I have to confess that this blog has made me indulge in some meaningful activity during weekends in this barren land (read Gurgaon). Watching this movie in PVR was a great experience.
Some excerpts from the audience in the cinema hall:
Excerpt 1: “Kya movie banayi hai yaar, kya concept hai, ek dum sexxyyy”
Excerpt 2: “Theek thaak hai… Director bahut aalsi (Lazy) hoga… “
Excerpt 3: “kuch samaj hi nahi aa raha hai be… ek hi story ko ghuma ghuma ke kyun dikha rahe hai…”
Excerpt 4: “Rashomon style of narration, nothing new…”
Excerpt 1: “Kya movie banayi hai yaar, kya concept hai, ek dum sexxyyy”
Excerpt 2: “Theek thaak hai… Director bahut aalsi (Lazy) hoga… “
Excerpt 3: “kuch samaj hi nahi aa raha hai be… ek hi story ko ghuma ghuma ke kyun dikha rahe hai…”
Excerpt 4: “Rashomon style of narration, nothing new…”
Ahem… Ahem… Excerpt 4 was mine :). Thanks to my friend Keerthi who introduced me to the world of Akira Kurosawa. Rashomon was a masterpiece by this genius.
Rashomon style narrates an event with conflicting accounts by different witnesses in a manner that the truth is difficult to be verified.
Rashomon style narrates an event with conflicting accounts by different witnesses in a manner that the truth is difficult to be verified.
Vantage Point deals with an event in a similar way. The event in this movie is an attempted assassination of the US President during an anti-terrorism summit in Spain. The event actually spans across 25 odd minutes of this act. But it is accounted by 8 different witnesses. Unlike Rashomon, the truth actually unfolds as the director moves from one account to another. The director has definitely innovated in this regard by weaving the story in manner that each narration by a witness unfolds new dimensions to the plot behind the act. The plot thickens as we move from one narration to another and takes you by surprise by the time it peaks. The climax is slightly filmi-ishtyle, because by this time you realise that the truth is totally revealed. The director could have run that extra mile to make this climax more interesting in terms of secrecy.
Performances by all the characters are decent. Dennis Quaid perfectly potrays his character of a Secret Service agent who is trying to gather himself after an incident in which he took bullets aimed at the President. Forest Whitaker’s narration of the incident was little slow and disappointing; the director missed out on only this end. Other narrations are good; some might even surprise you.
Overall, the movie is a good watch for people who like this style of narration. The Director definitely deserves a pat in his back for his innovation with the Rashomon style. All in all, if you are game for something different this week and you have not seen Rashomon; then go ahead, watch this movie.
Rating: ***1/2
Cheers to Cinema!
