The movie is as beautiful as Ragini !


Akam the film is not what I want to write on. Yes it is one of the finest films in malayalm I saw in recent times. While watching the film I understood why an interesting film never becomes a mainstream success in Kerala. These are the questions that came to my head ....

What is it about a minute or two of silence that is so disturbing that people want to call their friend or ask each other "why are they not talking.*" 

What is it about intelligent shot design that people need to say "they have forgotten to do camerawork.**"

What is it about brilliant sound design that make them say "it's sync sound so dialogues wont be heard*** "

AND

What is it about a powerful female character that is so disturbing to the male audience in Kerala****?

Films work with an audio and a visual in time and space. Lets be open to any form of filmmaking. May be its mass communication may be its experimental. 

Lets not condemn a film of not being a film !

Over here many a technician themselves say - The film with more sound effects than dialogues is an art film (interesting classification eh).

Yes films are an Art form first and an economy later. We pay to see the art. 

* Some one should stop the continuous loop of BGM that mainstream films fill in.
** Block heads should look at the frame in detail not the phone.
*** Bloody idiots should shut up so that we can hear it.
**** I do not know why.

At last a film at least worth thinking about (since 'Makaramanju') !

'Amen' (Malayalam Feature Film by Lijo Jose P)

Very rarely do we see a visual comedy (or a divine comedy) in malayalam which is famous for its verbal comedy and explanatory sequences. This breaks that convention.

The entire film has an Amelie hangover (That is not a crime.)

The Visual Comedy has worked in parts, A surreal town is constructed beautifully, Edit is sharp when comedy happens, music is beautiful (Excluding climax).

A word of appreciation also goes for the Art Director M Bawa !

The conflict between humans and religion (any religion) comes out perfectly so are references to history........It tries to build up like any other hollywood sports film, although the sport here is the clarinet performance for the lead actor. Although the hero performed in the final it was more of a band and singing performance than the clarinet. It was building up but it crashed for me !

Acting : Joy Mathew is Exellent

Swati Reddy (Kankalirendal... wonder from Subramanyapuram) is good

Fahad Fazil is Nice

Indrajith is ok

Extremely Plot based (same old plot of rivalry), Over done Camera work (the camera is always on the jib with a super wide lens), Film streched by at least 15-20 min, Dialogues with emotional content are poorly written, horrible performances by Kalabhavan Mani and 'bearded clarinet villain' (one of the key characters), A Cold climax and an extra horrible twist !

The climax just doesn't deliver !

I would like to congratulate the team for an interesting venture though its an expensive venture to have so many basic troubles !

The SHANKAR Effect !

The SHANKAR Effect !

 -"Love that makes human a robot and the robot a human."- Enthiran

Shanmugam Shankar ( Director, Producer, Writer ) has only one story starting with Gentleman, Kadalan, Indian/Hindustani, Muthalvan/Nayak, Anyan/Aparichit, Shivaji, Enthiran/Robot.

Yes One 'Man' Saves the world ! A world ruled by institutions...His 'man' upturns the institutions and saves the world from getting corrupted. 

Lets condense his main elements :

His Kitsch and Camp style of jokes and editing. His 2D female characters. The so called Tamilness of his approach. The non-slick/tacky cinematographic look of his films. The fight against authority and establishment. Exclusive Indian patterns on sets. Extensive and expensive set designs for songs. Last but not the least the larger than life portrayal of anything in the film.

                                                      

The Imagery : Unlike a lot of his contemporaries he indulges in a lot of unusual imagery patterns. Repeated imagery in his films include the snake swallowing the corrupted system.  Be it the Prabhu Deva sending 2D animation out of his body in gentleman or without the head and leg in Kadalan, Kamal Hassan dressed as a cop with a special knife to irradicate corruption, the common man pouring milk on Arjun covered with mud, the skeleton performing Bharathanatyam in Jeans, the hair in front of the lens to represent then angry self in Anyan, the street theater in Boys, Rajnikanth walking with loads of money flying in the air, or micro-prosessors turning into 

butterflies and flowers and many many more.

The Beauty : The beauty of Shankar as a director or person lies in the fact that his films look terribly honest. He is so rooted and honest in his approach that it becomes easy for him to connect with any audience. To attract a piece of metal in Enthiran/Robot he has a simple solution unlike hollywood -- no theories, no science, no logic just turn the 'Magnetic Mode On.'

The Religious Tamilness : His films have this unusual method of sticking to the vedas and its methods (Anyan) or hindu mythological (Muthalvan, Shivaji, Jeans) imagery references which help the story. Looks like he is a firm believer ! Even the Enthiran/Robot gets a lightning strike to activate its artificial intelligence.

 

Lack of a strong form or technique could be his biggest downfall. His clear vision to change the world overnight using cinema is what I am in complete disagreement with. Many of his films become extremely and crudely male with the female as a model to attract the audience. In the end I would appreciate his anti-hollywood feelings and his honesty. 

Note : 'Boys' is one my personal favourite from his body of work. The film is a shift from whatever I have written till now about him. It has a lot of his trademark styles though. 

His remake of 3 Idiots is as horrible as the original so I refuse to mention it he he!

              

Wish 'wah' Roopam

Recently Vishwaroopam triggered some questions? Is making a commercially successful film the peak of a filmmakers career. Is making a feature length fiction the peak of film making?

The answer is a strict NO....

Its mental marketing for years together that has build up this 'awe' for mainstream mass communication.   People working on documentaries, video art, educational films, advertisements are equally good at film making or even better most of the times. If we actually dig deep we can find documentary ventures in India which are far ahead of the mainstream biggies formally, temporally or emotionally.

I think this is a common experience for many :
Raju : Yes I work in films.
Suresh : So which feature film did u direct ?
Raju : I was working in a documentary on Salt Farmers......
Suresh : Docu's and all eh! So basically you are yet to be a film maker...I have some contacts why don't you try those....
Raju : _____________