A Tied-Up Viewing.....

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2015)

Things out of routine always interest us as they provide us an excuse from the same boring itinerary. So a movie like "50 SHADES OF GREY" would naturally pique interest of the general audience as it advertised itself as a movie dealing with sadomasochism (S & M) bondage included and yes! it is based on a bestseller of the same name by E.L. James.
While we jog through the wafer thin plot which mainly deals with the protagonist Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) meeting a business tycoon Charles Grey (Jamie Dornan) while being stand-in for her friend during an interview session. Grey falls for and through what appears as an innocent courtship pulls her into his world of pleasure and pain. He makes it clear that he does not want any emotional attachment (no touching him, no sleeping on the same bed, no dates) and also sends her a copy of an NDA which he expects her to sign.
While Anastasia takes her own time in deciding to sign the contract, she finds herself falling in love with Grey and experiences Grey's weird taste in love making which also involves punishment if she disobeys him during their sessions.
Anastasia soon gets tired of this one sided relationship which is not going anywhere.
Dakota Johnson is excellent as Anastasia Stelle, her innocent charm and most of the child like lines give you the perfect protagonist as against the "in control" women in porn flicks. Her performance is noteworthy in scenes when she discusses the contract in depth with Grey and the final outburst.
Jamie Dornan, underplays his character and gives a nod to Dakota Johnson, as the film truly belongs to her. But yes, there is a spark of fine performance especially in scenes where he explains his childhood trauma and the switch from suave businessman into a sadistic lover.
Kelly Marcel's screenplay is fantastic and does not actually dump you with love-making scenes for no rhyme or reason, but actually uses these scenes to actually let the audience have a grasp of how Anasatasia is changing in character and the pain she undergoes emotionally. The screenplay at parts does give you a feeling that what you are watching is nothing but glorified porn, but to Marcel's defense, that's what the novel does on which the movie is based.
Music by Danny Elfman is excellent as always, and adds a little something during the love making scenes which in fact is in sync with the characters emotions during those scenes. The music is what makes this movie different from other porn flicks.
The reason I keep categorizing this movie as porn is because what do you categorize a movie which has 7 minutes of love making scenes every 15 minutes or so? But, we cannot say we were not warned about that? And yes! lot of people walked into cinemas because of that promise......which the filmmakers did not break.
Sam Taylor Johnson's direction is top-notch, giving a classy touch to what could have been just another film with naked bodies. He handled the scenes with the emotional content really well and with a lot of help from Seamus McGarvey (DOP) who used his lens to cover the beauty of Vancouver and giving us a sweep of the Grey world as well as a modest look at the Steele world.
Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes as long as I am sure that the people I am recommending this film to are not sick of S&M, Bondage and other forms of unnatural love making.
I would rate it 4 upon 5