February 17, 2002

In a trap
A comedy in essence and originally a Mexican movie titled La Gran Vida, Living it up is a fun movie starring Martin (Carmelo Gsmez). A bus driver, Martin is bored with his life. One fine day when he can’t take the pressure any more, he stops the bus and runs to the edge of a bridge to commit suicide. Here he meets a mysterious character Salva (Fernando Valverde) who proposes to Martin the perfect way of ending his life — borrow 100 million dollars from the mafia for a week on fifty percent interest markup, live it up and then commit suicide after blowing the cash. In return Salva asks for 15 percent for his services.

With nothing to lose, Martin accepts the offer and gets the money by offering his life as collateral. He lives lavishly, spends millions at the drop of a hat, throws parties for complete strangers; which is where he meets the lovely Lola (the ravishing Salma Hayek). Martin falls for the waitress only to realize that it’s too late for him to back out of his deal. The week is up, the money is gone and he can, in no possible way, repay the outstanding amount as, now, he doesn’t want to die.

Although a dubbed movie, Living it up has seldom a dull moment. The lines are intelligent and director’s grip turns it into a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Comes highly recommended for romantic cum thriller buffs though romance exceeds the thrills! —Jawad Daud

A movie on the go
Code red is a small time B-movie where a group of US elite soldiers are sent to the East African continent to capture a precarious weapon — an alien.

With new actors, the movie starts when a group of US soldiers are ambushed and massacred. An SOS is sent and James Donley (Daniel Stern), an ex-army dishonoured commando of the army is recalled and asked to serve his country in this hour of desperation. Donley with his old troops has to stop a fail-safe button which has been activated in a nuclear station. Play-safe meaning that in about 48 hours the whole station would be destroyed by the activated computer. The play-safe is not only the thing they have to discharge, there are other things involved — things that move and eat human flesh.

Code Red is okay where there is nothing else to watch as things are never dull or slow during the course of the operation. A so-so movie. —Khurrum Anis

A wedding to see
If you are interested in weddings, then Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding is the film for you.

This comedy flick focuses on a Punjabi family who are about to celebrate their daughter’s marriage. With just days to go, the final preparations are chaotically put in place amidst the arrival of another family. Things get tense among the family members when hidden secrets and fears threaten to disrupt the wedding and destroy family relationships for good. Aditi (Vasundhara Das) is marrying Hemant (Parvin Dabas), an Indian guy who lives in the US. But Aditi has a past relationship with Vikram (Sameer Arya) and here her cousin Vasundhara (Shefali) has a past as well. A past that wrecks family ties a day before the wedding is about to take place.

As Nair is noted for tackling difficult issues, it’s no surprise to find that this is not just a film about a wedding. She cleverly uses it to examine the stresses facing a family in modern Delhi. Genre wise it’s an Indian comedy with a fair sprinkling of English, Hindi and Punjabi. The director treats the taboo topic extremely well. At the end of the movie, you’ll either want to get married or at least attend a Punjabi wedding! In short... a great movie to watch for this weekend. —Nazia Mirza

An aristocratic murder
The first thing that one notices while watching the film Gosford Park is the glaring class difference-alongwith the similarities among themes.

It’s two different worlds — the rich and their servants, one lot upstairs and one below, with their different respective problems and lives. The servants tend to discuss the masters and thus the viewers get to know the characters through them. Set in an aristocratic background in the 1930s countryside palatial manor, the guests have collected for a hunt, as was the fashion in those days. One sees an army of servants for a few guests, and of course fighting husbands and wives, lecherous older men and bullying husbands cheating on their wives. Thus continue lavish lunches, dinners and the hunt until the man of the house is murdered and things go topsy turvy. As he is not popular he does not have too many sympathizers including his wife. Police detectives are called in and do their questioning and in the end the guests are allowed to leave when they are satisfied.

Based on a murder mystery novel Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, Gosford Park has the required ingredients of a suspense British thriller with that typical stamp of the writer.

An interesting story for those who love a quiet film. —K.H