Film review : An Education

As i got my new-found love for Hollywood Cinema recently, i am downloading movies left, right and center. The flick i finished watching yesterday is called " An Education". As i depend upon IMDB ratings immensely on choosing which movie to download, "An Education" having a higher point was on my radar for sometime now.

 Premise :-It's story set in 60's London. A  studious high school girl from a middle class, hardworking, conservative background fell for a much older man who is in some kind of shady art dealing and real estate business. Whether she dumped her father's dream of her joining Oxford after high school and get hitched with her lover or she went for pursuing her education- is the puzzle that unfolds at the end.

High points :- 

1. In the role of protagonist "Jenny", Carey Mulligan is a scene to behold. In many scenes, she resembled to me 'Audrey Hepburn'. With her shy demeanor, strong personality and emotive expressions-  she shines through the film.

2. The actors who played the roles of her parents (Cara Seymour & Alfred Molina, and i suspect i have seen the latter in some "Spider man" movie) are very strong character actors and depicted the role of a set of middle- class parents who are trapped in their boredom and angst of living a ho-hum life and constantly fearing the same future for their only daughter, and thus pushing her strong for pursuing a good education or rich husband.

3. The cinematography of the movie is awesome, creating the 60's vibe of London. It's dreamy and real in both account.

4. The strong supporting cast in Jenny's friends ( specially the boy who played "Graham" ), her literature teacher Miss Stubbs ( Olivia Williams) and school principal (latter a memorable cameo, played by Emma Thompson).

5. Rosamund Pike who played "Helen "- a wannabe, shallow trophy wife and thus portrayed it to a T.

Low points :- 

1.The hero seemed to me quite irritating. He tried his best to excel in his role of a masked, smooth-talker philanderer but somehow i felt that he lacked the zing needed to portray this particular type on screen. He rather appeared to me a dreamy fella who would have been a poet or an artist chased by a school girl.

 2. His mousy (in terms of looks in the film) friend Danny (Dominic Cooper) who is good intentional but appeared differently altogether.He looked somewhat light in personality from the beginning then suddenly turn into a good Samaritan.His change seemed abrupt and forced.

  3.The length of the movie is medium but sometimes some scenes are just languishing and slow-paced.They could have been crisp.

Best Moments :

• According to me, the best scene of the movie was when Jenny was confronted by her principal on her choice of not taking exam and instead of getting married. This scene beautifully depicted the question of futility of conventional education system, one's right of choosing her own way of life, the confusion of every girl of every generation of whether to put their brains above their hearts or other way around.

•  When Jenny confronted with her parents nearing the end of the movie, on why they didn't stop her earlier on leaving her school and rather supported her clumsy decision to get married with a rich stranger and her father,in reply, expressed the universal crisis of a middle class father- to ensuring his child  have a better life than him and during this process if he appears as selfish or megalomaniac or stingy or opportunist- it's all because of the singular fright that my child won't end in the same pit where i am now.

•  The shot before the last scene was also beautifully etched. On getting the news that she got an admission in Oxford, Jenny sat at the bottom of the staircase to digest the surprise. The happiness, the melancholy and the hope taking form again in front of her eyes- all of these emotions playing at the same time on her innocent face- made it truly remarkable.

Overall, "An Education" is a decent movie with share of it's pitfalls and it's strictly one time watch for me but again this is only my personal take on the film and i believe there are many who will find it more spectacular and worth repeat viewing.

3 mistakes of my dislike !

As 2013 is already in it's full swing and marching ahead , i wish there are few (negative) trends which i happened to see around in the last year and the year before,may die a quick death this year -

1. 'Mobile-holic' bikers : This is one of the most irritating views these days in the busy lanes of the city, when a man on a bike, zooms around with the cell phone squeezed between his left/right ear and shoulder respectively. 

                                                        The first time i witnessed such a sight, i thought the poor man must be suffering from Spondylitis till i discovered a tiny square thingy between his left ear and shoulder.
                                                                   This year I pray that they should take a magic potion or they have a sudden epiphany which forces them to leave this habit ASAP and spare us pedestrians mainly!


2. The battle for "khuchro" : 
                                         It's like an epidemic in Kolkata ( as i don't know about other cities for sure ) where every other auto rickshaw- walas demand for 'khuchro' or change in terms of fare and if you hand them over a note, almost begging that you don't have 'khuchro', they will start scolding you like your parents. " othar aage bolte parten na? " or " eto khucro kothay pabo dada/didi?"

                                                 .Only god knows whether all the mints of  West Bengal have stopped coining coins or if they do then where do they go? And this is not only the problem of autos, even bus-walas, grocery-walas, and horror-of-the-horrors retail giants like 'Spencer's Retail' or 'Big Bazar' bug you for khuchros!

3. The beauty (products marketing!) myth :

4 out of 5 times when i visit a beauty parlor or a cosmetic store, the girl-attendant out there ( in almost all the cases they are female but last time i have an unique incident of meeting a male sales-attendant who was trying to faultfinding with my feminineness, keeping aside his machismo .Sigh!) ) first scrutinizes my face and then bug me with almost-hurting lines like " ma'am,you have wrinkles on ur forehead ,use XYZ cream" or " your hair is so dry and frizzy , u must avail of our ZYX hair treatment service" or "you have acne / pigmentation/ stretchmarks/dandruff and all the other defects of the world, so you must...." . 

May be it's their marketing strategy to push customers in buying products but being a bad student of  marketing i failed to see how come it can be a successful selling trick when you are actually making the customer feel bad about herself. 

Then there are another breed of sales-attendants in shopping malls who follow you wherever you o for browsing and then look at you with eyes full of expectations like lovelorn pets and if you don't buy the product their facial expression changes immediately and they discard your companion like torn napkins. It actually hurts the ego of shoppers like me who- browse- a- lot -but- buy- so- less. 
                                                                    Hope they too can leave us alone !

us