Aviator

Saw Aviator on saturday - Was probably expecting too much from the movie, that when I came out I was a little trifle disappointed. A few things that I think went wrong with the movie

1. Howard hughes, the protagonist is too huge to fit into the screen. Everything about him is so enigmatic and interwined that trying to depict a chunk of it onscreen becomes extremely difficult. Hence, the feeling of awe that you feel when you read about him doesn't translate itself when you see it on screen.
2. Movies typically have a rhythm. they start slowly, gather pace and climax in the end. Sometimes they start with a bang and mellow down only to gather pace in the end or sometimes, like in pulp fiction, even the chaos seems to have an underlying rhythm. that rhythm's missing in the movie - specks of brilliance are carelessly interspersed everywhere and even scenes where there's a lot of scope for an "emotional high" seemed to be handled too lackadisically.
3. The background score is a disappointment (which is rare in a hollywood movie). There are times (like when he test driving his planes) when it sounds as if we are in an opera that it actually throws you out of the experience.
4. The movie is somehow not cohesive. Each event logically followed the other - but in the end, they are individual islands and don't gel as one single movie. Sure, the time span chosen is appropriate because that's the most eventful part of his life. But the rise and the fall and the rise again and the fall again makes it too bumpy than eventful.
5. The story finally is about one man, which is true in many oscar nominated movies. But it's one thing not having them at all, and another when you have them half-baked. Alec baldwin (as the panAM chief), the senator, howard's engineer, his manager, Eva gardner appear far too often in the movie that it would have helped to give them a much more deeper character than leave them as mere caricatures they were finally.

In many ways, what I felt this time was the same thing I felt when I saw Gangs of new york. Scorcese set the stage for a wonderful tale with some really wonderful sets and strong characters and a lot of scope for story telling, but in the end I couldn't relate to any of them and always felt those situations could be exploited more. I probably would have loved Aviator if the movies I saw before this one (black, swades) weren't as spectacular as they were (first time, a hindi movie's doing it to a hollywood movie!).

Now for the pluses,

1. Scorcese has done a brilliant job in expressing Hughes' insecurities on screen - be it his fear of the media, his fear of germs or his schizophrenia.
2. One of the strongest points for the movie is Leonardo DiCaprio - which is surprising because, I was counting on that being the weakest points of the movie. He's literally lived the role (which is not way off the mark - click here. More on this later) and has expressed the fear, the mania, the energy beautifully.
   
3. You wouldn't find Cate blanchett spectacular if you have never seen her in any other movie before. which says a lot because people seeing her for the first time might feel, that's the way she is naturally.

Saw in the news today that Leonardo has aggravated his OCD problem (which Howard hughes also suffered) in his efforts to realize the character. Now, this definitely sounds believable given how he's done the role. But, the cynical me thinks the timing is too suspicious and that such a news coming at the time oscar awards is too good to be coincidental. Anyways, this has been Jamie Foxx's year all along - let's see if Leo's OCD does the magic for him!