Category: Blog Series

Wolf Children: The Heartfelt Journey of Family, Identity, and Unconditional Love

Stories about a mother’s love are not rare. There are several films produced depicting the transcending care and affection of motherhood. However, the fantasy drama; Wolf Children, portrays the authentic and heart-rending beauty of motherhood and the challenges surrounding being a single parent. We’re human; it reminds the viewers. We make mistakes, choose different lives, discover ourselves in moments of despair, we learn and we grow. Mamoru Hosoda masterfully displays the beauty of motherhood, beauty of life and identity through his resounding movie; The Wolf Children. A Short Summary The movie belongs to the fantasy, drama genre. The boundaries between realism and fantasy are blurred keeping the viewer intrigued about the differences tempting us to make comparisons between our explorations…

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The Cinematic Masterpiece that is “Girl, Interrupted.”

‘Girl, Interrupted’ to me, is all the cliché, out there, movies that try to tackle sensitive, timely topics done the right way. The movie brings to life a range of extremely delicate matters and truly is the holy grail of all mental illnesses and the closely associated institutionalization of them. Moving on, I’m sorry not sorry for the spoilers, and more than that, for now making you want to watch a movie that will probably linger in your minds for years to come! The Basics The basics first: it falls under the ‘thriller’ genre, and more particularly, under ‘psychological thriller', and has a run-time of 2 hours, 7 minutes. It was released all the way in 1999 and was produced…

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The Dark Connotations Behind the Film ‘Spirited Away’

Seldom do films manage to transport us back to our childhood while simultaneously eluding us as to their true significance. Fewer animated films are able to accomplish this. Spirited Away is one such rarity. Even now, I often find myself constantly speculating the hidden meanings behind particular characters and scenes. Warning: spoilers ahead! The film centers around a young girl named Chihiro, who wanders into the spirit realm, is separated from her parents and is forced to work in the bath house there to ensure her survival. The film revolves around her journey as she navigates her way into adulthood, taking responsibility for herself and her parents. The role that toxic workplace cultures play in a global capitalist economy is…

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Timeless Elegance Unveiled: A Spellbinding Journey Through ‘Downton Abbey’

Several years ago, amidst the not-so-remarkable movie racks at the British Council library, my attention was captured by a disc pack featuring the unmistakable face of Maggie Smith. Faced with limited alternatives and intrigued by Smith's familiarity from her role in Harry Potter, I decided to borrow the first season of "Downton Abbey." Back at home, in a moment of sheer boredom, I nonchalantly inserted the disc into my laptop, unknowingly opening the doors to an aristocratic world teeming with romance, scandal, and drama. Despite my initial, less-than-soaring excitement, this seemingly casual decision to explore "Downton Abbey" unexpectedly transported me into a captivating realm of aristocratic intrigue and historical richness. Before too long, I found myself irresistibly drawn into the…

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“I am not a monster.”

“If only some people can have it, that’s not happiness. That’s just nonsense. Happiness is something anyone can have.” This gut-wrenching quote is extracted from one of the most emotional roller coaster rides of 2023, and that is the renowned Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu's masterpiece, ‘Monster’. One with a faint heart is guaranteed to be left in a pool of tears and an aftermath of angry perceptions of the community we address as "society" after watching this award-winning creation. ‘Monster’ went on to win the Best Screenplay award and the Queer Palm award in the Cannes Film Festival of 2023, after winning the Audience Award of the Vancouver International Film Festival of 2023. This masterwork was also nominated for the…

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Jojo Rabbit: A Review

Jojo rabbit is a war comedy written and directed by Taika Waititi. It is also adapted from Christine Leunen's famous book, " Caging Skies". This movie contains dark humour and deep symbolism woven around the harsh realities faced by the youth during the Nazi period in the city of Falkenheim, Germany. I recently stumbled upon this movie and thought this is a review worthy piece due to its unique approach in unfolding the tragedy of Nazi youth under the rule of Adolf Hitler. The story is told through the perspective of a 10 year old boy, Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) who idolises Hitler and imagines the ruthless dictator as his imaginary best friend. The story wraps around his point…

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Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: A Review

If you're ever asked about the "big three" anime series, don't forget that Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is an absolute must-watch classic. Its captivating storytelling, well-developed characters, and stunning animation make it a masterpiece that's truly worth your time. The story pivots around two brothers who are searching for a philosopher’s stone to restore their bodies after they had committed the taboo of trying to revive their mother which goes as bad as one might expect on trying to revive a dead person. The story is set in a fictional universe where alchemy is a widely practised science. The form of matter an alchemist can manipulate differentiates according to the character, for example, some can manipulate fire particles whilst others can…

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මුඩුක්කු යට ඇඩ්‍රස් නැති ජීවිතවල රූපමය පුනර් කියවීම

ඇඩ්‍රස් නෑ සිනමා කෘතිය පිළිබඳ කෙටි විවරණයකි  “ආලෝකය ඉපදුන ද අන්ධකාරය ද ඉපදුනේය  පොහොසත්කම ඉපදුන ද දුප්පත්කම ද ඉපදුනේය  රජුන් ඉපදුන ද සිගන්නන් ද ඉපදුනේය”       (ඇඩ්‍රස් නෑ සිනමා පටයෙනි) ලෝකය සෑම විට ම පරස්පරතාවයන්ගෙන් යුක්ත වන්නේ ය. අපි එය විවිධත්වය යැයි හඳුනා ගනිමු. එහෙත් එම විවිධත්වය තුළ සෑම විට ම කිසියම් පාර්ශවයක් අසාධාරණයට පත් වන්නේය. එම අසාධාරණය කවදා අවසන් වේදැයි අප නොදනිතත් ඒ පිළිබඳ සමාජ කතිකාවත විටින් විට සමාජ අවකාශයේ මතු වෙයි. මෙම ලිපියෙහි අවධානයට නතු කරන "ඇඩ්‍රස් නෑ" සිනමා නිර්මාණය ද එවැනි සමාජ ගැටලුවක් තේමාව බවට පත් කර ගනියි. එම සමාජ ගැටලුවේ අංශ කිහිපයක් ස්පර්ශ කරමින් ඒ පිළිබඳ පුනර්කතිකාවතක් ඇති කිරීමට නිර්මාණාත්මක වෑයමක් දරයි. ජැක්සන් ඇන්තනී විසින් තිර රචනය හා අධ්‍යක්ෂණය කෙරුණු මෙම නිර්මාණයේ තිර පිටපත…

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Bungou Stray Dogs – A Review

Original title: Bungou Stray Dogs Release date: April 7, 2016 Genre: Action/ Comedy/ Drama I was first introduced to Bungou Stray Dogs through a friend of mine in my early days of watching anime. Having watched Black Butler and Jujutsu Kaisen prior to that (both of them having no similarity other than being supernatural), I was a bit hesitant to try any other anime fearing they would, to put it in a rather blatant manner, “ruin my taste." Finally, however, when I decided to watch, it immediately became my favourite. And to my luck, the 4th and 5th seasons of the anime franchise were soon released in the following year. I ended up binge-watching the entire story several times and…

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Wonka (2023): A Sweet Treat Indeed!

Bringing a quite different outlook to the weird Willy Wonka we know from Roald Dahl,Paul King brings us an interesting story of the young Wonka creating a visual andauditory spectacle. This musical imagining gives us a refreshing origin story of theyoung chocolatier, transporting us through a melodic adventure. Timothée Chalamet’s performance as young Willy Wonka captures innocence and radiatespositivity. It is also noteworthy that Calah Lane’s performance as Noodle addedmuch warmth and enhanced the overall charm of the film, creating an endearingstory. The film is filled with several adventurous turnovers that are entertaining andengaging to the audience (though you might want to watch yourself confrontingDeath by Chocolate because it is not your usual cake from Barista!).  The narrative unfolds, reminding…

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