Luckiest Girl Alive

Based on Jessica Knoll’s novel that made it to the New York Times’ bestseller list, the film adaptation of Luckiest Girl Alive is interesting; intriguing even.

Beginning with an unremarkable, cliched premise of a gazillion times made-for-television movie — ie. of a small-town girl with a natural acumen for good writing, hustling her way to the top of the magazine business — it takes a good 40-something minutes before we realise the USP (unique selling point) of this enterprise: effervescing, handicapping angst.

Tifani Fanelli (Mila Kunis) — who goes by Ani because the shorthand of the name is chic in the fashion magazine world — knows how to turn a bland headline into a scintillating, racy text that will sell magazine covers. Mostly writing about lascivious subjects, she has long masked her natural flair for the written word, and her inborn characteristics, to favour the established norm.

Calling her a chameleon, social climber and a fraud might be appropriate — she calls out her own sham quite a bit as she narrates her own story — but then again, it might just be as inapt because the only one she is damaging — or holding back — is herself.

In the middle of this very titillating peek into the mind of a screwed-up woman is an event that scarred Ani’s psyche, and gave her the conviction to be who she currently is.

Ani, who studied at a prestigious school that was way above her family’s middling, humble stature, was raped by two of her schoolmates. Kept secret at first, the incident eventually triggered a shootout at the school where Ani became a survivor and a saviour. Now, as Ani’s wedding looms closer to the perfect man belonging to an elite family, a documentary filmmaker is making a film on the incident.

Luckiest Girl Alive is not about the documentary, nor is it about one of the rapists who, stuck in a wheelchair after the incident, is rallying against gun-violence, while releasing a book of his account of what happened; the story is about Ani and her demons.

As the running time ramps up, one becomes invested in Ani’s story — Mila Kunis gives her career best as Ani — despite knowing exactly how it will end.

Luckiest Girl Alive should be an Oscar contender for Mila Kunis’s acting and the screenplay. Do Baaraa was a box-office bomb when it came out in August and doesn’t fare any better on Netflix

Luckiest Girl Alive, trending right now at Netflix, should be an Oscar contender for Kunis’s acting and the screenplay; maybe, given the lack of good releases this year, who knows, it might end up being just that. Even if it does not, this is still a darn good movie.

Adapted into a screenplay by Jessica Knoll, the novel’s author, Luckiest Girl Alive is directed by Mike Barker (he helmed episodes of Sandman and The Handmaid’s Tale). The film is rated suitable for ages 18 and over, for adult themes and actions of screwed up mature people

Do Baaraa

Being the official remake of the Spanish time travel film Mirage (starring Money Heist’s Professor, Álvaro Morte) doesn’t help Do Baaraa, nor do the spin on the words do and baaraa — i.e. two and twelve; or to be precise, twelve-past-two in the morning.

This Anurag Kashyap directed mess starring Tapsee Pannu, possibly Netflix’s favourite star, is an unthinkingly written, unengaging whodunit about a boy in the past who, thanks to an electromagnetic storm, sees a woman in the future via his camcorder and television.

There is a murder and a death that changes the present, and then changes the past, and then, as a consequence, changes the present again.

Don’t be fooled by this intriguing sounding premise. Kashyap’s un-kinetic take takes all the fun out of this story, which one can decipher in 10 minutes.

Pannu’s take on the character is all wrong (the emotions she is directed to give don’t fit the scenes). Also, there is nary any action, and the characters mostly indulge in exposition, which should never be the case in any film.

Do Baaraa was a box-office bomb when it came out in August — as it should have been, given its OTT-like stripped-down production quality. Even on Netflix, where most Pakistanis will see it, it doesn’t fare any better.

Streaming on Netflix, Do Baaraa is rated suitable for ages 16 and over, because of scenes featuring adult situations

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 23rd, 2022