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 watched Ambe Sivam! Another Kamal Haasan movie! And, I don’t know, I had issues. Mostly with the way they handled the ending. I could see a cool idea in there, but I think it got messed up a little bit by the need to make Kamal Haasan just the coolest dude ever.
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.
Ustad Hotel was like the second Malayalam film I saw. First Bangalore Days, then Ustad Hotel, then Ohm Shaanti Oshana. At the time I saw it first, I had nooooooooooo idea what was going on for long stretches of the film. But now I have seen like 30 Malayalam films in 6 months, so I know everything!
I already did a quick post on Bangalore Days a while back, but I just re-watched it and noticed a bunch of new stuff, so I am putting out a new post and you can’t stop me! Ha!
That’s allowed, right? A second review of a movie I have already written about, just because I watched it a second time? Although, how would you really stop me? It is my blog, I am all powerful in this small little universe.
(if you want to read my first reaction, that review is here)
I already posted a spoiler free review, discussing the major themes and meanings of the film. Now I think I am ready to get into the nitty-gritty details of what happened and why it was like that.
I saw my second Malayalam movie in theaters! Thanks to moviemavengal’s review. And I gave up on pronouncing the title at all when I bought the tickets and just called it “the Malayalam movie at 7:30”. Thank goodness, the ticket guy was able to figure it out from there. (It’s not that Malayalam is such a hard language, it’s just that I’m terrible at languages. The handy Hindi movie abbreviations are my saving grace!)
This was one of those movies that was recommended to me more as an “it’s okay I guess, and kind of interesting” than as an “oh my god, Best. Film. Ever.” kind of thing. And I agree, it is okay and kind of interesting!
This was quite the challenge! I ordered the DVD from India, as part of a huge order, and it just plain didn’t play! Both in my regional and my all-regional DVD player, so it must be a flaw in the disc itself. But not to worry! I was able to find it on youtube without subtitles, and separately find a subtitle file I could drop in.
That’s a little unfair, it really doesn’t have much in common with Dr. Kildare, beyond the basic set-up of the wise older doctor mentoring the young one. But it’s in the country instead of the city, and there is a whole bunch of other stuff going on in the plot as well.
This movie was very very well-made. And it managed to tell a familiar story in a new way. At least, familiar to me, since I’ve read a lot of books on film history and the same horribly depressing things always happen to the early filmmakers. Although, like I said, this film took a slightly new tack on it in a couple of ways.
Finally, a happy romance! Well, okay, there were still some kind of dark statements about law and assumptions and the pettiness of those in power. But also, a romance! With two leads who I like, Dulquer and Namitha Pramod!
First, and most importantly, I think I might “get” Fahad Fazil now! I’ve seen a fair number of his movies, from Bangalore Days to 24 North Kaadam, and he always just seemed sort of blah. But somehow in this, his character worked for me!
Priyadarshan! I love Priyadarshan, his comedies are always funny, and yet somehow heartbreaking. Sort of “you look at the worst situation possible, and you can either laugh or you can cry” feeling. And somehow I did not realize until I watched this film that he came out of the Malayalam industry.
I am just zipping through my Malayalam list! At least until there is another big Hindi release that blocks me for a week. But in the meantime, Spadikam! Yet another Mohanlal film!
I’ve had such a hectic week at work! For no real reason. I do tech support for a small software company, and some weeks all of our users have questions, and some weeks they don’t, and I really can’t predict why! Anyway, to relax, I decided to check out one of the older Malayalam films that had been recommended to me.
(moviemavengal just watched it as well, check out her review here)
I watched Charlie! Which I don’t think is even on my To-Do List, but was recommended to me by a friend, and moviemavengal just posted a review and that it’s been added to einthusan, so I had to check it out.
I feel bad, I know I have a lot of faithful readers who are more here for the regional stuff than the Hindi, and I’m not going to have time to watch another regional film for another few days, not until I’ve seen Fan several more times. So I’m going to go ahead and post a review on a film I watched a while back and never covered here.
Law Point! My third Malayalam film of the week! I have to get them all out now, because Fan-Fever starts next week and I will be dedicating my life to that for the foreseeable future. Anyway, I really liked the plot and the actors and the characters and all sorts of other things in this film. But the introduction of our hero was so evil, it kind of distracted me the entire time.
Continuing to work through the whole list of movies people recommended to me, Salt n’ Pepper! Such an adorable movie. Not like a super super great movie, but so lovable! Like a big floppy puppy!
I saw a Malayalam movie in theaters! Because my friend convinced me I should be brave and risk no subtitles. It was really really good! And subtitled, thank goodness.
(if you want to see a different review, moviemavengal has posted hers here)
I actually went to a theater and watched a Malayalam film! I am so proud of myself. Of course, I cheated a little and picked a movie with a title I can actually pronounce without struggling.
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.
dontcallitbollywood 