Green Book (2018)

Director: Peter Farrelly
Writers: Nick Vallelonga, Bryan Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly
DOP: Sean Porter
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini

A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South. It is based on the real life relationship between Tony 'Lip' Vallelonga and Dr. Don Shirley and is part written by Tony's son Nick. The Green Book in the title refers to a hand book for blacks listing down the motels and hotels where they can stay while traveling down the South.

It is basically a feel good story done right without showing the Italian as a full blown bigot near the beginning of the film. His behaviour is realistic for the era it is set in. The performances from both the lead characters are excellent with Viggo Mortensen having more to chew on. Mahershala Ali is so eloquent and polished in real life that he is kind of playing a version of himself in the role. Film attracted considerable controversy in the run up to the academy awards which I guess is part of the mud slinging that goes on during that time of the year. I am glad it won the best picture award ahead of Roma, which was literally dog-shit. I really don't get the white saviour criticism that is levelled at it since both characters in it undergo some transformation. Film worked for me because the musician is not portrayed as a binary character without flaws.

I guess some of the hate it attracts is because the director is known for films like Dumb and Dumber. This is kind of his first 'serious' movie but it also has considerable humour mainly because of the chemistry between its leads. It is filmed quite traditionally and is elevated by good old acting performances. Mahershala Ali won his second academy award, for best actor in supporting role, the same night as True Detective season three aired its finale episode. He is surely gonna win an Emmy for that more challenging role as well.

Rating: 4/5

The Favourite (2018)

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Writers: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
DOP: Robbie Ryan
Cast: Olivia Coleman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone

In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weiz), governing the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail (Emma Stone), arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah initially and then the Queen. This eventually makes Sarah and Abigail rivals competing to be the favourite of the Queen.

The film works like a love triangle where the love in it is questionable. You broadly know where it is going after the initial set up itself and that in no way comes in the way of your enjoyment of it. The three main characters are based on historical figures. Even though it is set in period, the dialogues and accents used are quite contemporary, like in The Death of Stalin, and the camera is used in a very peculiar manner with fishbowl lenses. It is very funny but the central character in it is quite a tragic figure. The decisions made on matters of state are quite arbitrary very much depending on the mood of person. The European monarchies became genetically so weak due to the incestuous nature of marriages between them and you can see that when you look at their representatives from the contemporary times.

All the recent Lanthimos films did have an animal species name as part of their title while this film ends with a scene which dissolves into a bunch of rabbits. It is the most straight forward of the films that I have watched of his. That tend to happen usually for the directors you are a big fan of, their least interesting work becomes the one they are most famous for as they are much more accessible for a general audience. Olivia Coleman deservingly won the academy award for her role in this and gave the best acceptance speech from this year's ceremony. So glad to see the Peep Show girl winning an Oscar.

Rating: 4.25/5

Hereditary (2018)

Director: Ari Aster
Writer: Ari Aster
DOP: Pawel Pogorzelski
Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolffe, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne

After the family matriarch passes away, a grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences, and begin to unravel dark secrets.

Hereditary manages to creep you out by defying your expectations consistently. It combines the best elements of Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and Babadook. Some critics like Mark Kermode have objected to it not sticking with one thing but I didn't have any problem with that. Giving everything a psychological explanation can be quite boring as would if everything was made supernatural as well. Hereditary has both of these in the right amounts to make it a very enjoyable watch. Underneath all that, it is ultimately a comedy as I laughed out loud in many places. You know the horror is very effective if you have the remote always in your hand while watching the film.

It works effectively by the actors not giving the expected reactions and staying in the scenes longer. There are some extra details in corners of many of the frames in it and so watch carefully. Paimon is even shown in the beginning during that funeral scene. The characters in it are all flawed and I was kind of glad when that pivotal scene in the car happened because the kid was totally creeping me out. It is the kind of film which big fans of horror might not be really into because it is not pure to the genre and those who like to look for subtext and stuff might also pan it because of the inconsistency. Sometimes it is just nice to see a film which is all about craft and the tease.

Rating: 5/5

അകത്തോ പുറത്തോ (In or Out) (2018)

Director: P.P. Sudevan
Language: Malayalam

Akatho Puratho is the follow-up from director Sudevan to his state award winning feature film debut- Crime No 89. The latter was produced on a meagre budget of 7 lacs while his newest film cost a still meagre 15 lacs. His films are what you call as proper award films in Malayalam and is generally targeted for festival audience only. Some of them can really test your patience but in this film Sudevan pretty much hooks your from the beginning.

It is a two hour long film comprising of four short films with the last two considerably longer. Common theme running through them is death. First short is titled fish and is basically a depiction of food chain in our society through the lifecycle of a fish captured beautifully. The next one is titled the doll and does a similar feat over the lifecycle of a doll. The last two titled 'Old Man' and 'Her' respectively are human condition stories which can test your patience. The length, on reflection, is quite warranted for the first one as it is about the painfully slow process of death of a bedridden old man who is never shown on screen. It can really make you think about your own mortality and reaffirms the cause for assisted suicide, which I fully endorse. The last segment of the film is its weakest which involves a crime of passion and the protagonist role is played by a theatre artist. All others in the film are non-professionals.

Crime No: 89 was more cinematic in the traditional sense since it involved a plot. Akatho Puratho is more of an art movie and is available on Amazon Prime Video Service. Such streaming services can really provide a platform for these kind of niche films which can never get a theatrical release here in Kerala. The likes of Munroe Island and Ozhivudivasathe Kali, both of which got a very limited theatrical release here, are available on Netflix and comes highly recommended.

Rating: 3.5/5

万引き家族 (Shoplifters) (2018)

Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda
DOP: Kondo Ryutu
Cast: Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka
Language: Japanese

A family of small time crooks take in a child they find outside in the cold. While they intend to return her home next day, the evidence of abuses on her body changes their mind.

It is the most un-Japanese Japanese films I have seen from recent times. Ozu made movies with ordinary characters and normal storylines but in general Japanese films that I tend to watch are normally out there. Over the course of the film we learn the nature of actual relationships between the members of this family and it is done in such a non-judgemental manner that we are left in a moral quandary. Which family we are born into is not something that we can choose and the film works on that theme. This film is begging to be remade in Malayalam because worries about child snatching is very real on Malayalee WhatsApp universe and it has even led to instances of harassments on suspicion. The film would be a subversion of that since characters from this social strata are often portrayed in such a binary fashion in films here.

It won Palme d'Or at Cannes last year and collected around $72 million worldwide, much of it from Japan itself and China. I haven't seen other films from the director and am intending to catch up on those. The two child actors in it are excellent. We are often given a portrait of Japan with all its kinkiness without going much into how those people actually feel and this film is an exception.

Rating: 4.25/5

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Director: Drew Goddard
Writer: Drew Goddard
DOP: Seamus McGarvey
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth

Circa 1969, several strangers, most with a secret to bury, meet by chance at Lake Tahoe's El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one night, everyone will show their true colours- before everything goes to hell.

The film is very Tarantinosque and, as can be seen from the synopsis, an obvious comparison can be made with Hateful Eight. The time it is set in and the historic touchpoints is also interesting in the sense that Tarantino's next is titled 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and is supposed to have a peripheral reference to Manson. Tarantino has been quite disappointing in his last two outings and I enjoyed El Royale much more than Hateful Eight, both of which have a pretty generous running time. El Royale. Film follows the chapter format each of which gets a flash back and same events in the film are seen from different perspectives. This or the writing are not as snappy as Tarantino's work from the 90s but is much better than his recent fare.

The film plays with audience expectations and is very twisty with violent escalations. It is the hotel which provides you with surprises initially and then it becomes about the characters. How it holds up on rewatch remains to be seen. Chris Hemsworth's Mansonesque character makes an entry only in the final act of the film. Characters played by Jeff Bridges and Cynthia Erivo mostly carries the film but performances from all are quite good. I didn't have any problem with its length and actually quite enjoyed it taking its time. It does have a poor man's Tarantino vibe to it but the man himself has been quite poor lately.

Rating: 3.5/5

버닝 (Burning) (2018)

Director: Lee Chang-dong
Writers: Oh Jung-mi, Lee Chang-dong
DOP: Hong Kyung-pyo
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo 
Language: Korean 

Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood as him in his village, who ask him to look after her Schrodinger's cat while on a trip to Africa. Both of them are still quite poor and he has fallen in love with her even though she is quite a tease. When back from Africa, she introduces a mysterious Gangnam guy Jen whom she met there, who eventually confesses a secret hobby to him which involves burning of greenhouses. 

The film is an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story titled 'Barn Burning'. The 'Gangnam style' song is actually quite helpful in understanding the film because most people who had followed the viral video and discussion surrounding it would know the meaning of Gangnam in Korea. It is actually a posh/bourgeoisie district in Seoul and the mysterious worldly guy is played quite aptly by Steven Yeun who hasn't spend his adult life in his home country. He had to improve his Korean for the role. Jong, an aspiring writer with a difficult childhood, comes across as quite naive in the film as the audience is ahead of him throughout the film in deciphering what Jen is implying. Not that we for certain can conclude those things actually happened in the story. 

It is comfortably the best film from last year that I have watched so far and don't think any will actually beat it. It can be seen as a metaphor for inequality and how it is playing out in global politics, or as a metaphor for global warming or just as a straight up mysterious film without a clear cut resolution.  It has been nominated for Academy awards in the foreign film category, a first for Korean cinema, and it will be a fucking joke if Roma ends up beating it.

Rating: 5/5

Hold the Dark (2018)

Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Writers: Macon Blair, William Giraldi (Novel)
DOP: Magnus Nordenhof Jønck
Cast: Jeffry Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough

After the death of three children in an Alaskan village, suspected to be killed by wolves, writer Russell Core is hired by the mother of a missing six year old boy to track down and kill the wolf.

It is the latest from independent filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier which dropped on Netflix this weekend. It was the revenge thriller Blue Ruin which got him noticed and he followed up that with the excellent 'Green Room'. Both are violent genre films and the latter was an attempt to subvert some of the genre tropes. This is the first time he is working with a significant budget and he gets to mix several genres (western, noir, revenge thriller) here on an epic scale. Like 'Wind River' from last year, it is set in cold conditions and with native Americans and cops involved around a murder case. But the treatment couldn't be any different. Saulnier subverts the expectations by having racial groups play against type while it was the total opposite in Wind River, which was exactly my problem with the latter.

The makers have chosen to leave many things mysterious for the audience by choosing to not explain things. But is is not a deliberate effort to leave things open-enbed with they themselves not having a theory to explain it all. Sufficient clues are given and you get a tremendous pay-off when you figure it out. But the downside to that is that plenty won't do and will end up getting disappointed with it. I'll put my theory below with a spoiler alert. Overall the film is a great watch if you are a fan of ambiguous films and it will eventually go down as a cult classic. Performances are excellent and the violence is relentless. I'm really glad that films like this and Annihilation are getting made due to Netflix since we're never gonna get theatre releases here anyway for them as they are not shitty DC/Marvel films.

Rating: 4.25/5

                   ****SPOILER ALERT****

The kid being sickly, her eyes being supposedly same as her husband's and him being with her ever since she could remember: they all mean that there is incest involved and they are siblings. Russell describes how the wolves he sighted in the wild was eating one of their own and referred to it as savaging. That is what they are gonna do with the body after retrieving it at the end. It still doesn't explain the actions taken by the mother after the killing and it could be that she was having second thoughts. All the killings are people who got in the way. Them being Nordic in origin I think is a reference to the American discovery as Vikings are supposed to have reached America before Columbus did.

വരത്തൻ (Varathan) (2018)

Director: Amal Neerad
Writers: Suhas-Sharfu
DOP: Little Swayamp
Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Aishwarya Lekskmi, Sharafudeen
Language: Malayalam

NRI couple, Abin and Priya, moves back to latter's ancestral home in a high range village while they are facing some difficulties on personal and career fronts. The village is not an idyllic one as is portrayed quite often in cinemas and as the title suggests (outsider), they are not that fond of Abin for no other particular reason.

Film's teaser reminded me of Enter the Void's opening credits and the trailer gave me the vibes of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 movie 'Straw Dogs'. It turned out to be almost like a remake of Straw Dogs, with all the major plot elements being there except for its infamous half-consent during the rape scene. Some of the camera angles surrounding Priya also reminded me of Aronofsky's mother! as well. These are what you expect from an Amal Neerad film and its success depends on how well it is placed in the domestic setting. I don't have a problem with it being a remake in terms of the plot structure as his films are never really about plot but solely on the making.

It is the village's moral policing, executed chiefly by its perverts, that welcomes the couple initially. Abin, boarding schooled and city-bred, is oblivious to the pervy nature of the village as he is predisposed to see the good in others initially by default. Priya, who has history in the village, is at pains to point this out to Abin but he doesn't realise until it's too late. As in Straw Dogs, the story arc around the husband's masculinity is also explored in the film in a convincing manner. The whole cast is excellent but the one who steals the show is Sharafudeen playing the villain character. It should be a turning point in his career. Little Swayamp and Sushin Shyam provides ample support with camera and music respectively, which are like always the chief highlights in an Amal Neerad film. It is his best work till date and should be watched on the best screen possible with Dolby fucking Atmos.

Rating: 4.25/5

Ranam (2018)

Director: Nirmal Sahadev
Writer: Nirmal Sahadev
DOP: Jigme Tenzing
Cast: Prithviraj, Rahman, Isha Talwar
Language: Malayalam

Aadhi (Prithviraj) is a transporter for a Srilankan Tamil drug boss, Damodar (Rahman), in Detroit. He is trying to get out but, like in all these mob films, his boss drags him back in.

Film had some very good buzz around it ahead of the release due to a very interesting teaser and a very well cut trailer, both of which gave it an atmospheric action thriller vibe. But the atmosphere around it is that of an emotional drama and the action scenes, which are done very well, happens very intermittently. So if you are buying tickets based on the trailer, adamant that it has to adhere to what they projected, then chances are you will be disappointed. If you are willing to enjoy it for what it is, then it is a satisfying film overall.

A guy doing one last crime job before getting out of it for good is a genre that I very much enjoy. Examples for those would be Driver, Thief, The American, Drive and Carancho. In most of the those films, the protagonists are usually loner sort of characters who don't talk much. Even though the protagonist of this film does have that vibe, there is too much voice over narration explaining things and also conveying what he is thinking. Director must be thinking that it is necessary for the general Malayalee audience, who are not aware of this space in USA or this genre of films, to have some of the things explained to them. But that choice makes the film lose some edginess it could have had by having the protagonist be really mysterious, in terms of being unpredictable about his thinking and the choices he makes. They could have also given more time for the villains to sort out the pacing issues during the middle part of the film.

It is a pretty good watch overall, treading the middle path for the genre fans and the general Malayalee audience who might be interested in seeing an emotional drama set in USA. The dangerous thing with the misleading trailer is that both might get turned off by it, the former for being misled and the latter by reaction to it from the former who turned up on the first weekend. Misleading trailers have invariably proved disastrous, in terms of box office numbers, for Malayalam films and often end up being reassessed post DVD/torrent release and TV run. It deserves to be seen on a big screen with great sound system because it is so fucking well made.

Rating: 3.5/5

Maradona (2018)

Director: Vishnu Narayan
Writer: Krishna Moorthy
DOP: Deepak D. Menon
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Chemban Vinod, Saranya, Tito Wilson

After Mayaanadhi, Tovino Thomas is again on the run as Maradona. He finds refuge in a flat in Bangalore where he stays with a distant relative's family who are unaware of his criminal background. Circumstances conspire to him being locked in the apartment for a week with just a dog for company initially. Over the course of the week he developes some balcony relationships even as antagonists are on the lookout for him.

Maradona's past and the nature of the crime he committed is revealed to us in a piecemeal manner. The narrative style is very interesting and we get a full picture of it only after the interval. First half of the film progresses like a neat crime thriller and second half follows a redemptive arc. I have seen some people complaining about its two and half hour length but it is necessary to do justice to the redemptive arc in the film. It is a very good watch overall with the slightly iffy ending preventing it from being great. They could've done a bit more justice to Chemban Vinod's character's ending arc. He just oozes coolness in the 'one last job' for once retired ruffian role.

Performances wise it is great going from all concerned, especially the leading lady who is a newcomer. Nisthar Ahmad, who got his break in 'Ozhivudivasathe Kali', only needs that intense stare to convey the menace. The director and the writer have been associated with the likes of Aashiq Abu and Lijo Jose Pellissery and they do live up to the expectation that it entails. The film has enough in it to please different kinds of audience but could very well get washed out due to the inconsistency in release pattern of Malayalam films. It is the first Malayalam film that I have watched since 'Ee.Ma.Yau' and that was like theth months ago. Now we will have a deluge of promising films coming out together ahead of Onam with every chance that some of them will underperform at Box Office due to the release rush.

Rating: 3.75/5

ഈ.മ.യൗ (Ee.Ma.Yau) (2018)

Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery
Writer: P.F. Matthews
DOP: Shyju Khaled
Cast: Chemban Vinod Jose, Vinayakan, Pauly Valsan, Dileesh Pothan
Language: Malayalam

A day and a night in a fishing village following the death of an old guy, to whom his son promised a funeral worthy of a King's.

The first half of the film moves in a sedate manner and I was kind of underwhelmed by it at halfway point. The pace picks up considerably in the second half and by the end you understand why the former half had to be that way. The entire premise of thet film can be told in about three sentencess but the trick is to it do it in an engaging manner in a different setting. After the film got released, the maker of an indie-film called Shavam accused LJP of plagiarism. Even without watching that film, I can safely say that the accusation is without merit because LJP films are never about storylines but always about their treatment. It is possibly career best performance from Chemban and Vinayakan and Dileesh are cast against type.

Technical excellence is a given in Lijo Jose Pellissery films and let me get it out of the way by reiterating it. Be it the night sequences which has a neon feel in some places or the rainy sequences during the day with the noise from sea being a constant background throughout. Music is used sparingly but very effectively, especially during the closing credits which had an incredible effect on me. The idea is to place the viewer in the same atmosphere as its characters and they manage to do it quite effectively. It is basically a dark comedy but the ending just pulls the rug out from underneath you all of a sudden in a way that cannot be explained. Not sure if all will have the same experience.

I can see quite a lot of people hating it if they go with the expectation that you are going to watch a typical LJP film. The reaction could be similar to what a few people had for Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum after watching it with a Maheshinte Prathikaram hangover. P.F. Matthews is the writer of Doordarshan's 'Mikhaelinte Santhathikal' and the award winning film 'Kuttisranku', which I couldn't watch past thirty minutes of it. In my opinion it is LJP's second best film with Angamaly Diaries of course being the top. There are throwbacks to it as well as Amen in this film. He is getting better and better with each film and Double Barrel clusterfuck seems to have taught him the importance of having correct length for a film with both the films after that clocking just two hours.

Rating: 4.5/5

Uncle (2018)

Director: Girish Damodar
Writer: Joy Mathew
DOP: Azhagappan
Cast: Mammooty, Karthika Muralidharan, Joy Mathew, Muthumani
Language: Malayalam

A college girl is stranded in Ooty following a strike in her college. By chance, a friend of her father in a Mercedes spots her and offers her a ride to Calicut as he is also going that way. When her father learns about this he is uneasy because his friend is bit of a flirt. Film switches between the car drive and the worried father at home.

In contrast with the reaction of the father, the mother is pretty cool about the situation. This is because women usually see these men under domestic settings and don't hear what all things are being said in an all-male environment. There is sufficient grey in Mammooty's head and in his portrayal of the character for us to suspect his intentions.  Some of the reviews have criticized this aspect of the film accusing it of playing the audience for cheap suspense. I don't agree with that since I do think he was playing it straight and that was how he felt towards the girl, not really paternal or platonic. Trailer reminded me of Kuttetan, which is kind of a landmark film in Malayalam for the brave treatment of its protagonist who has a thing for teenage girls. To be honest, it would've been genius if it was Mammooty back as Kuttetan in this film because the ending then would've been totally ambiguous, like the ending in Kuttetan. Missed opportunity there.

Overall the film is a very good watch with some lag in some places. They could've easily shaved off some twenty minutes from it. Karthika Muralidharan is playing a role which could've easily derailed the film if she didn't get it right but she does. There is some unnecessary ass-licking of the present ruling regime of Kerala which could've been avoided. When it comes to moral policing in Kerala, the communists are no different.

Rating: 3.5/5

Phantom Thread (2017)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson
DOP: Paul Thomas Anderson?
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville

Set in 1950s London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes her muse and lover. 

After his latest two outings, The Master and Inherent Vice, which were not that straight forward narrative wise this one from Paul Thomas Anderson is much more of a simpler one. Inherent Vice with a drugged up private investigator as protagonist was an attempt to get us the audience to feel the same amount of confusion as he must have been feeling. It is a film that I enjoyed, but like most of his recent films, it demands multiple viewings which I haven't quite managed yet. Daniel Day-Lewis, in what he declared to be his final role, is the perfectionist dressmaker who likes quiet and fulsome breakfasts which can make or break his day. He lives with his work partner and sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) and we see in the initial sequence, her advising him to dump his muse after a tension filled breakfast. He goes to the country for a break and meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), who becomes his new muse and lover. What we see over the course of the film is whether or not Alma can break the cycle. She has her own ways and the ending of the film can make or break it for most of the audience. It worked for me and reminded me of 'Blood Simple' in an odd sort of a way. It certainly left me feeling high.

One gripe I have with the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino is that they have resorted to the safety of period with their latest films. This is a film which could have been very well set in the contemporary times, even with the same profession of fashion at its center. It could have even more of an impact. If you also look at Daniel Day-Lewis' filmography in terms of films that he is famous for, most have been set in period as well. It is just an easy way out in my opinion. Despite these misgivings in a general sense, Phantom Thread is a pretty great watch. There is no credited DOP for the film as the usual ones who work with PTA were busy with other projects and he himself is said to have managed the camera persons.

Rating: 4.25/5

സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം അർദ്ധരാത്രിയിൽ (Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil) (2018)

Director: Tinu Pappachan
Writer: Dileep Kurian
DOP: Gireesh Gangadharan
Cast: Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod, Vinayakan, Titto Wilson
Language: Malayalam

As was hinted by the trailer and the title of the film, which translates as 'Freedom at Midnight', it is a jail break genre piece which works as an action thriller. You got the typical protagonist who was hard done by the justice system and is a first time prisoner. The usual hard adjustment to jail life is portrayed as well as him making some friends and enemies in the prison which will serve the story down the line. I'm not complaining about the clichés here as it is anyway a genre film and how such films can standout is either due to its making quality or some genre subversions. They are going for the former here and it is indeed technically very sound.

In terms of backstory, we are getting it only for the chief protagonist and it is quite poorly done in the first half with a very rushed half-arsed feel to it. It is done through several flashbacks and couple of cringe inducing green screen scenes. If those green screen scenes were done even more poorly, it could've been interpreted as an artistic choice. Film picks up once he reaches the jail. Both Vinayakan and Chemban Vinod are excellent in their roles with adding some great comedy value. There are several scenes and particularly the ones involving Lijo Jose Pellissery, the director's mentor, which would remind one of Sin City in terms of style and colour/lighting tones. The action scenes, mostly in rain, are very well done and it is another one after Angamaly Diaries for Gireesh Gangadharan to show off in a good way. Many of the people from that film is involved here as well with Chemban and LJP serving as executive producers.

Overall it's a pretty good watch with some of the rawness associated with LJP's earlier works like Nayakan and City of God. Script could've been a lot tighter and the plot relies on too many convenient coincidences. They could have made the backstory a lot less complicated. Still, great to see such efforts coming from Malayalam.

Rating: 3.5/5

Sudani from Nigeria (2018)

Director: Zakariya
Writers: Muhsin Parari, Zakariya
DOP: Shyju Khalid
Cast: Soubin Shahir, Samuel Abiola Robinson, Savithri Sreedharan
Language: Malayalam

Film is set around the sevens football milieu of Malappuram where Majeed (Soubin Shahir) is the 'Manager' of a struggling club. His star player from Africa for the upcoming season is Samuel who injures himself in a freak bathroom accident. The hospital expenses and recovery has to be taken care by Majeed and, to save hospital costs, he decides to take Samuel to his house and the film is basically about the human bonds that form over there.

For some strange reason the people from Malappuram call all the African players Sudu, short form for Sudanis. After a star turn in his first match, a fan asks Samuel if he is from Sudan and Samuel is quite adamant in making it clear that he is from Nigeria. The significance of this is realized later in the film. Majeed is an unemployed bachelor, and a Real Madrid fan, who is taking all the initiatives to get himself married. He has a difficult relationship with his step-father and is quite selfish at home and takes one-sided decisions, probably in an effort to establish himself as the man of the house. His mother still has an apologetic relationship with him and doesn't object when Samuel is brought to her home. It is she and her neighbor friend, Beeyumma, who steals the show in a film where most of the actors are newcomers, all of whom have done an excellent job.

It is a film which defies our expectations throughout. We take it as a given that the climax of the film would involve a final football match with Samuel returning to play after recovering, but it never materializes. The sub inspector of police, the usual bullying kind, is very thin in physique. Even the football is quite sidelined after the initial parts of the film as it focuses more on the human angle. If you lay out the plot of the film as such, it will look like a sappy sentimental film, but it is made in a very nuanced manner taking time to establish all its details. Watch out for the passive-aggressive 'Nair' guy with a cow. The politics is there in the film as a subtext which is usually how it works best in a film. It is a world away from Priyadarshan's depiction of Muslim characters as people with four wives and instant talaqs. Shyju Khalid's camera work will remind you of his work from 'Maheshinte Prathikaram'. Him and Sameer Thahir had actually produced the film with E4E, who have now got a reputation for being associated with good films, have done the distribution. It is a great watch overall.

Rating: 3.75/5

പൂമരം (Poomaram) (2018)

Director: Abrid Shine
Writer: Abrid Shine
DOP: Gnaanam
Cast: Kalidas Jayaram, Neeta Pillai
Language: Malayalam

Poomaram happens over the eve and five days of MG University youth festival where Maharajas college is trying to usurp five times running champion St. Theresa's college. Kalidas plays the chairman of the former and Neeta Pillai is chairperson of the latter.

Abrid Shine's brief two film old body of work is characterized by unconventional storytelling. His first film '1983' was the more cinematic of the two and I had quite enjoyed that film. His second feature, 'Action Hero Biju' followed the happenings in a police station and it was a film I detested because of its middle class pandering and sensibilities. I was not too sure whether to go for Poomaram on back of that but finally went for it due to the not so bad reviews and its supposed treatment. Also, I didn't want to encourage nepotism in Malayalam cinema by going for it blind.

The film begins on a very bad note through a very cringe worthy opening credits where Kalidas' family is introduced with very artificial and polite interactions. That plagues Kalidas' performance throughout and director has to share the blame for that. In contrast, it is Neeta Pillai who steals the show as the leader of rival college. It works like a docudrama and is at its best when it is in this mode. Casting of other supporting characters is really good but film is still rife with cheap laughs and sympathy generated out of unconventional characters due to their appearances and disabilities. It even got a reload of AHB with all its problems. The ending is also problematic where, like in AHB, director compromises the aesthetics of it up to that point with a cinematic ending. Thondimuthal Driksakshiyum was a revelation in getting performances out of non-actors and you can see the other side here with some extremely unnatural and overly polite sequences in it, which sticks out like a sore thumb, especially during the beginning parts of the film.

It is not to say that I didn't enjoy the film. It could've been easy for the director to play up the class and caste difference between the colleges by giving it a good bad binary portrayal but he opts to do it in a realistic and subtle manner with the casting choices and mannerisms. The good and bad of arts festival culture in Kerala is portrayed well, especially its extreme competitiveness. Overall, it is a good watch with a very unique treatment but with some of the same problems carried over from AHB.

Rating: 3/5

Annihilation (2018)

Director: Alex Garland
Writers: Alex Garland, Jeff VanderMeer
DOP: Rob Hardy
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don't apply or it is just very hyperactive.

It's on Netflix and do watch it without knowing anything about it. So don't read on if you haven't seen it. How it came to Netflix for international release was that the Studio heads at Paramount thought that it was too cerebral. They clashed with Scott Rudin and Alex Garland on its final cut. So they gave a two week window to release it in USA and China after which it got released on Netflix this week.

It is an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer's first book with the same name from 'Southern Reach' trilogy. What happens in the area they are exploring, where something from space fell, is that cell activity is very heightened and evolution is on steroids. People outside have no idea what's going on and are not sure about the motive of whatever that is happening inside. The point is that it has no motive and just a property. This is what people find hard to fathom when it comes to evolution. Gene replication is a property and evolution happening due to errors in replication or mutations has no end goal. There is no motivation, purpose or end goal, just a propensity to replicate. They gradually learns that the area that they are exploring is acting like a prism for cell replication and all the mutations are leading to all sorts of species coming out of it. It makes sense up to this point and the last act of the thing mimicking didn't make much sense but it is a good cinema trope. It can be seen as the explanation of what was happening to 'The Thing' on the John Carpenter movie.

The film will also remind one of Ridley Scott's Alien. It works as a sci-fi movie, monster movie and a horror movie over the course of it. He had cited self destruction as a theme he wanted to highlight in the film and it is even stated explicitly stated in the movie by one of its characters. It is visually stunning, well acted and got a trippy soundtrack. It has a similar ending to Ex Machina and on whole I enjoyed it even more than it. And Ex Machina was great by the way.

Rating: 4.75/5

Mute (2018)

Director:Duncan Jones
Writers: Michael Robert Johnson, Duncan Jones
DOP: Gary Shaw
Cast: Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux

A mute bartender goes up against his city's gangsters in an effort to find out what happened to his missing partner.

Duncan Jones considers this film to be a spiritual sequel to his debut feature 'Moon', which was an excellent watch. It is 30 years from now and has got flying cars, drone-delivered fast food and is set in Blade Runner looking Berlin. It was made for Netflix and has got a cheap TV vibe to it in terms of performances. But some of the set design and non-clean look of the future might be intentional. The population of the city or at least the people he is interacting with comes from various ethnic backgrounds and have very diverse sexual orientations. The film is dedicated as a parenting homage to director's father, David Bowie,and his nanny, both of whom have died quite recently. The Berlin setting and the nature of people he meets might be explained by that.  One of the problems with the film that I found is the way it dedicates its time to various characters. First half of the film is largely centered on the mute character and in second half we tend to spend more time with the villainous characters. That serves to work the twist but the twist is kind of dud. One good thing it does is you can't really brand the villains as traditional villains and it almost manages to make you root for the pedophile character at some points, which is quite some feat. That said, the attitude towards it felt a bit anachronistic for me because I do think we are progressing towards determining biology as the cause for that predilection. It won't ever be accepted like homosexuality but people might come around to understand why it exists and the answer might lie with nature.

It is another one of those recent films which made news for its Rotten Tomatoes score. People make the mistake of wrongly understanding the tomatometer score,which is a very binary one. The one you should be looking at is the average rating of 4/10 which is closer to the audience score of 52%. 13% means only 13% of the critics liked it but not that their average rating is something like 1.3/10. I don't pay much attention to the tomatometer rating these days because passable films can get a very high score there because nobody hates it.

Coming back to the film, it is an interesting watch if you can get through it. Some of the performances are underwhelming and some decent enough. It is not as bad as it is made out to be and I checked it out mainly due to the polarizing reactions that it got.

Rating: 2.25/5

Black Panther (2018)

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole
DOP: Rachel Morrison
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o

T'challa, after the death of his father, the king of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

Wakanda is a resource rich nation with abundant supply of a metal called Vibranium and they have chosen to keep this a secret from the outside world by adopting the veneer of being a poor farming nation. While the condition of rest of Africa and African Americans all over the world is poor, they see no reason to come to their aid out of fear of exposing their secret. One of their own (Michael B. Jordan), unknown to them, has a radical plan to overthrow the king and arm the oppressed against the ruling classes all over the world. So it is basically kind of like the Dark Knight films.

Like almost all superhero films, the premise is pretty fucking stupid. But the ones that work are usually films which doesn't take itself too seriously. That is not the case with Black Panther. I had seen Thor: Ragnarok recently and I don't remember the Norse characters in it putting on a fake Nordic accent. In Black Panther, even though most of the business takes place in Wakanda, the characters have a fake English accent, which is supposed to be African,  that takes you right out of the film. It is especially bad because many of the dialogues in it are blatant expositions and it was like watching a poorly dubbed film. Expected much more from Ryan Coogler, whose debut feature 'Fruitvale Station' was an excellent watch.

PS: Martin Freeman plays the token white guy among the 'good' side.

Rating: 2.25/5