My Name is Khan review

 Number 495 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Indian-produced social drama film 'My Name is Khan.'

Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is an Indian Muslim with severe Asperger's Syndrome. Searching for a better life, he emigrates to San Francisco where he meets the single mother and Hindu, Mandira Rathod (Kajol.) However, in the wake of 9/11 and the rise of Islamaphobic attitudes, Mandira and her son suffer awful discrimination. Rizwan Khan resolves to travel across the US to speak with the president.

I've seen a few Bollywood/Indian films since starting this list, but this is the first time I've seen the Bollywood style in an American setting. It was refreshing to see. There was strong acting especially from the leads which should be no surprise considering they are both stars of Indian cinema having won 22 Filmfare awards. Shak Rukh Khan researched autism extensively and spent long periods of time with them to ensure the most accurate representation of the condition. Sure it might not have been Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man or Priyanka Chopra in Barfi! but Khan played the role with great sensitivity.

My Name is Khan also offered some pertinent social commentary regarding the immigrant, more specifically, Muslim experience in the US. Hatred of the other has always existed. This is as true now as it was twenty years ago as it was two hundred years ago. Humans are unfortunately a tribal society who distrust anybody who doesn't look like them,

Unfortunately, the film's social commentary was almost lost in its melodrama. Indian Cinema loves melodrama and that was certainly the case here. To say that Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's score was over-the-top would be the understatement of the century. It reminded me of bad reality TV trying to manipulate your emotions. Director Karan Johar could have relied on his strong actors or Shibani Bathija's script for that. Similarly, we didn't need the slow-motion, montages or multiple camera angles of the same thing. It was all so unnecessary. At least there wasn't any spontaneous singing and dancing.

I would also agree with some reviewers who said that the film became lost in its own lofty ambitions. The first half of the film was definitely tighter than the second, even if it did spend too much time setting up Rizwan and Mandira's relationship. Indian film critic Vinod Mirani criticised Karan Johar's direction as being meandering and slow-paced through his desire of trying to say too much. 

This is especially true of the film's second half where Rizwan embarks on his journey across the US getting involved in lots of different obstacles along the way, most of which were either resolved too easily - like how he was falsely imprisoned by the FBI or too diversionary from the main plot like how Rizwan befriends a mother and son in Georgia, later protecting them during Hurricane Wilhemina.

My Name is Khan was an admirable film with strong characterisations and good social commentary, but a lot of that was lost in its melodrama.

United 93 review

 Number 632 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Greengrass' docudrama 'United 93.'

United 93 is based on the true story of the fourth plane that was hijacked during the 9/11 terror attack. The other three planes found their target. The fourth didn't due to the passengers and crew revolting and attempting to take back control resulting in the plane crash-landing which killed everybody on board.

Firstly, I have to salute the heroism of everybody on board the real-life United 93. They showed a bravery that I never could have done. These were people with lives of their own who had no intention on dying that day. But they died as heroes. You might notice that I'm speaking very generally, and, alas, I have to, as Paul Greengrass was similarly vague in his depiction of the passengers. He made the directorial decision to not reveal any of the names of the passengers. This was because he wanted to elevate the group heroism above any individual heroism. Plus aeroplane passengers wouldn't know each other's names. 

True, it probably wouldn't have been very realistic for Tom Burnett (Christian Clemenson) and Mark Bingham (Cheyenne Jackson) to shake hands and say their names for the audience, but I would have gladly suspended my disbelief. Keeping the passengers' identities deliberately vague kept me at arm's length. I felt somewhat detached from their struggles and problems, because I knew so little about them. And it also did a disservice to the actors playing them. I saw some great acting, but because I didn't know the characters' names, I can't match an actor to the character. I only know Christian Clemenson and Cheyenne Jackson, because I looked them up on Wikipedia, but I'm not entirely sure who Tom Burnett and Mark Bingham were.

Otherwise Paul Greengrass made a great film. It was brilliantly paced with handheld-camera helping to keep the tension at a high. I was already familiar with this story, so I knew how it ended, but even if I didn't, I would have been kept on the edge of my seat. I prayed that there would be a happy ending, although I knew it would be impossible. And that's what made this such a good film. It was horribly doomy, but also powerful and touching.

Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick and to all the other crew and passengers of United 93, you never knew and I never knew you, but you all died as heroes.