Movie Review: Seven Pounds

Every now and then you come across a brilliant piece of art that touches your core (... or makes you believe that you have one!), and makes you ponder over of various aspects of life even more deeply. From the Muccino - Smith combo of "The Pursuit of Happyness" comes another such movie - as intense, as deep... yet far more impactful (inspite of not being a true story!).

A line in the film (about a Jellyfish) sums up the movie pretty well. It goes like "The most beautiful acts and creations of God are, sometimes, his deadliest". The simple storyline of the movie is about a successful MIT graduate, who has everything going well for him. A successful job, a loving fiance, a sea-facing bungalow - he has it all. And then, in a freak accident (caused due to his negligence), he loses his fiance, and also becomes responsible for the death of six other innocent people. The entire movie is about his life after such an accident - his need for redemption for the innocent blood on his hands, his half-hearted attempts to revive his life - and the ultimate end of the movie - which is to be seen, rather than read here!

At over 2 hrs, the movie may seem a bit slow - but then this slowness is desirable to understand and appreciate the movie and the messages underlying each scene. Will Smith has really done some outstanding work to break his 'super-hero' and 'on a mission to save the world' image that he had been continuing - starting from MIB to the more recent 'Hancock' and 'I am Legend'. Chances are, if you liked his role in "Pursuit of Happyness", you are going to love him in this movie!

A significant plot of the movie also relates to the beginning (and end) of his love affair with Emily (Rosario Dawson) - a lovely and simple-hearted lady - who - it turns out - has an estimated life-span of around 6-8 weeks when they actually fall in love with each other! There are quite a few scenes and dialogs that touch you deeply in their 'destined-to-doom' love story. The scene where they play a "what-if" game, and imagine a happy future together with family and kids - being totally aware of its impossibility - has been shot brilliantly with appropriate pace, emotions, and words (and most importantly - sliences!) There are multiple such scenes - where very little has been said - but a lot has been conveyed and understood... by the characters... and by the audiences. Never has the 'tool of silence' been employed so effectively in any of the recent movies. Even in the very last scene of the movie, when two key characters of the movie meet each other for the first time; they exchange only a few little words, but the most intense and emotional messages of the movie is exchanged, and that is a 'gulp in the throat' moment (or 'take-ur-hanky-out' moment for more soft-hearted!) for the audiences.

A brilliant author and director is one, who whispers to you much more than his / her words and scenes speak. Muccino has scored very brilliantly in this aspect. Definitely go for a dekko if you like movies which gets your mind and heart to be more active (and behave even differently! :-)) than their usual activities and behaviours in any average Hollywood / Bollywood flick!

You will like this movie if you have liked:
The Pursuit of Happyness
Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind

Added Recommendation:
Do not go with big bunch of friends for a fun-time. You wont like it unless you get involved in the film.

Do let me know what you think of this movie.

~GS