A delightfully charming and sardonic take on the English middle-class life in the Thatcher 80s, High Hopes struck some rare and personal chords of connection. The acting is top-notch, the script is water-tight and the direction is radical. Apparently, the director, Mike Leigh, delves deeply into character development, letting the characters evolve naturally over weeks. The effort effortlessly shows in the movie.
A documentary in the genre of Michael Moore’s, Super Size Me depicts the drastic effects of binging on fast-food for a month. Taking off from the legal suits against McDonald’s in the US for causing obesity, Morgan Spurlock, the director, goes on an all McD diet to test the effects for himself. In between, he criss-crosses across US, providing us an insight into the American eating habits and some of the information nuggets leave you shocked. For e.g., there is a lobby (in US, what is there not a lobby for!) that has ensured packaged, re-heated fast-food is served in many schools. Some of the kids are shown having just fries and coke for lunch. While in all such documentaries, you discount the biases, it will be some time before I’ll be reaching for a McD burger.
Tags: cinema, documentary, home theater
