Pieces of April (2003)

Mom/Joy: Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad we’re going. This way, instead of April showing up with some new piercing, or some ugly new tattoo, and…God forbid…staying overnight, this way, we get to show up, experience the disaster that is her life, smile through it, and before you know we’re on our way home

It's Thanksgiving Day and April (Katie Holmes) decides to invite her dysfunctional family over to dinner and reconnect with them even though she remembers a lot from her childhood that isn't so pleasant. Like the time when she was a kid and was holding on to a piece of crockery, only to be warned by her mother (Patricia Clarkson), "Be careful, they are worth more than you are". Though now she is willing to make amends when she learns of her mother's cancer. 

The Burns set out on a long trip to New York with her Dad (Oliver Platt) being the most or perhaps the only one excited about it. On their way they try to find all kinds of excuses to not make the trip and keep bickering amongst themselves. Meanwhile, April and her supportive Afro-American boyfriend, Bobby (Derek Luke), are preparing a turkey dinner for April's "big day". As Bobby sets out on some mysterious mission, April realizes their oven is not working and things start to look like a mess. She tries her best to get things back under control, while her Mom is busy cracking a few jokes about April and complaining how she can't even think of a single good memory of April. 

As the Burns finally arrive and April seems to get her shit together, her Dad decides to turn back after seeing where she lives. As they make their way to a nearby restaurant where they won't have to pretend to like April's horrible cooking, April's Mom, in a moment of epiphany, realizes her love for her eldest daughter. 

Peter Hedges makes a great directional debut with this emotional, tragic yet funny drama on a tried-and-tested theme of dysfunctional families. The dialogues are at times really funny and the movie does well to expose a few stereotypes that are associated with certain people in America. The movie also has a great background score and it ends with a lovely and fitting song from indie-band, Magnetic Fields, "I've always loved you in my own way....."

Rating : 7.5/10

The Man from Earth (2007)

Sandy: I love you, you know...
John: I know
Sandy: Since my first week at the office....And?
John: I care very much about you, but now you know what you'll be getting into
Sandy: Do you really think you're a cave-man?
John: Do you?
Sandy: (Silence).....Could you love me? I know you don't believe in that anymore
John: I've gotten over it too many times....Fond of you, certainly attracted to you
Sandy: That's it?.....I can work with that...
John: If what I'm saying is true, then one day you and all your children will age, and not me. And I'll leave. The simple fact is I can't give you forever
Sandy: How long is forever?

John Oldman is a teacher who's moving on to his next destination and his colleagues come over to his place to bid farewell. As they all start to drink and party, John reveals something that he had never done before - that he may be a Cro-Magnon man who's lived since 14,000 years. And every ten years he keeps moving before people start to suspect that he doesn't age. This claim doesn't go down very well amongst his colleagues as they all start to question the validity of what he has just revealed. The whole movie is set in his room where all his colleagues, experts in their respective fields, start to quiz him. The more they know, the more they try to resist that his story might be true.

Anything more I reveal about the plot would be a spoiler. So go watch it for yourself. It was just pure luck that I chanced upon this movie and I believe everyone should watch it!

Rating: 8/10

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

Julio and Tenoch: The Manifesto:
1) There's no greater honor than being a Charolastra
2) Do whatever you feel like
3) Pop beats poetry
4) Get high at least once a day
5) You shall not screw a fellow charolastra's girlfriend
6) Team America's supporters are queers
7) Forget morals and rules
8) Never marry a virgin
9) Club America's supporters are....
Luisia: You have already said that
Tenoch: It's worth repeating. They are queers. Crappy team
10) Truth is cool but is unattainable
11) The arsehole who breaks any of the above rules loses his title of Charolastra

A quiz in a magazine Luisia (Maribel Verdu) picked up while at the doctor's describes her as a woman who is afraid to accept her freedom. She doesn't agree and looks for an escape from her troubled married life. She calls up her husband's young cousin Tenoch (Diego Luna) and his friend Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) to see if their invitation to a fictitious beach, The Heaven's Mouth, still stands. And thus, they embark on a spontaneous road trip which would teach them so much about friendship and freedom.

On the way, both Julio and Tenoch end up in bed with Luisia and this leads to a burning jealousy that threatens to come in the way of their friendship. Frustrated by this, Luisia starts to leave and remarks, "Play with babies and you end up washing their nappies". Finally she agrees to come back on the condition that the  "kids" will have to play by her rules and she makes the new Manifesto. And while continuing their trip, they do come across the illusive Heaven's Mouth.

Alfonso Cuaron does a good job portraying the three different characters while they keep telling stories to each other. Maribel Verdu does a fine act while playing the once-restrained-now-free-spirited woman.  The narrator keeps telling us about what the future holds for each character that we come across. They all have one thing in common. Things in the future will never be the same again. Wouldn't want to spoil the ending for you, but it's something that will surely haunt you for some time.

Rating : 7.5/10