Saturday, December 23, 2017

മായാനദി (Maayanadhi) (2017)

Director: Aashiq Abu
Writers: Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Nair, Amal Neerad (Story)
DOP: Jayesh Mohan
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Aishwarya Lekshmi
Language: Malayalam

Mathews (Tovino Thomas) is involved with the Tamil underworld and he kills a Police Officer inadvertently while making an escape from a hotel in Kodaikanal. He flees to Kochi where he is trying to hook up back with his girlfriend from college days, Aparna (Aishwarya), a struggling actor. Tamil Nadu Police has not backed down on his case and there is a sense of doom throughout the film which adds to the whole atmosphere, which also reminded me of Wong Kar Wai films. Post-metro Kochi is indeed a beauty and it has never been this magnificent on screen. Here it certainly can compete with the Hong Kong as captured by Christopher Doyle. Driving under the pillars of Kochi metro does  remind me kindly of that famous sequence from Tarkovsky's Solaris.


Aashiq Abu is someone who has been talking a lot of the right stuff but it has never translated that well into his films. His idea of feminism so far can be summed up as the equivalent of the dick-cutting  Tessa from 22FK, which is a film everyone overrates. Except for Gangster, all his other films (haven't seen Daddy Cool) have been watchable stuff without any of them threatening to be more than just good. He has had far better success as a producer. With Maayanadhi, he has finally arrived as a filmmaker. What I found to be extremely atmospheric can be a bit slow on the pacing side for some. It is paced like a foreign film and the extremely natural sounding scripting is also similar vein (so far removed from the Eda-Poda talk from the Niram times). The politics of the film comes just right without feeling any bit tacked on. They even managed to insert 'OMKV' so seamlessly into it.

It is largely a film in which both the leads are on equal footing and both male and female gaze are employed, which is such a refreshing change. Aishwarya Lekshmi, who didn't have much to do in her debut feature, is a revelation in this role and the chemistry between the two is just spot on. Film doesn't take the easy way out at the end even though it does open up the option of it to do in a convincing manner (Stoker like). There is a significant sequence in Tamil towards the end without any subtitles and I just don't understand why they make the assumption that every Malayalee understands Tamil. I just about managed to figure out enough to knowwhat was going on. It is indeed sad that they chose to release it during the festive season where it may well get washed out. Please do catch it at the best screen possible near you because it is technically so sound and sumptuously shot.

Rating: 4.75/5

ആട് 2 (Aadu 2) (2017)

Director: Midhun Manuel Thomas
Writer: Midhun Manuel Thomas
DOP: Vishnu Narayanan
Cast: Jayasuriya, Vinayakan, Sunny Wayne, Saiju Kurup
Language: Malayalam

Aadu 2 is the much awaited sequel to 2015 commercial flop, but torrent superhit, Aadu Oru Bheekarajeeviyanu. It has such a cult following that they relented to the demands of a sequel to give us, fans of Shaji Pappan, a chance to make history right. The plethora of sequels that came out in the last decade or so in Malayalam have been with the pure intent of cashing in on the original's popularity and have been mostly duds. When the song came out of Aadu 2, I feared the worst but it turned out to be misplaced. Film works well without reaching the heights of first one and is a laugh riot throughout.

Most of the characters and their awesome BGM intros are retained in the film with addition of few other characters. Film is largely focused on Shaji Pappan, DUDE and their respective gangs. A recurring feature in the first one was the hero to zero transformation of all of its characters after their mass introductions and that is something they cannot rely entirely on this time round. So the nature of jokes is slightly different with it being much more straight forward. That should help its box office but there was more charm to the first one which kept on getting better and better on rewatches. There was also this languidly enjoyable pacing for the first one while for this one, you feel too many things are being crammed. I guess the difference is the episodic nature of first one while there is more jumping to and fro between the various characters in the sequel. Midhun had once cited that this episodic nature might have been putting off the audience.

Another major difference is the nature of main villains. First one really didn't have any while there are some in this one and it didn't work that well for me along with the mass climax fight scene, which the audience lapped up anyway. At two and half hours, it is around 20 minutes longer than it should be and they could've easily shaved off that god-awful item song from it. All said, it is still a very good watch with some great clean comedy. It helps that the people who are watching it already have seen Aadu and know what is coming. Limited release of just 100 screens is adding to the atmosphere with heavy rush everywhere. I did miss many dialogues due to the hysteria and didn't hear any of the Shaji Pappan intro BGM due to crowd noise. Will certainly be catching it again.

Rating: 3.5/5

Monday, December 18, 2017

Green Room (2015)

Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Writer: Jeremy Saulnier
DOP: Sean Porter
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart

A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a Neo-Nazi skinhead bar, which is quite secluded. They're trapped in the Green Room with a bunch of skinheads headed by their leader, Darcy played by Patrick Stewart, waiting outside to deal with them.

What prolongs the situation is that Darcy does not want any more people becoming aware of the murder and they initially try to lure the band out of the Green Room. Saulnier had called it the third film in his 'Inept protagonist' trilogy or 'Clusterfuck trilogy'. I have seen the second one, pretty well received 'Blue Ruin', which I found to be pretty good but little overrated. Not sure if I will find it better if I re-watch it now. The ineptness of the band members in dealing with the situation comes out well and that is quite realistic. Compared to them, the neo-nazis are pretty regimented and tactical. They're not portrayed as super smart super villains. Horror films are so associated with the supernatural these days that it was quite refreshing to see one that is purely situational. I didn't think of it much as a horror film while watching it but it is definitely aimed as a deliberate effort to subvert the genre clichés. There is even one instance where they think out loud that they should split up.

This is the second film I've seen recently where the protagonist/s are making dumb decisions one after the other. But Connie from Good Times gave us the impression that he is quite smart by making those decisions super quick with full conviction. In Green Room, we're aware that the decisions are dumb even as they make them. Overall, it is a very good watch if you can stomach the gore.

Rating: 3.5/5

Sunday, December 10, 2017

mother! (2017)

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writer: Darren Aronofsky
DOP: Matthew Libatique
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer

A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

He (Javier Bardem), the poet, of the relationship, is considerably older than the would-be mother (Jennifer Lawrence). Even before the guests arrive we know that he is facing a writer's block and she is kind of insecure about her place in the relationship. They are renovating the place after it burned down years ago supposedly during his childhood. First half of the film plays up  this aspect of the relationship and since I finished the film in two sittings there seemed to be a big tonal shift during the second half where it goes full into biblical metaphors. I am not explaining it since the enjoyment element of the film is piecing together who is who and what is what. Even if one has only a cursory knowledge of Bible, it shouldn't be that difficult. This is another way to do it as his previous film, Noah, was shouting about it with its title itself.

Overall, I liked it a lot and is probably his best film till date. I have liked all his films, even Noah, but don't feel any compulsion to see them again as all of them are a bit difficult to watch, to say the least. I have grown to hate Jennifer Lawrence over the years and it is only appropriate that she is an irritating character in this. Camera is quite unrelenting as it  spends large parts of the film either over her shoulders or taking close-ups of her face and it is a very good performance from her. You will feel that Aronofsky is hammering your head with a sledgehammer with all the metaphors but I did enjoy it. It is also like an ode to Polanski's filmography as you will be reminded of films like Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby and even Carnage. One of the posters  is also an homage to Rosemary's Baby. One film of Aronofsky's  that I would like to revisit is 'The Fountain' as I have seen only the Indian TV version of it.

Rating: 4.25/5