, and something of a chaotic world out of control that you get from a film like District 9. This is a lower budget film, so don't expect any serious cgi etc., but for classic noir fans, it's not needed, and probably wouldn't help.

Overall it stacks up favorably against most good vs evil battles in that the characters and events have something real about them, not just strict servants of the story arc that you find so often in horror.

I was pleasantly surprised, anyway.

Okay, I watched this because it was on Netflix's list of films being deleted for instant play. I guess they ran out of server space or something. I'm not that familiar with Bollywood films, but this is not my first one.

I'll skip the synopsis. As an American, I found Yogesh's American-ness and Priyanka's (whichever version's) endless chicago references very entertaining. Outside of that, The Pros: 1. Priyanka. If you just want to watch her all day, it's a good movie for that.

2. It's actually funny most of the way through, even the awkward bits with the debt and the spying. The parents of Priyankas (Priyanki?) were also very entertaining.

3. The music, mostly. There are several good Indian songs, and maybe a couple western style ones that didn't work so well. There's one in there that reminded me of scandanavian metal.

4. Dancing. I get that this is the best part of a bollywood film. American movies haven't been up to this since the 1950s.

The Cons: 1. Length. At 3+1/2 hours, you have to have a lot of story, and WYR runs out after about 2 hours, like any romantic comedy. Everything about the situation has already been said, and we roll on with less interesting stuff. If it's too long for you, just skip ahead to the Priyanka scenes you're probably watching it for.

2. Social Messages. I see a lot of people saying this was a plus, but I felt like the film was hitting me over the head with political correctness. I suspect if I were an Indian I'd be actually offended. It's the movies job to entertain us, not reprogram us.

3. Not everything quite works in the story. It misses the opportunity for a play on Priyanka playing all the girls, and plot development threads don't really go anywhere. That in mind, it's okay to skip through them to browse for pure entertainment.

Overall it was as substantive as a western romantic comedy, but no more, so light on content, but very entertaining.