Tag: jared leto
Blade runner 2049 (2017)
Blade runner 2049: Director of Arrival, Denis Villeneuve brings us the sequel of Blade runner, 35 years later. I have a vague memory of the first one but seeing this was a wonderfully reflective experience.
Set in 2049, the film continues its basic premise from the previous one. Almost allegorical, it weaves in a modern version of an age old theory in the world of replicants. The background score is haunting, the lack of emotions is stifling and the art direction is mind blowing.
A true science fiction film, the perfect symmetry and minimalism is unique. No unnecessary blinking lights and technical jargon, here life in the future spells out where the human race is headed, albeit not in the next 32 years perhaps. Technology and it’s advances are so poetically placed, that you feel sad, rather than enthused.
Ryan Gosling’s dead pan expression is perfect for his role. Ana de Armas is enchanting, Jared Leto is quietly menacing and Sylvia Hoeks leaves a lasting impact. Harrison Ford is still rocking at age 75, a true legend.
There are many sequences which leave you dumbfounded. How history, artificial intelligence and the modern ruin of society are woven to paint a morbid and dark picture of the future is fascinating. Long at 163 minutes, it’s worth it!
3.5/5
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
When both actors win the Academy Awards for their roles in a film, it becomes an automatic viewing choice. The film though, seems like a slice of what it could have been, incomplete without the performances of the two strong characters.
Mathew McConaughey has pushed his physical limits to embody his role, which was his biggest ‘prop’ or ‘asset’ for this character. His attitude, body language and most importantly his transformation whilst holding on to his deeply wounded masculinity, was his trump card. Jared Leto on the other hand, was a revelation with his soft voice, comfortably feminine demeanour and was not threatened by his co-actor’s brutish ways.
Director Jean-Marc Vallee serves us a portion of history, making valid commentary on the dismal state of the USA health and FDA system, even today. The way people with AIDS were ostracised and groups within them were treated with great prejudice, has evolved with the quality of drugs, a battle started by such clubs back in the 80s.
The film has moments just like the patients it shows us, blacking out in parts, slowing down with dementia and speeding up as a reaction to a drug. That may have been deliberate or just a result of depicting something so stark, but it didn’t work. The only thing that worked was the authenticity of the age and the performances, which have got their due.
2.5/5
Movies&Musings 