Malayalam movies still can produce Masterpieces

Malayalam cinema industry had been in need of really quality stuff for quite sometime now. Lots of movies came from big names only to falter in the delivery. Three of the movies that really had some quality came from Mammootty and I have seen two of the lot.

Paleri Manikkam, an adaptation of novel, by Ranjith was the first one. It is a crime thriller, based on the first recorded murder case in Kerala. The movie was shot in a true sense, and with lot of visual aspects going into the cinematography to make it into a really period movie. It also had the seductive Shweta Menon, a role for which she won a state award.

Shweta Menon

Mammooty in the triple role of Ahmed Haji and his two son was superb. The entry shot of Ahmed Haji in the movie highlights the importance of editing; credit, Vijay Sankar. Ultimately the feel of movie is set forth by how the vision of director mates with the cinematographers mind's view. Here Manoj Pillai meets the expectation. The tone of the movie is excellent. The expressions by Ahmed Haji when he sees Cheeru(Swetha Menon) is perfectly put forth to the audience by the virtue of the cinematography. The movie is an absolute male supremacy/fantasy piece with the struggle that a woman has to undergo portrayed through the charectors of Cheeru, Manikkam etc. Still the movie is a bit tame in its depiction of certain post independence Kerala system. The movie is almost flawlessly constructed, not a brainer, but a good entertainer.

 

Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha as a movie was good. A thorough entertainer, something which everyone expects from Ranjith. He delivered it again, with Pranchiyettan and the Saint in a spell of less than a year. As a Thissoorkaran, I loved that movie. 

I believe people will say Mohanlal's Bhramaram and Thanmathra might equally fall into Paleri Manikkam's category. I would not say no, but will say yes only after seeing those two movies.

The second of the two movies is Loudspeaker. I have to see this movie, but I believe it to be good from the storyline that I heard. 

The third movie of the lot, and the best of the decade as such is Kutty Srank from veteran director Shaji N. Karun.

Kutty Srank, titled in English as The Sailor of Hearts, is an awesome movie. I cannot start without this superlative. I am writing this barely five minutes after finishing this movie. The movie is awesome on two respects, the story/characters and the camera. I was not able to see anything else except bold colors and shadows. The masterly use of shadows for showing the feel of the situation is excellent. Anjuli Shukla who has done the cinematography stole my heart with this. I see traces of Santhosh Sivan in the way she has captured the rains, soil and sky. The cinematography is a masterpiece only because the director is absolute master. Shaji N Karun delivers again after Vaanaprastham, another gem of the 90's.

I was impressed by the strenght of charecters. The movie is about women, and about the way they feel for the man they love. Mammootty plays the title character of Kutty Srank, a boat man in the erstwhile Kochi-Thiruvathankoor area. Srank is a blue eyed(literally) orphan with a way with women. Right from the beginning of the movie, he is shown having his own ways of right and wrong. He says that he is a man who is after love, because he has not got it throughout his life from his parent. “A woman can take a man anywhere, home, renunciation, life or death”. This line sets the tone for the whole movie. 

Kamalini Mukherjee - as her name says..

Padmapriya who plays the role of daughter of a moopen in malabar area, is good. The second lady is played by Kamalini Mukherjee who loves Srank more than anything and is ready to leave even her chastity for him. The third woman is dumb vishahaari woman, an outcast played by Meena Kumari. 

Beautiful or perfect?

All the ladies in the movie are decked in absolute beauty of womanhood. All the characters complete their lifecycle in the movie itself. It is wonderful to note the lines which says about women and man - “The greatest search in the life is a man searching for his right woman and she for her man.” The people shown are very raw. They fear God and has all sorts of superstitions. Even Fr. Yonas played by Siddique is only acting out of love as prescribed by his culture at that point of time, as he is his sabha's spiritual father. Saikumar in his role has lots of similarities to the great actor Kottarakara. He delivers his role as a man consumed with poison very respectably.

The nature has a very great role to play in this movie, whether it is to show love, or to show lust or to show anger or to show fear, all emotions are played out by the third character – nature. The flute which plays along with the string instruments make it feel as if it is a part of nature. You are hearing, the leaves rustling, and the birds chirping, but there is also a wail of violin. Is this sound not from nature too, you wonder. Another is the use of vernacular to the best. The slang of Kochi area people is used liberally. There is also south Kannada and Malabari Malayalam slang used at appropriate places. There are also visual motifs like the death boat which Srank sees whenever there is any accidents, also the lightnings and the sky. The most striking aspect is the way Srank's nose bleeds whenever there is anything which he feels is not right, and still is forced to do, or when someone is going to get hurt because of him.

I will rate this movie the best movie from Kerala in the decade 2000-2010, and it will surely last another lifetime. The movie is an ultimate showcase of visual and aesthetic brilliance.

World movies; Asian Flavah

Cover of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Asian movies have a different flavor. They are stylish, with a play of light and music which has no parallel in any of the western movies. I heard QT gave a standing ovation to Old Boy when it was screened at Cannes, also it is up there in top five in his must watch movies list – both 'facts' which have not been verified personally, but obtained from reliable sources. I have seen the movie and acknowledge it with same verve. It is a work of art, especially the use of wide angles and some top view shots. It is not seen in classical movies of the world, and again, the use of word 'classical movies' should be sparingly used.

A few years back, I saw King Lear by some Danish master screened at Thrissur. Another day, another foreign language movie by some European master – a kaleidoscopic view of human emotions when concentrated in a particular place, there, a train passing through some of the most desolate and sparsely populated land. Same day, I saw Swayamvaram by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The movie had very little dialogue, but the camera work was simply world class. I found the use of spin and close ups particularly refreshing. The story line was also extremely simple but executed with great style. The best movie I have seen is King Lear itself. That was a work of art – since the story itself is unparalleled, the movie have to be top notch to save itself from being branded mediocre. Some of the older Japanese movies are too good. I am unable to name most of them. Kurosawa's Rashomon is one of my favorites. The way human emotions are shown can be done only by a master. The final court scene is is perfect, and I wonder if any movie can be shot with so little props and actors in the script to get this effect. The way they show rain and sun are breathtaking, which might even overshadow the works like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or the way they show action scenes, sword fights and murders will do away with Kill Bill easily. The screen space is shared between the actors and nature and that makes the whole difference. Even Japanese serials which were shown in DD long time back were a pleasing experience. The snows of Japan used to fill our living room with same emotions as they welcomed it, and their spring festivals were a joy for us here too.

After a gap of three years, I saw another world movie - Old Boy, and this gave me a peek into Oriental cinema. This Korean movie uses many works by Classical Western masters, like Vivaldi to accentuate the effect of a shot. To use one of Vivaldi's Four seasons suite for a action scene should be termed as audacious at the least. Still, the director made it off. Asian movies have always made style a part of their work – with movies like masters like Ang Lee taking the game to Oscars. I wonder why India is falling back in this race, when we also had good masters once upon a time, and still counts Santhosh Sivan as one of the best cinematographers in the world. Raavan is a testimony to the continuing legacy of Sivan and a fall in the art of Mani Ratnam, which maybe attributed to bad selection of actors(but this may pay off in world stage). I wish to see Vanaprastham which many say is a good movie. I do not relate to these kind of Malayalam movies, whereas the movies during golden age of Mohanlal, Mammooty, Soman and Sukumaran finds place in my HDD easier than these new age gimmicks. I do not subscribe to people catering to world, forgetting the reality of the world they live in. The trick is to show the ground reality the way world wants to see it, and not to show what world want to see as the ground reality. It is still possible with directors like Prakash Jha and Farhan Akthar still having lots of potential to make such movies.

I have lots of movies to watch – Kim ki duk, other movies of Old boy trilogy, then many more unnameable ones which my friends have given me, half of which which neither they have seen, nor will they be seeing it in near future, as my case is also going to be. The next movie in the list is Audition which is supposed to be highest rated in IMDB, and ratings are some thing which I am always skeptical of. Still, I got to know it is good from two different sources. It is somewhat surprising that there are lots of people who sees other language movies, other than English even in Kerala. I am not talking about my friends, who are all far more superior than myself in critical viewing, but the general public. The movies which run long are action movies, but action is also done by Hollywood, and they do not draw this big crowd. Movies like Ong Bak shot in low budget, and its sequels shot with bigger budget, have run for many weeks more than movies like Bourne series. Even though MI-3 has biggest drawing star in Hollywood, people still say about the camerawork and direction by John Woo rather than saying about acting by Tom Cruise. As I already wrote, Jackie Chan is a bigger star in Kerala than all the Khans except SRK, on another thought, maybe even the King Khan too. It was fun to notice that an unknown movie, Ninja Warrior had more collection than, De Dhana Dhan and some other Hollywood flicks during weekly movie financial review by Economic Times, after all this is a big industry.

Now the Asian movies have taken a very artistic touch, with people showing gore and sex with vibrant colors. This might be the way a person feels in heart when in such emotions, and movies are trying to transpose that into the celluloid. It may also add to the factor that HD movies and newer technologies have made this all the more possible. I had written about the excellent camera work in Karate Kid(2010), and the way the movie showed the beauty of China. I feel that they have really shown how to add nature to the cast. All the wonders of the world seem to be concentrated in the Orient – the sky scrapers as well as the Taj Mahal, the buildings of commercial centers in Shanghai to the beautiful Imperial palaces of Japan and China, all show the magnificence of the East. Movies can be a mirror to all the wonders of the world, and with wonders being showcased in these movies, I do not doubt whether Saint Gobain shall have serious competition.

QT: Deathproof

Cover via Amazon

Everyone raves about Reservoir Dogs, almost all has a superlative comment on Pulp Fiction and ultimately says Quentin Tarantino is THE director. QT, as he is better known, has other movies like Oscar nominated Inglorious Basterds or story board Kill Bill or Jackie Brown or Death Proof.

Death Proof has very few raving about. I seen this movie without knowing it is a QT movie and I was wondering all along who directed this noir-istic thriller in a Russ Meyer style. All along movie has a feel of the hippie 70's, the age of flower girls and butterflies.

The start of the movie drags along with some bunch of girls, all three in number, having their shit talk. Pretty boring. Can girls be sensible at any time? Bitches can talk only about sex and guys as fuckabilly rides. Girls are really whorish, not beautiful. Then comes Kurt Russell as Stunt man Mike in his great car, which he calls as death proof. He meets up with girls and starts to scare them. And what a use of Robert Frost. Couldn't imagine such a line in those setting. What ensues is a great close up shots of a lap dance set to some of the best tunes of the age. I guess, Rose McGowan might have thought this movie was a lot better than sleeping with Marylin Manson. She dies in the car, cos as Mike says, to get the benefit, she had to be in his seat. Then he starts for his other three girlfriends and slams them to death by his car.

Now the state is Texas, and the sheriff is a cowboy. He ain't looking for trouble nor he is interested in some shit accident. He knows what happened, but he doesn't give a damn as long as his town is safe. So Stunt man Mike is left in the hospital bed to be seen after 14 months.

This is where the story kicks off. This time, frame is in black and white. Another bunch of girls, three in total, again talking. Same scenes re-enacted by different actors but this time, the one of them is silent. No shitty talk from her. The whole tone of movie is different from first. You begin to wonder if she is different! And then they stop at a store, she is still lying down. Other girls goes and gets what she asked for. Enter Stunt man Mike and sees her feet. The voyeur inside him needs to see her and he does it in real creepy style. She wakes up, and Mike races his car away. She is not impressed, and tells her friend so. Then she goes and leans on the hood. The scene cuts off and B&W is off. You see a cherry red top and sexy Grey skirt, with long boots on the body of voluptuous Rosario Dawson, on top of a yellow Mustang(i guess). And her friend is in cheerleader dress, yellow again. And they discuss Italian Vogue. What the fuck? These are same kinda girls as you have seen before. Another death proof murder. Then another girl enters, making it four as before. Wait a minute.

As the other girl enters, the two(other than voluptuous and cheerleader) are stunt girls. They want to ride a Dodge Challenger. Well, this is different. They go and do some really wacky dialogues to get to the ride. The three girls are going to do some ships mast. You don't know what it is and when you see it, you say 'cool'. Stunt man Mike, the voyeur, spies them and comes to scare them. They are driven all over the country till somehow they manage to make a dent in his arm. He goes off saying it was fun to the girls. The girls are not impressed. They chase him down and kicks his butt, making him cry out. He was not a male, never a male, crying and making as if he is sorry for what he did. Then they take turns to kick him and knocks him off which brings 'The End' on screen.

The contrast from first half of the movie to the second half is glaring. It defies convention, defies in making you jumping into conclusion for the movie, and makes you look at colour, dialogue and music together to get the feel of movie. I believe this is the best movie by QT. If all the elements of a movie is made to fit together as a piece by Mozart, then truly it is a work of art. I have later learned that this movie is part of double feature Grindhouse. Other part is directed by Robert Rodriguez, a master director, for me.

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