THE WOLF OF WALL STREET: Scorsese’s Most entertaining Satirical take rides high on performances! [4/5]

Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is about ambitions. Ambitions that reject & rebel to be chained in with age-old rules and conventional regulations! Ambitions that don’t always look for permissible means but are ready to hop on anything, black or white, to get there on the top! And what could be the better example than the roller-coaster trippy life of American motivational speaker and a controversial stockbroker in the past, Mr. Jordon Belfort.

Based on his book of the same name, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is a biographical satire on how a man of big appetite to make money by all means lands him into all glossy-no soul world of drugs and sex but the charm of this black-comedy lies in talking about serious things in a not- so-serious way and without being sober and apologetic.

In the very first few minutes of the film, Jordon in his twenties [played by the terrific Leonardo DiCaprio] is introduced to the real way of functioning in the boisterous world of stock market by his very first coach Mark Hanna [Extremely impressive Matthew McConaughey as the scene-stealer]. Cocaine & hooker as he says, is the road to success in this game of running numbers on digital panels.

Soon after losing his job in a national financial calamity, Jordon finds himself a job in a remote investment agency. With his neighboring salesman [the hilariously funny Jonah Hill] and a group of friends who can sale nothing but drugs, Jordon opens his own firm with a working culture that might give you an idea of being at a big house party with booze, weed and girls. Point is simple; make money and lots of money to blow it hard to bring heaven in earth.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is one of the best satires I have seen, on the business world. The way Mark Hanna describes Jordon the unsaid rules of the game in Wall Street in New York, it’s gritty, witty, real and a fun to learn. In similar situations, when Jordon teaches his workforce how to fish the money from riches, it forces you to almost split your sides with laughter. Irrespective of the fact that you might not be very friendly with the ‘typical’ glossary of stock market & investment services and a not-so-favorable 3 hour of duration, you will never feel short of ROFL [Rolling On Floor Laughing] moments even for once. Thanks to the sharp writing and a smart screenplay that beautifully jumbles between voice-overs and audio-visuals.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET also marks applause worthy performances from more than one actor. Scenes extend to longer period with same settings and same set of actors but the performances never allow you to lose your valuable interest in the plot. DiCaprio has been a blue-eyed boy of Scorsese and he proves his worth in every scene. Most of the times, he is there as the motivational speaker so he speaks and speaks a lot but without being a blabber. Watch out for him where he’s temporarily paralyzed by excessive drug intake and desperately want to fight with the situation. Outstanding!

Of the rest, it’s Jonah Hill who brings maximum laughter moments with his own straight face humor. Matthew McConaughey is there for just a couple of scenes but he overwhelms you in just those few. THE ARTIST fame Jean Dujardin plays a Swiss bank official in a delightful cameo. You also should not miss noticing the real Jordon Belfort playing the show-host in the very last scene.

To sum up things well, it is Martin Scorsese’s one of the most entertaining work for sure. Performances, writing and a skilled direction make it a must-watch for plenty of good laughs. Only if the duration could get shorter by 15-20 minutes, it would have been an overwhelming experience. Nevertheless, it is just awesome! [4/5]   

THE PAST [Le Passé]: An intricate emotional thriller that stays in your heart [4/5]

Nothing can be as layered as human relationships. And our attitude towards people around us or the approach towards the very life we are in is solely responsible for making it either an enjoyable exercise to explore many a phenomenal stratums underneath or even more complicated to ruin the fascination. To move on, is a must to learn but even returning to the past can have a prolific side-effect to make things brighter on the other side.

The man behind A SEPARATION – 2011’s Oscar winner in Best Foreign Film category, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is back with THE PAST [Le Passé]- an intricate emotional thriller [I am still looking for an apt genre-segmentation to place it justly] that not only skins off an assortment of emotional acquaintances between every possible relationship under a roof but also evokes required empathy for every person and his/her ability to tackle it in his/her own way.

After 4 years, Ahmad [played by Ali Mosaffa] is in town to meet his 3-times married ex-wife Marie [Bérénice Bejo of ‘THE ARTIST’ ] & to co-operate with her in settling down the divorce process between them, a must for her before marrying a new boyfriend. Ahmad lands up in her house for a short term stay where he re-makes heartrending connection with her daughters and her boyfriend’s son from past marriage. Soon, he starts smelling the combustible emptiness within the walls and before he could really do something about this, the outburst happens to form a big emotional turmoil for everyone in the house.

The beauty lies in the simplistically naïve plot that never looks made-up or adulterated to create drama. Characters take their journey through plausible events and a well-conceived screenplay that justifies every single move taken by them. The emotions are not rare but as raw as anyone would articulate in such situations. Twists in the tale unravel in such flow that neither makes you overtly shaken nor leaves you unreceptive. You don’t really become ‘awestruck’ by the revelations but will sure make a connection here with the events and its grounds.

Performances are convincingly believable and well-defined. For once, your will never find a negative character but the situations that bring out some ‘not so favorable to all’ choice of acts. In fact, every character has its own charm to allure your constant attention. Though you might get little apprehensive about the pace of the film and would probably feel exhausted by a little too much twists in a stretch to reach a feasible end but the top-class cinematography and the slice-of-life look and feel of the film never loses its grip on you.

Experience Ahmad’s soul-stirring relationship with the daughters. Feel the helplessness of a single mother trying to deal with her teenage daughter’s disapproval of her moving on with life. Sense the daughter’s guilt of creating mayhem in her mother’s life. And a kid who’s going through an emotional crisis no one tries to understand. There is so much about life & relationships in Asghar Farhadi’s THE PAST. How much can you learn or unlearn, find out yourself! It is here to stay…in your hearts! [4/5]