Marriage Story (2019)

It is appropriate to close the year with a take on one of the best movies I've watched this year.

'Marriage Story' is the story of two people - Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) - going through some tough times as their relationship evolves from one to other. It is painful to watch, meaningful to understand and beautiful to relate to.

Reverdy says 'There is no such thing as love. There are only proofs of love'. Of course, there is no such thing as love - what is left is the attention, affection and the little proofs of love that litter our daily lives. These can be as little as a 'How are you?' to an act of help in the kitchen or any thing in which two individuals show they actually like each other.

Why these proofs are needed? Because that is the only way love can be understood. There is no such thing as inherent understanding of love - it has to be expressed to be felt. Do you express it after 15 years or 30 years? Yes, you still have to if there is any love left.

Now, the movie starts with a little expression of what Charlie and Nicole think about each other. Two perspectives of all sweetness about their partner - until we find out that they are writing it for their marriage mediator and as they take their first step towards a divorce.

Charlie is a successful theater director and Nicole is the lead actress in his productions. Seemingly, they have a successful career and a happy life. However, Nicole feels choked by Charlie's focus on Broadway and wants to explore on her own the artistic limits of what she can do.

That brings to us the most important part of a marriage (or love) - space. The concept of space in a marriage is important as it gives each other the space to move, express their feelings (without worrying about causing to offend) and be mad at times towards each other. The space is also important if one doesn't want to feel smothered in a marriage. It is important because as you identify this space and assert your presence in it, the marriage (or love) strengthens - there is no need to play act to satisfy the other.

Nicole's concept of her artistic limits being barred by Charlie's ego comes out after being smothered in the marriage for 10 years. Charlie - on the other hand- does not recognize that his focus on priorities leaves out Nicole all the time. He realizes it later in the courtroom when Nicole's lawyer, Nora frames - what seems to be a happy marriage - in terms of the way it smothered Nicole and how Charlie's self serving focus restricted her creative ability.

There is no such thing as right or wrong - the right is when Nicole recognized this lack of space for her in the marriage and takes the only way that exists for her - divorce. She has no personal animosity - expresses he admiration of Charlie's genius multiple times - is amicable to him till the end and as their relationship evolves - she picks up the pieces of her love for him and move on.

Charlie - as he is - is an excellent human otherwise and tries hard to understand what was going on with Nicole without bothering to figuring out why she is doing what she is doing. He does that eventually and accepts it.

There is one scene late into the movie - when Charlie and Nicole meet in his apartment and try to talk things over. It is at this point, Charlie realizes how Nicole feels about him and the marriage and finally comes to terms with it a little.

Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern) - Nicole's lawyer - plays an excellent part - focusing on how the society views the 'mother' as she is getting a divorce and why being polite about a divorce will backfire ("The system rewards bad behavior"). To me, Alan Alda as Charlie's first lawyer is a surprise. I like him and to see him thus old but without lacking any of the wit is interesting.

The movie is completely driven by conversation and there is not a lot of characters but everyone who is present is felt. The dry humor runs all along the movie and there are profoundly sad scenes without exacting the sentimental price from the viewer. These scenes are laced with a little wit and the frames move.

For all that human drama, the movie is not exactly a tragedy. It focuses on how relationships evolve and what causes them to break apart and then move into different stages. And it does that beautifully.

There are a lot of lessons to learn for the Indian viewer but I am sure he is sure to miss all of that and worry about how the lady lawyer exacts harsh terms and why Charlie is correct etc. So the less said about it, the better it is for my mental health.

Overall, I am happy that I watched two very good movies in as many months (the other one is here) and more happy that the year is finally ending.

Music and Morbidity

When you are stuck in bed for days with a fever which is not going away and a cold which literally sucks your energy out and the medicines make you so drowsy, getting a simple sentence assembled in your mind becomes a challenge, there is little one can do.

I am not going to go on about this any further than what I try to do in the time I am spending in the bed. One of the constant companion during this time is Music. There is nothing that puts your mind at ease than music. What I am listening to is what I am going to write about.

Today started with this fantastic article in NY times about the royal family of Oudh. It was a fantastic story with a lots of turns and twists and a lot of sadness tinged into it as well. It was fantastic journalism and the fact that I am reading about it in NY times just tells me the state of journalism here.

One of the things I kept not writing about is 'Game of Thrones'. For the way it killed off the interest to see it in the season eight, basically made me piss off the whole thing. But one of the amazing thing about the whole series is the music that come along with it.

One of the consistent themes of 'Game of Thrones' as a story is the grimness of fate. Nothing lasts forever and everyone dies. Some die when on top and some die unnoticed. But for sure, everyone dies.

Such a morbidness is what is brought out in the music of 'GoT' and what a score it is. This version by the Danish orchestra is mind blowing not just because the guy who starts off by singing the 'Rains of Castamere' looks eerily like a younger version of Tywin Lannister but has the same intensity of his evilness as well. The song has a eerie quality to it as it is sung at every moment of Lannister treachery and bloodiness.

One of the iconic scenes of the entire series - which basically sets the tone of things to come (that is, till the eighth season came along!) - when Daenerys becomes the Mhysa - mother- to her people by freeing them from slavery. The corresponding soundtrack probably is the next favorite.

 

But then, there are only a few moments of elation in the series itself - it is a tale of treachery and a lot of killing and that leaves one with mothers without sons, wives without husbands, lovers torn apart and that is a plenty of sad moments to go about. 

However, Cersei Lannister is no ordinary mother. She can literally light up anything that she thinks is stopping her progeny from getting what they want. The piano score which plays around mostly in almost silent scene where Cersei just waits for her triumph at Red Keep is just plainly haunting.

With all that music flowing between the times, the grimness of the life is in full view of us. There are moments when life gets its bright spots but it is full of grim realities which basically grinds one down.

Lying in the bed, there is nothing but to introspect a lot and I was thinking of Buddha and Mahavira and the way they describe death. Like a candle being blown away or like Gosala says like a ball of string unfurls itself to the end and about crossing the river and also about getting stranded in one bank - what is not attempted, can it be considered done?

Sariputra says somewhere - ‘Life itself is a contradiction because birth is the direct cause , in every single case, of death’

With that cheerful note, enjoy the music..

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

“In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits. People come first. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two.” 

It was sometime in 1998 I picked up a copy of the book 'Iacocca:An Autobiography' in the street book stalls of Pondy Bazaar. I had no idea who Iacocca was at that time. When I read through it, I realized that this will be a book which will be with me through my career - giving me the lessons I needed at the start of the career.

When 12-13 years after reading that book, I ended up working for Chrysler as a contractor, it was a strange feeling - of pride to be part of the same company which Iacocca rescued from bankruptcy Of course, Chrysler was going through another messy bankruptcy and was selling assets - so the feeling of  belonging the same company was more intimate than I wanted it to be.

So, when I watched Lee Iacocca appear on screen with a slide deck to show Henry Ford II - the need to create a racing team, I couldn't contain my excitement. While the movie - 'Ford v Ferrari' - is not about Iacocca or about his role in designing the Ford Mustang the year before, to me, I was looking for Iacocca in every frame to see how he is portrayed.

Iacocca passed away some months ago. It was a feeling of losing a good teacher and I do not think I wrote anything at that time, so I thought it is time to write something about him now.

Now, about the movie. 'Ford v Ferrari' is as good a movie gets when it combines a real story with some fast cars. Now, cast Christian Bale and Matt Damon in it, you have a combination which cannot miss.

The movie is about Ford's entry and desire to win the 24 hour Lemans championship and what they did to bring it about. It is also the story of two race drivers - Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles - and how they brought about the defeat of the Ferraris in the championship.

A good movie does not let you pause to second guess the happenings on the screen. You are immersed in the story and start rooting for the protagonist and invest yourself in the happenings. By that standard, 'Ford v Ferrari' wins big. The movie is about 2.5 hours long and you do not feel time flies by. By the time Ken is doing his last lap, you start cheering for him to finish on top.

The committee culture of Ford is something Iacocca writes about in his book and what he had to do to get past that to get new cars introduced or new designs discussed. This is true in any corporate environment today. For all the drama in the movie, I know the ways in which companies by their own policies and procedures kill off solutions which are not in line. This is a difficult challenge to address.

How do you make an inventor or just a brilliant programmer into a 'team player'? As far as I know, the only way to do it is by killing the brilliance. Because I have always believed (and behaved) that conformance kills the inner self and it is by constant rule-breaking that we achieve anything in the world.

However, the world being what it is, it is usually the likes of Leo Beebe who get ahead and the company always manages to snuff off any sense of rule-breaking. This is what I believe is the core issue of the movie - it is the likes of Iacocca who fight this system from within, shielding the freedom of the designers and creators - however, there are always people like Ken Miles who lose out all the time.

To me, the story is just another illustration of the way the corporate committees kill off innovation. Think of Apple - what has it done to itself in the years following Jobs death? - it is the work of marketing committees and scared-to-death of new design executives that we see in the output today.


It was late in the night when the movie finished and we were in the 12th floor of the Phoenix Market city and it was pouring outside. Chennai looked like heaven and we spent quite sometime trying to second guess all that we can see in the night.

Back to the movie, what I liked is that the movie takes an interesting story and makes it more interesting by bringing in all the drama of the 60's culture and never loses sight of the depiction of the brilliance of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby in pulling off an incredible win.


That is worth watching again and again (and of course, you don't get to see Iacocca in movies - that is something!).