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Soon as it begins, even before the opening credits start on the screen, “Ava” gives the impression of a fancy Hollywood action-thriller. As our central character Ava Faulkner (Jessica Chastain) cruises the French countryside on a Land Rover, going to make a kill, we are given to believe we are watching a stylistically generic, fast-paced, femme fatale movie.

Ava Faulkner is a ruthless killer who works for an unnamed organization specializing in eliminating ‘targets’ sent to them. And by what we see, Ava is their best employee. Even her immediate boss Duke (John Malkovich) agrees. Stealthily, without blowing her cover, Ava has removed dozens of targets around the world, never getting caught.

But there’s evidently more to Ava than just a hired assassin. The movie tries to build its protagonist’s character and give us behind-the-scenes of a life mired in violence. Briefly, as the film progresses, it tricks us into believing that Ava is not just another femme fatale movie. We start thinking the film could be another female-centric heavyweight action thriller like “Salt” (2010) or “Lucy” (2016).

Unfortunately, the film, in trying to strike balance between action and drama, fails on both fronts. It is neither an out-and-out action film that you watch, enjoy and forget. Nor is it a gritty drama that you watch, enjoy and introspect. Ava swings like a pendulum between the two ends and never strikes the right time.

Writer Matthew Newton spent too much time layering Ava’s character, so much so other important characters like her boss Duke (Malkovich) and her colleague-turned-nemesis Simon (Colin Farrell) do not get nearly enough screen time. Without the backing of a good script and direction, it is disappointing to watch both these talented actors struggle to register their presence. Even Chastain in her lead role does not make much of an impact because of sloppy filmmaking.

To add to the drama, the filmmakers have us meet Ava’s estranged family in Boston, US, where she is confronted by her painful past. We see that Ava’s a recovering addict who had left home after family problems. As she goes back home following her father’s death, she has to try find closure with her sister Judy (Jess Weixler), mother Bobbi (Geena Davis), and ex-fiancé Michael (Common). Complications multiply as she finds out that Michael is now engaged to Judy. So the family drama takes some of the screen time but, again, with a weak script, the execution is sub-par.

The more we look at the cast in the film, the more we are disappointed with “Ava”. Lead actor Chastain makes up for many of the film’s flaws with her convincing portrayal of a disturbed assassin. But the rest of the cast does not even get an opportunity to exert their presence. Any film with Malkovich or Farrell has probably never been this disappointing. Director Tate Taylor, a-last minute replacement following a controversy (look it up!) could probably do no better with the script he got. Or maybe even he’s one of the culprits behind this disaster.

Who should watch it?

Not recommended for action-film connoisseurs. Frankly, we’ve seen better action sequences in low-budget non-Hollywood movies. But with no other interesting new Netflix releases, if you’ve really got nothing to do, you might as well spend around 90 minutes on it.

Genre: Action/Drama

Rating: 2 stars

Run time: 1hr 36mins

Actors: Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, John Malkovich

Director: Tate Taylor

Three young college graduates, all close friends, aspire to realize their ultimate dream in Bengaluru, India’s IT capital. Their dream mirrors that of thousands of other IT graduates in the Indian subcontinent—to launch their own startup and make it big.

So Kapil (Priyanshu Painyuli), Yash (Chandrachoor Rai) and Vinay (Shadab Kamal) compete hard against other techies like themselves to sell their ideas and get funds to start their company. Among the three, Kapil seems the most motivated, coming up with ideas for apps that are sometime as absurd as putting wi-fi enabled transmitters on underwear so that they’re not lost. Even with their goals set, the boys from middle-class families also work as employees in tech companies for a living.

Then, one day, while volunteering in rural Karnataka, Kapil sees a person die before him for lack of a life-saving injection that is otherwise easily available in cities. That gives him an idea for a startup. With both Yash and Vinay’s support on this one, the trio start a company called CarryKaro, which is supposed to work like an aggregator for medicinal supplies in rural areas, using commuters to the areas as carriers. In short, CarryKaro is to be an “Uber for medicines.”

They start well but soon run out of cash. Enter a rich heir, Veer Diwan (Rajeev Siddhartha), with a major investment. But the trouble is only just starting. As the company gets bigger, so do differences between the friends, resulting in many arguments and separations. How these young techies deal with their sudden success and the sheer brutality of corporate world is what the movie “Upstarts” is all about.

Released in October 2019, Upstarts is a low-budget Hindi-language movie that takes the audience behind-the-scenes of the tech world. With a cast of new comers and lesser-known faces, the film portrays the hardships behind technological advances we see and also celebrates the number of startups that fail.

Directed by Udai Singh Pawar, the independent film is not commercialized to suit Bollywood audiences though. Upstarts rather takes a more realistic approach in dealing with the subject and maintains its integrity as a serious, non-nonsense film throughout.

As much as it's a work of fiction, Upstarts is based on a storyline that could well be a true story out of Bengaluru, or any other up-and-coming city in the world. What is also interesting is that the writers include industry jargons and financial explanations that give the audience a bit of education along with entertainment.

Even with its less-experienced cast and no ‘star power’ to drive it, the film does not feel amateurish at any point. The actors seem to follow the script by the book and overall filmmaking appears perfect for a Netflix release.

Had the film not been a grueling 1hr 52mins long, the viewing would have been that much better. We appreciate that the film does not get too fictional or melodramatic or masala-laced but without Bollywood’s filmy elements, the feature length feels a little too long.

Who should watch it?

Even if it is not that popular or commercially successful, Upstarts can be an inspiring film for young entrepreneurs or IT students. For the rest, the story of struggles, successes and failures is also definitely worth a watch.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Drama

Cast: Priyanshu Painyuli, Chandrachoor Rai, Shadab Kamal

Director: Udai Singh Pawar

Run time: 1hr 52mins

“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr has a piece of my heart, one of those books that makes me sigh whenever I see its spine on the bookshelf. I wish I could forget every word I read and then discover it all over again. The winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction tells the story of a blind French girl and a German boy as they try to survive the devastation of the Second World War. It’s heartbreaking. It’s beautiful. Doerr’s language casts a spell.

I came across “Four Seasons in Rome” as I was hunting through the shelves at Pilgrims Bookstore in Thamel, Kathmandu, looking for something fun and uplifting to read. I’d had a rather long bout of bad luck with books. I was sure Doerr would get me out of the rut. He did. And how.

Anthony Doerr

Four Seasons in Rome is a memoir/travel book about a year in Doerr’s life after he wins a prestigious award. The prize is a year in Rome with a writing studio and an apartment at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He gets the news on the day his wife gives birth to twins. As he was already researching for what would go on to become the bestselling novel, All the Light We Cannot See, he figures he could use a year to sit down, focus, and write. So, the couple moves to Rome when the twins are just six-months old.

This relatively short book (compared to his other works) is a breezy read, one that takes you into the heart of fascinating alleyways, sweet-smelling bakeries, and stunning architectural marvels of Rome. It makes you want to get on the next flight to discover the city for yourself. His detailed descriptions paint a vivid picture and you want to be there, taking it all in.

Though the book is mainly about Rome and navigating life in a new city where everything feels foreign yet familiar at the same time, it’s also equally about parenthood, the bittersweetness of life, and the ultimate truth that everything is impermanent. Doerr keeps reminding you that life is “sweet, made sweeter because of its impermanence”. His words wash over you and often succeed in getting you to put the book down and take a minute to be grateful for all that you have.

However, Doerr’s strongest point is the way he writes. He isn’t writing to impress. He keeps things simple, which is often the hardest thing to do when writing. It keeps you engaged and intrigued. Reading Four Seasons in Rome is like having a one-on-one conversation with the author—one that has you falling in love right from the start.

Biography

Four Seasons in Rome

Anthony Doerr

Published: 2007

Publisher: 4th Estate

Language: English

Pages: 210, Paperback

Indian filmmaker Anurag Basu tries to pull off a Quentin Tarantino in his latest film “Ludo”. He co-produces, co-cinematographs, writes and directs an ensemble cast, and plays a prominent cameo. Also in the blueprint of Tarantino movies, Ludo has a nonlinear storyline, aestheticizes violence, and has a soundtrack that is a mixtape of various genres—with a classic Bollywood song repeatedly used as motif—and sheer unpredictability.

But is Ludo going to be a cult classic like “Pulp Fiction” or “Jackie Brown”? Only time will tell. The response so far has been promising for this toned-down action, crime-comedy movie.

As in a game of Ludo—a variant of Pachisi that originated in India—the movie Ludo has four different players. Akash Chauhan (Aditya Roy Kapur) apparently has a PhD in Arts but works as a small-time voice-over artist and ventriloquist. One day, he finds there’s a sex video of him circulating on the internet. His partner in the video, Shruti Choksi (Sanya Malhotra), is about to get married to someone else. Akash sets out to make it right to save Shruti’s marriage.

Alok Kumar “Alu” Gupta (Rajkummar Rao) is a conman turned dhaba-owner who’s still in love with his childhood crush Pinky Jain (Fatima Sana Shaikh). But for Pinky, he’s just a friend who helps her whenever she is in trouble. Pinky is married and has a child with Manohar (Paritosh Tripathi). When Manohar is taken into custody as a murder-accused, Pinky asks Alok for help again. And again, Alok decides to get her out of trouble, even at the cost of losing everything he owns.

Then there is Batukeshwar “Bittu” Tiwari (Abhishek Bachchan) who’s just out of the slammer after serving a six-year attempt-to-murder sentence and wants to get back to normal life with his wife Asha (Asha Negi) and daughter Ruhi. The fourth player, or players, are salesboy Rahul Awasthi (Rohit Suresh Saraf) and nurse Sheeja Thomas (Pearle Maaney)—two strangers who by chance come across a million-rupee in cash and become partners in crime.

All four players in Ludo get entangled with each other and are moved around by Rahul Satyendra “Sattu Bhaiya” Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi) who seems to be the metaphorical dice in the movie. Had Anurag Basu stuck to the four players and their interactions with each other, all being dominated by how the dice (Saatu Bhaiya) rolls, the movie would have had a faster pace and steadier momentum. But Basu spoils his own broth with too many sub-plots that make Ludo seem more like snakes and ladders. The movie’s length of 2hrs 29mins also gets lousy at times, only proving that Mr Basu is no Tarantino—not yet. 

Otherwise, everything else about the movie exudes brilliance. Acting is almost flawless, probably because of the cast of talented actors, and because individual screen time is too short for the characters to goof up. The script, despite indulging in multiple storylines, is nonetheless intact till the end where the climax waits with a few surprises and a revelation.

But if anything needs to be applauded, it has to be the cinematography. Basu, with fellow cinematographer Rajesh Shukla, creates magical moments with camerawork and lighting. The colors of Ludo board game are carefully assigned to Akash (yellow), Alok (green), Bittu (red) and Rahul-Sheeja (yellow). These color schemes appear onscreen whenever the respective characters are showcased, sometimes subtly and sometimes very noticeably. Camera angles and lighting set an uncanny mood, again mimicking Tarantino style.

Who should watch it?

Ludo is one of the best new releases on Netflix in the past few months, so why not? Especially, if you watched the recent disaster called Laxmii (Bomb). You definitely need to watch Ludo to get you out of coma.

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Action/comedy

Director: Anurag Basu

Actors: Rajkummar Rao, Rohit Suresh Saraf, Sheeja Thomas, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi

Run time: 2hrs 29mins