The Hidden Face (2011)

Now this one was a big surprise from Colombia! In his "The Hidden Face" (2011), a Spanish-Colombian production, writer-director Andres Baiz takes a rather simple premise, disorganizes the story a little bit, adds a rather interesting gimmick and makes the film work based solely on it, and even manages to keep us glued to our seats!

How does he do that? Well, it all begins when an up-and-coming orchestra conductor, Adrian (Quim Gutiérrez) finds a video message from his girlfriend Belen (Clara Lago) saying that she is leaving him and that this was the only way to end their arguments! She also asks him not to look for him and that she loves him but cannot stay on with him. A distraught Adrian immediately takes to alcohol, visits a nearby bar, meets a beautiful waitress Fabiana (Martina García), who somehow instantly takes a liking for him, and soon ends up in bed with him!

One wonders how a young girl can be so dumb as to take a drunk stranger home! Nonetheless, you tend to excuse these unconvincing developments that happen rather quickly in the life of our protagonist, and move on as Fabiana practically starts to live in with Adrian in his isolated mansion-like house, in a quiet setting, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. A beautiful house, with surroundings that seem to be right out of some nature painting, make Fabiana fall in love with the place.

But there’s something sinister about it. Fabiana who loves to bathe in Adrian’s rather luxurious bathroom starts to hear things, possibly from under the bathtub or from within the bathroom sink. Water filled in the sink automatically creates ripples. 

She begins to think that the place is haunted by a ghost and complains to Adrian, who, of course, promptly laughs it all off. Fabiana gets increasingly freaked out as the happenings in the bathroom get weirder. More shock comes in for Fabiana when two cops, investigating the disappearance of Belen, show up at Adrian’s door and it is established that he is a suspect, for Belen is untraceable. Halfway through, we enter a flashback mode that provides a background of Adrian’s relationship with Belen. This back-story gradually reveals the mystery behind her disappearance and subsequently piques your interest in the remainder of the film.

It is the structuring of Baiz’s screenplay that intrigues you. In fact, the narrative device used in the film isn’t new to those acquainted with some earlier Spanish thrillers/dramas. For example, Baiz’s story-telling style closely resembles that of some of Pedro Almodovar’s later films, in which the essentially non-linear narrative has a series of long flashbacks that contain big plot related reveals.  

They come out one by one in a layered fashion and gradually surprise us instead of the now famous one-big-shocking-twist-in-the-end tactic! Baiz’s film also brings to mind J.A. Bayona’s horror film "The Orphanage" (2007). Although the plot itself is completely different from this film or any of Almodovar’s films, the narrative is organized in a somewhat similar fashion. Baiz uses this form as a clever maneuver that pays off. 

It is all the more commendable because just when you start writing off the film as a pedestrian spook story with cheap jump scares, Baiz brings in his trump card that ironically twists the story in a fashion that pulls you right back in and restores your attention! He also adds a bonus in the form of POV shots and repeats some scenes by making us look at them from an entirely different perspective later in the film, that further makes us commend the director’s creativity. Baiz builds a considerably claustrophobic thriller with a minimal setting with three primary characters and therein lies his talent. He keeps you hooked despite some predictabilities interspersed within its twists. It is interesting how, at one point, the story gives out a feel of an atmospheric gothic horror fiction.

However, a thriller like this doesn’t come without its holes, a couple of glaring ones too. But it is Baiz’s handling that makes us see through the imperfections, and focus on the greater concern of the culmination of the story. It is the final half hour of the film that is the most riveting and guaranteed to keep you guessing 'til the very end. It is another story that the eventual conclusion of the story could’ve been a bit more satisfying than the one chosen by our writers in an attempt to perhaps tone down the disturbing quotient. 

The acting leaves a little bit to be desired too, with Martina García being mostly expressionless and wooden. Her talent then, lies in getting naked, which she does on several occasions in the film. Lago is decent, but again, slightly disappoints when she has to emote and doesn’t really come across as authentic. The only performance that rises above the rest is by the lead actor Gutierrez, who gets it right for the most part, although it is alarming how the length of his stubble doesn’t seem to change across time gaps!

Nevertheless, the superb story-telling, rife with nail-bitingly suspenseful moments especially in the final act, the claustrophobic atmosphere, the haunting background score and beautiful cinematography, capturing some breathtaking locales in the plush countryside in Colombia are enough to make "The Hidden Face" a substantially satisfying film experience.

Score: 8/10

**Warning: DO NOT watch the trailer on youtube. In what could be a huge marketing blunder, the trailer reveals an important plot twist in the film!**
 

A Report on the Party and the Guests (1966)

A small group of dapper looking picnickers, men and women, frolic away in some tranquil location in a forest. They gorge on their food and wine and after some random gabbing, start to move on to somewhere else, presumably to their homes or another location. Only they are intercepted by an oddly behaving stranger (Jan Klusak), who is quite possibly a complete screwball, and his group of well-dressed men who forcibly take them to an unknown location.

He subjects them to some very harmless bullying, akin to what a bratty child would do to pacify himself by making some elders play some stupid games with him! The group doesn't seem to mind, barring the exception of one who takes offense. The others just go along, because the crank doesn't seem to be threatening them with anything too detrimental! They continue to humour him, are perhaps being polite or simply want to avoid trouble and get the thing out of the way. 

Soon after, another stranger shows up with his own group. This one's an older gentleman (Ivan Vyskocil), who apologizes for the behavior of the bully who seems to be his adopted son Rudolf! The gentleman proceeds to welcome them to his outdoor birthday party by the lakeside. A newly married bride in a wedding gown joins the troop soon after and the occasion doubles up as a wedding party as well as a birthday party. The event turns out to be an outrageously bizarre affair, especially after the host takes offense when one of the guests takes off leaving a chair empty!

From the above premise, Jan Nemec’s 1966 film "A Report on the Party and the Guests" (AKA "The Party and the Guests") initially may seem like an absurd, idiotic film, perhaps a wannabe surrealist comedy. But dig deep and back to the roots of this film, and you will find why it rubbed some folks, including the ruling party, the wrong way and almost got its director arrested! Although the events that unfold in the film, especially in the final half hour are beyond ridiculous, they are supposed to be a scathing attack on the then Communist state of affairs, highlighting persuasion and forced blind conformity. Those who resist or fly the coop are collectively pursued, tracked down, and brought back with the help of search dogs no less, for walking out is an insult to the host! In each of the little happenings on screen, there is a subtle jab to be found at the communist philosophies. The happenings which, if not seen from this political perspective, may seem totally silly!  The party, in fact, directly refers to the Communist Party!

The film is shot completely outdoors and the cinematography is excellent. Most of the times the camera goes a little too close for comfort, owing to the filmmaker’s fetish for close-ups! It suits the context of surrealism in the film nonetheless, making it an unsettling and oddball film experience. The film also brings forth memories of Luis Bunuel’s 1962 classic "The Exterminating Angel". Just like the frustrating event in which some guests in a party in Bunuel’s film aren’t able to leave the house, our group of guests in Nemec's film are unable to cross a line drawn by Rudolf in the sand around them! Characters behave in the oddest of manners and sometimes seem like individuals with a mental problem, even echoing one person's sentiments in succession in the vein of a "same here" when expressing their opinion about something. But this could very well be an exaggerated representation of the herd mentality, possibly due to fear of being left out, generally exhibited by normal human beings.

Nemec's film also brings to mind The Milgram Experiment conducted in 1961 by a Yale University Psychologist, which tested the willingness of the participants to submit to a person of authority by obeying him/her and perform certain acts even if they went against their moral conscience. Only Nemec's film deals with this concept in a bitingly comic tone banking on the ludicrous and irrational, while it was referenced on a rather disturbing level in last year's "Compliance" (2012).

With a premise like this, a feature length film of this sort could've been in grave danger of venturing into monotony owing to lack of much variation or substance in the narrative. In the end, it is but an allegorical depiction of an ideology through a single occasion, that of a birthday banquet! But Nemec limits the length to a crisp 70 minutes, thereby keeping it concise and not letting it slip into tedium. The screenplay penned by Ester Krumbachova and Jan Nemec showcases some strange episodes and some hilariously disconnected and repetitive dialog for the effect of absurdist humour. 

The film is extremely well acted. Watch out for some laugh out loud acting moments from the excellent Jan Klusak with his wildly funny performance as the maniacal Rudolf. But it is Ivan Vyskocil who takes over in the entire second half, with a splendid performance as a kind, glib host who later turns into an eccentric authoritarian! A strange bit of coincidence (or maybe not!) that Vyskocil in this film resembles Vlamidir Lenin, which further fuelled some controversy and brought the film under the scanner! It is also notable how his character keeps stressing on the word "guests" tinged with a slight sarcasm, as if he doesn’t really mean it! But it is these hidden attacks full of sharp wit in a greater scenario of a comic banquet sequence that make this a very enjoyable, darkly comic psychological drama cum political satire!

"A Report on the Party and the Guests" is a bold, important film from the Czech New Wave. Definitely go for it!

Score: 9/10

Tabu (2012)

Last year, Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes blessed us cinephiles with his masterwork called "Tabu" (2012). That it got lost somewhere in the Oscar rat race is inconsequential, for such films eventually find their audience anyway. This humble reviewer was fortunate enough to lay his lands on this gem, a sumptuous audio-visual feast, a gentle, absorbing film experience that lovingly caresses the senses.

After a strange prologue about an intrepid explorer in the jungles of Africa, whose death gives rise to an old African folklore, about a sad crocodile and a beautiful woman sharing a mysterious pact (!) , we move on to the first part of the film which paints a rather disconcerting picture of three characters that are mostly emotionally or physically detached, slowly drowning in their respective empty pools of loneliness. There's Pilar (Teresa Madruga), a middle-aged, lonesome lady, who has a sadness about her, but is always there for her neighbour and friend, an old lady, Ms. Aurora (Laura Soveral, in a spectacular performance). Ms. Pilar is the only character you can perhaps feel for or respect in this entire episode. But you also fail to understand her when she subtly rejects the advances of her painter friend, a gentleman who shows some genuine interest in her.

Aurora is a cantankerous old woman, but it is difficult to entirely dislike her considering her age and senility. She sometimes doesn’t know what she is talking about and goes gambling based on weird dreams of monkeys and men! Probably her difficult persona and compulsive gambling addiction has made her daughter disown her and put her in the care of a paid full-time maid, Santa (Isabel Cardoso). Santa, an arrogant woman from Africa, is the most robotic and unlikeable of the lot! She only follows the orders of Aurora’s daughter, her employer, least caring that the old woman she is serving needs help. She even asks kindly well-wishers like Pilar to mind their own business, but doesn’t hesitate to ask for their help when in need!

This first part is what Gomes describes as "A Lost Paradise". This part leaves you in a suspended state for a while, not knowing where it is headed. You can see that the lives we are dealing with are quite empty, but what awaits them? And how is this connected to the story of the crocodile?

But then something happens towards the end of this story and Gomes takes us straight to a backstory that shifts the focus of the film entirely to the sultry landscapes of Africa somewhere near Mount Tabu in the early 60s! Here is where we see an entirely different picture of the old lady we are introduced to. Aptly titled "Paradise", in this final part of the film we become audiences to the days of yore of a young and beautiful Aurora (Ana Moreira), and a watershed event in her life in the backdrop of the impending Portuguese Colonial war!

Gomes films entirely in black and white but there’s a huge distinction between the texture of "A Lost Paradise" and "Paradise". The former is shot with a clarity and sharpness not found in the latter half, which in turn has a slightly grainy, coarse look to indicate that the scenes are several years older! This device is a clever move by the director, one that helps in enhancing the rustic quality of this chapter of the story.

While the first part is far more compelling narrative-wise, the second part is more cinematically alluring and aesthetically superior. This section alone garners much of the points. Picture yourself sitting below a tree in the languid, rural countryside in Africa and it is the middle of the afternoon. It is quiet and you are enjoying the solitude, the sounds of the birds, the bees, the water flowing in a nearby stream, while you throw pebbles into it to hear a gentle plop! Yet it’s all quiet anyway and far away at a distance you hear someone playing on a bongo and singing some good old African folk music. Somewhere, not far away, are two individuals conversing with each other. You don’t hear what they speak, you can only see their lips move, but you continue to hear the ambient sounds, and you are completely submitting yourself to them. Yet you continue to gaze at the individuals and enjoy the moment of quietude.

This is the kind of feeling evoked in the entire final hour. It is an almost silent episode, with no dialog! The only sound that is present is the diegetic sound and the tale is told through a poetic voice-over narration of an important character in the film, Gian-Luca Ventura (played by Henrique Espírito Santo and Carloto Cotta in the present and the flashback respectively), who plays an integral part in this episode. The entire second half is shot with a kind of finesse and vision that is rare. 

The scenes in the remote, isolated countryside evoke a sense of longing and nostalgia, and at the same time give you a feeling of filling your lungs with the fresh air as the wind rustles through the tall grass; a commendable feat considering that you experience this only through the breathtaking images, thanks to the fantastic cinematography, and a sound that is music to the ears. There is an ethereal beauty to behold in this episode; a kind of scenario nothing short of paradise! And as the story takes an inevitable turn from a state of tranquility to chaos, it also evokes a sense of melancholy and sadness, of despair and lost love, of guilt and deep regret! The strong performances of Carloto Cotta and Ana Moreira make it all the more real. You are watching it all happen in Aurora’s life, as spectators in that world Gomes calls paradise!

..And somewhere in the middle of all this, appearing like a common link, is the wide-eyed ugly reptile that crawls its way through all the stories, sometimes symbolically and sometimes literally! It appears and disappears and sometimes crosses some forbidden lines. And even though it is shown to be a carnivorous beast that it is, in the beginning, it still carries the sadness of a lost love. Despite the glistening sharp teeth and the wide open jaws ready to devour its victim, the crocodile, in this film, in fact serves as an allegory of undying, unrequited love and longing, that’s in the end, the main theme of this lyrical film!

Where "Tabu" succeeds most, then, is not in its story but in its story-telling! It is the filmmaking technique that surpasses the content of the film itself. The narrative and its structure combined with the camerawork, sound design and the outstanding performances is what makes the film all the more compelling. Gomes is no ordinary director and he proves it with a fantastic experiment that has achieved success and how! This is the kind of film that makes us appreciate the craft of filmmaking. Gomes pays homage to F.W. Murnau’s 1931 film, "Tabu, a Story of the South Seas" in borrowing its name as well as the titles of the two parts in the narrative, however, there are no other similarities as far as the treatment and material in the two films are concerned. "Tabu" is a one of a kind, deeply personal, sensory experience; the kind of cinema that is difficult to come by these days. 

Go ahead and indulge! Soak yourself in this pleasurable pool full of beauty and come out mesmerized..

Score: 10/10

Excision (2012)

From debutant American director Richard Bates Jr. comes this demented little indie horror-comedy, a macabre bed time story guaranteed to give you a good nightmare!

"Excision"(2012) begins with a rather stomach-churning dream sequence in which Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord) has a blood-soaked seizure as she profusely bleeds from various openings in her head and in the end vomits out blood as her doppelganger sits in front of her and appears to have a kind of orgasmic moment! Yes, this is just the beginning of a series of disgusting episodes that are to follow in this strange blend of the harrowing as well as the hilarious!

Pauline is the cliched cinematic representation of a mentally disturbed, socially inept, outcast teenager, a friendless girl labeled a freak! Sure, we’ve seen that kind of a character before haven’t we? What separates "Excision" from other films dealing with this type of persona is the fact that it is only Pauline herself that admits that she has a problem (specifically Borderline Personality Disorder) and begs to be sent to a proper psychiatrist, while neither her domineering mother Phyllis (Traci Lords), nor her clearly weak father Bob (Roger Bart), take her condition seriously. They send her instead, to a church parish Reverend William (John Waters), for some sermons that could probably help her out!

An aspiring surgeon, (or rather, a teen obsessed with performing a surgery of some kind) Pauline faces opposition from her parents, who probably know that she isn’t fit to be a surgeon at all! Only her repressed ambition to become a surgeon and her curiosity about STDs and necrophilia prompt her to make some rather unusual choices concerning loss of virginity and gives her nightmares (dreams?) of performing surgeries and having sex with brutally mangled dead bodies! In the midst of this, there’s her younger sister Grace (Ariel Winter), who is clearly more in control, but suffering from Cystic fibrosis! The desire to make amends and give her life some meaning, along with a heartfelt hope of curing her only sister makes Pauline take drastic steps of shocking proportions in the film’s most terrifying culmination….

"Excision" is a unique genre-bending work which provides the best of many worlds. To start with, it is a disturbing psychodrama about a troubled teen, but one which refrains from turning into a run-of-the-mill teen slasher horror and that’s a welcome relief. It plays out more like a psychological thriller that deals with this girl and how her quashed aspirations of becoming a surgeon manifest in the form of terrible dream sequences and extreme acts bordering on insanity! The film is at times downright repulsive, with its grotesque imagery and moments that make you squirm in your seats! Behold, the awesomely twisted nightmarish visions as seen by Pauline, a product of her obviously deteriorated state of mind, which are sure to please the gore-hounds and lovers of the surreal. And then again, it is also a family drama revolving around the lead character’s dysfunctional family.

Phyllis, the perfectionist mother who is extremely particular about the way things work around the house and about social discipline in general is complemented by the surprisingly quiet, submissive, father who may or may not have sexually abused Pauline in her childhood! Phyllis herself apparently has had a torrid childhood thanks to an extremely difficult mother, and hence wishes that her relationship with her daughters be far from the relationship she shared with her mother. Then there is Grace (Ariel Winter) who clearly cares about her older sister and is protective about her and vice versa. Only despite the seemingly well-intentioned chemistry there is something wrong in the daughters' upbringing, thus rendering their bonding rather half-baked.

Yet the parents always maintain that they only wish the best for their daughters now. There are some emotional one on one moments between family members but not ones that come off as traditionally melodramatic. These are moments laced with sardonic humour, and somewhere you know that the relationships are somehow unhealthy despite the family’s supposed attempts to let sanity prevail!

Richard Bates Jr. strikes a great balance between the darker and the funnier aspects of the film and this is where he succeeds the most! While he presents the more grisly parts of the film with a flavor that is sure to make the most hardened of horror buffs cringe in disgust, he also ensures that there is a genuinely lighter touch to uplift or appease the viewer and bring a smile on his face every once in a while!

There are some savagely comic moments strengthened by splendid performances, especially by Traci Lords who runs away with the best performance of the film. She is brilliant as the controlling mother who does show her soft side from time to time but one that always seems to lack any genuine warmth. This performance is followed by a rather scary looking AnnaLynne McCord's great act of the sociopath teen, further closely followed by Roger Bart who provides his sparse moments of deadpan comic brilliance! The straight-faced comedy works in the film's favor, considering it is primarily a work of psychological horror, yet none of the comic sequences seem misplaced or jarring and in fact make the film much more watchable. Veterans Malcolm McDowell, Ray Wise and John Waters appear in brief but fruitful roles in the context of the film and make their mark.

"Excision" brings to mind several older such thrillers based on deranged female leads, especially Lucky McKee's excellent "May" (2002) and on some level, the Australian shocker "The Loved Ones" (2009). Inspirations and similarities apart, "Excision" holds its own as a bloody revolting yet memorable little horror comedy. The screenplay however does take a dip somewhat when it comes to being engaging and seems slightly longer than its 80 minutes length. Moreover, some of the film's best sequences, a couple of dream sequences are cut extremely short and disappear before they make a bigger impact. Despite a few pacing issues, "Excision" is a film that is sure to stick with you for a long long time.  Go ahead and indulge...if you have the stomach for such stuff.

Score: 8/10

No Smoking (2007)

Maverick Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap ventures into surrealist territory with his ambitious but strange little film titled "No Smoking". This film was unanimously panned by critics and audiences alike upon its initial release in 2007 (much to Kashyap's dismay who has called it his favorite amongst all his directorial ventures). That certainly doesn't come as a surprise in a country that thrives on trademark Bollywood potboilers full of song and dance and essentially a mix of genres of slapstick comedy, romance and action. With "No Smoking", Kashyap pushes all boundaries and and presents to an unprepared audience, this Kafkaesque nightmare, partly inspired by films of David Lynch and some other filmmakers who don't mind messing with their audience's minds!

The story revolves around a central premise directly lifted from the Stephen King short story "Quitters Inc." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quitters,_Inc.). A man named K (John Abraham) is an arrogant, self-centered, narcissistic, filthy rich tycoon spoiled sick by his chain-smoking habit. He smokes practically everywhere, in his plush bathroom tub, in his bedroom, all over his house, his office and even the elevator in the building as he rudely asks a poor old woman who requests him to stop smoking, to take the stairs! 

His wife Anjali (Ayesha Takia), sick and tired of his habit and refusal to quit plans on divorcing him. But so arrogant is K, that he throws attitude standing in front of the mirror, talking to his reflection: "Nobody..tells me..what to do!" ("Taxi Driver" anyone?). An old pal Abbas Tyrewala (Ranvir Shorey) who seems ill at ease and visibly troubled, runs into K and mentions that he had successfully kicked the butt, thanks to Shri Shri Prakash Guru Ghantal Baba Bangali Sealdah Wale (Paresh Rawal), a god-man at the helm of a rehabilitation center simply called Prayogshala (The Laboratory).

After an initial reluctance and after his wife actually leaves the house, K agrees to pay Baba Bangali a visit. And this is where things start to slip into a nightmarish universe. This Prayogshala is unlike anything you may have seen. It has a call center/customer care run by women clad in veils. Several levels beneath the floor of a ramshackle shanty, strangely equipped with a single hi-tech gizmo, a palm-print identification device, lies the Prayogshala inhabited by the sinister Baba Bangali and his strange looking team of men and women assistants.

K soon realizes that once you get inside the Laboratory, you can’t get out on your own free will. Baba Bangali will always be watching you. Baba Bangali’s method of curing the addict involves the mechanics of fear. The addict is threatened with dire consequences to himself or a loved one, every time he/she succumbs to the vice! 

As it turns out Baba Bangali keeps the entire record of the addict’s history of smoking and the knowledge of people close to him in VHS tapes archived in an old dusty library..! A twisted complex maze of a journey now commences; K’s De-addiction program, one that would defy rationale and threaten to change K’s life as he knows it, forever!

Anurag Kashyap astonishes from the initial few frames and does it with aplomb, kicking off the proceedings with a bizarre dream sequence set amidst snow-clad landscapes in Siberia. At the culmination of this dream, as the soldier prepares to shoot K, the latter asks him for matches to light his cigarette! Kashyap holds our attention for almost three-fourths of the film despite the far-fetched nature of the plot. There are some spectacularly quirky traits of the director in the film-making which is perhaps the first of its kind in Indian cinema. We see some comic strip like speech/thought balloons appearing on screen to indicate a character's thoughts in sequences where there is no dialog.

Adding to the idiosyncrasies are some flashback sequences filmed in some crude black and white cinematography, with equally old tunes playing in the background and an accompanying sitcom-like laugh track in some darkly hilarious flashbacks, a la "Natural Born Killers". The dark humour infused within is extremely clever and there are some subtle jabs at older Bollywood films as well. The best thing about these oddities is that they work remarkably well in the black comedy context of the film and add a special touch to the proceedings, almost never found in Indian cinema.

There are some even darker comic moments in sequences between Paresh Rawal and John Abraham in the first visit to the Prayogshala, also involving the meek little midget assistant (Chaurasiya, played by Zahir) of Rawal. Kashyap's use of surrealism and seemingly irrational situations is actually a sign of some great symbolism-heavy, intelligent writing. There is a lot of spiritual meaning to be deciphered from the jargon used in the film about sin, redemption, forgiveness, and freeing of the soul from the root of all evil!

There are other themes running about too, those of a personal freedom and the thwarting of it by a greater power; perhaps the dominance of society and censorship on artistic freedom? In a rather brilliant piece of writing, Rawal's character tells K that his fee from the huge amount of money being charged is only INR Re. 1, which he accepts only in cash! In the film’s terrifying culmination, some light is thrown on what this Re. 1 is actually intended for. "No Smoking" is filled with sequences which are an absolute delight for lovers of surrealist films. There are moments that will make one respect Kashyap’s panache for writing and his commendable imagination and creativity.

Sadly, where Kashyap disappoints slightly, is in his own handling of his brilliant script. Apart from most deftly executed sequences including the aforementioned, eccentric but unique touches, sometimes Kashyap loses his way and behaves rather clumsily with some of the material, especially in the last act. There were some sequences which could’ve been better filmed or at least better edited to save it from spiraling down to the nadir of incoherency! It is considerably clear what Kashyap is trying to say as a whole, and it is very much appropriate that he chooses not to spoon-feed the viewer. But if you have chosen to let the images speak instead of blatant words of explanation, then it is imperative that it be done with a kind of finesse to make the images rich or substantial enough for the viewer to derive a satisfying theory or multiple ones at that, in a manner convincing enough, if you sit down to dissect each scene.

And this shift to incoherence is so abrupt, that Kashyap seems to be in a hurry to transport the viewer to the shockingly unreal climax in a flash, even forgetting that the viewer needs to go there in a steadily paced fashion in order to grasp what he is trying to communicate. Kashyap, also, unfortunately resorts to an unnecessary cabaret performance filmed on Jesse Randhawa, that heavily slackens the pace and kills the urgency of the narrative! In fact, most of the scenes after this have some irritatingly misfit, jarring songs accompanying them, most with lyrics related to smoking that are sometimes quite funny to hear, and that really mar the quality of these sequences. One particularly shocking sequence involving the protagonist’s brother comes off as rather flippant and unintentionally comic thanks to the horribly misplaced song in the background! A better choice of ambient accompanying score or sound design could’ve rendered these sequences much more effective.

Technically the film excels, especially in the sound design, art direction and the cinematography department. John Abraham shines in a performance of a character tailor-made for him. He fits the arrogant K to the T, even in some demanding sequences. This is arguably his greatest performance so far. The plump Ayesha Takia who doubles up as K’s wife Anjali and also his buxom, Barbie-doll secretary (curve-enhancing wardrobe, gaudy lip gloss, spectacles, the works!), doesn't really get much to do except make sad faces while watching Steven Spielberg's holocaust drama "Schindler’s List" and putting heavy makeup on! Paresh Rawal chews the scenery in whatever few scenes he has and gets to mouth some of the best lines in the film. Special mention must be made of Ranvir Shorey for his fantastic performance, albeit in a tiny role, as K’s paranoid friend Abbas.

"No Smoking" is a solid effort from one of the few Indian filmmakers who dare to embark on a path devoid of conventionalism. As far as the handing is concerned, unfortunately, it falters somewhat. But the idea that is "No Smoking" is far too extraordinary to nitpick based on minor flaws of the craft. A few mistakes notwithstanding, Kashyap has made an important film, and I wish he and other Indian filmmakers take cue and make more films like these.

Score: A solid 8/10