Holiday [1938]

Director: George Cukor
Writer: Philip Barry (Play)
            Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman (Screenplay)
Featuring: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan


As i had noted earlier, 'Guess who's coming to Dinner' made me want to watch all of Katharine Hepburn's movies. So, I started with one of her earlier films - "Holiday".
Although this movie was a flop when it was released, it got termed as a Classic later on. Maybe the time just wasn't right when the movie was released, because it didn't deserve a flop. As stated in Wikipedia, "Hepburn biographers have speculated that Johnny's plans to give up working did not appeal to the 'Great Depression' audiences who were struggling to find jobs".

Johnny (Cary Grant) is about to marry a girl Julia (Doris Nolan) when he learns that she is a millionaire's daughter. He feels a little uneasy with the wealth and the lifestyle but still sticks with his marriage plans as he believes he is in love with Julia.
He then meets Julia's father, her sister Linda, and her brother Ned. Linda is referred to as the black sheep of the family, and the long-suffering Ned, trapped in a world where he doesn't belong, is almost always drunk.

Linda (Katharine Hepburn), being the loyal and protective elder sister, wants to know everything about her sister's fiancé. Johnny, wanting to know more about his fiancé's family, finds Linda to be someone who shares his ideals and understands his dreams.
It turns out that Linda has more in common with Johnny than her sister does, and they instantly hit it off and become good friends.

Linda and Johnny are attracted to each other. But, both of them deny it, even to themselves, due to their loyalty to Julia.

The tables get turned when Julia doesn't seem to understand Johnny's plans for a "holiday" in the early years of his life, and pressurizes him to join the family business. Johnny, who doesn't care to have more money than is just enough for a living, starts to rebel. Now, Johnny has to decide whether his love for Julia is enough for him to desert his plans for the "holiday", and has to decide on which sister he wants to spend his life with.

Other characters of note were of Johnny's friends Professor Nick Potter (Edward Everett Horton) and Susan Potter (Jean Dixon), and of Linda's sympathetic brother Ned (Lew Ayres). The acrobatic sequence by Katharine and Cary, and the antics of Johnny's friends are very charming.

It was interesting to look at the lifestyle of the wealthy as depicted in the movie. Also, as I had just read in a book ("Everyday Living" to be precise - a must read!!) a description of how introductions are to be made, I found it delightful to note how the characters made the introductions in the good, old-fashioned way. Movie clips of these 'introduction' scenes should be shown to kids while teaching them good manners.

Rating: 7/10

Office Space [1999]

Director: Mike Judge
Writer: Mike Judge
Featuring: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Gary Cole

Tagline: Work Sucks


All of you office-goers, especially my friends working in IT companies, this one's for you.
Oh, and well, even if you're not an office-goer, it doesn't really matter. You will still love the movie all the same.

This is a hilarious comedy made at the time of the dot com boom, and is based on the work lives of software professionals. 

"Office Space" is based on the "Milton" series of cartoon shorts created by Mike Judge that were aired on NBC and MTV in the early 1990s. But, while Milton and his boss play the central role in the cartoon series, they are supporting characters in the movie.

Although the movie was made around a decade back, the work-related frustrating situations depicted in the movie are still as relevant in our work-lives today -  the never-ending sea of cubicles, the morning traffic jam on the way to work, the late-nights and working weekends, the printer that always seems to get stuck, the monday blues, company downsizing, and the day-long staring at a computer screen.

 

The characters are so believable that you will find atleast one character fitting the description of someone you know at work. 

Peter is disillusioned and fed-up with his job at the software company Initech.
 His two friends and co-workers Michael Bolton (David Herman) and Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu) are equally frustrated with their workplace. Michael is irritated of people always asking him if he has any relation with a popular singer who is his namesake, and whom Michael hates. And Samir is bugged by how people are never able to pronounce his surname right.
There is also a very frustrating printer in their office that keeps showing errors when they try to print something. They do finally get their revenge with the printer as shown in the picture below.

Joanna (Jennifer Aniston) is the waitress at the café next-door who is equally frustrated by her boss wanting her to wear dozens of flairs (badges) at work. Peter is too shy to ask her out, and also feels that he should try harder to work it out with his current control-freak girlfriend Anne (although he has the nagging feeling that Anne is cheating on him).

The four characters described above are treated as the main characters in the story, but the supporting characters of Milton and the boss Bill are no less. The characters of Milton and his boss Bill Lumbherg are totally fun to watch as they add their own unique tones to the already humourous script. Gary Cole does a nice and convincing work as the condescending boss Bill Lumbherg who keeps saying 'mmmm...yeah' in a drawling tone, and keeps calling in employees to work overtime. And Milton (Stephen Root) annoys you and fills you with pity at the same time with his almost incomprehensible mumblings of how everyone wants his stapler, and how he wants to set the building on fire.

When Peter ends up being indefinitely hypnotized by an occupational hypnotherapist (due to the hypnotherapist dying in the middle of the session), life takes a new turn for him. Suddenly, from being burdened with work-stress, he turns into a care-free dude and even gets promoted when the consultants hired for company downsizing are impressed by his frank nature.On the personal front too, things only get better for him. Leaving his controlling girlfriend, who was actually cheating on him, he goes after the girl (Joanna) he really likes.
But, when his friends Michael and Samir are fired, Peter starts devising a plan with them to upload a virus into the company system so that a fraction of money from each company transaction goes into their account.


Now keeping the humour and entertainment aside, the movie also wants us to learn something and that is summed up in Jennifer Aniston's line at the end "Peter, most people don't like their jobs. But you go out there and find something that makes you happy". Be sincere in your work, but never work too seriously. Because in the end, when you are lying on your deathbed, it won't matter if you worked overtime in office or not. What will matter will be what you did when you were not in office.

Go ahead and watch it. I'm sure you'll love it - more so if you work in the corporate world.. :)

Rating: 8/10

Like Water For Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate) [1992]

Director: Alfonso Arau
Writer: Laura Esquivel
Featuring: Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos

This is a Mexican film based on a novel published in 1989 by a Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel.
The narrator tells the story of her aunt in a folklore fashion.

Her aunt Tita was the youngest child in her family. As per the family tradition, the youngest girl was not allowed to marry and was supposed to take care of her parents in their old age. Tita was not allowed to marry her true love Pedro whom she had loved since childhood, and who had loved her as much. Not only did that ruin their lives, it affected those around them too.

The story narration has a mystic quality to it. Tita is depicted to have a magic ability of pouring her emotions into her cooking, thus making others feel what she is feeling when they taste food cooked by her.

The movie was ok (bending towards good), and one could even say it was interesting. But I found this movie a little weird because it depicted that one can actually die of happiness. I have heard the hindi phrase "khushi se mar jaoonga/gi" (I'll die of happiness) in movie dialogues, but this movie actually showed that a person can die of extreme happiness.

 Rating: 6/10