This is one of those recent movies that was recommended in a sort of “well, it’s kind of interesting, you might as well” sort of way. Instead of the “You MUST watch this movie!!!” kind of way. And that was basically my reaction too, it’s okay, it was enjoyable, but it didn’t blow my mind.
Well, sort of stuck in traffic, sort of got lost on the way and took a detour. Either way, appropriate! The point is, I got it two days late because someone at the mail center in India messed up and put in the wrong digit for my zip code, which meant it went to Dunkerton, Idaho, before it made its way to me. Actually, kind of remarkably it was only 2 days late, since that’s several hundred miles away from me. Also, remarkably, the funky Indian website where I ordered it was not at fault! I checked the original packaging and packing slip, and they had everything right, it was only when it was handed over to the private shipping company that it got messed up.
But, All’s Well that End’s Well, I finally got my DVD, and I was able to watch it in bits last night and while getting ready for work this morning.
(update: Moviemavingal just posted her take on it, including why it is and isn’t like the American style hyperlinks)
I watched Thoovanathumbikal! Because it seemed to be the general consensus that it was the next best one on my list. And it was really good, but also really made me think and concentrate to understand it. Partly because I was struggling with a wacky subtitle situation.
I watched Classmates! After getting obsessed with it once I found out I couldn’t have it (this is also why I ended up ordering Traffic on DVD. It’s a sickness!). Well, that and after hearing about it in all sorts of places as being a landmark in the evolution of the Malayalam film industry.
I watched Drishyam! Finally breaking free of my rom-com streak! But I got Classmates delivered on DVD (finally!), so I’m going to watch that next and be back to rom-coms. Although, I think I saw somewhere that Classmates has a mystery at the heart of it along with the romance?
I wanted to watch Traffic last night, because it is supposed to be really good and groundbreaking, and the director just died, and I have been watching a ton of rom-coms and I need to rinse out my system with a thriller. But, no luck! Couldn’t find Traffic anywhere. However, Mili, by the same director, was readily available, so I watched that instead.
Another Nivin Pauly movie! Premam! Which I loved, but I should probably make it my last rom-com for a bit. I’ve been spoiling myself with a string of recent rom-com hits, I need to check out a different genre/era. I wanted to watch Traffic, but no luck, it’s not available anywhere online. Which almost gives me an excuse to watch Mili instead, which is available (and also by Rajesh Pallai, so it would be a nice thing to do the week he died). But it’s another Nivin Pauly movie, and I am dangerously close to a Nivin Pauly overload. Or maybe not? Mili does look really good!
Raghil in comments said that if I liked Ohm Shanti Oshaana, I should watch Thattathin Marayathu. So I did, and I did like it! Not as much as Ohm Shanti Oshaana, but it is definitely in the same family.
So, Lisa, my Malayalam expert commentator has been pushing me for weeks and weeks and weeks to see Manichitrathazhu. And I finally did! It was a nice break from all my Neerja posts. Next I am going to watch Thattathin marayathu from my other Malayalam expert commentator. And then maybe just go through this whole list from Midukki that a friend pointed me too. By the way, if you are enjoying my Malayalam posts but wishing I knew a lot more, or had a bigger archive, or anything, you should definitely check her out. And also this blog.
I’m done! With the dozen films I randomly checked out from the library just because they had Malayalam in the description. I regret nothing! Some of them were good, some were bad, but I ended up with a fairly broad idea of Malayalam film and culture, instead of the narrow perspective I would have gotten by just watching the very newest, very highest quality, films. And for the grande finale, I got to watch a film that was actually pretty close to what I would have chosen on purpose!
I finally finished with the pile of random library movies! Thank goodness! So I can start watching the ones people have been recommending to me in the comments! These last two, though, were really important and I am so glad I watched them!
My randomly organized stack of all the Malayalam movies owned by my library has finally turned up something from the past 10 years! And it even stars a guy I have seen before, Fahadh Faasil from Bangelore Days (and apparently in real life he is married to Nazriya Nazim? Who I love forever because of Ohm Shanti Oshaana). It was good, and definitely similar to the other modern movies I had seen, but just not quite as spectacularly good as they were. And that’s actually what I wanted, to experience something not spectacularly good.
So, last night I took the next Malayalam DVD off my library stack, and there were no subtitles! Even though the box promised them! So, yay! That was easy, and I’m down to only 4 left.
And then I took the next-next DVD off the stack, and it was an artsy looking 80s movie called Aalkkoottathil Thaniye. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but the point of requesting every single Malayalam film from the library and then watching them in a random order is to make me watch a wide variety of films, even if I don’t think I will like them. So I watched it, and turns out, it was great! I finally “get” Mohan Lal!
I shouldn’t say “odd”, because I don’t have enough data to really make that judgement. Apparently, the star (picture above) is actually a big name actor who has been in a bunch of stuff. Which isn’t surprising, because he was really really good. But he is also a little person and at times that is handled in a way that felt super progressive, and at other times, not so much.
Back 10 years ago when I first started watching Hindi movies, there was all this stuff that went completely over my head. If I enjoyed a film, it was just in the most superficial way, because the hero was cute or the love story was sweet. And then I learned more and more, and all of a sudden all these plot things started making sense, and I got that the reason this character says this thing here is because it is related to some huge political movement or religious metaphor or something.
And now I am trying to get into the regional films, and I feel like I am back to square one and I am missing all sorts of things! It is very frustrating, but I know the only way to get through it is just to keep going.
dontcallitbollywood 