The Master,Passion-Trailer

First of all,here is the trailer of Brian De Palma's  Passion starring Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams which is about two female businesswoman fighting for power and higher position in a corporate firm.The trailer is quite impressive and  stylish while Rachel McAdams character invokes curiosity.Its nice to see her playing a dark selfish character.As for the 'erotic thriller' label,I reckon we shouldn't judge the film before seeing it as in the past some films like Body Heat,Chloe(2010) was  really good.

Another trailer of the the most anticipated film The Master by Paul Thomas  Anderson starring Joaquin Phoenix,Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.From the trailer it is safe to say Amy Adams will be not bright  cheery character and it seems Joaquin is the lead.Check it out.

9 Questions Regarding The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

And now to the discussion of the book for those who have read the book.Like other great novels,The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes definitely leaves more questions to the readers than answers.So I' ll try to answer some of the puzzling questions raised in the novel.

1. What is the ending of this book that I  boldly referred in my last post?

-As the Tony,Adrian and his fellow classmates debated  about the definition of history in part 1, we all can agree that all the characters agree that history is an account of a person using only  imperfect memories  and inadequacies of documentation.Just like  Robson suicide made the students to speculate what  really happened,Adrian's suicide,the 'historical event' of  this novel is left to the readers own speculation and interpretation  based on what Tony remembers and what Veronica and Sara implied.So just like Robson suicide and other historical event,  nothing can be proved unless with a testimony  from the person involved which in this case quite impossible as Adrian is not alive or with the authentic documentation on what has happened(The diary).Unless Julian Barnes decide to write another book on Veronica's POV or publishing the fragments of the diary,like all historical events,we are left to assume and believe what might have happened.

2.What does Veronica meant by 'Blood Money?

-The right definition of 'Blood Money' is the money paid by the murderer to victims family as a act of penance.Veronica who sees her mom responsible for Adrian suicide refers the money Sarah left to Tony,Adrian's friend and most likely to be  the last surviving kin  of Adrian as blood money.

3.What does Adrian's mathematical equations meant?

b = s –v +/x a¹

a² + v + a¹ x s = b?

Equation 1: Sara who has a unhealthy relationship with Veronica( jealousy)  causes her to have a more meanful,passionate relationship with Adrian  that lead to the formation of a another life,a baby.

Equation 2: Anthony   who had a meanful relationship with Veronica, who started to date Adrian after breaking up with Tony, indirectly lead Adrian to have a more meanful or more important relationship  with Sara which lead to the formation of a baby.

4.Why is Veronica still bitter towards Tony?

-Veronica who spent her younger life competing with her mother  Sara who has a unhealthy jealousy toward her daughter had made Veronica a shy,complex person which Tony saw as paranoid and 'bitchy'.Did Veronica loved Tony?I  reckon she did loved Tony which is why she brought him to meet her parents and left him alone with her mother that evening to see whether he will be seduced by her mother.Note  that she became more affectionate with Tony only after that evening while the first day at her parents she rarely paid any attention towards Tony.Realising the relationship could be falling apart as she was refusing to have sex with Tony,she finally decides to have sex with him knowing that Tony really wants it.Again Tony saw this as  a manipulative act and ended the relationship.This could be why she was bitter with him that he was so self centred and only thinks about himself.Another reason  could be due to the fact that Tony's letter to Adrian started all the mess in her life.While she could not project her anger towards her death mother,the shows it to the last living person who has some share of this mess.

5.Did Tony actually slept with Mrs Ford?Why?

-I believe that Tony didn't sleep with Mrs Ford that morning.Why? you may ask.The only way its possible that Tony slept with Mrs Ford and didn't mentioned it was if he was lying or he has Alzheimer disease.I just don't see how one can forget having sex with their girlfriend's mum.It's not something one does often.So unless Tony is having some memory related sickness I would rule out  the possibility he might have forgotten that he had sex with Sarah or unintentionally block the memory.So this leaves us with possibility of Tony lying to the readers but I would also rule this out.Yes,Tony is a unreliable narrator but that doesn't mean Tony could be lying to us.If you have read the book,Tony had admitted some stuff which a normal person might be shy to admit and taken responsibility for things that are not solely because of him.Tony boldly admitted that he had submitted to the course of time,giving up his ambition and for heaven's sake he  admits that he is bad at sex!Him taking responsibility towards his friend suicide(which I felt wasn't his fault) also shows  a side of a person that has a good moral.I just don't see why he would lie about sleeping with Sarah when he had admitted doing things worse than that.

6. Did Mrs Ford seduce Adrian?Why?

-Yes ,according to Tony and implied by Veronica.Adrian coming from a dysfunctional family,where his mother left his father clearly have some 'mummy issues' and as we read in the part 1 is a hyper sensitive man.This could be why Adrian was easily seduced by Sara when he was with the Fords.Sara on the other hand is implied to be a women who likes younger men and having affair which would explain her husband alcoholism battle.She seems to have this unhealthy jelaousy towards her daughter.Again this is my point of view as one can also argue that Sara could be a elderly woman in a loveless marriage and an alcoholic husband.Again as Julian Barnes states,history and memory is subjective.

7.How strange is Veronica's family?

-To some extent,we all can agree Veronica's family is quite weird.An alcoholic father,lustful mother,a complex sister and a brother who doesn't call his mother,mother.I reckon there is some more incestuous thing going on with the family than what have been told to the readers.I came to this conclusion because   on how Tony out of a sudden claim  Veronica is 'damaged' and implied that she and her father and brother could be having a incestuous relationship.I guess Tony subconsciously picked up the incestuous vibe during holiday with the Fords  from Sara herself but was blinded with his good impression of her and again with his self centred attitude .There are many stances during the holidays implied  that Sara was having incestuous relationship with her son Jack.For instance Jack  referring his mother as 'The mother' and Jack suggesting to Veronica that 'The Mother' would not be happy with Veronica closeness with Tony.Another thing which made the family quite weird is due to the fact the whole family sort of know Sara's lust for young men, from the alcoholic father who keeps yelling about the young boys who used to work for them to Veronica who left her boyfriend to see whether he would succumb to her moves.Again this is just my interpretation as one could argue the possibility of Jack and Veronica not being Mr and Mrs Ford children as Tony did realise that both Veronica and Jack bear no resemblance towards their parents.

8.Why did Adrian decides to take his life?

-Adrian  is described to be quite an intelligent man and always thinking ahead of him. Even though he was really happy with Sara, creating another life due to his weakness and lust made him guilty and he saw the responsibilities ahead him due to his mistake.Again its during the sixties where making your girlfriend pregnant is a very serious issue,so just imagine how serious is it to make your girlfriends mum pregnant.Him coming from a broken family saw how he had  been the reason for  wrecking another family and possibly creating a miserable life for the future baby growing up in a dysfunctional family.With all this responsibilities accumulating along with guilt and remorse,he decides to   give back the gift of life which had been bestowed upon him.

9.What is the horizontal hand gesture  by Mrs Ford meant?

-This is possibly the most puzzling question I had reading this novel as  I couldn't actually visualise of this hand gesture is.The only thing I could  grasped from the hand gesture is that is was a hand wave below the waist level.Knowing a bit about psychology ,I guess it was a way which could be intentionally or unintentionally way of Sara saying she is available for him.

So there you go.I have tried my best to explain the blurry part of this magnificent novel using my own speculation and interpretation.Again everything is subjective  and everyone might have their own theory about what might have happened(which is the point that Julian Barnes tried to say in this novel).
So what do you think of this novel?Do you agree with my theory  or have a theory of your own.Just leave  whatever is in your mind in the comment section and we can discuss it.

The Sense of an Ending-review

So here is my review for the  Man Booker Prize winner of 2011,The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.Consisting  of only  150 pages,The Sense of an Ending is divided into two parts both narrated by Tony Webster the main character.

While the first part of the novel deals on the adolescence lives of Tony Webster narrated by the retired 50 something Tony using his memory and the second part where Tony start to reevaluate his memories after receiving a shocking letter.

Spoiler free synopsis:Tony Webster and his other two friends who are all studying their Sixth Form accepts the new boy Adrian into their  group as they sense he was quite different than the other boys.As they their friendship grew,Tony start to realise  that Adrian was very different than all the boys of his age,he was thinking ahead  before all of them ,sensitive and always thinking outside the  box.In their history class,they begin to question what is history,life,ambitions and love.After finishing the Sixth Form and getting places in University all of them go in separate ways ,promising to keep in touch but that doesn't happen.Many years later,Tony ,now a divorced old man ,who had submitted to the course of life is living a ordinary life until a letter from a lawyer  forces him to reevaluate his perfect memory.

One of the theme of the novel,history is subjective appears throughout the novel vaguely and makes the reader to wonder whether the narrator is telling the truth or not. Just like  one of the character claim history  is a delusional account of the losers,which in this case Anthony himself?

Even though the novel is short ,it has a fast pacing filled with twists.Never even once you feel the narration to be dragging and Julian Barnes manages to convey much without saying much(If you read the book ,you will understand as Julian never states anything clearly).The constant reminder that  one memory might not be perfect,or the fact what you remember might not be how exactly  thing happens definitely will bring nostalgic feelings to those at any age(especially the older ones) and make you reevaluate your own memory.All the characters are easy to relate especially Tony Webster whom I find to be very plain.As you read ,your view on the characters changes very fast like path of the wind and that's trait that  I enjoy in this novel as it happens in our real life,our opinion on people always changes so quickly .

One of the beautiful thing of this book is  that the title is so apt to the story.The reader does not actually get the ending but have a sense of an ending.Many might hate the book for this fact itself that the book doesn't have a proper ending but if you carefully read the novel ,you'll find Barnes has included the ending in the first part of the book itself.(page  17 and 18)

PS: Here is the link to the Q&A about the novel.


A

Great Expectations,Seven Psychopaths-trailer

Firstly,the trailer of the latest adaptation of the Charles Dicken Great Expectations with Mike Newell as the director and  Helena Bonham Carter,Ralph Fiennes,Robbie Coltrane,Holiday Grainger and Jeremy Irvine as Pip the protagonist.For those who haven't  read the book yet,Great Expectations is about the orphan Pip who longs for the upper class life gets a chance to be one when a  mysterious benefactor arranges him to become a gentleman.Another storyline of the novel is Pip desire of  the cold,beautiful Estella,the adopted daughter of Miss Havisham who was molded by Miss Havisham just to break men.The trailer is quite impressive but I do find it quite misleading as it makes the film looks like a thriller/horror film.The costumes looks gorgeous and the three actress,Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham , Helena Barlow and Holiday Graiger as Estella steals all the attention whenever they appear.Just check out the trailer.

Finally,the trailer of the Seven Psychopaths directed by Martin McDonagh(In Bruges) with a huge cast compromising Colin Farell,Woody Harrelson,Sam Rockwell,Abbie Cornish ,Olga Kurylenko,Christopher Walken and more.The plot:

Marty (Farrell) is a struggling writer who dreams of finishing his screenplay, "Seven Psychopaths." Billy (Rockwell) is Marty’s best friend, an unemployed actor and part time dog thief, who wants to help Marty by any means necessary. All he needs is a little focus and inspiration.
Hans (Walken) is Billy’s partner in crime: a religious man with a violent past. Charlie (Harrelson) is the psychotic gangster whose beloved dog Billy and Hans have just stolen. Charlie is unpredictable and extremely violent and wouldn’t think twice about killing anyone or anything associated with the theft. Marty is going to get all the focus and inspiration he needs, just as long as he lives to tell the tale.
 Check it out.

Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln,Trouble with The Curve-trailer

So here is the  trailer of anticipated Clint Eastwood  and Amy Adams Trouble With The Curve.As the trailer clearly depict,the film will be about  daughter of a baseball scouter trying to reconnect with her father as well taking care of him.As always,Amy Adams is radiant  whenever she appears and Clint Eastwood does seem to be a good choice of the grungy,tough father.Check it out.I reckon Amy Adams is gonna have a really good year this tough role along with another pivotal role in The Master.

The official still from the Steven Spielberg's Lincoln ,a film with major Oscar buzz has been released.Just have a look at this still and its quite creepy how Daniel an Irish/British looks so similar as the popular American President.

Paranormal Activity 4,The Paperboy-trailer

So here is the trailer of  Paranormal Activity 4 ,the last film of the Paranormal Activity series.Based on the trailer,this film will explain what happens to Katie and her nephew who disappeared in the first 2 film .Check it out.

I also included the trailer of   the film The Paperboy staring Nicole Kidman,Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey who has been  giving good performance throughout this year with films like Killer Joe,Magic Mike and Mud.The is about  a duo of brothers(Efron and Matthew) investigating about a murder  to prove the innocence of a  inmate.The film received mixed reviews and gain controversy for a scene where Kidman urinates on Efron.

Last but not least,here is the stills released by TIFF of the film The Iceman staring Oscar nominee Michael Shannon and Winona Ryder.The film is about two sides of the mafia Richard Kuklinski,a cold hearted mafia who is responsible for many deaths and   a loving father and husband.If done right,Michael Shannon could be getting his second nod who in my opinion deserved one last year for his brilliant performance in Take Shelter .I am also looking forward for this film as Winona Ryder is back onscreen with a powerful supporting role.