I already put up my No Spoilers review. I’m going to encourage you to read that one if you haven’t seen the film yet. Not because spoilers would ruin it, but just because this review won’t really make sense without having seen the film. It’s so much about what is implied instead of what is shown, reading the plot bare bones won’t give a feel for how it is within the film. Wait until you can see it, and then come back here.
First movie of the weekend! It could have come out last weekend, when there was no Hindi movie I planned to see, but nooooooooooooo, it had to come out this weekend, when there are 3 other films to juggle. Oh well, at least I got to see an Anjali Menon movie in theaters.
Interesting movie. Some of it I liked, some of it I didn’t, but most of all it had a middle aged working woman heroine going up against a young single guy antagonist! Very odd combination, very satisfying.
This was one of my first Malayalam movies, back when I was young and foolish and watching anything where Nivin looked cute on the poster. But now it is on Netflix, available for a whole new audience, so I thought I should circle back, being old and wise as I am now, and see if I had any new insights. (here is the old review for comparison). And also because I am still stumped by 2 questions about this film and I am hoping some of you can help me.
I was browsing through einthusan and I saw this movie and thought “oh hey, I’ve heard about this film a lot, I should check it out”. Not a great decision! Really a very odd and strangely regressive film that is supposed to be about two women but is really just about the man torn between them.
Time for a Netflix update! Which I only do once a month or so, so it’s not up to the minute accurate. But hopefully I make up for that with the descriptions I give them. (Accessbollywood.net does the real work of keeping this list updated, you should definitely absolutely subscribe to them for your day to day updates.)
Not a great movie. Really pretty flawed. But pleasant, and with nice chemistry between the leads, and once again proof that Mammootty really really knows how to pick age appropriate scripts. And also how to age gracefully, he is playing at least 10 years younger than his real age and I can believe it.
Mamootty picks the BEST story ideas for his age. After Bhaskar the Rascal, here is another one, Pullikkaran Staraa, that is age appropriate and interesting and could so easily be translated into a Hindi film. Especially since the Malayalam original was only moderately successful and of only moderate quality.
Look, I watched an actual good movie! A classic even. It just took all of you listing off the good movies for me on HotStar so I could avoid their gosh awful search function and go directly to what I wanted.
This is interesting. It’s officially the original version of Hindi Medium, but besides the essentially plot concept, there is really nothing in common. A sign of how very different the different parts of India, and different Indian film industries, see the world. Oh, and it’s “Monday” Malayalam, but coming on Sunday, because Tuesday is Madhuri day which took precedence over Telugu so everything moved back one.
Time for a Netflix update! Which I only do once a month or so, so it’s not up to the minute accurate. But hopefully I make up for that with the descriptions I give them. (Accessbollywood.net does the real work of keeping this list updated, you should definitely absolutely subscribe to them for your day to day updates.)
Okay, spoiler time! I am doing a separate SPOILER review not so much to avoid spoilers (it’s not exactly that kind of movie, the plot is so intricate you can’t spoil it entirely), as because the film is so complex, I needed a moment to deal with just the general themes and structure and ideas (the No SPOILERS post) before I could get into the details of what technically happens.
Happy Monday! Let’s see if I can crank this post out before I fall asleep. Luckily, it is about a nice little movie that I don’t have to think about too much to be able to write about it.
I’ll use film examples to make this Indian film related, but really just think of this as an extended dictionary post. I use these words a lot, and other film writers do to, but I’ve never really defined them for you.
This was another disappointing Malayalam film. Not because of bad politics or misogyny, just because of a kind of rambling plot and characters that changed direction too quickly. Still happy catchy songs and pretty pretty places, but overall not great.
Well, this is depressing! I went for a new film, with Rima Kallingal, thinking I would be safe from that horrible strain of really gross misogyny that runs through Malayalam films. But, no! Still there! Even in a film from 2014 with one of the strongest actresses working today.
I can’t believe it!!!! An actual happy Malayalam film! Or maybe I have just been worn down in my definition of “happy”, so that it now expands to accept illegitimate children, forced commitments to insane asylums, kidnapping, sibling murder, and so on. But hey, it doesn’t end with the heroine being raped and/or the hero being arrested, or a sad song in the rain, so HAPPY. (you understand I kid because I love, right? Malayalam movies are beautiful and brilliant but MAN can they be depressing sometimes!)
This was a movie I picked because a) it has Jayasurya, b) it was on HotStar, and c) it looked like something that I could watch while doing dishes and being in and out of the room. And all of these things were true! Especially the last.
I already put up my “no spoilers” review, this is if you have already seen the movie or won’t be able to see it for a long time and want to know what happens and what I thought about it.
What a wonderful movie! I was sold this as a Tovino Thomas romance, and it is that, sort of, but it’s really more than that, a full character study of a woman and her life, and the way men treat her and the man she loves is part of that. But not all of it.
I got off work at 4:30 for once instead of 5, meaning I could just barely make the 5 o’clock show, meaning it was fate that I go see Carbon, since it was the only one playing at 5 o’clock. And turns out, it’s not a great movie! I don’t mind that I had to wait 3 months after its release to see it.
Hmm. We gained Pardes and some more regional options, but lost Andaz Apna Apna. So, a mixed bag. (Accessbollywood.net does the real work of keeping this list updated, you should definitely absolutely subscribe to them for your day to day updates.)
This was a nice movie! Not a great movie, the plot kind of went up and down and all around, but a very pleasant movie. The kind of sunshine and nice people movie that the Malayalam industry does not quite like anywhere else. And which was perfect to watch on an overcast late winter day in Chicago.
You can probably read this review even if you haven’t seen the film. There are a few plot twists, but it is the action and chase scenes that make the film the film stand out, and reading spoilers won’t give you the sense of those. Or satisfy your curiosity about seeing Mohanlal’s son onscreen.
