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The Kite Runner: A Review

 I have always loved reading book reviews, especially the reviews where no one can decide whether a book is a page-turner or not. Last Saturday while shopping my friend suggest me to read this book, by saying its good book. I have never seen such argumentative reviews from friend, as we have zero similarity for books and i simply felt indifferent about the book. There was a deep divide between the support and criticism of this book, and a surprising use of colorful language. In critique, a commenter stated, “This is the sort of book White America reads to feel worldly,” while a supporter wrote, “Honestly, this book was so moving and beautiful that I was crying.” This was the first time such uncertain reviews have inspired me to read a book out of eager curiosity rather than hesitant expectation. I wanted to form my own opinions outside of these wild, feather-ruffled reviews. The book follows a young Afghan boy named Amir and his friend Hassan through their tumultuous childhoods in ...
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Love with Flaws

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  'Love With Flaws' is a rarity: a full-length Korean drama featuring a bonafide BL side story. The m/m relationship between 20-something Won Seok and uni student Ho Dol develops as a slow burn over the course of the 32 episodes, and it is only during the final episode that we learn that the two are actually a couple, but it's during that final episode that we also hear Won Seok's older brother use the word 'love' to describe how Won Seok feels about Ho Dol. They even get their own little happy ending during the montage that ends the series.                                    Generally speaking, 'Love With Flaws' is a romantic comedy, with the comedic element pitched at a level that might remind you of the American TV series 'Shameless'. Like in 'Shameless' the characters in 'Love With Flaws' are larger than life. Their behavior is often outrageous, but also like in 'Shameless' there are momen...
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365: Repeat the Year

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 It’s a good week for me – SO i have decided to watch many shows! And in a rather reckless move , I decided to try them all at once. Unexpectedly, it's the drama 365: Repeat the Year, that sucked me in for a fast and furious thrill ride! Come find out why I couldn’t stop watching this time-travel mystery. 10 people, who dream of having a perfect life, travel back in time to 1 year ago. They are able to reset their lives there, but mysterious cases take place that threatens their lives. Ji Hyung Joo (Lee Joon Hyuk) is a veteran detective and he has 7 years of work experience. He gets an opportunity to travel one year into the past. He enjoys his life that has been reset, but he learns that people who have traveled back in time, like him, are involved in mysterious cases. He tries to reveal the truth behind that. Shin Ga Hyun (Nam Ji Hyun) is a webcomic writer. She has published her popular webcomic series “Hidden Killer” for the past 3 years. Shin Ga Hyun is a workaholic and sensiti...
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Always

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 I always get so defensive when people find out that Severus Snape is my favourite character in the Harry Potter series and they give me that look. You know, that look.                    I of course have reasons for liking him so much. Okay fine, let me honest, I love him. We’ll leave it there. It’s no secret that I have read The Deathly Hallows before all the other books . I see this as my version of I open at the close. Literally. So in DH when Harry heard Voldemort’s speech on why he couldn’t possibly allow Severus to live because of the elder wand and then listened to him die, this was the point when my heart started breaking. I hated Severus as much as the other person- movie knowledge here- and there was no love lost there, but I wouldn’t wish that kind of death on my worst enemy. And then Harry friggin’ Potter that he is had to go in there and Severus’ tears are streaming down his face and he’s all like: ‘take them’ and I wa...
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Joyland

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 Pakistani filmmaker Saim Sadiq makes his directorial debut with "Joyland," a picture of considerable integrity, passion, and bravery. The movie takes you into a stifling, patriarchal household in Lahore, Pakistan. While it keeps a sharp, neo-realist-influenced eye on the everyday lives of its characters, "Joyland" often gets so intimate as to discomfit the viewer to the point of exasperation. But the movie itself never judges.                                 We begin with an adult man with a sheet over his head, playing hide and seek with some young girls. The man is Haider, and the girls are his nieces. His sister-in-law Nucchi is about to have a fourth child, and you know the family is hoping for a boy. They don't get it. While Haider is at the hospital helping his brother and sister-in-law, he spies a striking woman ... who looks back at him with something less than indifference. Even though he...
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A Review of Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angels.

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 Released a year after Wong Kar Wai’s beloved film Chungking Express, Fallen Angels actually was originally supposed to be a third story contained within the narrative of that film. Wong actually ended up cutting this out of the original Chungking Express because he found the content to be too different than the other two narratives, and because he thought Chungking Express didn’t need a third story. At the end of the day, he was very right, because both Chungking and Fallen Angels can be very distinct from each other while also borrowing elements. More on that later though.  Let’s just dive straight into this review, shall we?  From the very beginning scene, we can see the borrowed elements from Chungking Express. Although the extreme close up at an angle to the girl’s face is something completely new for Wong’s cinematic decisions, we get a voiceover of a male character describing his relationship to a female character. Classic. Sounds like Chungking right there, which ...
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Past Lives Review: An Impressively Fresh Story About Love

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 Love triangles are a dime a dozen in movies. It is rare to get a mature and nuanced story that somehow manages to till new soil instead of going over material that is already well-worn. Writer/director Celine Song’s debut film Past Lives somehow manages this, feeling like a fresh perspective on love, longing, the past, paths chosen, and regrets.                              The film opens in a bar with two people off camera commenting about three people sitting at the other end of the bar, two men and one woman. The woman is deep in conversation with one of them while the other man looks more and more like a third wheel with each passing minute.  The woman is Nora (Greta Lee), the one man she is in deep conversation with is Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), a childhood friend she has a strong connection with, and the apparent third wheel is Nora’s husband Arthur (John Magaro). The film then cuts to 24 years earlier ...
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Location: Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
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