The first weeks of this year were overwhelmed by screenings of spectacular movies from different parts of the world, all sending universal messages of human compassion.   

A striking similarity between three films was the earnest narration, where people are not dichotomized as good and bad and everyone can be a hero.

Hollywood’s Golden Globe nominee Arrival, Bollywood’s sports drama Dangal and the sweet love stories in the Thai movie A Gift are all thrilling and entertaining stories that engage viewers long after the lights turn back on.

ARRIVAL

If language makes us humans, this sci-fi film shows how written and spoken words could be taken either as a sign of civilization or a destructive tool of war. It follows Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguist who tries to communicate with extraterrestrial creatures who have monolithic fleets looming over 12 spots around the world, including in Montana.

Under the military team led by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), Louise and other civilian physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) decipher the logograms — symbols that can stand for a word, a full sentence or expression — used by the aliens to communicate with humans.

Louise gradually reveals the intention of their arrival, which is to transfer their intelligence to humans as they believe that sometime in the next 3,000 years they would turn to Earthlings for help in an unidentified crisis.

Based on Ted Chiang’s short story The Story of Your Life written about the universe, time and space, the film written by Eric Heisserer and directed by Denis Villeneuve uses scientific references, such as to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in language science and a humorous take on the Abbott and Costello characters as nicknames for the pair of aliens.

The use of a time-travel scenario where cause and effect repeat continuously and not everything in the narration is shown visually and the reference of palindromes in the story may make one think the film could actually be watched in reverse.

Villeneuve succeeds in going inward rather than outward with the film, while the brilliant visualization, score and sound in Arrival makes it one of the best films that never really departs.

Arrival

(Columbia Pictures, 116 minutes)
Director: Denis Villeneuve; Screenwriter: Eric Heisserer
Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker.

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A GIFT

The romantic comedy of three stories seamlessly weaves in the harmony of three song compositions written by the late beloved Thai leader, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Although the film was meant as a year-end gift to Thai people dedicated in honor of the King who passed earlier in 2016, its appeal goes far beyond the domestic market.

Chayanop Boonprakob (SuckSeed) collaborated with Kriangkrai Vachiratamporn (Hormones the Series Season 3) for the first part of the film, featuring the touching song “Love at Sundown”. Beam (Naphat “Nine” Siangsomboom) and Pang (Violette Wautier) meet by chance at a Russian scholarship awards ceremony rehearsal.

Nithiwat Tharatorn (Seasons Change) picked the instrumental song “Still on My Mind” as the core of a heartfelt story about Fa (Nittha “Mew” Jirayungyurn) who takes responsibility to look after her father living with Alzheimer’s with her late mother’s eccentric piano tuner Aey (Sunny Suwanmethanont) helping out.

Veteran director Jira Maligool chose “New Year Greeting” written by the King in 1952, which has been played repeatedly every first day of the year ever since. The last part of the film follows Llong (Ter Chantavit), who quit singing in a rock band to work in an office. His passion in music is revived as female colleague Kim (Neungthida “Noona” Sophon) encourages him to join the employees’ band.

The three directing teams presented the sweet love stories with humor and exciting musical sequences, such as percussion-filled “Love at Sundown”, the piano-guitar duet of “Still on My Mind” and the ensemble piece “New Year Greeting”.

The montage of news clips about the King and his taped speech at the start and end of the movie weave the stories together. The compelling performances of the cast and the idea of spreading happiness as a gift make this a must-see film.

A Gift

(GDH/Singha Corporation, 144 minutes)
Director: Chayanop Boonprakob, Kriangkrai Vachiratamporn, Nithiwat Tharatorn, Jira Maligool
Cast: Naphat Siangsomboon, Violette Wautier, Sunny Suwanmethanont, Nittha Jirayungyurn, Chantavit Dhanasevi and Nuengthida Sophon.

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DANGAL

Dangal, or a Wrestling competition, is an inspiring and entertaining Bollywood production about the heartfelt struggle of a former national wrestling athlete raising his two daughters to become world-class contenders.

Produced by Aamir Khan, the lead actor in this sports drama, the film inserts subtle messaging about socio-political issues, like in his other films, such as the struggle of independence in Lagaan (2001), the absurdities of social expectations placed on the younger generations in 3 Idiots (2009) and questions of religion in PK (2014). This time it was about women empowerment.  

Without a son, Mahavir Singh Phogat (Khan) has let go of his dreams of bringing home gold medals from international sports events until his daughters Geeta (Zaira Wasim, adult role played by Fatima Sana Shaikh) and Babeeta (Suhani Bhatnagar, adult role played by Sanya Malhotra) are sent home from school after beating up boys who made fun of them.

He prepares his teenage girls for a grueling training regimen with the help of his nephew Omkara (Aparshakti Khurrana) by trading in their saris for athletic clothes and cutting their hair short. Their father takes them to a traditional mud wrestling competition and after beating all contenders, Geeta and Babeeta begin training to become professional wrestlers.

Director Nitesh Tiwari switches from domestic issues to national bureaucracy to sports management to the status of women in India.

Based on a true story about Geeta, the first female wrestler to win a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games for 55 kilogram-class and her little sister Babeeta who won silver in the 51 kg-class, Dangal vibrates with emotional resonance while showing the technical artistry of wrestling.

Dangal

(UTV Motion Pictures/Walt Disney Pictures, 161 minutes)
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Cast: Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Sakshi Tanwar, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar.

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