Cinema, Culture & More
‘Trance’ does address a theme that is radically important and proffers a compelling investigation into the unexplored realms of religion, faith and belief. But it’s also a movie that eventually gets choked by the mistiness that pervades its plot and design, and ends up a pale shadow of the head turner flick that it should have been.
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‘Puzhikkadakan’ defies coherence and is a tiresome parade of clichés that one would anticipate in a film of this kind. It is a film in search of a pulse, and is a disjointed affair that mostly fritters away the talents of its leading cast.
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Lijo Jose Pellissery’s ‘Jallikkattu’ is a searing reminder of how primal we still remain and how readily the facades of culture and civilization topple down all around us, when the primordial instincts within us, run riot. Uncompromising to the core and often beguiling the viewer, this is a fascinating film set on an astonishing momentum that reaffirms the director’s reputation as a fabulous film maker who ruthlessly shreds up and throws genre conventionalities to the winds.
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‘Porinchu Mariam Jose’ does not have specific points where it starts losing its way. Rather the antique tale that it narrates usurps both the aspirations of its maker and the efforts of its terrific cast, rendering it a stylized cinematic piece that is bracing to look at, but which sounds obsolete to the core.
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Here is a look at some of the out-of-the-world performances from male actors, that we got to see in Malayalam in the course of the past year. Needless to add, some of these acts will be discussed and remembered for years to come.
Continue reading “Best Performances (Male) in Malayalam – 2018”
K B Maju’s ‘French Viplavam’ is a rebellion gone all awry, though it dabbles with a theme that holds plenty of contemporary significance. Satire is what the film has in mind, but what it ultimately turns out to be is a drab cinematic piece that has neither the vigour nor the vitality that characterizes a raging revolution.
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‘Dakini’ has none of the inventiveness that its trailer so blatantly suggested the film might have. At best it merely strikes you as a collection of cardboard caricatures that flit around on stage, with plenty of empty talk and emptier circumstances that leave you tremendously worn out at the end of the day.
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With ‘Ee.Ma.Yau’ Lijo Jose Pellissery surpasses himself, asserts once and for all that he’s a master craftsman who sees his dough even in a theme that is as stiff and unmalleable as a corpse (pun intended), and astutely crafts a chimerical ode to mortality. Hauling a perfect family portrait off the walls, Lijo smashes it on the floor, leaving us horrified beside a blue, lifeless body that grows colder by the minute, a bunch of riotous, bawling mourners and glimpses of nothing less than what looks like hell opening up above, as streaks of lightning intermittently part the dark skies.
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Tinu Pappachan in ‘Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil’ seeks to craft an ultimate jailbreak film, and constructs a sweaty, scorching hell of a prison at Kottayam for the purpose. He then gets his inmates ready for the final getaway on a midnight express, and takes us along on their trail to escape, that has its fair share of moments and a few non-moments.
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Buried deep beneath the idealistic blabber on revenge and redemption is a sluggishly formulaic thriller plot that renders ‘Villain’ a banal film. Meekly proficient and mostly deflecting, it’s a prolonged rattle that isn’t exactly music to one’s ears.
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