o! Just Me

The movie is released very late in India, almost 3 months after the US release. But, have I seen it before or is just the Déjà Vu. Why do I have the experience that I’ve seen this movie before. The movie have a compelling sense of familiarity accompanied by that sense of “eerieness”, “strangeness”, and “weirdness”. I seem to have a firm sense that I have seen this movie in the past. Why do I feel I am in it again, why do I feel that I can foretell what the next scene would be! Was I experiencing a Déjà Vu?

I am not sure about others, but for me, the movie was cool and tricked me through the story. The story was about to leave loose ends till the finale where everything comes back, fixes the holes, molding a nicely-told story. From the name, I was not really expecting a Techno-Thriller but the movie proved to be an awesome treat both to the mind and the eye.

Set in the post-Katrina times, Déjà Vu starts off with an eerie repeating shots, triggered later with a bomb blast aboard New Orleans ferry carrying hundred of marines and civilians. Dough Carlin (Denzel Washington), an ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agent, comes in to investigate the bomb blast. However, he discovers a dead body of a beautiful lady, Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) whom he suspected to have some involvement with the person responsible for the bomb blast. Btw, I almost mistook Claire Kuchever for Helle Berry, but later realize she is the lady from another of my favorite movie - Hitch.

Is it Denzel’s role in the Bone Collector that made me believe he is perfect fit in this investigation thingy or just that he is plain good with his role? Anyway, I like him in this movie. He is a decent but level-headed agent, shrewdly intelligent with the perfect blend of humor, constantly probing deeper - what should be skipped, what is wrong, why should it not be here. He was taking the audience to a Déjà Vu of mind stimulation and a feeling of “knowing the future”.

The movie took a sudden turn with FBI experts Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), Denny (Adam Goldberg), Gunnars (Elden Henson) and Shanti (Erika Alexander) inviting Dough to join their special team to investigate the bombing. It was then, that the movie turn to a wacky sci-fi story and might leave some viewers scratching their head over “wormholes”, “Einstein-Rosen bridges”, parallel universes and space tunnels. Dough was introduced to a radical new surveillance machine, one that allows a total 360 degree visual and audio compilation of a particular area on earth. Well, don’t you remember Paychek which was about the future while this is about the past, the futuristic past. You have to really think forward and track backward to enjoy this thriller.

Dough was introduced to a backtracking machine. However, as it has to crunch zillions of data, was unable to have a parallel view but took about about 4 and half days to render the visualization (or called it realization). Dough somehow figures out that it can actually interact with that visual past (but 4 days and half from now). The team tries to pacify him that nothing physical can travel through the time-twist, the almost parallel fold of the existing world.

Not a totally new story but this is innovative, technically OK, amazing camera movements and of course the story logic well maintained to make it plausible. Well, then you need to do some explanation to the audience for such a complex story. That is where Shanti, the women who cannot stand murder and killing scenes, does the “english” explanation.

Personally, I’d love to have a room filled with a setup like that though not with that technology. They have the hi-definition Genesis camera, Time Track camera by Digital Air, Lydar Camera originally made for the military - all that with infrared, thermal imaging and heat impulse visual imagery.

The only thing I do not like was that of Dough’s physically being deported to the past. Otherwise, think forward, go see the movie and enjoy.

The aftermath & how Déjà Vu might inspire Bollywood!

Ok, let me tear it apart for Bollywood.

I once wrote about the height of Plagiarism in Bollywood where Krrish was a combined story/idea of Paycheck and Spiderman/Superman theme. Krrish even ripped the flash animations of 2Advanced. However, how hard they tried to make things plausible with help from Technically advanced Studio/Labs from overseas (outside India), the whole idea and effects on Krrish was stupid and funny. Our friends finally agreed that Hrithik never flew up but always flew down unlike the Hollywood comic incarnations. Ah! Did I missed the fact that Bollywood of course have one thing extremely original - the song sequences.

Now, getting back to Déjà Vu, I won’t be surprised if Mahesh Bhatt, Rakesh Roshan and the other Bollywood directors have booked movie tickets for the next week or so to watch Déjà Vu again and again to get inspired. They will even buy the DVDs or import one and watch it again and again complete with Sub-Titles and “The making of Déjà Vu”.

In a year or two a Hindi Bollywood movie will come out that will be inspired by Déjà Vu. But I bet, it will be badly plastered with stupid effects fit enough for the likes of 7-G (Bandra) crowds of Bheiyas who would watch it couple of times to really understand what really happened. They will somehow try to explain in more simple HINDI to make the Indian Cine-goers believed the happenings of Déjà Vu. They might even bring in some Apple Mac (that is the IN-THING these days in Bollywood movies) playing animations done in Flash but somehow on a Windows Chrome. I won’t be surprised if the sprawling Effects Studio in Bandra (W) and Andheri (W) will decompile some Flash Animations from the web and incorporate other moving, shining thingy to accomplish their SAMAY-YANTRA effects.

Now, implode in some ruthless singing and dance sequence, with the usual Bollywood style of colorful bliss. Well, you have your Bollywood Déjà Vu Movie. Hey, they might even have Hrithik Roshan or Akshay Kumar or even Shah Rukh Khan (he might even do his effects in his new Effects Studio). I can think up more ideas for the Bollywood Director, but let me rest here and wait for the future how my predictions will fare.

Hmmm, let me experience the Déjà Vu at that time!