What a fascinating movie! Oh my goodness, SO INTERESTING!!!!! Starting from the opening shot, which sent me down a whole mental wormhole of film history. But mostly, I am SO GLAD I watched this film the same week I saw Angamaly Diaries! Because this film makes the hypothetical argument that Angamaly Diaries proved in reality.
That headline isn’t hyperbole. There’s one sequence in this film, way at the end, which should be shown in film classes right along Welles and Scorsese from now on. It’s an amazing technical achievement, but you don’t even notice that, because it is such an amazing artistic achievement at the same time. (Very very long and detailed SPOILER review here)
You know the problem with pioneer films? They are so groundbreaking and wonderful when they come out, but then after they have cut out the new path, the films that come after it are so much more luxurious and elaborate, it makes that poor struggling scratched and damaged first film look like nothing in comparison.
I went to see a Malayalam movie in the theaters again! Actually, I saw two, and was completely unproductive otherwise all Saturday. It was a great weekend. And next Monday, you get to see a review of the other movie!
I missed Monday Malayalam, because I was completely impractical and not time effective, and I went to see Dulquer’s new movie in theaters at the 8 o’clock show on a work night. Because it’s Dulquer! And it’s cold and grey and depressing, and Kerala is so pretty. And I was hoping to write the review when I got home, but it was midnight and my brain finger typing thoughts not coming.
Second week for this, going okay so far! Having a schedule to stick to is really driving me to watch movies. That was the initial purpose of the To-Do List, but then it just got so big I couldn’t deal with it. But needing to have a new Malayalam film watched and reviewed every Monday is good for me. Oh, and this movie in particular I have been wanting to watch since last Onam (at my local theater, we got Oozham instead).
Okay, I’m going to try something. Before, I would get a big DVD order or have a slow week at work, and post a ton of blog posts from Kerala or Tamil Nadu or whatever all at once. And then hit a point of being busy at work and running out of DVDs or whatever and post no reviews at all for a while. But that’s not good, this start and stop. So, now that the big Hindi release season is about to end, I am going to try to stick to a schedule, Monday Malayalam, Tuesday Tamil or Telugu. And then Hindi or whatever other random thing I am watching (Zindagi Gulzar Hai?) the rest of the week. Continue reading
What an interesting movie! I mean, of course it’s an interesting movie, it’s a Priyadarshan comedy. There’s more human tragedy and quiet despair in a Priyadarshan comedy than in a whole Sanjay Leela Bhansali epic.
I don’t know enough about him, and Hema exhausted me, so Prithviraj has to content himself with a simple dozen reasons I love him.
This was not the best movie to watch the same time as Pink. Or maybe it was the best movie to watch? It certainly helped highlight exactly why Pink is groundbreaking! And yes, I know, it’s another one that wasn’t recommended, but it’s the last one on the Netflix list. And I really hope it isn’t the first Malayalam movie anyone watches, because ENRAGING!!!!
I was sailing along through this movie, dum-de-dum, more or less seeing where it was going, and then BAM! The last half hour hits, and everything changes! Such an odd experience! Kind of like when you miss the last step on the stairs.
As I have mentioned already, I just re-activated my Netflix discs and immediately requested every Malayalam film they have available. Which means I am going to end up with some stinkers. This one wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t very good, or interesting. But not quite bad enough that I could justify stopping in the middle (it takes a lot for me to stop in the middle of a movie).
What an interesting movie! I read that it is supposed to be the start of the new age films, but it actually reminded me a lot more of Aalkkoottathil Thaniye. And other films I’ve seen from that classic 90s/late 80s era.
This was…..fine? A couple of clever ideas in the script (could tell it came from the same mind as Drishyam), Prithviraj did a good job (of course), and I guess the action was all right? But it was just sort of missing something.
I gave in! I re-upped my Netflix DVD subscription! Just because they have 2 dozen Malayalam films listed, and I am so sick of dropping subtitle files onto youtube videos, or waiting for international shipments, or paying $2.99 for googleplay videos, or squinting at eithusan on my laptop screen. Anyway, now I am cranking through all the random films Netflix happens to have available. Like this one!
I don’t quite know what to think about this movie. They left a lot of things open and a lot of things to our imagination, and there are no easy answers in it. But what I know for sure is, I love Mita Vasisht and am thrilled I finally got to see her in a lead role, instead of just showing up and giving awesome advice for a few minutes, and then going away.
I know this is a huge holiday and there most be hundreds of songs about it. But I’ve only been watching Malayalam films for less than a year, so I know very very few of them. Forgive me! And feel free to mention some better ones in the comments.
This movie is about a lot of different things, but what leaps out at me is they way it handled the hero’s childhood adoption into an American family. It managed the difficult task of avoiding any easy answers, acknowledging the challenges of the situation without blaming anyone for them.
My first CBI movie! Which I am aware is not actually the “first” CBI movie. But it is the first CBI movie that einthusan has with subtitles, so I wanted to jump on it before it went away. I couldn’t believe how dark it got, with the motivations and plot twists, but at the same time how clear and sensible the tone was, it never got bogged down in emotions.
Jacobinte Swargarajyam is finally on einthusan.com, yay!!!!! So, I could watch it, after missing it in theaters. I loved Nivin Pauly in it, naturally (although I have reservations about his hair). But I was surprised by how charismatic I found Renji Panicker, especially considering he just started acting a couple of years ago!
ErosNow has added so many more Malayalam films! I got all excited, until I noticed that half of them don’t have subtitles. Oh well. But at least Meleparambil Aanveedu did, so I was able to watch that!
I half considered doing a “serious” post for this day, people who taught me about Indian film, but then it just would have been a dozen SRK songs, and that’s not fair to the non-SRK people! So instead I’ll do teachers in general, and only half SRK songs.
And, as always, if there is a song you like that matches the theme, just mention it in the comments!
I’ve been doing the Sultan recap for days now, and it is such a manly movie. Not to say it doesn’t have really good female characters, it does, but over all it is about our male main character and how he interacts with other men. So I am going to take a break and look at a Malayalam movie which as all about women.
We are now almost a week into all Salman coverage (because Sultan has got me all excited!), but I decided it was time to take a break and slip in a Malayalam review, just for a change. And I picked the least Salman-y film of them all, Ozhimuri, all about the Matrilineal system.
I finally saw Action Hero Biju! I missed it in theaters, so I was waiting for it to show up on einthusan, and it finally did! Well worth the wait. Very satisfying and soothing.
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