Christopher Robin Review - A Wonderful Reminder That Hope Is Alive In This Terrible World.

I bet y'all will agree that Christopher Robin + Winnie The Pooh = Childhood Nostalgia.

Marc Forster's live action Christopher Robin is the movie you didn't know you needed. Yeah yeah I know, the trailer and everything suggests that the film is a honey syrup sweet thing you might want to stay away from. But hey, you're highly mistaken. This version of A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard's 1920 classic has an enchanting, low-key vibe that is, here and there, brushed with a lots of traces of adult melancholy. It’s good for kids, definitely, but maybe even better for adults who could use a little calming.

It begins with Christopher's farewell party with all his forest friends in the 100 Acre Wood. What follows is a 5 minutes montage narrating the happenings in Christopher's life after leaving the place - boarding school, job, family, daughter, work pressure etc.
The incidents are introduced via chapters that are dead ringers for artist E.H. Shepard’s illustrations in the books — (a sublime touch, this. :'))

Director Marc Forster, the type of player who’s done everything from batshit absurdism-lite (Stranger Than Fiction) to Bond flicks (Quantum of Solace), intense character dramas (Monster’s Ball) and postapocalyptic zombie epics (World War Z), evokes the same magic here. Every time things start to get a bit goopy, we get silent-comedy slapstick from Pooh and other characters.

Screenplay from Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) and Alex Ross Perry (the guy behind Listen Up, Philip?!?) is so powerful, it hits home.

There's one moment, where...
Pooh said “I thought you’d know where my friends are.” 
Christopher Robin: “How am I supposed to know? I haven’t thought of them in 30 years.”
Pooh: “Well, we think of you everyday.” 
The theater gasped. I am telling ya'll. Floodgates were opened but little did we know there was a Tsunami coming. There are so many times during this movie that my heart shattered and the next moment, held me tight. 

In such moments, Christopher Robin feels less like a movie for children than it does a movie for adults — specifically, adults that grew up watching Disney's many Winnie the Pooh cartoons and who are now, like Christopher, struggling against the often unfortunate aspects of adult life.

As we get older, it becomes harder to relate to the carefree nature of Pooh, whose favorite day is always "today" and whose biggest concern is satiating the "rumbly' in his "tumbly."

Kids in the audience will have no problems there, and there are plenty of antics and cute moments to keep them occupied and entertained while their parents nod along to Christopher's grown-up troubles.

If you're a workaholic and gradually let work importance slip in front of your family time... and love getting kicked square in the nuts... Then Yes. This one's for you, my friend.


Performances -

McGregor’s game performance as a confused, conflicted man fighting REAL obstacles like paternal guilt, a marriage on the rocks, missing papers that could cost him his livelihood and his inner selfish self. He’s an actor who can roll with this movie’s punches, whether it requires him to be light on his feet or dragged down by existential despair, exhilarated by childlike play o anything.

A huge factor in this is the fact that Jim Cummings returns to voice both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger — characters he has now portrayed in Pooh cartoons for decades. This film would not have worked as well as it does if Pooh didn't sound exactly as you remember him sounding.

The secret star of “Christopher Robin,” however, is Eeyore (voiced by Brad Garrett). With his sour and cynical asides –“Looks like a disaster; why wasn’t I invited?” – Eeyore does more than steal the show, he undergirds the action with his heightened sense of doom. Sometimes you feel you're Christopher and most of the times, Eeyore.

Verdict - The film has lighthearted moments, but it's not a lighthearted movie. Christopher Robin is a deathly blow to all of us once-kids who made a contract with Winnie the Pooh and the other Friends. It is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking.
Every adult needs to watch Christopher Robin and remember the important things in life – Growing up is inevitable, but never forget to look back on what's important.

Sometimes the timing of a good story is everything, and this particular story comes at a time when the world at large needs a little more hope, a little more innocence and a lot more Pooh.

This is gonna be one of my favorite movies of all time, I just know it. And anyone who tries to break Pooh’s heart and not watch this film, is getting one from me.
Hold my honey jar, Mom! I am getting my stick. 👊🙄

Ratings - 4.3/5

Karwaan - A Ride For Life

Cast - Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar, Amala Akkineni, Kriti Kharbanda

Runtime - 2 hrs

Director - Akarsh Khurana

Hardly ever does Bollywood come up with such subtle yet magnificent storytelling.  Karwaan is a story of rumination and awakenings, and as in life, here too, such things rarely happen with drumrolls and festoon shows. And that's exactly why the film shines.

Akarsh Khurana, Bejoy Nambiar and Hussain Dalal's writing ensures this "drive," is smooth and pleasant. 

The scenic journey from Bengaluru to Kochi through the beautiful Western Ghats and Prateek Kuhad’s soothing songs cocoon you inside a familiar world and convince you that, may be, it’s time to stop being so hard on yourself, much like the characters in the film.

Somewhere along the way, these characters bond, lighten up, change and grow up.

What remains consistent from start to finish is cinematographer Avinash Arun's inventige, expansive frames. I mean a low angle shot of DQ reading a paper framed against a backdrop of thick green trees is breathtaking to say the least.

As someone who has followed Dulquer Salmaan's career from the beginning, I confess I was apprehensive when I realized that Akarsh Khurana would be directing his first Bollywood film, considering what a fuzzy bomb Sumeet Vyas starrer High Jack was. 

But I an glad I was proven wrong. Karwaan sure isn't a bone crushing beauty of the sort of movies DQ has done in the past.

But here we have a director and a star collaborating to give a script priority over everything else, which is something Bollywood rarely does.

So yeah, Props to Mr. Khurana for that.

At one point, a character in this movie explains that he is not sure whether Mr. X was a "good person" but it is clear that he was "not bad" which, in itself, is quite something in this day and age.

It has its share of shortcomings like the white racism and "appropriate clothing" gyan but it is admirsbly purposeful and unwavering. By emphasizing that a girl and a guy can just be friends, this road-trip film is also proof that you can find yourself without letting a manufactured love story derail it.

The appropriate description for Karwaan would be -

It isn't earth shattering, but it isn't bad at all. Which is another way of saying it is an intelligent, funny, thoughtful, an "almost" flawless movie and a pleasant experience. 

And if for nothing else, Karwaan can be watched for its performances alone.

This kind of dry, dark humor is made for actors like Irrfan Khan. His impeccable style of delivering lines with deadpan eccentricity makes even a deadbeat situation funny. I mean, who else could make "Aye, Maiyyat pe romance nahi ha," sound funny?

 Kriti Kharbanda is disarmingly fresh as her character is required to be. Why don't we see more of her in Bollywood?

Likewise, Dulquer Salmaan brings just the right amount of intensity to a character who is bored with his life but doesn't bore you.

His understated and quiet performance strings the narrative into a smooth flow. 

Here you don’t get a glimpse of the star from  Malayalam cinema, rather, you realise why he’s a star. 

With the limited screentime, Mithila Palkar is decent as the quirky millennial.

It's essentially a meditation on mortality, grief, and letting go - an ingenious set up that gives birth to a terrific coming-of-age drama. 

The strength of this film lies in its ability to find humour in hair-brained situations.

This one will stay with me forever. ❤️

So go, get your tickets! You can thank me later. 

Ratings - 3.5/5