Movie Review – Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu

A rock solid premise, which almost ticks all the boxes

I was so so skeptical about watching the movie in spite of repeated good reviews and recommendations from friends. The first look poster of Simbu leaning on a stick reminded me of Dobby and it was such a caricature of someone doing “sacrifice” for a movie. Simbu, off all especially, doing that accentuated the feel. Thankfully I watched it in TV and that too break free. Never have I seen a break free Tamil movie before. May be all the good things happened together and the experience was phenomenal, at least, almost.

‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’ screams novel-ism right from the word go. The first act especially would make any viewer who had read Jeyamohan to imagine the film in print form and think how lovely he’d have written it in the novel. The first scene where the Muthuveeran a.k.a Muthu (Silambarasan) comes out with thorns sewn upon his body could have been more elaborate and shot better but still had a great rustic feel to it, which people often complain that Gautham doesn’t do. Though the claims are stupid and a director need not break his urban style of filmmaking just to prove a point. What i was thought wouldn’t be organic, looked organic. May be thanks to Jeyamohan.

Throughout the film, the best aspect was the heroism and how subtly it was done. It starts with the dialogue of Muthu saying that he’d burn the whole forest. There isn’t any postmortem scene after it to glorify that sentence and that’s mature filmmaking. Something you expect only in a Mani Ratnam movie. Also the dialogues were lit, with Nellai Tamil and had Jeyamohan touch to it, loved the first one especially where the postman comments, “Mullukae mul veli potu velama seiratha intha oorla than vae pakaen” (Only here will you find thorn-farming done behind a thorn-fence) could it more poetic than this. Beautiful thing there was, it doesn’t get lost even in the translation.

Continuing with the first act, how Muthu’s mother Latchumi (Raadhika Sarathkumar) immediately recognizes the threat that Muthu would be and leaves him to some acquaintance of her was the best part of the whole movie. It could stand along with the first act of ‘Dharma Durai’ How lovely was that part written, leaving us in a state of confusion as to what their relationship would be. And that was complimented well in the direction department by closing the door when Esakki (R Richard James Peter) asks about the story to Muthu in the Parotta stall.

The transformation from the village story to urban story was neatly made. There was no unnecessary, over the top slow Mo sequence. Everything happened organically and Simbu too does a decent job. The plot was the main thing which keeps us hooked and there were scenes after scenes of brilliant dialogues. Kaarji’s (Sara) dialogue at gun point where he tells about why he still believes Simbu wouldn’t kill him, Paavai (Siddhi Idnani) telling about how she was in that place for the last fifteen years were all superbly written. Only a writer can write this. Scenes like those proves how seamlessly the collaboration would have been. How organically each of them (Jeyamohan majorly) would have pitched in.

The track between Kutty Bhai and Sridharan was splendidly written, made and acted. Kutty Bhai was spitting venom in each and every scene. The scene where he says, “vandhu un kai vanatha kaatu” gave me chills. Gautham does really well in those psychotic sex thrillers. It’s a shame that Nadunisi Naaygal flopped, he’d have explored the genre superbly in the first half. May be audience were not ready to accept it in a Tamil film as it was done unapologetically.

Even though the role of Paavai was miniscule and felt unnecessary. It had to be there for the plot twist. Rawther (Jaffer Sadiq) who was responsible for that plot twist, felt more unnecessary than the actress. He was more irritating than the heroine. Probably the only irritating character of the whole movie.

Even though Simbu had done a decent job, I wouldn’t rate is as great because, he just did bare minimum, rest all was taken care by script. Ideally this should have been a film with someone like Teejay, Kathir or Akhil who acted in Kalloori as lead. Akhil in fact would have been a perfect choice. The film would have felt even more believable. But the other side actors were mostly brilliant, especially Kutty Bhai (Siddique) and Sridharan (Neeraj Madhav). But if there was one standout actor, who was above it, it was Raadhika, seriously, what an actor.

Having said everything, why, really why do you want to end the film like that. I thought that Simbu with a beard was a marketing gimmick and a self-parody done superbly. I was getting reviews that the climax was bad. When Simbu takes a walk down the stairs after keeping the wrapped up gun up there, I was unwrapping mine and all gearing up for defending the climax but only after that I understood the pain of audience. It’s a film which should have been left at that point and to make it part two feels pointless. I’m assuming it would be ultra-flop. Let’s see whether I’d be proved wrong.

P.S: Delhi Ganesh as Iyer for such a short scene was a tribute to Nayakan?

Movie Review – Victoria

A shot to remember

Victoria could have been one of those typical festival darlings because of the way it was shot but the first success of it is, it just doesn’t end up being only a festival darling but also works as a standalone movie, with or without the employment of the single take. Thanks to the highly entertaining actor, a great premise, which was made believable because we could empathize with the actors and of course a good camera and editing technique. ‘Victoria’ keeps us glued to our seats, in the league of ‘Run Lola Run’ and it’s a miracle that this film works like a fast paced jump cut type of films.

The film opens with Vicotria (Laia Costa) partying in a club solo. Her lively nature is revealed right from the scene one when she makes small talks with the bartender. She can be defined as one happy woman. The scene is an extended one. As I was not aware that it was a single shot film, I was impressed by the long take and was internally appreciating the director to have taken time off and setting the mood of the film. Single shot or not, the club sequence deserves a credit for the way it was made.

Right from scene one, there is a sense of tension. That only gets incremented when she’s called upon by one of the guy in the club and a group of men outside. I was praying that she shouldn’t be kidnapped and raped. The way the film was going, it felt like that, thanks to every other film which made us think so. Anyways the tension was palpable. The film took its own sweet time to establish the relationship between Victoria and the gang. Till the time they go the terrace and one the guys called out, “sister… sister…” to make her stop shouting, the situation was tense. Post that it felt as if she was going to give them needless trouble instead of them giving the trouble. Those moments of uncertainty was beautiful.

Victoria develops feelings for Sonne (Frederick Lau) in the midst of all the chaos. From tension, the mood changes to romantic when they take a bicycle ride to her café. When there is a cue that it was going to be sex scene there, it then jumps into something melancholic, thanks to the Piano. Isn’t it beautiful, how music was employed in a single shot and it needs to be appreciated because of the how difficult it is actually to blend it in cinema. One foot wrong and the entire film would collapse. Plus it gave a kind of ‘Before Sunset’ meeting ‘Whiplash’ feel. Inspiring as well as depressing. As it was a deep conversation involving music, I was moved.

Till this point, the film does a fine job. The difficult and unrealistic part starts post this, where it becomes a heist film. Victoria joins the gang of men including Sonne, Boxer (Franz Rogowski) and Blinker (Burak Yiğit) because Fuß (Max Mauff) for a bank robbery. It’s a scene which shouldn’t have worked but the actors, especially Laia Costa does a fabulous job in making us believe that she really wants to be part of them. May be the music scene too became a precursor for us to understand that she was depressed in life and wants to be of something productive and thus joined them.

The best part of the film was the club scene post that where we don’t get to hear the real music but witness the jubilation of all the characters. But we know for sure that it’s not going to be a happy ending in the end. The tension keeps us on hooks through the club scene where we tend to feel that they are getting overboard.

The chase and the killings in the end, just feels an eventual and unavoidable thing. It largely didn’t work or may be by that time we’re all deeply in love with the characters so we don’t want them to disappear. Anyways the film wasn’t entirely spoilt, thanks to a superb long shot.

Movie Review – Dum Laga Ke Haisha

An Ayushmann Khurrana normalcy

On the surface level, it’s yet another Ayushmann Khurrana genre movie but yet again he surprises and makes us wonder how he sustains in this genre for so long. Eventually it has to break but for now it’s lasting and let’s enjoy that. An additional advantage for this movie is that he has underplayed his character and there are a string of characters around him, who are brilliant. Add to it, it has a terrific Bhumi Padekar, who doesn’t do a single scene wrong. It’s one of the movies which even when people walk by, they’ll sit and watch till completion. My house was a proof to it.

The film is set in 1995, where Prem Prakash Tiwari (Ayushmann Khurrana) runs a cassette shop. As it was a period flick, it’s easy to reminiscent the past and make it romatic and that’s what they do in the opening sequence. Generally the mistake that filmmakers do for such sequences are they try to find a connect between such nostalgic sequence with the main storyline, here it’s about the heroines weight, but luckily in this film it doesn’t happen so. It plainly shows Prem’s love for Kumar Sanu and nothing over the top was done, in fact it was nice to see a stoppage of the song in between. Wish I had known those songs, it would have felt even better. Even though it was done well, just imagine the same happening in a Malayalam film with Fahadh Faasil in it, it’d have been even more special. But that’s just me, whatever done here was good enough.

I wasn’t aware that it was Bhumi Padekar’s debut. I thought she would have put up weight for the movie after a couple of movies. To take up this role as debut needs a lot of confidence, because it’s easy to be typecast and also be rejected for looks. In addition to the role, she does a beautiful job in the acting department too. There wasn’t a single scene where she begs for sympathy. Have to give credit to the director, Sharat Katariya, for portraying such a genuine character and not make a melodramatic movie.

There were few aspects apart from these, which was done well too, like how Sandhya (Bhumi Pednekar) gets angry knowing Prem’s intention of not wanting to show her to friends and how Prem feels guilty for the same. But it doesn’t elongate into a dramatic sequence, it ends then and there. Sandhya is not a girl who sits and whines. No matter how much she gets body shamed, by her extended family, Nain Tara (Sheeba Chaddha) and her brother, she doesn’t retaliate but just passes by. Post the scenes, she doesn’t sit and sulk do, she knows her body and just goes on with the random work. Even the scene where she slaps Prem, it doesn’t end there, there is a quick slap back from Prem. That was beautiful. It wasn’t heroic but genuine.

For a film which was going with such a flow, I was afraid that it would have tear jerker of a climax. Even though a part of me told that it wouldn’t happen, I was still afraid. But thankfully, it wasn’t the case. They patch up well and easy. Even the kissing scene in the end felt organic, even though filmy.

It’s a film we know, how it’s gonna end but it’s about how it goes till the end. Credit has to be given to the director to have kept the films tempo intact. It’s a film which could have easily faltered, if it had taken any other route. Thankfully Ayushmann doesn’t overdo stuff and the director keeps it crisp to end the film on a happy note.

Movie Review – Stations of the Cross

Nailed right on the cross

I wanted to start the year with something deep shit, so had chosen ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’ to watch first but unfortunately I’m at a stage, that to watch a 3.5 hour film at a stretch is a luxury beyond words. Can’t believe I watched ‘Sátántangó’ at a stretch. But that being said, for a brief moment when I got time I was lucky enough to choose a film, which I had no idea of, but again was a deep shit. I’m glad that I was able to open the account of the year with a strong film like this.

Watching these minimalistic artsy films always gives hope, gives a feel that one can become a filmmaker. Consider this film for example, it has fourteen long takes, barring a couple of chapters, the long takes are static, still it effortlessly yields us into the film. Such beautiful frame, so much to study, yet so simple. As a budding filmmaker when you watch a film like this, it gives hope that you too can make a movie with minimal budget, minimal crew and yet could come up with something significant. If not for inspiration, what is art meant for.

Ignorance is a bliss, always, when it comes to films. Watching a film without knowing anything about it gives great joy. This was one such film. Even after watching, as I was not aware of the Stations of the Cross concept, it was a great learning too. Like how a Ten Commandments was made into various films, this was so beautifully adapted into film. Especially loved the chapter ‘Jesus is stripped of his garments’. It was so perfect, in literal sense as well as with biblical reference. Wonder how would it had been who had known the concept, would they have been in awe with it or it’d have been underwhelming.

Maria (Lea van Acken) is a treasure trove. You can’t help but like her, so naïve and innocent. Her pure heart is something people can only dream of. On the other hand, the way she goes about it and how she is pushed into that situation raises a question. Whether she was not given space to grow into a normal child. Of course we tend to empathize with her and hate her mother (Franziska Weisz), another brilliant actor, but it doesn’t happen throughout the movie. At times there are scenes which confuses us, whether it’s a pro or anti christ movie. Largely towards the later, but in the climax when her brother tells her name, I was confused on the way the film was about to go.

The first few chapters are just static shots, you can’t help but admire framing, staging but most importantly acting. For every auteurs who don’t believe in acting, this movie would have been a slap in the face. Without proper actors, it would have been impossible to shoot the movie. But I can’t imagine how the kids were able to bring out the innocence after so much of rehearsal. Generally with each rehearsal the innocence gets lost but the scenes feel as real as possible and the acting is clinical, there is no sense of tiredness or boredom on the screen. May be that’s the mark of great actors.

Generally, when a film ends, there would be certain things which we’d feel like, could have gone in a different way or happened differently but this was a kind of film where I was left expressionless. It was as if I was in a spell and I was expected to accept the happenings. In fact it’s a difficult film to review. You can’t criticize or appreciate enough on the filmmaking, all you can do, is talk about concept but to do that, it must have been part of your culture, which for me was not, so at the end all I can do is be happy and thank god for my few minutes of forgetfulness to have chosen this film and not have waited for ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’ to happen first.