Those, actually, are two of the movies I have seen lately. Both the movies are great in their own respects. While '12 Angry Men' is a serious drama, set in a room, a small budget movie with hardly any camera effects, 'Big Fish' is a feel good movie, which takes you through a person's life, describes how he lived his life (and much more), captures the imagination of the viewer and leaves the viewer happy and sad at the same time. No doubt, both the movies are great in their own sense. I'll take some time and write a little about both of them one by one.
- Big Fish: The movie mainly is a feel-good movie
to be watched specially when you are feeling a little lonely or just want to watch some light stuff after long gruelling hours of work (or anything mind-consuming like CS). The story revolves around a guy named Edward Bloom, what he goes through in his life and how he manages to cross so many hurdles along his way. The guy keeps telling his stories to people around him and most of his talk seems to be full of plain stories, full of adventure and drama, but hardly any truth. His own son grows sick of all this story-telling stuff and they separate for sometime, only to meet again when Ed Bloom gets seriously sick. That's when Will Bloom (Edward's son) comes back to live with him, and to take good care of the ill old man. While he is there, Will again has to go through all that story-hearing stuff, which kind of keeps driving him crazy. Finally, Will tries to find the truth behind these stories that his dad had been telling him since he was 5 years old. In the processes, Will meets quite a few people and gets to know about few more people who had been in Edward's life. The movie ends with emotion-packed drama, leaves you very happy, and a little sad. If you are not a dumbo, by now you might have guessed that Edward Bloom dies in the end, but not before making his mark in many lifes and making a difference to so many of them.
Must watch, atleast once.
My Rating: 3.5/5 - 12 Angry Men: A Gem! One of the best all-time movies, for me.
The plot basically is that a boy is convicted for murdering his own father and after the hearing, a jury of 12 jurors is appointed to pass the verdict on the case. Now the verdict of the jury will be accepted only if the jury members agree on a unanimous decision, failing which the judge will pass his own judgement.
So these 12 guys are seated in a room, and that's where the rest of the movie is shot, on a very hot day's night (which is cooler by no means) and most frusuratingly, the fan in the room also doesn't work (although as it turns out later, they did not turn it on the right way). Now these guys have to come to a unanimous decision, or discuss the case until either they come to a decision (i.e. Guilty or Not Guilty) or they are unable to decide and the case goes into the hands of the judge.
The beauty of the movie is that each jury member has an important role to play in the movie. Some of them have their own opinions about people (basically prejudice) which influences their decision, while some jurors are unable to make their mind about the thing and therefore keep changing their decision too often, and there are some others who want the thing to get over by reaching a decision, no matter right or wrong, as soon as possible. Then there are those jurors who think very logically and are very dedicated to the task, and also there are those who do not want to reach any decision in haste, because it is matter of life or death for the accused.
The movie takes a lot of twists and turns and at many points in the movie, I changed my opinion about the case. It is one of those movies which are the best mix of best of stories, appropriate direction and unmatched acting by everyone (almost) in the cast. By the way, one of the jurors reminded me (and my friends Nitin and Sachin) of Boman Irani, one of the best actors in Bollywood today and one of my few favourites.
I have given below, my favourite piece of conversation. This Juror, whom I call 'A', stands up and starts speaking very aggresively to all other Jurors and tries to make his point. But one by one, all other jurors (except one, whom I call 'B') start moving away, thinking about the case and paying no heed to whatever he was saying. This makes him a little bit nervous and he kind of breaks down during his own speech, may be realizing that his reasoning on the subject is wrong. Notice how he modulates his voice, changes his expression and makes gestures during all this.
The italicized part that follows contains spoilers. Please do not read it till you see the movie once.
Juror A:
I don't understand you people!
All these picky little points you keep
bringing up, they don't mean nothing!
You saw this kid just like I did.
Don't tell me you believe that
phoney story about losing the knife
and about being at the movies.
Look, you know how these people lie.
lt's born in them.
What the heck? I don't have to tell you.
They don't know what the truth is!
And they don't need any real big reason
to kill someone, either.
No, sir. They get drunk.
They're real big drinkers, all of 'em.
You know that. And bang!
Someone's lying in the gutter.
Nobody's blaming 'em.
That's the way they are by nature.
You know what I mean? Violent.
Where are you going?
Human life don't mean
as much to them as it does to us.
They're lushing it up
and fighting all the time,
and if somebody gets killed,
somebody gets killed! They don't care!
Sure, there's some good things about 'em,
too. I'm the first one to say that.
I've known a couple who were OK,
but that's the exception.
Most of 'em, it's like they have
no feelings! They can do anything!
What's going on here?
I'm trying to tell you.
You're making a big mistake, you people.
This kid is a liar. I know it.
I know all about them.
Listen to me. They're no good.
There's not a one of 'em who's any good.
I mean, what's happening in here?
I speak my piece, and you...
Listen to me.
I... We're... we're...
This kid on trial here. His type.
Well, don't you know about them?
There's a... There's a danger here.
These people are dangerous.
They're... wild.
Listen to me. Listen to me.
Juror B:
I have. Now, sit down
and don't open your mouth again.
Juror A:
Some of the time... I tell you.
Must watch, see it as many times as you can.
My Rating: 4.5/5
