Calling 911….
911: Yes we got you, what is the emergency?
Ben: There has been a suicide here
911: Who is the victim?
Ben: I am
First scene of the movie 7 pounds!!
This is one of those movies whose hangover doesn't go away easily. Well that could be the reason I am writing it here!
This is one of those movies whose hangover doesn't go away easily. Well that could be the reason I am writing it here!
It’s a story about a man whose past has invaded his present and destroyed his future. But while he gives away everything how he changes some lives for forever forms the plot of the movie.
Ben Thomas is an IRS agent. Destiny has pushed him off the edge. This man has decided something and has no reason to look back. He has chosen his way for squaring things and nothing could angle him off from doing it. But life never goes the way you have planned. He falls in love with a girl having critical heart issues and finds a reason to smile back at life, but....
It’s a tragic mystery with a passion for life. A man who has no desire left for himself and yet understands other people’s urge to live and wants to help them.
The story unfolds quite slowly while encircling new characters. A blind, vegetarian meat salesman (Ezra), an agitated Mexican woman with two kids(Connie Tepos), a lovely self employed greeting card printer with a severe heart disease (Emily Posa), Ben’s brother and Ben's pet box-jelly fish.
How Ben chooses these people is also an interesting part of the story.
In a scene when Ben and Emily talk in a field about Emily’s desires, she urges to do big things like traveling around the world and her logging for running. She chooses a big dog as pet because Great Danes also have heart issues same as her. She wanted to take care of someone rather than being taken care of. The dinner in the backyard of Emily’s house. Things like this add some life to these dying people's story.
Will smith has done full justice to the role. The film reminds me of his performance in 'Pursuit of Happiness'. He has very well portrayed Ben’s journey of redeeming himself. Not even for a single movement his misery goes off his eyes. He has successfully shown his struggle with his life and death. It’s a bitter sweet role. You do feel sad for him but don't pity him.
This same team of ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ has gotten together once again to create 7 Pounds. Director Gabriele Muccino has kept the emotions in the film at its optimum level. Its very difficult to bind the audience with a gloomy story for a long period of time and in this story there is no bright spot. So to keep you on glued to the screen, he has beautifully woven the story into a mysterious plot. And thats where I think he scores as a director. Grant Nieporte's story is excellent. What triggered him to write such a story is that one day in a party he saw a man a, really sad man and when he tried to get more information on him, he found out that this was a man involved in a national tragedy which happened a few years ago. A man, haunted by his own past thus became the genesis for 7 pounds.
Lovely acting, superb dialogs. The clever use of silence in certain parts of the movie is commendable. The Background score adds a light touch to the plot. Even when the film ends, thoughts keep lingering around in your mind : "Its just one life and ya I don't want to die in a disgrace."
