 Hey. Hello. Hey, hey. Hello, hello. Hey, hello. Hey, hey, hello, hello. Nice to see you, people. Really glad you're here. Grab a cup of chai or grab a pint of beer. Sit down for a while and let's do something stupid. I don't know what's gonna rhyme with stupid. Hey, welcome back to our stupid record. I'm Corbin. I'm Stupid. And you can follow Instagram and Twitter for more juicy... Gone dead! Let it drip from your innards. Thank you to everybody so it sports is on Patreon. Follow us for sure. Twitter account. Subscribe if you haven't, and hit the like button because... Why, Corbin? Why? Help the algorithm. And that's what we all want, isn't it? More important than climate change. I think so. And today we're doing a movie review of your little shitlets. It's a word, huh? It is. That is a word. It is. It is. It's probably not, actually. Is it in the dictionary? It's not a word. It has to be in the dictionary, right? No. Not in my opinion. If I say it, it's a word. Like flip-flop. That's a word. Ah, yes. Yeah. I don't need the dictionary to tell me what I'm saying is a word. Up yours, dictionary. Who are you? You dictatorial grammar king. Today we're doing a movie review of the 2020... I thought it was a 22 film. I thought it was 21. It might be 21. I don't know. It's one of them. It's a Tamil film. Rocky. Not to be confused with that Rocky, or Rocky Bye, or anything other than this film, which is a Tamil film, directed and written by Arun Mathiswaran. I hope I pronounced that right, and the starring, and again, mispronunciations, apologize in advance. That's not him. Well, he is starring, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our lead is Vasanth Ravi, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. And there's this other gentleman. He's probably... Barathiraja. Ravina Ravi. Yeah. A couple other people. Yeah. But it's... It was... Came out in 2000. No, it says 2021. I thought it was 2022. But it'll be a... It may have had a COVID delay. Yeah. It'll be 100 cents for the view. I don't know where you can watch this. I don't actually think it's on any streaming platforms currently. We got sent a screener, which is very kind. Thank you. Thank you so much. But I don't believe on any unless you guys can tell us in India if it is available somewhere. I don't believe it's available anywhere here. But Rick, your initial thoughts, please. It's a shame it isn't streaming anywhere yet. Very grateful. We were given a production copy of that thing that we can watch and hopefully spread the word for those of you who don't know. I can tell you in advance, I know that the man sitting next to me loved this movie for a lot of reasons. If he didn't, then I'm not Italian. That's all I can tell you. This is a film, and for those of you who've been around, you know what we mean by that. It is a film. It's masterful cinematography. It's masterful storytelling at one moment. It feels like... Cinematography. Andreas Krishnan. The score is magnificent. At one moment, it feels like you're watching LJP. The next moment, you feel like you're watching On Your Aghasya. The next moment, you feel like you're watching Alejandro eat in your E2, but it all... Nothing feels disjointed. And I just... It's probably my second favorite film after the LJP film that we've seen this year. This year? Yeah. I think this thing is incredibly well done. Yes. Yeah. Shocker of the Year. I love this film. Yeah. What a surprise. What a... I just... Repeatedly, I can think in court I'm going to be so happy. And the reason I... And thank you to the director once again. This is not a... Obviously, we don't do this. As you guys should know by now, we don't do paid reviews or anything like that. Never have. Never will. I did reach out to the director because I couldn't find this. Which is a shame. And I asked, would you happen to have a screener of something that we could possibly watch because I can't find it anywhere. And he was very gracious. And it was back to you back in January and he's been very gracious. We just now got to it because we were in classic month when I got it. But the reason I wanted to watch this is because I heard it was the most violent film, Indian film of all time. Oh, really? That's... Because I asked on Twitter. That's a true conversation to have. I asked on Twitter, I was like, what do you guys think is most violent Indian film of all time? Because I feel like Indian violence is not what my definition of violence is in a film, right? No. Like, if I think something is violent, it's gory, it's too... It's gory, it's too... And it's also rooted in real gore, not over-accentuated gore. Yeah. Like, this might sound funny. I know John Wick is a violent film, but I, like... They're not gory though. I wouldn't describe that as a violent film for me. That's an action film. Yeah. It's an action film. Which has violence. It has violence, but I wouldn't describe it as a violent... I know people would, because people described Lord of the Rings as a violent film. And I was like, yeah, sure, it has violence, but that's not what I would describe as a violent film, right? Exactly. It's like, you could have a film that has a lot of profanity, but the language isn't vulgar. This film, I do think, is the most violent Indian film, even though I know this man was probably heavily constrained by budget constraints, and he probably would have gone even farther if... Maybe so. If he was given the opportunity. Yeah. I mean, there's not as many cutaway stuff, or stuff like that, that require, prosthetics require of effects, and stuff like that, that I think this director, maybe I'm wrong, would have liked to have gone even farther. But this is one of the most poetically violent art house films. And this is what KGF II wishes it could have been. I would agree with that statement wholeheartedly. I put it on Twitter. I said, I probably watched the most violent Indian film I've seen. And the film that KGF II wished it could be. And I don't mean that by box office, obviously, KGF II bed, but I don't care about that. I'm talking about the content, especially with the ending of this film. This is one of the best climaxes that you don't see coming in so many ways. There is nothing but superlatives, there's nothing bad about this film, there's nothing to criticize. It's a beautiful, it's kind of strange to consider this an art house film. But let's talk about that first, because I love this aspect of the film. The cinematography, lighting, and just the direction, obviously, they all go hand in hand. Well, my first thought was, okay, this is what they call a debutante directing piece for Aaron, right? Yeah. I thought either Aaron's a cinematographer or this cinematographer is experienced because the way that this is shot is so dependent on this. I mean, all films are that way, but this one in particular requires such a marriage of artistry between director, cinematographer, and editor that I had to look up the cinematographer and say, okay, where have we seen this experience? Because this is Oscar level cinematography. This is just, in an odd way, in many respects, and this is a completely far afield film. This is the only comparison I'm making. It's the quality, okay? We watched the other night because she hadn't seen it. I hadn't drawn any watch all quiet on the western front with me. She repeatedly gasped from the cinematography. Like that. And I said, I know, trust me, I know, it's why it won all the BAFTAs and it's for me, the most artistically excellent film of the year for me. The cinematography in this, though it's a completely different thing, there were moments where I thought the cinematography was as artistically intentional as skilled as that. For me, the cinematography was as good as cinematography gets. There were shots in this, man. And it's so funny because you could tell, this didn't have a massive budget. But they also, you couldn't tell as well. They did as much as you could do with it. It doesn't look like a student film. I'm not saying that. Not at all. In the slightest. But you could tell this didn't have a big budget. No, that there were choices they made of shooting things, primarily because it was going to save them money. Yes. But it works. Yeah. There were shots in, it was about, probably halfway through when Rocky came, I do find it funny that his name is Rocky, just like KGF and he has the gun, just like in KGF. That's why I said this is a film that KGF II wishes it could have been because it's almost, it's a very similar story in terms of like he just wants revenge and he's got to go get it. But it's so much deeper. So much deeper. But that's what I'm saying. Like you could have, KGF could have, you know what I feel about KGF II. It's just, this is what I wanted from, obviously on a much bigger scale, but this is what I wanted from KGF II. But like when it's the fight scene and they're going through the abandoned whatever, blue, yeah, the levels and the far away shot and then in the middle, they, I was like, this is some of the most beautiful lighting cinematography I've ever seen and it's with the, with the fight choreography going on. Just from a distance. Freaking gorgeous. Shadow shot. Some of the, holy shit, the cinematography. So shout out to, again, yeah, to Shreyas Krishna and obviously whole lighting department and the director. One sound design, holy cow. The whole sound design team, which I don't know if you looked at the credits, there's a big team of sound people and it shows because the attention to sound, both with the graphic nature, which was just in your face, but there were so many times where sound was so intimate and delicate and subtle, it's, there's just, there really aren't enough superlatives and it just, it's a shame, you know, too often just, and it's just getting that way more and more, but I'm encouraged. This may sound strange to some of you, but I'm really encouraged that, that I don't want any film, I'm not rooting for films to fail. You know what I mean? But I'm, I'm encouraged that the most recent Marvel film, the Ant-Man, which I had no intention of seeing because Marvel has lost me, which is a shame because Marvel was at the peak, not just of box office, but the reason they were at the peak was because their storytelling was so damn good. I mean, Endgame is just, it's so damn good, but they've lost themselves in franchising and over, I mean, there's a new Marvel film every three months and it's just about, it reminds me of something that Mr. Murdoch at Fox News said on the stand in this lawsuit that Dominion has against them and he was asked about the texts where all the people at Fox knew exactly what was going on. They knew there was no lie or steal, they were talking amongst themselves about how it was bull crap, but they were lying publicly because that's what the audience wanted and Mr. Murdoch said, it's not about red and blue, it's about green. It just pisses me off that too much, the movie industry, I get it and films need to make money, but too often money is put behind things that are absolute pieces of dog shit. When a film this good doesn't see the light of day, it's it is aberrant to me, it's deeply painful to me that a movie this good can't even be streamed right now. Yeah, and I don't know why that is, but also even before getting into the actors, which I do really want to get into, the sound design and the sound on this, there were times that I was like that feels like almost breaking bad a little bit. Oh, yeah. Like when the there was one like Western feel thing that they put behind something, I think it was the, which I love the actor, whoever did it. Who showed up on the motorcycle. Showed up on the motorcycle. And I just start playing that kind of banjo-y thing. And in the beginning it was like rolling over people with a fucking roller and I was like, hell, yes. He won. Great look. Yeah, it was a fantastic one. Everybody was perfect. He was a great cast. Yeah. But I love the score in this. It was subtle. Yeah. And they let kind of just the visual and the acting kind of do its thing. The moments of dead silence. But also added so much to this film. And then also there was songs at times. And there was once like, it was funny because my wife was kind of watching this, it's not her style of film. It's like she doesn't like stuff that has a bunch of murder and violence and all. Yeah. This is not for the kids or the squeamish. Obviously. It's very my style of film. Yeah. But she was like next to me and she's kind of watching. And so the song went on and it was like them in the car and it was beautiful song. She's like, oh, this is so pretty. Nobody's dying right now. And then the next second, the motorcycle comes in. Yeah. Oh, damn. Smoke too soon. And I love it. I know it in the eyes. I also love that moments like that translated into there were moments where you were expecting the violence and it came and you got the payoff. Then there were other, there were so many times where you didn't know what was going on. Example, our main antagonist and his son and he holds him down and he's going to chop his finger off. I was shocked he didn't. Yeah. I was sure he was going to cut something off. Yeah. And the fact that he didn't was, again, underscoring the focus on story, not sensationalism. That's why the gore in this is 100% justified at every moment because I didn't feel like, and the reason it also reaches a level of really being gory is not just that it happens, but the duration upon which we sit on things sometimes reminds me of Nawaz in Wasapur 2. Yeah. He's taken his time. Yeah. Yeah, there's so many. And there's messaging. We'll get to messaging a little bit. There's one thing about the messaging. But let's finish before we get into the actual story, the messaging of it. Our lead, we normally start with that. Sorry, there's so much about this film to talk about. But he did, I loved his performance. I did too. And he's also just a captivating actor. Like he has an interesting look. Very, very unique. And he was so understated the entire time. It was like the opposite of somebody who's like a mass murderer. And he kills people, right? Regardless of if it's for good or bad, whatever. Obviously, what he used to do back in the day. But you felt for him. You cared for him. But he also was so subtle. And he didn't do his intimidation by yelling and screaming and all that kind of stuff. He was like, yeah, I'm going to fucking kill you. He was very much, I know you haven't seen this film. And the films aren't the same, but the character is very similar in that I felt the whole time he was a very reluctant criminal. That he originally, he had never really set out to be this person. And even in the being of it, he did it. But even had a sense of, I don't want to do this, but I've been pushed. Because you killed my mom. I've been pushed. I didn't want this, but I've been pushed. What am I supposed to do now that I've been pushed? I can't un-push me. You can't un-ring my bell. But one of the questions I would ask him if we talked about his work on this is how much work he did in prep and backstory. Because this rocky feels like a fully formed, complete human being that every scene I believed he came from where he was before. I believed he loved these people. I believed he had reasons for doing what he was doing. I never saw him indicating. I just, he just, he did what you should do. He was a phenomenal in this role. And so was the, our antagonist. Oh yeah, great job. That says his name for me one more time. Forgive me again. Bharatharaja. That scene with his son was so good. Also like immediately once this was done, I was like, I really want to recreate that first scene when they were, the first murder scene when Rocky came in and murdered all those people that were dancing. Oh yeah. I was like, I really want to recreate that scene. That scene. I just got so excited about the possibility of like recreating this mass murder scene. I'm so excited. So hopefully if you ever make an American film, cast this guy. Do you know if Anya Rock has seen this? I bet he has. I would hope he has. I have no doubt. One he's, it's such a love for Tamil cinema. Yeah. Wouldn't be surprised if he like presented. I really hope there's something going on that we can find out about where there's already been something taking place where this gets put on a OTT platform for people to be able to see. I can't imagine why it wouldn't. I understand his next film that he's helming that they're in pre-production on is a Dhanush film. Okay. So that makes me happy. And I really do hope this gets legs and it can be seen because it's deserving. Yeah it is. But other stuff I want to talk about obviously in the overall story. I love the making sure he knew his audience would be intelligent enough to understand what he was doing with if it was in gray, it was in the past. Right. And everything that wasn't in gray. Yeah, we didn't need to be told three years prior. He just, we went there. Yeah, yeah. I appreciate that when directors think their audiences are intelligent enough. I think he could have gone even farther at times. My bet is that it was budget constraints in terms of some of the kills. Yeah, like watch it rather than seeing it from a far shot and hearing the sound to be it. But sometimes it was so cool because in the shadows when he killed that guy's son and he put, it's like I'm pretty sure intestines around his head. Which I was like, that's great. But it had to be shaded. So there's a Hitchcockian element to that that could have been a directorial choice about seeing less as more. However, there may have been a budget Terry thing of man, I really wanted people to see the saw going through the arm and it being removed but we just didn't have the prosthetic budget. Yeah, he killed this other guy's son in front of him and he wanted to make sure he killed the sister in front of Rocky, which I didn't. Even though I was like, something's gonna happen. I didn't anticipate them coming in right now. No, at that moment. Just like, I was like, oh my God. Yeah, it was so good. So many great kills in this. And I love that he used like a hammer and a pick most of the time. Like it just made it so much better than just a headshot. And I love that one shot you referenced earlier for just the beauty of the cinematography. I love the stunt work of that where it was fully choreographed like a dance and people did some falls. Wow, he's just standing watching it. Yeah, and then you bring the whole element at the end of the little girl of in and now he's needs to protect this little girl. I was so nervous when that guy came up to her at the bus stop or wherever she was. The pedophile? Yeah, the sex trafficker? Yeah, I was like, oh no. And then when Rocky showed up, I was like, oh yeah. But that's one of the ones I wanted. I was like, I want this, but I'm glad that at the end they did show us like what he did to him. But I wanted to see it happen. A little bit more. Which that goes into some of like of the many things in the messaging. One of the things I took away and I don't know if Aaron had an intentionality behind this and the script and the directing. I can't imagine he didn't because it's so, in my opinion, an overt message among many was, it's a subtle overtness. If I can use those contradictory terms. Subtle overt. Yeah, of the many messages, one of them that was the biggest takeaway for me was how often women, females are subjugated to the tyranny, the evil, the pride, the ego and name all the other negatives of men. Yeah. Who often do what they do, thinking that they're providing, thinking they're protecting. And unwittingly or sometimes winningly, abuse, confuse, terrify women. Cause as much as there are bodies that fall, the real victims in this are all the females, the mom, the sister, the little girl and even the messaging of her having the hearing aid and selectively taking that off so that she doesn't have to hear. Yet she continues to see. I thought it was just incredibly powerful messaging among many, that poetic sequence and I'm trusting they took their time with the English subtitles because they read poetic. His sister laying on the face of the clock and that whole, the messaging of time and time being a thief, his, the consistency with which he goes to his, the watch for being such a like a gangster film. It was such an art house. Such an artistic piece of work. You don't normally get. I love the ending. Like we've seen quite a few Indian films now, especially recently with that machine gun. Kythe, Vikram, KGF all have like this. Yeah, but this one was wonderfully understated. It was. It was a little bit more believable that this guy could hold that thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I loved it. I was like, oh shit, it's where she got it. I also loved our antagonist watching him and almost having a sense of pride in the guy that used to work for me. He's, this is what I would do. But in the end, you know what, you son of a bitch, I'm taking me, not you. Oh, careful. Sorry. It's okay. Very sorry. And again, that just down to, of course the other messaging of if he lives by the sword is gonna die by the sword, even if it's by their own hand because they are so literally hell bent on being in control. That when it even comes down to the very, very end, if I'm gonna die, it's gonna be by my own hand, not yours, because I'm the motherfucker in control. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I love this film. It's one of my favorite, I'd have to go back. We've seen a lot of great Tamil films. It's probably one of minimum top five Tamil films for me without even looking. One of the best gangster films I've ever seen. Yeah, we've seen for sure. Yeah. Yeah, this is one I'll remember and recommend to a lot of people, I just wish I could actively recommend it for them to, because I'm not gonna share this copy we got, I can't show that to anybody. So I really, really hope this gets a playing field on OTT. I do as well. Anyways, let us know what you thought about this film if you enjoyed this film, what you like, what you didn't like. Don't know what it is, but you can let me know what it is down in the comments below. And what should be our next film, Tamil film by the director, the actor, or just Tamil in general. The next director film is gonna be the next one he does because this was his debut directing piece. Well, you know, we never got to see it, but he had a follow-up. He had a follow-up and we loved the trailer. Not a surprise. I don't know if you remember it. I don't know what it was called. That. Sunny Kailam. And I think it starred last year. I think it starred the girl from Gargi, the Psy or something like that. Okay. Remember that? Yeah, I do. But do you remember she was like, she hopped out of a van and then just started stabbing somebody? Do you remember that trailer at all? It goes very violent. That's not ringing a bell. Maybe if there's a thumbnail that, okay. Do you remember that at all? I don't remember her jumping out of a van and stabbing somebody. Regardless, the trailer, we loved the trailer. Well, see, it says it went to Amazon Prime, so come on, Amazon. Jump all over this, please. But I don't know how the film was. I think I heard mixed reviews, which is why we didn't see it and I didn't know this director at the time or else I would have just hopped right on it, but. I remember we loved it, so I think it's one that I reacted with Steph and then, because you were gone for whatever reason. It could have been, and then if it was 2022, it might have been, was it the spring of 2022? Because that's when Androni and I had COVID. I don't remember. Okay, anyways, let us know what the next Tamil film we should watch is down below.