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Reviewspreviews
Lucky Number Slevin
Lucky Number Slevin, starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freedman and Lucy Liu and directed by Paul McGuigan, is all about a gambling debt, and the troubles it puts one man through.
After losing his job and finding his girlfriend in bed with another man, Slevin heads to New York at the behest of his best friend Nick. With no end to his run of bad luck, he is mugged (and has his nose broken in the process) on the way to Nick’s apartment. Making matters worse, his host is no where to be found, and a case of mistaken identity suddenly puts Slevin in the middle of a war between two of New York City’s rival gangs.
Within a matter of minutes, Slevin finds himself having to kill an individual known as the Fairy, while having to pay over thirty grand in unpaid gambling debts. If things weren’t bad enough, Detective Brikowski as well as the infamous assassin Goodkat (Willis) are hot on his trail, making an already difficult situation even worse.
Any movie starring the likes of Hartnett, Willis and Freedman already has a lot to live up to, even before its release. Lucky Number Slevin is certainly one movie that lives up to the hype. Though the first half of the movie, at times, seemingly makes no sense, a startling twist in the plot near the end that no one could have predicted answers everyone’s questions.
In addition, superb performances by the expensively assembled cast (including a fifteen-minute spell in which a towel-clad Hartnett is abducted and threatened by the mob) play their part in making this a flick well worth watching. – Amyn Bhamani
The ProducersThere is a scene in The Producers where Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane), by himself, reiterates the entire film in a jaunty musical number, which is exceedingly long and ineffective. Apart from that, the remake of the original film with the same director (Susan Stroman) and principal players is a real howler.
Bailystock is an insolvent Broadway producer, forced to romance mature women into financing his endeavors. Enter Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick), a hesitantly apprehensive accountant who, while going over Bailystocks books, inspires a plan to raise excessive money on a sure-to-fail abomination, Springtime for Hitler, and pocket the difference as the production goes belly up.
And why exactly does this movie work? The extravagant escapades of Leo and Max bring the touch of a classic redone in the fashion of a rip-off, which it is, scene-by-scene. But the legitimate freshness of the cast and crew brings it towards a near classic status, especially with Uma Thurman reprising the role of Ulla, whose last name has over 15 syllables alone. If only the initially mentioned scene was shorter. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all. — Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
AnkaheeInstead of scrutinizing Hollywood DVDs for drawing inspiration, this time Vikram Bhatt draws it from his very own life in Ankahee. The much blown-up scandal of the director’s extramarital affair with ex-Miss Universe Sushmita Sen, comes to life in this latest directorial venture.
Aftab Shivdisani plays the role of Vikram Bhatt, a man torn between two women: his wife (Amisha Patel) and Miss World (Esha Deol), who develops an obsessive love for him.
Vikram Bhatt has handled the sensitive subject with dexterity, and appears to be completely into his element this time around. The layers of detail that he has given to each of the three main characters is noteworthy and he succeeds in making a point after several twists and turns.
Vikram also succeeds in not creating a run off the mill Bollywood masala; surprising, as the story has great potential to fall into that category. This is all thanks to the director’s fresh approach towards the extra marital affair theme, which proved to be the saving grace of the movie.
Each of the three pivotal characters is well etched and the dilemmas faced by each of them are well portrayed. He also doesn’t make the other woman appear as a villain; he rather makes her a manic depressive who would go to any lengths to get the happiness that she used to find in her man.
But the film is in need of sharp editing as some scenes tend to get lengthy at times and the director wastes too much time in introducing the characters in the first half.
Ankahee also works because of the sterling performances by the principle cast. Esha Deol appears on screen as a glamour girl with a deepening emptiness in her life like never before. She catches the viewers by surprise with her performance, delivering some razor sharp dialogues. Aftab Shividisani plays the weak husband with thorough perfection. Amisha Patel too seems to be in form this time, after doing so many forgettable roles in forgettable movies. — Azeem Haider
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