Helen
Watch it for a teriffic father-daughter bonding and a breakout performance of the year from Anna Ben, who sails through the role with the knack of a veteran. The survival scenes especially bring out the best in her. BGM is teriffic and the situations especially in the first half super natural. Second half felt a tad predictable and the lead character's entrapment in the freezer could have been shown with more mystery. Tough to decode Aju Varghese's performance, which was characterised weakly and needed an actor with more malice like Shajon.
Rating: 4/5
Saw little women..
A decent adaptation of the book. First half has lag. Second half the characters grown on u. Period settings are done well.
Rating 3.5/5
Kamaal
Another recent malayalam which disappeared without a trace, but is actually worth a watch.
Oru decent thriller movie with good performance by lead actress. Kurachoode market value ola leads aayirnengil ingane sradhikapedaathe povoola.
Rating 3.25/5
Knives out veendum kandu.. adhyam kandappo miss aaya pala detailingum second timil kandu.. writing and direction brilliant thanne... parayaathe vayya.
Death at the funeral... netflixil chumma kandu thudangiyath aanu.. pazhaya kaala priyadarshan cinemakal pole oru full length comedy padam.. a timepass watch..
Android Kunjappan
Every now and then comes a film which touches your hearts and never lets you go. Here is such a movie. Very natural, unhurried and takes you along a journey at just the right pace.
Android Kunjappan is like a modern-day version of Pavithram and a quieter version of 2.0 without the blatant in your face messaging. All the situations are real and every single actor and actress leaves a memory ingrained.
The movie does not choose sides but rather presents the painfully human dilemma of giving the best care to your father/loved one. And it simply shows the circumstances which force Bhaskaran and his son to adapt to their alternate realities. The robot is brilliantly performed and hilarious at the same time. Suraj is out of this world in a career best performance. From being a crass comedian to this? Hats off. Its been a long and rewarding journey and with Android he has reached the pinaccle. Soubin is not too far behind as Chuppan. Dubbing of the female lead could have been better.
the final 10-15 minutes aptly highlight the technology-human divide, people need the love of people, but that last heart wrenching twist...it really brings one with a sense of melancholy. The attachment between the robot and Bhaskaran is something so wonderful, yet we feel sad at the corresponding distance with the real son.
Will be in my Top 20 movies of the decade. I hope Shankar and all other message oriented filmmakers watch this at the earliest and see how a simple, small scale movie can be so powerful in output.
Rating: 4.5/5
Last edited by Aravind Krishnan; 10th February 2020 at 07:26 PM.
Kettyolaanu Ente Malakha
A teriffic portrayal of a sensitive subject which is handled adeptly and with a light hearted touch. A movie that should be a must watch in terms of exposing how limited men are in terms of understanding sexual education and physical intimacy yet in certain cases pure innocence means that they arent completely at fault. For the second time Asif Ali hits the ball out of the park and lives the character of Sleevachan (that he took this role is praiseworthy enough), but I would have liked Veena Nandakumar's character to have more identity and depth to make this movie truly memorable.
Rating: 3.75/5
Driving Licence
The first 20 minutes of DL was shoddy. Jokes seemed to fall flat and it felt like the director was trying overly hard to make us laugh (with some strange choice of BGM). Performances of most of the actors bar Prithviraj seemed to be forced as well.
However, once the conflict between Kuruvilla and Hareendran is established, Driving Licence kicks into top gear. The track involving Suresh Krishna is especially effective while the cat and mouse game between the two keeps one on the edge of their seat. What makes the film so intriguing is that you dont feel biased towards one personality. Just when Hareendran proves arrogant, Kuruvilla's deceit makes us feel for Hareendran. Lal Jr and Sachy have cleverly staged the father-son relationship in the case of Kuruvilla and the actor-wife relationship in the case of Hareendran to make us root equally for both the characters. The highlight has to be the impeccably staged learner's test. What is also worth mentioning is how effectively the filmmakers have turned the house of Hareendran and the vehicle inspection yard into power centres for the respective protagonists. One thing is for sure. Being a superstar does not mean you lord over all bureauratic procedures!
Driving Licence's final 15 minutes really brings both character arcs to a natural conclusion. For Hareendran, it is a lesson not to take your fan for granted. For Kuruvilla, it is a humble lesson that some relationships are best left to the big screen and that fandom should not border on obsession. It is these realizations that have been depicted so naturally that made me feel Driving Licence as a far more effective representation of the pitfalls of Fandom than Shahrukh's much hyped Fan.
Sachy and Lal Jr should also be applauded for not making the key relationships in the movie overly melodramatic.
Mia George scores in her comedic role.
Overall, I liked Driving Licence more for its thrills and minute emotional moments than its humour, which only became more effective in the latter stages. Suraj is initially a mixed bag but then reminds us that 2019 is truly his year. Prithviraj finally sheds the stiffness in his last few films into a brilliant depiction of an arrogant superstar with a soft emotional core underneath. It is his best performance in a very long time.
Rating: 3.5/5
Thambi
After a roller coaster of a last few films, Jeethu Joseph finally returns to his strength, dysfunctional families with flawed personalities. This time he gets the mix just right. If in Oozham he had hurried through the familial scenes, Aadhi was a cringe worthy attempt at melodrama when it came to the protagonists' parents. Here even though the film is in Tamil, Jeethu's adept direction means none of the principal characters go overboard in their emotions.
What begins as a straightforward case of identity theft is subtly transformed into something sinister. Karthi's initial scenes of fitting into the family bring a smile onto one's face though we know surely that this wont last. But just as we feel Karthi will be caught, we start to slowly suspect that something fishy is afoot in the kingdom of patriachal figure Sathyaraj. This movie needs at least two viewings to highlight how well Jeethu has managed to weave the cloak of suspicion. The comedy scenes have been impressively blended with some well selected BGM that warns us that not all is what it seems. And while a somewhat laboured second half and some unwanted fights keep this film from rising to its full heights, quality performances from Sathyaraj, Karthi and Jyothika along with a meaningful characterisation of even secondary characters like Nikhila Vimal in cracking the mystery make Thambi a truly engaging watch. The flashback scenes could have been better.
Of the secondary characters, Nikhila and the actress who plays the wheelchair bound grandmother are well portrayed. Bala hams it up as a local politician and Hareesh Peradi doesnt quite have enough to chew on.
While the final twist isnt anything revolutionary, it is the message that demonstrating love more than blood ties makes one truly worthy to call oneself a brother or family member that hits home. That last Jyothika-Karthi scene is really well staged and leaves you thinking about the film long after the car heads into the scenic mountains. The scenic Mettupalayam locales and effective BGM by Govind vasantha elevate this movie further.
Rating: 3.75/5
Last edited by Aravind Krishnan; 15th February 2020 at 08:40 PM.
KD
Imagine a Hirokazu Kore Eda movie premise plucked and planted into rural Tamil Nadu. That's the best way I can describe this movie. Apart from some overt sentimentality and a slightly extended runtime,this is one of those movies where the feel good factor is not artificial. The frames are gorgeous and the acting is stellar.
Rating:3.5/5(Very Good)
रू-ब-रू खुद से हुआ हूँ, मुझमें मुझको तू मिला
बादलों के इस जहाँ में आसमाँ तुझमें मिला
पिघली है अब रात भी, है सहर भी ये नम
ना खुदा मैं तो रहा, बन गया तू धरम