“Two Lovers” stars Joaquin Phoenix(Leonard),Gwyneth Paltrow(Michelle) and Vinessa Shaw(Sandra), it is rumored that this is the last film of Joaquin Phoenix.The news of Joaquin Phoenix retirement from acting has prompted me to watch “Two Lovers”
The film starts with a dramatic scene in which Joaquin Phoenix(Leonard) attempts suicide by jumping into a bay but he is saved by few men and is in no conscious mood to thank the guy who saved his life.
In Dev.D and in many other films we have seen that a man embraces self-destruction when he loses his loved ones.In “Two Lovers” we see the make and break of relationships with a realistic tone attached to it with infatuation,desperation etc.. as its attributes.The kind of self-destruction which i find in the characters is so natural that we don’t call it as self destruction in real life.
Leonard is a person who is emotionally ill as her fiancee leaves him because of the genetic tests results indicate that they cant have healthy children.Leonard is
attracted towards a neighbor Michelle,he follows her to get her attention,he dances with her,he spends time with her,he talks to her from his window and also feels that he loves her.The feelings of Leonard are very much obvious and it is very likely that any person who is under desperation and frustration of a broken relationship will act in the same way.When Sandra sees a scar on Leonard’s hand she says that “I wanna take care of you,i kinda understand you,you are different,you don’t pretend something you are not”. Sandra has a lot of love for Leonard which he acknowledges but his infatuation towards Michelle is his priority.Leonard buys a ring for Michelle but eventually he gives it to Sandra
Leonard does not tell about the conversation which he had with Michelle’s boy friend to make Michelle love him,but instead he depends on himself to make her satisfy that he really loves her and also says that “this is not stupid f**king crush,do you think i don’t know love?”.When Michelle and Leonard decide to leave the town he buys two tickets and a ring for her with the money he has.
Leonard and Michelle,the two lovers are very much 
inclined towards self destruction, Michelle has a boy friend who is married and has children and she still wants to be with him,Leonard prefers Michelle over Sandra even after knowing that Michelle has a boy friend and about the miscarriage of Michelle.Michelle and Sandra share intimacy with Leonard but the difference between them is quite visible to us.Michelle ditches Leonard and she explains the reason “I am not going.He left his family for me…and we are getting married”.
After the rejection by Michelle,Leonard thinks of suicide and goes near the bay where he throws the ring box and therehe recognizes the gloves given by Sandra and he walks back to his apartment and gives the ring to Sandra.If you observe keenly the first scene of the film where Leonard attempts suicide he sees a light when he is in the water and prompts him to come above the water and after that he meets his real love Sandra and even in the end when he thinks of suicide he is saved by the gloves which are given by his true love Sandra.
James Gray who is the director and the co-writer of the film makes a film which reminds us of the old days where romantic drama films revolved around relationships.”Two Lovers” is not a masterpiece by James Gray but definitely a very good film which explores the relationships of true love.
Originally published on Passionforcinema.com
hero and has shown ‘Akkineni Nageshwara Rao’ an illustrious career, supported ‘Shah Rukh Khan’s’ rejuvenation, is now helping Abhay Deol and Independent Cinema of India. The film starts with a beautiful scene between young Dev and Paro where we are provided with a hint for their characters. Dev (The Dude) leaves for London for his studies but still maintains his love with Paro (Chhamak Challo). Anurag Kashyap doesn’t waste any time in conveying his idea on ‘Devdas’, in the first few minutes of the film itself we are shown Dev asking Paro ‘Do you touch yourself?’ and after that we are again looking at an unusual scene in which Paro faces some trouble getting her photo scanned which she at last sends it to Dev and Dev says “Paro mein a raha hoon”.
compared toother films on ‘Devdas’. It’s a character which cannot be easily digested by everyone. A College girl turned into a prostitute with a sad background attached to it. This Chanda is an ultra modern prostitute where she has sex chat on phone with her linguistic skills, rides a bike; the brothel house accepts credit cards and some of the visitors even carry the HIV test results. 
of its characters and its unimaginable imagination of Anurag Kashyap. The second half of the film is slightly deviated and could not make a perfect contact with me. It looks like its flirting with its logic and emotions without seriously thinking of evolving out of itself from the first half. The second half lacks the basic eccentricity of the first half but it does not totally disappoint me. The clairvoyance of the viewer gets a beating when Paro visits the room of Dev, if I am not wrong everyone might be thinking of something to happen but eventually turns out to be the other way. The most charming scene of the film for me is when Dev says to Chanda ‘I Love you too you know’ and Chanda says ‘You are such a slut’.
The Spanish Civil Waris used as a background and basis for different Spanish films like Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and ‘The Devils Backbone’ etc… But ’13 Roses’ is a unique film which honestly deals with the Spanish Civil War. The film is about the 13 women who are arrested for being rebels of the Spanish Military Rule.
which the director takes the film forward is amazing. As the four mathematicians are trapped in the room which shrinks with time, to stop the room from shrinking is to solve the puzzles given to them by an anonymous person through the PDA. Most of the puzzles are familiar to us and the story gets more complicated as the film proceeds. Even though the director is confined to a single room for most part of the film he manages us to drag us to the edge of our seats, he makes us feel that we are in that room and encountering that situation and we get engaged in every frame of the film.
these types of characters in any other film. The son of ‘Angela’ is a character which will be remembered for many days, the character is filled with humor, emotion and innocence. I could not stop laughing when he used to ask Charo ‘Did you kill him?’ .The scene in which ‘Charo’ and ‘Angela’ have dinner which was pre arranged by Angela’s father after his death on the occasion of Charo’s birthday is amazing. The One-Eyed Man character and his confrontation with the painter and almost every character in the film is filled with originality. The film can be seen as a melodramatic one as it combines all the elements of human emotion connecting it to every character.
as his supervisor at the Oxford University and he stays in an old women’s house who is first murdered and the first one in the sequence of murders. Accidentally Arthur Seldom and Martin get involved in this murder mystery and continue to solve this mystery with the help of their mathematical knowledge as one murder is linked to the other with a mathematical symbol. The film sometimes takes itself so seriously that the audience gets disconnected with the plot and wants to jump to the next scene. Leonor Watling character provides some distraction and some relief. The best shot scene is the one which takes just before/after the murder where the camera continuously moves from one end to other and includes all the pivotal characters.
The film starts by shooting of a song which stars Usha (Smita Patil) and after the shooting she waits for her car but eventually Usha gets into Rajan’s (Anant Nag) car and after that we see a movie poster ‘Agni Pariksha’ being moved by some men which hints us at the life of Usha.The film title is used in many instances of the film.The next scene in which we see Keshav Darvi (Amol Palekar) and Usha arguing on some issue and we hear the dialouge from Usha
‘Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’ uses different themes to project his idea on the screen,he uses the ‘Ramayana’,unity and diversity concept, and of course the ‘Kala Bandar’ which is the heart of this film.The love factor also plays an important part in the film which is filmed between ‘Abhisekh Bachchan’ and ‘Sonam Kapoor’.The cast of the film is filled with big names like Waheeda Rehman , Rishi Kappor,Om Puri,Prem Chopra,Atul Kulkarni etc.,.The first half of the film is dedicated to the introduction of the culture,traditions,brotherhood between Hindu’s and Muslim’s in Delhi.The ending of the first half is infused with a scene in which ‘Abhisekh Bachchan’ jumps on the roofs of houses.(Very much inspired from District B 13 )
good foundation for such a story.I felt confused with the story and the ‘Kala Bandar’ as they hardly have any kind of attachment with each other.We watch ‘Abhisekh Bachchan’ getting slapped three times,we see Sonam Kapoor dancing with a pigeon,the Ramleelas,the mosque’s,the temples, and the ‘Kala Bandar’ concept but none of them works.There are also some cameo appearances by Anu Malik and Javed Akthar.The music in the film is very good but the songs in the films say to us that these are the only moments which you will enjoy.
Being Critic 