In Stanley Kubrick's Cold
War black comedy "Dr. Strangelove," the Soviets have developed a
devastating "Doomsday Device," to be triggered by a nuclear attack on
the U.S.S.R. It's supposed to act as a deterrent, but has been kept a secret.
Asks an exasperated American president of the Russian ambassador: "Why
didn't you tell the world?" To which the ambassador replies: "The
Premier loves surprises."
With my two year MBA
nearing its end and me at a crucial juncture with final placements coming up, i
just wanted to step back before the short but seemingly long apocalypse arrives. I have been a movie buff since my
engineering days when there was a ferocious demand on my side and a endless supply
and time to fulfill it. Over the course of the past one and a half year due to
the rigors of MBA, i somehow haven’t been able to keep my usual pace and of
late have watched very few movies, restricting myself mostly to reviews of new
releases. I was browsing for some new upcoming Hollywood movie trailers when i
came across a trailer of ‘Birdman’ and a glance of one of my favorite actors
Edward Norton caught me by surprise. I immediately went back in time in my mind
trying to remember my first encounter of him, albeit in the world of movies. I
had just began watching various genres of movies to expand my understanding of
world cinema in my first year of engineering, when i watched a movie “The
Illusionist”. The plot blew me away and the actor portraying the protagonist
drew my attention. I immediately went back to the net to find out about his
filmography and watch more of this actor. And boy did he surprise me with each
of the movies i watched next. His portrayal of a troubled altar boy in his first
movie “The Primal Fear” was simply brilliant
according to me. The next movie of his that i watched is according to me one of
his and cinemas finest performances. “American History X”- i watched it more
because i learnt that the young John Connor in Terminator 2 (a movie which
sticks with you from your younger days) was also in it. The plot is brilliant
but the portrayal by Edward Norton and his transformation in the movie is
simply breathtaking. He next played second fiddle while Brad Pitt and dialogues stole all the
limelight in the famous movie “Fight Club”. He also appeared beside Anthony
Hopkins portraying the character of Hannibal Lecter again in the “Red Dragon” a
lot similar to the 1986 movie “Manhunter” and the movie technically a prequel
to “The Silence of the Lambs”. Over the years i have watched his entire
filmography and have loved almost all his movies barring the bizarre “The Score”
and a couple of his recent works. Of course my issue is, of late he has limited
himself to cameo appearances mainly focussing more on charity work. Those who
haven’t watched his movies do watch the following as well- Rounders(especially
for those who love Poker), The Painted Veil, Red Dragon, Leaves of Grass. One
of the most underrated performances of his is in the movie “25th Hour”.
Do check out a scene of the movie in the following link. Pardon the profanity
in it.
According to him “It is
better for people to miss you than to have seen too much of you”. But I hope
and wish he makes movies more often.
I have tried to just
bring out my thoughts about the works of this wonderful actor and a good humanitarian.
Pardon me as this is my first shot a blogging...hoping to continue it and would
be glad for your honest feedbacks.
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