Reviews
Pranchiyettan and the Saint (2010)
Satirical, thought provoking & a fun film to watch.
Pranchiyetten and the Saint is a satirical, surreal, thought provoking and a character driven movie that manages to draw us into its story, enjoy and cherish, the comical and eccentric adventures of Pranchiyettan in pursuit of fame. The whole story is narrated by Pranchi to the Saint as reply to his question "What is it that worries you?" Eenashu Cherammal Francis or Pranchiyettan or "Ari Pranchi" (Mamooty) is a wealthy businessman, who is quite unhappy with the way people call him "Ari Pranchi" referring to the business of his ancestors (rice vendors), without respect. He wants to earn respect of the people and his efforts to do so is so hilarious. Later in the film, he comes to the point of literally 'buying' respect. He is not well educated and therefore, obviously, suffers from an inferiority complex. He, in his pursuit for fame, is also used by others for their own profits. He never gets mentioned for anything he does (His company sponsored a ceremony for congratulating the achievements of the Oscar winning Malayali "Gaffur Chekutty". He was, quite politely, thrown out of the stage and thus losing his chance to become a well known person). He has a rival, who was his schoolmate (Siddique), to whom he lost his girlfriend (Kushboo) while at school, which leads to another complex he has. He is extremely bothered by certain failures in his personal life. Both the rival and his wife are 'well known' doctors in the city (which really bothers Pranchi a lot).
Ranjith(writer & director) is among the few film-makers in Malayalam film industry, who tries to do something unconventional. He has such films like Nandanam, Thirakatha, Paleri Mankiyam to his credit. Ranjith has created such a brilliant tale and narrated it almost flawlessly and quite stylishly that makes the film, a far cry from the usual, mediocre and clichéd stuffs that has been ruling the roost at the box office lately (a few exceptions of course). The humor here is simple and brilliant. Mamooty has breathed life in to Pranchiyettan. He literally lived as Pranchiyettan in every frame. Mamooty has been getting quite a few experimental roles lately (Kuttyshrank, Paleri Manikyam and this film). This is, in my opinion, one of those movies where his excellent acting skills have been really put to use. He has handled comedy so naturally rather than overdoing it like in Thuruppugulan. A few friends of mine, complained about the way he handled 'Thrissur' accent. But I've no such complaints as I was too busy enjoying the film. Priyamani makes a brief entrance as 'Padmasree' an artist, in the story who is another love interest of Pranchi. This part in the movie could've been a tad longer in my opinion, as the exit of the Padmasree from the story, lacked the intended punch (on me. I don't know about others). Master Ganapathy plays Pauli, a rebellious but intelligent kid whom Pranchi meets in the later parts of the film. (I am not going to reveal much about the role). The Saint is played by an Australian theater artist and I liked him. He was much better than the other foreign artists that show up in most other Malayalam films. Innocent plays Menon a close friend of Pranchi who gives the ideas to Pranchi to get famous. Everybody has done a nice job in the film.
The movie explores or at least touches superficially on a lot of things, which I noticed and which I don't think I am matured to enough to say. I am talking about humans & human relationships. This is so far the best film I've seen this year. In my opinion it will be future classic.
Raavanan (2010)
Visually Striking!! But beauty is only skin deep.
Mani Ratnam's Raavanan is a visual masterpiece, a great work of art and almost nothing beyond that. Till more than half of the film, it is about its marvelous cinematography, eye popping locations, excellent acting, technical perfection, polished and gritty narration and visualization and good editing.
The story of Raavanan runs parallel to epic Ramayana but as the film progresses there is a bold twist to the original story. We are directly introduced to the central story with a nicely edited prologue. Veeraiyya, a bandit and a 'protector' figure for the tribal, kidnaps Raagini (Aishwarya Rai) wife of Dev, a senior police officer, to settle some scores. We are shown the past of Veera through brief montages shown in between. The love between Dev and Raagini is shown hurriedly within the space of a love song. The non linear structure of the narration is notable. From then on it is a long journey through the forest. We have a jumping & drinking Hanuman, a Kumbhakarnan, Vibheeshanan and Shoorpanaka in the film. There not much happening in the first half. Its the second half of the film that strikes a chord on you emotionally. This is where that bold twist on Ramayana which was being build up all over first half happens. One wonders who is Ram and who is Raavanan.
After seeing Vikram act this role out, I am certain nobody could have done Veera any better(didn't see Raavan though). Aishwarya Rai looked enchanting, and has done justice to her half baked character Raagini. Prithviraj looked perfect for the role as a honest but ruthless cop. Acting was generally great. Cinematography was outstanding. The soundtracks sounded a bit weird in Tamil. I got used to the Hindi version (tracks were originally composed in Hindi, I think, as the Hindi songs were released a month before the Tamil). I loved them all especially folkish+electronic Ranjha Ranjha, Sufi-ish Behene De and a powerful but short Beera Beera. Some may say its not Rahman's best but I personally think its a very good album. Mani Ratnam, who was dubbed Steven Spielberg of India, has mainly focused on the style over subject. A little more hard work on the script was needed. It is made clear that Dev's hunt for Veera is not just about Raagini. What is it then? There wasn't a decent space to show Veera's love for Raagini, grow. There were a lot of things missing in the movie. But I was blown away by the visual artistry of the movie.
Inception (2010)
Absolutely Brilliant.
I saw the poster in the Friday's paper. "Inception; From the director of Dark Knight; Starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I wasn't aware of such a film. I've seen Christopher Nolan's Memento, the Batman movies & Prestige all of which were, mind-blowing. Later that day I started receiving SMSs and saw Facebook status updates praising the film. It was the trending topic on Twitter. So, I decided to check it out. On Sunday, I was inside the Shenoys theater, for the 3 o'clock show. I had a friend with me who was seeing it the second time. So naturally, my expectations were quite high though I told myself to keep it low. But what the movie had to offer me was beyond my expectations. Man, what a great ride I had at the movies. The freshness and the originality of it totally blew me off. Kudos to Nolan for conceiving such a phenomenal, high-concept, Sci-Fi heist film.
It tells the story of a group of men skilled at extracting confidential information from dreams of their target by entering into his/her subconscious. Mind crimes. But this film is mostly about planting a new idea in the mind of the target. Hence the name Inception. Unlike Nolan's Prestige or Memento, narrative structure here is pretty much linear. But that doesn't make it any easier to fathom. We're taken into dreams within a dream within a dream and no 'Totem' is provided to the audience to know whether the scene is taking place within a dream or in reality.
You could draw some similarities between this film and Matrix. But in the world of Matrix anything is possible but here in Inception you are limited to a certain rules. Any serious physical changes made in the dream could result in the failure of mission. The use of CGI was impressive. I mean there was no overplay but all the fantastic aspects of a dream were shown. I loved that scene where the point man fights off the projections of the sub-conscious of Fischer (Cillian Murphy) amidst constantly shifting gravity.
I felt the acting was great. I've only seen Leonardo Dicaprio giving his fullest to a character (Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, Aviator, Departed, and Blood Diamond). His Cobb is no exception. Cobb, the leader of the team, is a man who as he gets in and out of dreams, loses his grip on reality and dreams, and constantly checks his totem. The Point man and the Forger nicely played by Joseph Gordon Levitt and Tom Hardy, provides the comic relief. Ken Watanabe plays Saito who gives the team such a proposition. Ellen Page( Juno) plays a lovely young, Adriane the architect of the dreams. Cillian Murphy is another talented actor I noticed. He not only gave Fischer the necessary strength of a man who leads a business empire but also a certain vulnerability. And then we come to Cob's wife played by Marion Cottilard, who seems like a troubled and menacing character at first. Like all of Nolan's work, this one is also extremely well written. This movie demands repeated viewing. There are few things in the movie which still confuses me every time I think about it. The ending is something that will be debated upon unless there is a sequel coming up. There will be many blogs in future giving out explanations of various sorts about the movie. It'll be long before the heat created by the movie cools down. I don't really wish for a sequel but a series which delves deeper into the stories surrounding each character & explain some of the confusing details would do. All said and done, this is by far the best film I've seen this year.
Nayakan (2010)
Nayanakan
Its quite good. Stands out from the recent releases in being more experimental in nature. Its basically a revenge drama. The structuring of the story into Purappadu, Kalikkai, Thodayam, Attam and Kalasham(of Kathakali) accompanied by usage of flashbacks is quite a novel thing in Malayalam Cinema. Indrajith, who plays a Kathakali artist in the film, has given an electrifying performance. Thilakan, as always has done well and his character has similarities to The Godfather. Siddique has the scary looks but did overact at some points in the movie. The movie is intensely polished, well toned and paced, with excellent cinematography. The climax disappoints us which is nothing more than a physical showdown b/w the hero and the villain.
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (2009)
Something to be proud about...
I have to say, I was taken by surprise. Something as Grand and Majestic as this could pop out of Malayalam film industry!! I am proud, being a Malayali myself. I loved it.
The movie begins with the British's decision to take heavy taxes from the local people under the Rajahs. Pazhassi who belonged to the Kottayam Royal family of Thalassery region oppose this and becomes the first ruler to resist them and fight it out. Pazhassi who is forced to flee from the his palace starts a carefully planned counter action, with the aid of Edachena Kunkan(Sarath Kumar)and Kaithery Ambu Suresh Krishna). He gets the full support from the kurichiers and tribal people headed by Thalakkal Chandhu( Manoj K. Jayan) and Neeli(Padmapriya) who fights the British using Guirella Warfare tactics. British faced heavy setbacks in various confrontations. Though Pazhassi was able to surprise the British with his tactics, traitors like Pazhayaveedam Chandhu helps the British in the later part of the warfare and capture each of Pazhassi's men.
Mammooty has given a graceful & effortless performance as Pazhassi Raja making him as Humanly as possible. Sharath Kumar gives us an electrifying performance as Kunkan with his machismo and sword fights. Kaniha, on the other hand, could have done better. I wasn't very impressed. Padmapriyas character maybe(I am not sure) first of its type in Malayalam films. She has handled it well and so has Manoj K. Jayan with his Thalakkal Chandu. Lalu Alex, Captian Raju, Thilakan..etc all of them have done a fine job. Its the English actors who really sucked. They should have put more professional actors. The cinematography was simply brilliant, capturing the beauty of Malabar Region. The sets and costumes and the lighting were excellent, simulating that bygone era on the silver screen. The music score by Ilaiyaraja is magnificent. The direction was good and so was the legendary M.T.'s script. The war scenes were impressive, except for the gravity defying stunt scenes.
Overall Pazhassi Raja is a great flick to watch. 9/10
Bhramaram (2009)
Lalettan Thakartu.....
Blessy has come back this time with a thriller masterpiece. This is the second time he is working with Mohanlal. Mohan Lal is one of the finest actor in Indian Cinema and with his role as Shivankutty, he does wonders. I am not revealing much of the plot. Flickering minded Shivankuty was well enacted by Laletta. The movie has a lot of misleading plots which adds to the suspense mood. The film was a big pack of surprise for me. Therefore i do not intend to reveal much of the plot. Excellent direction by Blessy, extremely well written script, style of cinematography (never-seen-before-in Malayalam cinema-) and electrifying performance of Mohanlal makes this one a must see. 10/10