The Big Russo Brothers Interview, Plus Everything We Watched This Week

Dear Reader, It's been a mixed bag for us this week at the movies. We came away with a renewed appreciation for Canadian writer-David Cronenberg, who's been making films for more than 50 years (imagine that!). Many of his movies are fascinating  meditations on what happens when our overreliance on technology begins to erode the parts of us that make us human. This week, Crimes of the Future, his first film in eight years, released on Mubi. "It's a surprisingly sentimental swerve for the director, even if his way of getting to the heart is to repeatedly take a scalpel to the flesh surrounding it first," writes Gayle Sequeira. Read her review to know more. Speaking of slicing and dicing the human body, Mohit Suri's Ek Villain Returns hit theatres this week. Once again, his follow-up to the 2014 film Ek Villain suggests that if women behave a certain way, they deserve to die. Sigh. The director weaves a tangled web of love and violence, but does it work? Anupama Chopra's review will let you decide.  Another film about someone who finds herself caught in a tangled web dropped this week on DisneyPlus Hotstar — Siddharth Sen's Good Luck Jerry. The Hindi remake of the 2018 Tamil film, Kolamaavu Kokila, follows the same beats of a young woman who becomes a drug smuggler to pay for her mother's cancer treatment, but moves the action to Punjab. There's a dearth of great black comedies in Hindi cinema (Delhi Belly is still our #1 pick) and Good Luck Jerry looked like a promising new addition to the genre. As to whether it makes the cut, Rahul Desai's review spells it out. Themes of crime and punishment continue in Vikrant Rona, Anup Bhandari's about a daredevil cop with a tragic backstory. Kiccha Sudeep is part superhero, part Indiana Jones and full-time swag master who wields a whip, strides instead of walks and occasionally breaks into a hook step with the local bartender. If this seems like a lot, let Anupama's review break it down for you. REVIEWS Crimes Of The Future: Looking for Inner Beauty in Body Horror By Gayle Sequeira Ek Villain Returns is More of the Same, But With Less Spark By Anupama Chopra Good Luck Jerry: Janhvi Kapoor Does Black Comedy — And It Falls Short By Rahul Desai Vikrant Rona Is Held Together By Kichcha Sudeep's Superhero Swagger By Anupama Chopra Historically, villains in Indian cinema have had two defining traits. First: large, bloodshot eyes. Second: maniacal laughter. Rhea Candy breaks down why Sanjay Dutt, who has been crafting larger-than-life villain personas across his filmography, does this better than anyone else. If Dutt's Daroga Shuddh Singh was the highlight of Shamshera for you, welcome to the club.  Another performance we haven't been able to stop thinking about this week is that of Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan in Ms. Marvel. Shroff plays Kamala's mother as an exasperating mix of loving, yet overprotective, a combination of traits any South Asian viewer will recognise in their own parents. "On the page, Muneeba was this protective, 'Kamala do your homework/Kamala go to your room/Kamala you can't go out' kind of person," Zenobia tells Gayle Sequeira. "How do you take that dominance or that over-possessiveness and flip it to make her strong and interesting?" She also talks about how Brown vs White audiences reacted to Muneeba and not wanting to play a woman who "only made biryani". Now that we're on the topic of the MCU, what better time to let you know we also got a chance to chat with the Russo brothers? Joe and Anthony Russo have helmed some of the franchise's biggest hits, including the two-part Infinity War saga. In Mumbai to promote their Netflix spy thriller, The Gray Man, they spoke to Anupama Chopra about the art of making a blockbuster, what they call "the greed of the Russos" and designing action sequences the way one would build a house. PICKS OF THE WEEK The One Star of Shamshera is Sanjay Dutt as Shuddh Singh By Rhea Candy There Isn't A South Asian Mother On The Planet Who Isn't Like Muneeba By Gayle Sequeira The Russo Brothers On The Gray Man, Dhanush And Their Greed By Anupama Chopra Copyright © 2022, Film Companion LLP, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: info@filmcompanion.in Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list filmcompanion.in