Fear Street Part Three: 1666

Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs, Benjamin Flores Jr., Sadie Sink, Darrell Britt Gibson, Fred Hechinger, Julia Rehwald, Emily Rudd, Ted Sutherland, McCabe Slye, Jordana Spiro, Jordyn DiNatale, Elizabeth Scopel, Ryan Simpkins
Running Time: 114 min.
Rating: R  

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

If Fear Street Part One cleverly took inspiration from 90's horror movies like Scream and a supernatural side helping of Stranger Thing and the superior Part Two delivered a dead-on tribute to 70's teen slashers like Friday The 13th, what could now become of the trilogy's third and possibly final film? While the preview oddly indicated something along the lines of Back to the Future Part III, the main reference point is folk horror in the vein of Robert Eggers' The Witch, The Wicker Man, or even more plainly, The Crucible. But if the idea of stringing a single narrative through three movies with the same cast in different eras is an intriguing one, the format's payoff is ultimately what matters. Almost everything needs to converge in such a way that audiences get satisfying answers and aren't taken on a manipulative ride.

As 1978 demonstrated, director/co-writer Leigh Janiak is having quite the run proving she's up to the task this storytelling experiment requires. And notwithstanding the creative pitfalls that could trip up an endeavor this inventive, it does come together in the end. Not without some flaws and certain questionable choices in the last act, what's promised mostly comes to pass, with style, suspense and excitement to spare. It might also be the thematically deepest entry, tackling some timely issues through the lens of an entirely different period and setting. 

If this stayed the course throughout, the sky would have been the limit, but there's also that nagging issue of a mythology to wrap up. It does that well, even if the Stranger Things comparisons will justifiably be out in full force again. If those allusions were noticeably present in Part One, they disappeared in the second installment when Janiak picked exactly one thing to do and did it masterfully. Regardless of its inspiration, the middle chapter felt original, like a great horror movie you'd want to rewatch endlessly. 1666 isn't that, but with a strong lead performance and memorable finale, the third Fear Street takes us back to how it all began in order to effectively close things out.

After returning the severed hand to the corpse of accused witch Sarah Fier, Deena (Kiana Madeira) has a vision, transporting her from 1994 to 1666 as she gets a firsthand perspective through the eyes of Sarah, witnessing past events as they're happening. Living in Union with father George (Randy Havens) and brother Henry (Benjamin Flores Jr.) before its eventual division into Sunnyvale and Shadyside, she's embroiled in a secret, forbidden romance with Pastor Miller's daughter Hannah (Olivia Scott Welch). 

The recipient of constant harassment from town drunk, Mad Thomas (McCabe Slye), Sarah finds herself having an encounter with the reclusive "Widow" (Jordana Spiro) deep in the woods, as she and Hannah discover a mysterious book of black magic. The girls return to a town suddenly beseiged by bad luck and death with townsfolk believing witchcraft to be the cause. Targeting them as the perpetrators, the residents begin their hunt, even as Sarah looks for help from trusted confidant Solomon Goode (Ashley Zukerman), the only person who believes in her innocence. With the walls closing in and Sarah set to be hanged, in 1994 Deena must use the new information she's gained through her vision to break the curse, as Ziggy (Gillian Jacobs) comes face-to face with her traumatic past and the Shadyside killers are summoned to make their final stand. 

Having the same actors playing a multiple roles in various timelines can be jarring so it helps when there's solid reasoning behind it. From the start it's easy to have doubts since there isn't much of explanation other than that some members the cast are playing relatives of whomever they were in the previous entries. But in other instances, certain actors are almost extras of sorts, causing confusion in the early minutes as we're trying to find our bearings in the 1666 story. You could say Deena "leaps" into Sarah Fier, experiencing everything as her, with the romance between Sarah and Hannah serving as a mirror image of Deena's rocky relationship with Samantha in 1994, as actress Olivia Scott Welch also pulls double duty in two roles. But once all that's established, Janiak does an admirable job fleshing out Sarah's backstory and dives headfirst into the folk horror aesthetic.

The girls' plight is caused by a growing lie when someone tells someone else, and before long it's spreading through town like wildfire. It's gripping how the film tracks the trajectory of this while making it known that being viewed as "different" is what dooms them. The script does a skillful job of touching on issues of contemporary relevance without preaching since so much of it already feels ingrained into this particular story. As death and destruction reigns down upon Union, Janiak extends her streak of not holding back on the gore and violence (particularly in a disturbing church scene), as Sarah's eventually led down a path of discovery the townsfolk are destined to remain ignorant toward, having convinced themselves she's the source of evil. The reveal of the actual villain's identity isn't exactly a shocker, but doesn't have to be since it makes sense by tightening the last screws of this three-film spanning mythology. 

Kiana Madeira taking on the Sarah Fier role proves to be more than just a gimmick, as she delivers a performance that's considerably more affecting than her work as Deena. There's dramatically heavier lifting in this storyline and she rises to the occasion in suprising ways alongside Olivia Scott Welch as Hannah. While there's more than faint echos of familiarity to their 1994 counterparts, they are entirely different characters, so it's a testament to both that they play them as such, navigating a fairly tricky situation. 

The rest of the cast mainly provides backround support in smaller, less pivotal roles than the previous installments with Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Fred Hechinger and Julia Rehwald making sporadic appearances that don't amount to anything of great consequence. It would almost be too convoluted if they did, but you still have to question if they were included if only to keep with a running continuity throughout the trilogy. Ashley Zukerman and Jordana Spiro's respective roles as Solomon Goode and the Widow are more purposeful, directly linking to the events that make up the last third of the film.     

Inevitably, the script circles back to 1994 for its conclusion, as what happened to Sarah Fier and how the curse managed to pass through generations to torture Shadysiders for centuries becomes valuable information for Deena. The final half hour is kind of a thrilling mess with her and the gang trying to lift the curse (and its spell over Samantha) in a battle between good and evil at the Shadyside Mall that recalls the climactic Starcourt Mall showdown in last season's Stranger Things. Despite that, Janiak again doubles down on the violence while still efficiently tying up all the loose ends. And if we were given a music breather with Marco Beltrani's haunting 1666 score taking the place of 70's and 90's hits, some more mid 90's classics make a welcome return at the end, reminding us what might be most remembered about this trilogy is its soundtrack.

Fear Street proves itself capable of sampling different genres and mixing them into a fresh concoction that works better than it ever should have. If 1978 is far and away the strongest of the three entries, the others at least don't pale in comparison, especially now that we can see how everything connects. Still, creating this kind of "expanded universe" can also hurt if more creative energy is spent trying to explain what happened before and set up what's next than focus on the movie in front of us. The second entry proves immune from this by standing alone with a singular vision of exactly what it wanted to be and following through completely. Working within a new format that carried a high risk of creative failure, Janiak deserves a lot of credit for putting her own distinctive stamp on it. She kind of stitches pieces of pop culture and classic slashers together to create this Frankenstein's monster of an R.L. Stine adaptation that still has legs to continue. And based on what we've already seen, it's hard to argue it shouldn't.

Fear Street Part Two: 1978

Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins, McCabe Slye, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Jordana Spiro, Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr., Olivia Scott Welch, Ashley Zukerman, Chiara Aurelia, Jordyn DiNatale, Sam Brooks, Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger
Running Time: 110 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

An improvement in nearly every way over its previous entry, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 breaks free from the shackles of its trilogy format to stand on its own as a darker, more tightly written and engrossing effort. If the entertaining but creatively mixed 1994 entry could have doubled as a series pilot, this feels more cinematic, going so far as to fill in some of the bigger holes in that first film, making it play better in retrospect. While it's already been established this isn't going to be a series of films startling us with their originality, a lot of thought clearly went into this middle installment, which avoids feels derivative despite patterning itself off a very specific sub-genre. It also proves Leigh Janiak has a bit more up her sleeve as a director than originally suspected, invoking the tone and spirit of an old school teen camp summer slasher in cleverly subversive ways. 

Revolving around three terrific central performances and a classic setting, the movie knows exactly what it's supposed to do and follows through, rarely bogged down by some of the expositional excursions and winking that made its predecessor seem just slightly less than the sum of its parts. In veering the furthest distance yet from the younger-skewing, mainstream-friendly vibe of R.L. Stine's brand, Janiak breaks a few unwritten rules that should satisfy more devoted horror fans. And if it's still up for debate just how effective the central mythos running through the trilogy is, there's no question this sequel enhances it, while also delivering enough urgency to firmly stand on its own, regardless of what comes before or after. 

Picking up where the action left off in 1994, Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh Johnson (Bejamin Flores Jr.) have restrained Deena's posessed girlfriend Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) and taken her to the house of C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs) for help. As a survivor of the infamous Camp Nightwing massacre of 1978, she knows a thing or two about the curse of the Fier witch and Shadyside's long history of murders related to it. Angry, depressed and drowning her sorrows in a bottle, she reluctantly agrees to recount the events of that summer as we flash back when Berman sisters Ziggy (Sadie Sink) and Cindy (Emily Rudd) attended Nightwing as camper and counselor, respectively. 

While younger, rebellious sister Ziggy is harrassed and accussed of theft by popular camp bully Sheila (Chiara Aurelia) the prim and preppy Cindy has fully shed any hints of her Shadysider status, even if current boyfriend and fellow counselor Tommy Slater (McCabe Slye) thinks she could stand to loosen up a bit. Co-counselor and ex-best friend Alice (Ryan Simpkins), along with her pothead boyfriend Arnie (Sam Brooks) seem to agree, constantly flaunting their disregard for the rules in Cindy's face. 

When Tommy has an unfortunate run-in with Mary Lane (Jordana Spiro), camp nurse and mother of past Shadyside killer, Ruby Lane (Jordyn DiNatale), an unspeakable evil is released into him as he goes on a muderous rampage, brutally taking out counselors and campers in the dead of night. Forming a bond with couselor and future sheriff Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland), self-described "weirdo" Ziggy becomes even more convinced of the curse while a still skeptical Cindy and troubled Alice must put their personal issues aside to survive the ongoing carnage. 

What boosts this entry tremdously is that it centers almost entirely around a single event. That alone gives it a laserlike focus it's 1994 counterpart lacked, as it frequently waffled between characters and situations to explain the complexities of the Fier witch curse. So after a brief prologue dealing with it, Janiak is freed to make a good old fashioned slasher about an ax-wielding madman terrorizing a 70's summer camp. And since the Friday The 13th franchise became entangled in a decade-long legal battle preventing any forthcoming films, this is the closest we're likely to get one. Of course,it's still Netflix, so it has a much cleaner look and isn't as authentically scuzzy, but the inspiration is present enough that Camp Nightwing may as well double as Crystal Lake. But the big surprise is that if this wasn't marketed as part of a YA trilogy and there were no preconceived judgments about Stine's literary output, this would have undoubtedly receive more praise than it's gotten. 

Drawing heavily from not only Friday The 13th, but Sleepaway Camp and even The Town That Dreaded Sundown, there's a substantial middle stretch where everything that could go right with this  film does. It's easy to imagine Stine grinning from ear-to-ear realizing this is getting away with showing things he'd never be allowed to describe for his younger readers as the adaptation finally gives him some Stephen King cred. If one of Fear Street:1994's better qualities was Janiak's refusal to hold back while replicating the self-referential horror of the 90's, she's takes it up a level here with a more interesting genre period to draw from with the 70's, featuring characters that just seem wilder, meaner, and even hornier, eventually paying for it in graphically unsettling ways. 

Realizing we've reached a point where what's left of the teen slasher has become sanitized and wiped clean of the chaos that made them touchstones for a certain generation, Janiak uses this setting to pay homage. And in capturing the pranks, crushes and goofy comedic moments that accompany them, it becomes just as fun as it is suspenseful. After an effective backstory sets up Tommy's reign of terror,  the possessed counselor starts picking off victims and it becomes kind of shocking how little is off limits. Also helping is the fact that this is actually a functioning camp that younger kids and pre-teens  attend, racheting up concern in viewers that they're in legitimate danger. And they are. 

Stranger Things' Sadie Sink carries the whole picture on her back as the rebellious Ziggy while Emily Rudd equals her every step of the way as uptight Cindy, We're initially given hints as to what caused their sibling rift, but there ends up being a lot more to each of their stories that comes through over the course of this ordeal. Similarly, Ryan Simpkins shares great chemistry with Rudd's Cindy as the punkish Alice, which is a relief considering they share a significant chunk of their screen time together trapped underground in arguably the film's slowest section. But this sequel does take more than a few important steps toward further fleshing out the feud between Shadyside and Sunnyvale, manifesting itself in a "Color Wars" battle that deteriorates into full-blown class warfare.  

Topping the preceding installment's soundtrack of impeccably selected 90's jams should be impossible, but this actually comes closer than it should, with some memorable tracks from Blue Oyster Cult, Kansas, Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens and The Velvet Underground. Music supervisors Lindsay Wolfington and Nora Felder also outdo themselves with their best needle drop yet, with both the David Bowie and Nirvana versions of "The Man Who Sold The World" perfectly bookending the film. The bloody, tension-filled, exhilarating closing sequence commences in an iconic image that feels like it has to be the final shot, but isn't. In a way though, it is, since much of what follows is the epilogue, which has to go back to 1994 to do some narrative housekeeping. There's even a Back to the Future Part III-style preview of Fear Street: 1666 tacked on at the end since all three installments were filmed in quick succession. 

It's here where we realize the drawbacks of a three-film format, as 1978 succeeds most on its own terms as a standalone slasher. I'd even go as far as to say that if you excised the prologue and epilogue and had no idea what preceded this, not much would be lost. As a self-professed Friday The 13th fan, the rewatchability factor on this one is high, but it also accomplishes exactly what the middle film in a trilogy should, further developing the important characters who appear in both timelines and increasing our investment in what happens next. In resurrecting the not so guilty pleasures of teen camp slashers, Janiak reminds us just how well this kind of movie works when helmed by someone who knows and respects the intricacies of the genre. And at a hefty two hours, it still somehow feels just right, suspensefully hitting its stride while laying a strong foundation for its final chapter.

Fear Street Part One: 1994

Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Ashley Zukerman, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Maya Hawke, Jordana Spiro, Jordyn DiNatale, David w. Thompson, Elizabeth Scopel, Gillian Jacobs
Running Time: 107 min.
Rating: R 

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

It's almost impossible to watch Netflix's Fear Street Part One: 1994 without wondering if the project would have existed in this incarnation without the success of Stranger Things. Despite being based on YA horror author R.L. Stine's Fear Street series of books that began in 1989 and being earmarked for an adaptation for years, you wouldn't be wrong to assume it was really The Duffer Brothers' achievement in mixing supernatural horror with Goonies-like nostalgia that really pushed this through. 

Drawing upon that series for far more than just mere inspiration, director Leigh Janiak employs a tone and style that will seem very familar to anyone who's even seen so much as a minute of that show. While she's hardly the first to borrow the template and it can be either good or bad depending on the execution, there's no question the bubble will have to burst at some point, even if we're not there yet. But as far as Stranger Things disciples go, it still ranks as one of the stronger efforts by managing to walk the very thin line of appealing to the younger demographic with its story and placating older horror fans by not cutting corners on the gore and violence.

Even as someone who wouldn't be a part of Netflix's target audience for this three-part series of films released over consecutive weeks, they've kind of made it impossible not to have a great time with it anyway. With familarly likeable, throwback characters, clever dialogue and a decent enough premise, it's also a giant mess of sorts, but one that has the noblest of intentions. So even if the MTV meets Riverdale aesthetic is starting to wear a little thin in pop culture of late, this makes as good a case as any that it can be partially overcome with the right approach. 

The name "R.L. Stine" isn't exactly synonomous with graphic violence, sex or murder, so that Janiak is  able to push things in this direction in a way that doesn't feel forced is impressive, even managing to secure an 'R' rating. Certain aspects are weird, flawed and occasionally cringeworthy, but you definitely won't be bored. Whether it has enough creative gas in the tank for two sequels and beyond remains to be seen, but even when the material goes overboard, it has a compulsively watchable quality that should suck most viewers in.

It's 1994 when mall bookstore employee Heather (Maya Hawke) is murdered by her friend Ryan (David W. Thompson), who's shot to death by authorities, marking the latest in a long line of murders plaguing the town of Shadyside. Many teens believe the source of these troubles stem from a witch named Sara Fier who was executed in 1666, shortly after allegedly placing a curse on the town, even if Sheriff Nick Goode (Ashley Zukerman) remains skeptical. 

Deena Johnson (Kiana Madeira) also has doubts, despite her brother Josh's (Benjamin Flores Jr.) obsession with collecting newspaper clippings of the murders, frequenting AOL chatrooms and researching the town's sordid history to confirm the witch theory. But when Deena's closeted girlfriend, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) moves to the rich neighboring town of Sunnyvale, her drug-dealing friends Simon (Fred Hechinger) and Kate (Julia Rehwald) get involved in a brawl with the Sunnyvale teens during a vigil. When the fight leads to a terrible accident, Sam sees a vision of the Fier witch, forcing the four teens to band together to stop the murderous rampage that's descending upon Shadyside.

The film's opening might be its best overall sequence, with Maya Hawke playing a quirky B. Dalton employee being hunted after hours in the mall by a skeleton-costumed killer. Even if the Stranger Things vibes are heavily present due to the setting and actress, it's really meant to echo the opening of Scream, with Hawke's character and performance paying homage to Drew Barrymore's role in that film. And it does so successfully, with Janiak making it clear right away that she's come to play, delivering a payoff a whole lot more violent and atmospheric than expected given Stine's scholastic roots. And from there things really hit the ground running with an onslaught of action and exposition that rarely pauses for us to take a breath, introducing all the characters and setting the stage for the overarching mythology that follows. 

We're also inundated with a plethora of 90's music and cultural signposts that leave absolutely no doubt as to what decade we're in. With Nine Inch Nails, Bus, White Zombie and other era-specific hits all making soundtrack appearances within the film's first half hour, it wouldn't be unusual to hear complaints about nostalgic overkill. Since 1994 is pretty much my favorite period in music, I can handle being hammered with it, especially since the soundtrack is spectacular and Netflix didn't cheap out, securing the rights to original versions of these songs rather than inferior covers.

Thankfully, the breakneck pace slows down some when the horror plot begins unraveling and we settle in with the characters, who are suprisingly compelling considering each are very much fulfilling a specific 90's movie horror "type." The relationship between Deena and Sam bucks this trend a bit, as both have enough to them that they defy categorization while confidence-challenged underdog Josh (played really well by Flores, who was so good in Showtime's Your Honor) is the easiest to get behind. The screenplay gets a good amount of mileage out of his crush on the popular, but outwardly cold Kate while Fred Hechinger brings the same unhinged, off-the-wall eccentricity and charisma to Simon as he did to the recent The Woman in the Window, with loony mannerisms that at times recall a young Joaquin Phoenix.

The supernatural mythology involving the Fier witch, her ties to the multiple Shadyside killers and what's necessary to break this curse isn't where the film most excels. It's possible this changes in the next two installments when more layers of explanation are added, but right now it seems convoluted and too dependent on "rules" not yet fully established. The plot's fine for what it is, but where the picture's bread is really buttered is in its 90's setting and Janiak's willingness to not hold back on the violence when its story unquestionably calls for it. 

One particular killing toward the end is a brual shock considering Stine's reputation and the genre of books this is based on, so give Netflix credit for doing the opposite of watering things down. As a property, Fear Street was always going to be a cash grab, and while it's presentation doesn't exactly contradict that, it's at least done with some dignity and respect for the new audience it's aimed toward. But more importantly, it's just plain fun. It may also be one of the few times where a "To Be Continued" title card makes sense instead of causing viewers' to roll their eyes in frustration.

Occupying this strange content space that resides somewhere between an anthology horror series and a feature film trilogy, Netflix was the only feasible fit for this experiment. That the following entry takes place in 1978 and will supposedly be patterned after Friday The 13th and other camp slashers of that era would seem to carry even more promise on paper. Having it tangentially related to this but still existing independently as its own entity is probably a wise idea, even as all of them still share the same director. Fear Street's an intriguing concept, but also one that can get tired very quickly if each doesn't distinguish itself enough or gets all tangled in knots trying to sort out the mythology. If it can void that, 1994 has a promising enough start to believe Netflix might have another mini-franchise on its hands.          

The White Tiger

Director: Ramin Bahrani 
Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mahesh Manjrekar, Vijay Maurya, Kamlesh Gill, Swaroop Sampat, Vedant Sinha, Nalneesh Neel
Running Time: 125 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★) 

What stands out most in Ramin Bahrani's The White Tiger is how unpredictable it is, at least for those who haven't read Aravind Adiga's novel on which its Oscar-nominated screenplay is based. Supposedly, this doesn't stray too far from that, which is a relief since it seems to be one of those cases where there's little need to fix what isn't broken. Premiering on Netflix in that strange awards season grey area of late 2020-early 2021, it slipped through the cracks when it most definitely warranted mention among the past year's heaviest hitters. Comparisons to Slumdog Millionaire are unavoidable given the material, but Bahrani transcends it, in the process addressing the issues detractors of that Best Picture winner have long complained about. This is grittier, its script a a bit more sharply focused, and it's more likely to be mistaken for a true story than a feel-good fairy tale. There's something to be said for the approach 99 Homes director Bahrani takes, as it's constantly firing on all cylinders in terms of its writing, directing and performances as it reaches its exhilarating halfway mark. You get this feeling that almost literally anything could happen and it would make sense, which is a very good place for a story to occupy.

Working with the relatively straightforward premise of a young boy attempting to escape servitude in an Indian caste system, Bahrani takes us on many wild and unpredictable detours full of dark humor and excitement without losing grip on the central conceit. It all builds to a single moment we're sure will have to eventually arrive, even without an exact idea of the means he'll use to get there. It's one of those movies where you're just completely lost in the world and care about each and every character who inhabits it, regardless of the size or importance of their role. Every relationship is important because the script and performances make it so, providing a breakthrough of sorts for its relatively unknown lead, who must sell the most challenging of slow building transformations. It becomes less about how far the young man's willing to go to free himself from a seemingly inescapable trap than the painful sacrifices he'll need to make to do it.     

It's 2010 when Indian entrepreneur Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) requests a meeting with the Chinese premier, in the process relaying his life story, which flashes back to when he was a young boy in Laxmangarh. A bright student, he was removed from school and forced to work in the village by his grandmother (Kamlesh Gill) when his father became unable to pay their landlord, known as "The Stork." (Mahesh Manjrekar) In the years following his father's sudden death from tuberculosis, a teen Balram harbors aspirations to become a chauffeur for the Stork's son, Ashtok (Rajkummar Rao) who recently returned from the U.S. with his American-raised wife, Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas). 

After talking his way into the job as Ashtok's driver and sending money to his brother and grandmother back home, Balram takes a liking to his master and friendly wife despite the mistreatment he receives from the Stork and thuggish older son, Mukesh "The Mongoose" (Vijay Maurya). But when a horrific accident causes Balram to question everything he's believed up to that point, it serves as a harsh reminder he may never escape this future of indentured servitude. Now, he must decide whether he wants to take the risk of trying to break this vicious cycle and build a new life, despite all the potentially dangerous consequences such a move could carry.  

The film's biggest surprise is that its plot doesn't involve anything related to the drug or criminal  underworld , which for some reason seemed to be heavily implied by the tone and style of its trailer. But it's one of Bahrami's most impressive accomplishments that this does still feel like a Scarface-like ascent despite sharing very little else in common with that picture. But while illegal activities do take place, this situation is more dependent on class, wealth and politics than it is violent crime, with much  revolving around Balram using his intelligence and cunning to escape the poverty and servitude he and his family have been inherently sentenced to through this caste system. 

With a recurring voiceover from Balram that likens his predicament to being stuck in a chicken coop, you get the impression that he, like so many at his class level, could have easily resigned himself to that fate. The glimmer of hope he finds in working as a driver seems substantive, mainly because Gourav's performance as Balram is so full of smiling, wide-eyed optimism. The reverence he has for his master doesn't seem out of place, as Ashtok not only seems to be the most Americanized and progressive of Stork's family, but the smartest. He takes the young man under his wing, appearing to be genuinely interested in his future and treating him with a respect the rest of his family can't even bother faking. Not that they'd even want to try. 

All of this goes double for Ashtok's wife, Pinky, who Chopra plays as the ultimate voice of reason, and possibly Balram's biggest cheerleader, standing up for him at every turn simply because it's the right thing to do. And then it happens. A catastrophic event occurs that forces everyone's true colors to the surface, much to Balram's detriment, as he's reminded of the true extent of his expendability to this wealthy family. But if the young driver's lowly life status is already etched in stone, so is his master's, with the difference being that he's already surrendered to being his family's doormat. Unlike his wife, he can't rock the boat and won't even if it temporarily eases his conscience to talk about helping Balram. 

When push comes to shove, Ashtok won't risk his wealth or station to better his servant's life and risk  being poentially cut off by a system that's far bigger and more poweful than himself. In this sense, there's a lot more going on in Rajkummar Rao's deceptively complex performance than he'll likely get credit for.  American-born Pinky is far different, standing alone as the film's most morally unambiguous figure, unwaveringly consistent in fearlessly pushing back against her husband and in-laws' behavior. It isn't a huge role, but for a period, Chopra completely takes over and impresses in a big way, as their ethically intense marital dynamic finds Balram torn right down the middle. 

In what should be a definitive star-making performance, Adarsh Gourav proves to be a major find as Balram, with the actor's anonymity working to the story's favor much like it did for Dev Patel in Slumdog. But this role seems tougher, largely because it isn't just a rags to riches tale that ends triumphantly as audiences root on its protagonist the entire time. There's more nuance, as Balram undergoes some pretty serious changes as a result of his experience, and as his exposure to humanity's dark side of suffering and selfishness increases, so too does his anger and determination to rise above it. He lies, steals, cheats and a whole lot worse while still retaining the sheepish, underdog qualities we assumed would be immune to any kind of corruption when he was a little boy. Gourav subtly shines a light on all of his character's complexities as we contemplate the amount of blame that can really be placed on Balram for actions it seems he needs to take to survive. 

Was there even a choice? A better way? Those are the questions Bahrani leaves us to wrestle with, including whether Balram really has ended this vicious cyle, or merely just aided in its neverending continuation by becoming what he's hated most. Or maybe not. There are hints he may operate differently, with the knowledge he's gained potentially helping those beneath him. But if The White Tiger shows us anything it's that we shouldn't hold our breath, as his ongoing story further confirms the cold, harsh realization that many most aren't as fortunate enough as he was to make it out to the other side.