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!)
I finally watched Ennu Ninte Moideen! After people telling me and telling me that I should see it. It was SO FRUSTRATING! But I’m not sure if I was frustrated because that’s how the filmmakers wanted me to feel, or if I was maybe a little more frustrated than they expected.
Bad box office in general this week, which we all knew was going to happen. Basically nothing came out this week, or last week, everyone is preparing for Housefull 3 and staying off the screens.
I think this is one of the movies that was recommended to me just because I was looking for another actress as good as Nazriya Nazim, and Namitha Pramod is so good. And it’s true! She is just so good! Even in this, when she was only 17. Kunchacko Boban was good too, and they made a nice pair, just like in Law Point.
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.
I haven’t done one of these in a while! Because there wasn’t really anything interesting or surprising to talk about. Fan did terribly, Baaghi did well, Azhar broke even, that’s about all that happened in the past month. But this past weekend had two notable flops, so let’s talk about that!
(I didn’t see either 24 or Brahmotsavan, discussed in this post, in theaters. But if you want to read a review, moviemavengal saw both of them and her reviews are linked above)
What an interesting movie! I’ve been thinking about it a lot, trying to figure out the message. Is it that we should let other’s help us? Or we shouldn’t? Or is it more than that, is it just a general statement about not looking for reasons to accept help, about standing on your own two feet as much as possible?
I was watching this movie so closely! So closely! I know the drill with Ratnam films, he just drops in these little bits and then moves on so you can’t look away for a second. And yet, I was still completely lost. But I don’t think it’s my fault! Or at least, not my fault because I wasn’t watching closely enough, but because I didn’t have the expected background.
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.
Such a surprisingly good movie! Okay, that sounds insulting to police films. Such a surprisingly different movie! It looks like the standard police film, everyone has a mustache and the title is even “Mumbai Police“. But then, right away, it’s clear that it really really isn’t.
This is a movie I started and then rewound to rewatch bits a bunch. And then realized that I didn’t really have to rewind that much, because it was just moving forward, without much discussion of what we saw in the past.
Oh good, this one picks up right after Iyobinte Pusthakam! So now I have 1900 through 2000 covered. I know everything about the history of Kerala! (not really)
Okay, I am slowly getting to understand Kerala history. I just need to watch Pathemaari and Celluloid, and I will know everything! This movie covered me for 1900 through 1946. Also, the British were really horrible, weren’t they?
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!
It’s not super super the world is hopeless depressing. But it’s not cheerful! Although, in some ways, it is also a direct answer to Kireedam. So I am glad I saw them back to back.
Everyone said “Watch Kireedam! Watch Kireedam!” They did not say “Watch Kireedam and then be depressed for a week!” Evil! You got me to watch it, and now I am all depressed! And not depressed in a “the nobility of the human spirit triumphed, even if the ending was kind of sad” kind of way like a classic Amitabh movie, but in a “Gosh darn it! Why’d it have to end that way?” kind of way.
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!
Thanks to Amitabh’s twitter, I just learned that 4/29/2016 is International Dance Day. I had a half moment of thinking someone was punking him, but a bit of googling confirmed that it is actually a thing! Created by the International Dance Council, a UNESCO partner group. Which means it is enough of a thing that I can celebrate by posting the best, or at least my favorite, dances! Well, some of them. Good news is, this is apparently an annual thing, so I can come up with a whole different list next year! Continue reading
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 Left Right Left! I am very confused. I am hoping people in the comments can help me. I think I got the main thrust of the characters and the overall theme, but the details of exactly what happened and when and why escaped me. Mostly because I don’t know a lot about the Kerala Communist party. Or maybe it is the all-India Communist party? I don’t even know enough to know which one it is! But at least the relationship/female side of things more or less made sense to me, so that’s the part I will talk about.
dontcallitbollywood 