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Do you also often find yourself thinking of the good old days before the 21-day lockdown when you were able to just have a few friends over or hang out at a nearby café and well, look at yours and each other’s phone while drinking together? As all of our friends have moved inside our phones and as the definitions of ‘House Party’ and ‘Hangout’ are increasingly shifting, there are times when we do crave their company in their real shape and form. Some of us might have come across the highly relatable
‘Would’ve hugged the homies a lil tighter if I knew it’d be like this’. But, health and social responsibility before anything, and to take away the pain of social distancing, we asked our expert-friend Director and Film-Writer Sonam Nair to draw us a list of films we can watch while planning our next trip.
12 Angry Men (1957)
Directed by Sidney Lumet, this American courtroom drama was adapted from a teleplay of the same name. In 2007, the film was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. Besides this, the classic was also selected as the second-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute during their AFI’s 10 Top 10 list. Starring big names like Henry Fonda, Lee J.Cobb, and Martin Balsam. The film recounts the techniques of consensus-building and the difficulties encountered in the process amongst a group of men whose varied range of personalities only adds to the intensity and conflict. YouTube it here. Sonam says, “It’s really a pathbreaking film where you see a jury stuck together in a room for the whole film. You never see the court case, never see the person who did it. You only get to know about the case through their discussions in the jury room and how they have to come to the conclusion of if the person is guilty or not.”
The Breakfast Club (1985)
“A classic of the 80s, it’s one of the first coming-of-age films that made it really big in the industry. It’s just the protagonists spending a lot of time together while there are no other students in the school. Even though they all seem so different in the beginning, you see them bonding. Everybody can relate to one of the characters. It’s one of those films,” says Sonam.
This John Hughes teen comedy-drama brought the term ‘Brat Pack’ into the media. Starring Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, the film explores the story of teenagers from different high school cliques who spend a Saturday in detention with their Principal. The Breakfast Club followed 12 Angry Men in being selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2016. It was digitally remastered and was re-screened in 430 theatres in celebration of its 30th anniversary in 2015. Soon on Netflix here.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Directed by Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums is nothing short of a classic. Apparently based on a novel (which also apparently is non-existent!) and told in a J.D.Salinger way, the film follows the lives of three gifted siblings, their success and failures. The narration technique of the film was followed in Fox’s Arrested Development. The film was also a major fashion influence as Margot Tenenbaum has been described by Vogue as the “muse of the season” for Spring/Summer 2015 collections. YouTube it here. “It’s maybe Anderson’s most famous film and the most stellar cast. It has this whacky family and each of the characters has a very distinct personality. If you think you have a whacky family, you should watch this film,” Sonam gushes.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
The directorial debut of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, this American comedy-drama film is all shades of beautiful as it tells the story of a family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant as they take a cross-country trip in their bus. Watch it on YouTube here. “I feel like most people have already seen it, but I had to put it on the list. The film is really beautiful in how all of the conversations that had not happened before actually happen when the family is stuck together in a yellow van,” says Sonam.
The Full Monty (1997)
Directed by Peter Cattaneo, this British comedy has the likes of Robert, Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape and Steve Huison amongst others. Set in Sheffield, this film tells the story of six unemployed men who decide to form a male striptease act in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and so that the main character is able to see his son. It was ranked the 25th-best British film of the 20th century. The film was later adapted into 2000 musical The Full Monty as well as a 2013 play of the same name. Watch it here. “It’s a cult classic. These men don’t know what they can do once the factory they used to work at closes down. They are all middle-aged men with not so attractive bodies and who can’t dance, but instead of wallowing, they start trying to become strippers. They start taking dance lessons and start working on their bodies. Somehow, they come together because this becomes their own only hope as they go through their mid-life crisis. It’s a great film, Sonam says.
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