 I don't know what you thought of this movie yet, but can we just talk about those eyes? All day long we can talk about these eyes. It's 88 Time, Corbin. This is Richard, the third dick seagull. It's true, I'm a dick. That's a fact. And uh, please follow us on Instagram. It's so juicy. You smell that juice. And thank you to our supporters on Patreon. This will be up there just like everything else is up there before it's on YouTube. But today we are doing a movie review of Gersnatch of our second Rithic film. Correct. It was Deborah and Gersnatch. Have we only watched two Rithics? We've watched a bunch of We've got to watch Joe to Akbar. Joe to Akbar. But and then the other one, the starts with an A. Underhunda. No, not that one. But anyways, so yeah, we uh, this is our second Rithic film ever. And we just watched a Super 30. So we'll have that's right. We'll have a third one. You have to see the line new and fresh. But this one, obviously, it's a Sanjay Le Mansali. Yes, it is. The visual master. Yes. And very different from the other Sanjay Le Mansali films. Totally different kind of a film. However, we'll get into this. And by the way, if you have not seen this film, go away. Bye-bye now. See you later because we will have spoilers because we're going to talk about everything. So this came out in 2010. Correct. I'm getting out my notes and you want to read the synopsis for me real quick. I want to read the synopsis. How about the synopsis? Like one-eye synopsis. Anyway, a paralyzed magician turned radio jockey, files a petition in court seeking permission to end his life. Yes, that's it. That's about the summary. That's about the size of it. Obviously directed by and composed by Sanjay, which is crazy, and starring Rithic. Yep. And this is the first time we've been introduced to her in a feminist film. Ms. Bakchan. Yeah, Ms. Bakchan. Is it Ashwarya Ray? Is that it? Ashwarya Ray? Yeah. Yeah. And she is the daughter-in-law. Daughter-in-law. Correct. Yes. Yes. And you've been telling us to watch a film of hers for a long, long, long, long time. There are some adorbers of hers who all they have sent me on DMs on Instagram. They send me no words. It is simply pictures of her. Yeah. Over and over and over. And we saw her, we saw her in the Devdas show that we loved. Correct. And she was obviously beautiful on that, but this is the first time we've been introduced to her acting wise in a film. So what did you think, man? I had stuff I liked and loved and then I had other stuff I didn't like. Yes. It's a mixed bag. I felt the same way and I ended up enjoying the film as a whole. As a whole, definitely. I didn't love it, as I thought I might with other films that he's done that we've loved, like Padma Bhat and Bajoramastani. I think those are very suited to his style though. Highly. Highly. Because this one didn't have the visual map. I mean, it was good. It was like, I thought it was ugly, but it wasn't like Bustrami Mastinani and it wasn't like Padma Bhat in terms of visual. It didn't lend itself to that. Like for example, I took a picture, look at this and I guess I can send this to you and you can put it up there. That shot when she's coming up. Oh yeah, that's it right there. I mean, the freaking backlighting of every single candle and the uplighting of every table, his ability with his DP to frame pictures is nothing short of just pure visual artistry that I don't know I've ever seen in any director. Yeah. And a lot of his shots are very symmetrical. I think that's a big thing. Oh yeah, I literally, I stopped. I saw that frame and I rewound and I stopped it to take the picture and then just looked at it for at least two, three minutes mesmerized by the detail. Yeah. He's unbelievable. He's brilliant in terms of the visuals. I agree. His visual aesthetic and his style and this may be unfair, but for me, it doesn't fit this telling. It was one of the things I had a disjoint about with this. Yeah. It's not that I didn't like it because it's beautiful. The cinematography is beautiful. Did you end up crying though in the end? I actually did not. Really? Yeah. I thought you would at the end. Yeah, no, I did not. No, and I can explain why. Okay. But anyways, then when we can talk about the acting, which obviously Rithik did very well. This is obviously the best role we've ever seen him in. I think obviously he had issues, but I don't hold him to the same standard that I do. Like somebody like Ranveer or Amatak Bhakjan or people like that. Yeah. But he did very well. Yeah, he did very, very well. Yeah. This is definitely the best thing I've ever seen him in and he had moments that he was phenomenal and he had other moments that I saw him struggling, which he took on. I put this in my notes. Yeah. He took on, I have a lot of notes. What if the prior, I don't know. He took on a Herculane role. Yeah. Yeah. And that's like a Daniel Day-Lewis role right there, man. Very, very few. I'm talking maybe five actors that I could name off could do this role. Yeah. And do it perfectly throughout the whole thing. Yeah. If you want to see my opinion, the greatest performance ever of someone dealing with a physical handicap. It's Daniel Day-Lewis and my 11 foot. Yeah. It's flawless. Yeah. It's perfect. It's a very difficult role. And so hard. I'm not saying he did bad because he didn't. I think he did very, very well. My critiques are nitpicky. Yes. Which a lot of people will think I didn't like his performance and it's- No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I'm- I think- I'm getting into nitpicky, the kind of stuff that I would deal with with actors who I would love. Because here's the thing. I think he did a meritorious and praiseworthy performance. But I think the guy- There's a- It was one of those things where I'm watching him. I was- I wished I was like flying on the wall and able to like say, okay, cut. Now, what are you doing and help him to process some things and see where he was going so we can get into that a little bit more. Yeah. But and then I think he did amazing though, which is no surprise in his dance numbers, especially the one that was most nervous with the ball. The ball. Holy cow. That's like the- That was a great song. And then he was just doing his ballet, I'm guessing. Ballet. And it was- I said at one point he did one particular move in the very early stage of the dance that was pure ballet movement that we haven't really seen him do. No. And again, the muscularity being lyrical. Fluidity. Yeah, I said out loud, I said, oh, Rithik, so pretty. Yeah. Like that was so beautiful. And then obviously Sanjay shots in that as well. But- Oh, and he's walking up the light? Oh, yeah. But like- Obviously it's no surprise that his dance members are just obviously his strength. And he's so hard to look at. Yeah, he is. He's just such an eye-catching guy. And um, but I think the girl that stole the show and that's no surprise to you guys was Bakca. Like, right? Do you agree? No. I think she was- We were going to be here a while. I think she was- I love her. Just as much as I think I love Shadevi. I felt like there were some aspects of his where a backstory wasn't fully created for him, that the subtext, I don't know how fully created it was or how much he was tapping into emotional recall or some of the really technical dynamics that can take you from something where you're performing a role versus inhabiting the role. There were moments, particularly his cadences. There were so many things he did that were so fast. And that could be something as simple as the director saying, I need him to be more agitated. I need you to go, go, go, go. And the actor may not necessarily feel like I want to do that. But the director is the one in control. And there are times where you have to give the director what they're asking for, even if you don't have the quintessential, what's my motivation? Well, your motivation is the director said, do it. And that's sometimes what has to happen. But there were moments, for example, when his mom showed up. Yeah. This is where I don't- It's that space between what I would have preferred, but also letting it be whatever Rific was doing without judging him, if that makes sense. I wanted to see it went so fast. He saw her and said something and it was immediately there versus how long it had been since he'd seen her. How deep is this relationship? I would have loved to have seen it just sit there and breathe for a minute. And there were a lot of moments for his character where I felt he was agitated. And then here's another nitpicky thing, which will fall into the Daniel Day-Lewis style of method acting. He was flawless in terms of his not moving his body. There wasn't a moment where he had terrific control of his body. Total control of his body. And I looked. I mean, there were points where I was watching shoulders, arms, hands. He'd never moved a muscle. Yet, I would have liked to have seen, this is my preference, they might not have been able to do this. I would have loved to have seen them give him six months to get muscle atrophy. Because he's been that way for 14 years. So someone who'd been that way for 14 years. I don't know that he wanted to because he is a dancer. I know. And he has to dance in those moments. This is really crazy nitpicky. I don't think he could do that. And I don't know that he could. Those were just some of the things I'm thinking of in terms of being fully drawn into because I was there was only there were only two people and one moment that I was fully drawn into and believed what I was watching was really happening. The two people were, believe it or not, the little just role her husband had. Oh yeah. And that scene. That was an intense scene. I love it. And the way he shot that by just sitting the camera at the bed and not moving the way Rithik can't move. Yeah. I thought it was brilliant. They go off because you felt like, move dude. And then they come back on to the bed and I thought husband was great. Yeah, he did a great job. So now let's begin to talk about her, shall we? Yes. I mean, just go right ahead because I'm sure you're going to say everything I think. Yeah. She every just obviously the first thing you notice is her freaking eyes, which is just like Sri Devi. And very much remind remind me quite a bit of the pika. Yeah, but much bigger. Yeah, much bigger, which is crazy to say because he's got such big eyes. Yeah, Sri Devi. So I don't know where this was in her career, but obviously her character was the one I was invested in the most. This was for me the same way that I saw Priyanka in Bajramasthani and was like, oh, wow, you have totally, you're the one I'm watching. Yeah. I felt this way. Yeah. And then I just forgot what I was going to say. What was I going to say? And you say I'm old. You were talking about her eyes. Yeah. No. Oh. And if this is the first time. I love the story of this film. I thought was brilliant and heartbreaking for her because one, I didn't realize that she was married to that whole time. And so when that was revealed, I was like, oh, and because she's obviously clearly in love with Rithik's character. Right. And I love all those references. So I want to see her legs. But I thought she handled everything very well. When she got mad at him at the beginning, and then you met that other guy who I wasn't a huge fan of either. No one else in the film I was a fan of other than, I mean, I didn't detest them. I've seen a lot worse, but there wasn't anyone else that for me was like, shout out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I do agree. But obviously she was on the screen most of the time. So that thankfully, yeah. I just but I thought the whole the story of the whole thing with she was there for 12 years, helping him. She was married the whole time never took a day off. Right. And then in the end, she they got married, which I was like, hmm, yeah. Because yeah, it's like one, I didn't quite understand because he lost the case. Right. I didn't understand the end fully. Me neither. Because I was like, okay, is she going to kill him? Or like, I don't know. How are we going to do that was the scene before he proposed, which I think it is going to be her because he said you're going to get anywhere from two to 10 years for doing this. And she was like, yeah, but I don't care. Yeah, I think she was going to be the one to do it. Put a pillow. I don't I don't. But it was odd to me that everybody else was there, like drinking a toast and celebrating the fact that this is going to happen. I understand what they were trying to do. Maybe we missed something like if like somebody was about to die and it was like their last days and sure, which terminal illness, which I guess that then that was the way they had him set up big set. Yeah, a big celebration. So I think that's what they were trying to do. I just didn't understand the end because maybe that's was the end. And I was just like, oh, so she is going to kill him. Okay, that's right. That's something I didn't quite understand. But I didn't enjoy and I enjoyed all the angles of like the doctor needing he was like, I'm here to save save lives and kind of everybody in his life because the subject matter of this film, I think is a great subject matter. Once again, with the Indian, the subject matter. Yep. I've never seen a story about assisted suicide. No. And it's obviously a very touchy subject because if I was a vegetable, well, I would want I would want to die. Is it million dollar baby have some of that in there? Yeah, that's the only other one that comes covers it. But it's and it's a big I mean, here in the United States, you guys probably know this because you guys are well more aware of what's going on here than we are over there. The that issue it's an international issue. Oh, yeah. It's just it's a big deal about the right to life and all of the things that they they covered, which is hard to cover. It's a hard because but I love the questions that it arose. Yeah, because one if I was a mythic character, I want the exact same thing. I want to die. I don't want to live like that. That's right. It's just awful. I can't I can't live like that. Right. I see it's one of those conundrums. Yeah. And anybody I see both sides if you allow it, then you have to like talk about the whole just people that aren't in this situation that just are depressed and want to die. And then you want them to actually go to therapy and right get through all this kind of stuff. Right. And so it's it's one of those Pandora's box things that really come. It cannot be simplified, which is why it's a great film because I love films that leave you with questions. Absolutely. And so that was one of my favorite parts of this along with she was definitely my favorite part. And so I'm very much looking forward to seeing her other work in in Devdas with her. Let me say a little bit more about what I was writing down about this lady. First of all, she's obviously beautiful. And this is this is I got mad again watching an Indian film. You know what I got mad about Corbin Miles? Never heard of her. Not just that. Oh. India. So box. Yes. The number of beautiful actors both male and female that you have both in their heart because you see it in their artistry as well as their personhood that also have incredibly deep talent as actors. That doesn't happen a lot here. No, it doesn't. What? It does not happen a lot with our actors. I think it's it's kind of crazy because a lot of films we watch I'd say 34. We have been more drawn to the female characters in them. Well, yeah, I mean, right. And I would say which is which is unusual. Well, it's because a lot of the films that we watch because I would say the majority of American films that we watch. There's a gravitation for the man. I mean, that's the issue with Hollywood. They had to struggle for a long time giving females good roles. Yeah. So that's that's not a surprise. Right. But obviously India and giving these females these amazing roles and then they're the time because one their films are longer and then the the roles to shine and these beautiful these beautiful women with such great skill artistically and her skill. Okay. She's weird in this respect. She is so aware of her screen presence. In the same way, you know, she reminded me of some of our legendary Hollywood actresses from the heyday and the golden era of cinema back in the MGM grand days, like Ava Gardner, Jane Russell, Betty Davis. She reminded me a lot of Betty Davis. These are women who crossed the bridge between the silent era of overacting and the method acting era where you become the characters. She has the ability to be aware of the camera at all times, like those ladies, but still be believable and be in character and be in the moment. That's really, really rare. There are moments where she is just dead still moments where she did a turn and it was it was done. You know, it was done because she knows it's going to look good on camera. Like Scott, he will tell me all the time about the reason he knows he can do well on TV. This is a mutual friend of ours who does TV work because he knows what the camera wants and he'll just do it because he knows what the camera wants, but he'll still be believable doing it. She's clearly a master at that. When she got up to dance, I, I literally, she got up, I went, oh, oh, oh, my, oh, my, she is just unbelievable. Yeah. I'm like, I'm looking for and on Twitter, if you don't follow us there, why not? Why not? But don't you like to tweet with Corbin's twat? But I had, usually they know what we're watching. Yeah. Because I'll send out a GIF of something from the movie. And then like, I got comment after comment of, yes, you're finally going to see the legend that is right. Have you say your name? I believe it's Ishwarya. Ishwarya Rae. Yeah. Ishwarya Rae Bakchang. I hope that's right. She deserves it to be pronounced correctly. She is just so brilliant. And she's in Joda Akbar. Yes, with Rithik, who I've heard, everyone says that's like one of his greatest performances in the Devdas. Yes. So there's a bunch of hers that we're looking forward to exploring. I know she's probably been around as long as like Sri Devi. Yeah. And she, comparing the two, and this is not really kind of a fair comparison because Rithik had so much he had to deal with. But getting back into the techno jargon, there were moments for him, she never had any of these. I believed her every moment she was on screen. There were moments with Rithik I didn't believe where I felt he was potentially indicating and potentially showing me what he probably need to show us versus touching into, which is only one of, I mentioned backstory, I mentioned subtext. Also, I wonder, and this is where I wanted to be like with him and talking acting. As you know, there are some places, because this character he plays has to go to some really vulnerable raw places. And to be believable is that character, you as the actor, you've got to share some of your raw stuff to be believable. Substitution, emotional recall, whatever that is. And I felt like maybe there were some walls there. And I don't know if that was because he hasn't done the work personally to break through walls. Or again, directorial choice, I need you to do this, I need the pace of the scene to be this. Again, nitpicky, but that kind of work technique notes I would give him, I didn't have any of those for her. No, she's the only one in the film I would have no acting notes for. No, no, not at all. Yeah, she was utterly brilliant. Yeah, quite exciting. And again, I didn't dislike Rithik. I hope it's not coming across like I didn't like I felt like he like when he hated Ali Abad and ran. Yeah, no, there's no hatred there. Remember those? This is this is the guy got to the summit. So here's so he got to the summit of Everest, which he had a huge mountain to climb. He just didn't do it as prettily as someone for me like a Daniel Day Lewis would do it and it was a very tough role. I mean, most one of the hardest roles you could ever do. Yeah, most actors would probably fail more than would succeed, I would say. Absolutely. And the fact that he could keep me through, even though I didn't find him believable 100% of the time, I found his body work to be completely believable. As you said, dancer. Yeah, and then obviously any of his dance numbers. Yeah, obviously, that's no surprise. Yeah. Yeah, that was one of my favorite parts of the whole film is the the ball, the ballet. Yeah. So I could watch that over and over again. But I also found this and I don't know if this was because of the script or what, or my own impositions upon him. I found him to be a weird, almost contradictory mix of optimism and pessimism that really kind of threw me. I think I think what that was is they didn't give enough backstory because he was a sarcastic asshole. As a paraplegic, which makes sense. You mean you can't move any of your body so you'd be, but they didn't build that up in his early stages? In fact, they gave you the opposite. That moment with the fly on his nose. Yeah. Conveyed to you, this is a guy who can accept reality for what it is and turn a negative into a positive because he just said the fly is going to be there. I'm just going to laugh and he does that with the rain. So someone who seems to be that mentally tough. That was a good scene though. Wasn't it? The rain. The rain. See, this is the guy. He's basically getting weird, ceiling contradiction of extraordinary mental toughness, which I guess he has to be. Maybe that's for 14 years. Maybe that was the point though. That he's reached his breaking point. Yeah. And just because you've given up doesn't mean you're still no longer mentally tough or optimistic. Yeah. And then that makes sense. Yeah. So there was just some little stuff that obviously we both had an issue with. Score. How about the score? Oh yeah. His music. We always forget about the score even though he loves music. I mean we've talked about the dancing, so that includes the songs. Yeah. They were all really brilliant when she got up and danced. I thought that was a great song. Yeah. I thought there was a moment when he went to sleep and she drew the long pretty curtain around him and she's walking away. There was something going on with the score at that point that really stood out to me on how pretty the score was. And there were moments where I saw and I've read some reviews where people didn't like this about Sanjay's visual aesthetic with this subject matter in this style of film because for example, and I like Sanjay so he kind of gets away with it for me, the lack of believability in for example the funeral for his mom. There's this aerial shot not too high where he has the people spaced around her in a way that would never be done at a funeral. But visually it's fantastic. So that kind of visual artistry that's conveying some kind of symmetry and message of uniformity and painting a picture works in an epic like Padma Vaat or Bajramasthani in a more realistic piece. I can see why someone would feel pulled away from it. At the same time I was like of course he's doing that. You watch it for the shot. Of course he's doing that just like with our friend Vishal. Yeah Vishal. Oh it's just their masters at their craft and so yeah watching them work just like an actor is just fun. I think the difference for me is oh there's a huge difference between those two. You know what the difference reminds me of? This is a great comparison of their directing style. I know. Here's their directing styles as masters because I consider them both master filmmakers. They remind me of Beethoven and Mozart. Yeah and here's why for those of you who haven't paid attention to those two. Sanjay would be Mozart whose impeccable artistry attention to detail is just flawless. Probably comes up with his visuals the way Mozart came up with his melodies. It doesn't even make any revisions. Just this beautiful artistry just flows. Beethoven fights, scratches, gets dirty, does stuff that he doesn't like and then they both come up with masterpieces. That's Vishal. That's Vishal. Vishal's Beethoven and Sanjay's Mozart. I will say one last thing for that I agree for Rithik. I watched this film before the Super 30 trailer for the Super 30 trailer. I saw the growth and obviously it's been 10 years. Yeah even in that trailer of Rithik and his he looks really believable and I obviously can't speak for it yet because we haven't seen it. Of course. But he looked... What was Deborah? Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you. Deborah was I think a year after Gazarj. Gazarj. Okay go ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt you. But yeah I could see the growth even in that and then obviously so there's other films that we need to see and they I think Rithik's a really really good actor and I think he can get even better even with time. It took balls. Oh yeah this is I mean like I said most would fail at this. Most would fail utterly and horribly and embarrassingly and everyone would be mocking and making fun of them. Oh yeah 100% yeah um but there's others we need to watch so please let us know what uh what do you make some of his we can watch hers man. Agnipath is another one for Rithik that a lot of people suggest. Well we gotta enjoy the Akbar they're like they're gonna be screaming for you. Yeah because it's both of them again. Both of them. Joda Akbar but then you also got the dev dots that we I know guys we know and then I know the list is long. Shole Swades. You're not sleeping are you? Nope yeah.