Movie Review – Kerala Cafe

Too many cooks spoil the broth

A film that runs high on ambition and looks to have a novel idea implemented. Whether it’s necessary or not is a question that needs to be asked for. There were a large section of people who had problem with ‘Dasavatharam’ because of the very same reason. It looked like a story written so that the film can accommodate ten Kamal’s, but what it did right was it accommodated ten Kamal’s properly. Whereas in ‘Michael Madhana Kamarajan’ it’s a story which got accentuated because there were four Kamal’s. It would have worked even if four different actors had worked. However, to me, both the films served its purpose. Did ‘Kerala Café’ serve its purpose, is a question to be asked for.

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Nostalgia

Well, really a nothing film which was so plasticky and mundane. Worse than the excuse which Johnykutty (Dileep) utters every now and then. Nothing really works here and the climax dialogue where Sheela (Navya Nair) says its nostalgia and the title card appearing then was just lame.

Island Express

There was hope because it had Prithviraj in it. However, as a non-Malayalee who is used to seeing only his great movies, this feature was so bad, be it the getup, dialogue delivery or even the story, which hardly settles in. This part actually makes us feel whether he could do this bad a role.

Lalitham Hiranmayam

Another horrible story and horrible acting, which felt childish. Never have I liked Suresh Gopi’s acting but this story took it to a level above. In addition, the story did not really work at all. For a wife and mistress story, it needs Dostoevsky level of artistry but it ends up being a TR level film.

Mrityunjayam

‘Mrityunjayam’ has a pretty plastic acting to start with and a premise, which would at least give short time chills but ends up doing nothing apart from showing bad graphics. Another loser.

Happy Journey

A reasonable story with some pretty solid acting by Nithya Menon. But, again, the production value was bad and the film looked very amateurish. May be it’d be a good film for a ‘Nalaya Iyakunar’ level of filmmaking but as a feature film with pro actors, it’s not up to the mark.

Aviraamam

It is a story of a businessman Ravi (Siddique) who’s on verse of suicide because of his debts. Although that part of the film does not work, Devi’s (Shwetha Menon) glam act evokes some interest in the film. If Siddique too had acted better, the chemistry would have been wonderful.

Off-season

An over the top story with over the top acting by Suraj Venjarammood. This could be a good story to read in a paper you get while you have Bajji from teashop but nothing more than that. Neither the jokes work, nor the setting.

Bridge

By far the best story and the only story with conviction. Even that did not have great acting but the setting and the way two story mingles with each other in such short span of time is something to be appreciated of. Even when the film ends and all the characters go out of Kerala Café, it is the granny and the kitten sitting who sit outside of it, evoke sympathy from us.

Makal

It is another mundane story, which works reasonably well thanks to its nativity. The climax was guessable, even though bad, it gave a little respite because it had a twist. If not for it, the impact would have been even lesser.

Puram Kazchakal

A story, which could have been better if it had been given some time but Mammootty does a fabulous job in keeping us, interested. If it had been made a full-length feature like ‘Munnariyippu’ may be the story would have got more time to evolve. Anyways the last three stories makes for not so bad ending to the anthology.

Movie Review – 5 Sundarikal

Tad too much, Tad too ambitious

Anthology films are always fun and entertaining, especially when a number of directors collaborate. ‘Lust Stories’ was a prime example of that in recent times, which superbly took a topic which would surely sell and the film being an OTT release, the makers had more liberty with the content. The very title gave a scare that it’d be feminist film but luckily it was not. It was about five different females and what happen in their life. With few, the idea was good but execution was bad. With others, making was good and story was poor. Few had done both right and few had both wrong.

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Sethulakshmi

By far the best of the short stories. Eclectic acting by the kids as well as the photographer (Guru Somasundaram). It starts in a feel good way with a hint of sadness like Iranian films. Sethulakshmi (Baby Anikha) and her close friend (Chethan Jayalal) go to a photographer to take photos of themselves. Sethulakshmi has a weird habit of collecting couples photos from newspaper, which was a great touch by the way. Kids are always up to stupid things and have these weird habits. So, it was nice of the director to make use of that. Guru Somasundaram as photographer was terrific with villainy just oozing out of him. The last shot was an epic one.

Isha

With the titles appearing after ‘Sethulaskhmi’ my expectations of the movie increased a lot. It’s only after ‘Sethulakshmi’ does the title appear. ‘Isha’ had a plasticky opening and the story too was kind of far-fetched. No matter what she does, Isha Sharvani always reminds me of ‘David’ and “Kanave Kanave” song. And, her role here too was similar. Jinu/Santa (Nivin Pauly) is a thief and Isha (Isha Sharvani) seduces him. Until the climax part, it was a great story but the climax twist spoilt it. Nivin was fabulous as a hesitant lover boy. His blushes would make any girl go weak in her knees.

Gauri

It’s quite unclear as to what the film tries. There was a bit of sadness in the film right from the start and hesitance in their daily life. Gauri (Kavya Madhavan) and Jonathan Antony (Biju Menon) are couples who supposedly married without the consent of their parents. They seem to be living a fairy tale life. The servant (Shine Tom Chacko) looks kind of weird right from the start. Was that a hint that he had done something to his master? It’s quite unclear. But, anyways the whole film didn’t work. It was just too showy.

Kullante Bharya

The film has a ‘Rear Window’ kind of theme, like a tribute to the film. Dulquer appears as a nameless person with cast and does not have any dialogue to utter but holds our interest through the narration. The story gives an ‘In the Mood for Love’ feel but unfortunately, the making is not good. Partly it has to be attributed to bad setting. If the place and lights had been used more efficiently, this story could have been a great mood piece. Both Kullan (Jinu Ben) and Kullante Bharya (Reenu Mathews) were really good in their roles, especially Reenu Mathews. Again, the melodramatic end was something which spoilt the film. It was all too sudden and unnecessary. This was the only part, I wished, could have been an entire feature film.

Aami

An overdone Fahadh Faasil story. It is a one-man show and everything relies on him. His look was different and he does a typical psycho, which has now become overbearing. Good that the morality check was not done for this part of the story but I sincerely feel that he’d die the next day. It tries to give a punch with the storyline but feels too plasticky in the end.

A film, which almost all the top stars and famous directors in it, ought to have been greater than this. If not ‘Wild Tales’ level at least it should have been ‘Silu karupatti’ level but it falls short of it severely. If not for the first film, ‘5 Sundarikal’ is a disaster. And my order would be Gauri < Aami < Isha < Kullante Bharya < Sethulakshmi

Movie Review – Trance

Wonder Why?

‘Trance’ is a confusing movie. So much so that we don’t even know why so much money, effort was used to make a film which looks only like a mockery. The joke finally is on them. They make a mockery of themselves. I too was waiting for something or the other to happen but the same stuff gets repeated again and again till the end. This storyline is so basic that there need not be so much effort put to make a big film out of it.

If the idea of the film is to showcase the bad side of these missionaries and evangelist, don’t people already know it. Why a three-hour film for it? it was definitely funny but having seen them as bit jokes in numerous Tamil films, I didn’t get the idea of making a whole film out of it. I thought there would be a bigger picture behind all this. I at least hoped. But nothing of that sort happened.

My biggest disappointment was the name ‘Trance’. I expected a super stoner film. That too with big cast involved I was expecting a riot but it was made to look like a serious film, gets a depressing overtone and ends up being a nothing movie. If the point of the film was to educate, wish at least it had taken the PK route where even though it looked like an extension of Vivek jokes in Tamil, the scenes were really funny. That’s one advantage of Rajkumar Hirani being the director. He knows the craft perfectly.

The only happy thing about the film is that there were no protests against it. By reading between the lines I guess the attempt of the director was to make a film on Christianity by the anti-Christian elements. The idea was acknowledgeable but the execution was pathetic because the film was not at all practical. Just like that, the characters come and go without any reason. And the scenes are not at all logical and what’s worse it’s not even funny.

Most of the film’s criticism was towards the slow and boring second half. I believe its because everyone expected things to change at least in second half but it doesn’t. Thus, the disappointment. If not for that factor, the whole film is a lull. The movies first act is terrific when we don’t know what its all about. Whether to be happy or sad or depressed but then when the movie gets to focus on a storyline it falls miserably. The climax where is too hard to believe and impractical. Again, a storyline which gets injected right towards the end which doesn’t stick to our mind. A pastor who’s so famous can be reached through phone just by a common man and can be found in church just like that. He could also enter and kill a couple of big shots just like that. Too many just like that’s for my liking.

The director wanted to give a platform for Fahad to go berserk but if it had been a script like ‘Magnolia’ or ‘The Wolf of the Wall Street’ then Fahad would have been remembered like a Tom Cruise or DiCaprio respectively but what he does looks just like a tomfoolery with a wafer thin script. Whereas GVM gets a solid role which fits him to the tee. All in all ‘Trance’ is a deep disappointment.