Two Line Reviews - #486

Movie: Onaayum Aatukuttiyum (Thamizh, 2013)

Plot: A murderer on the loose gets shot when Policemen and his former associates separately chase him down. A medical student saves his life allowing the murderer to gain consciousness & flee. He then chooses the medical student, now under police custody, as his bait in his attempt to perform a task which has a night's deadline. The rescuer and the rescued are chased down by cops and the criminal gang on a chilling night in this chilling tale.

What Works?

• Mysskin, mysteries & midnights - The combination that often impresses doesn't fail in presentation here as well. The initial chase sequences as the story unfolds move viewers to the edge of their seats.
• Ilaiyaraaja's symphony style music provides a wonderful canopy for the mysterious plot the film reveals gradually. Those tracks offer more than what you expect from music! Munnani Isai Korppu is, indeed, the apt label for it!
• The candid-shots of Balaji Rangha work, with all those typical inputs from Mysskin.
• Coming to performances, Sri does a commendable job in scenes where he is left to perform on his own and shows how Naren was forced to act the way he did in Anjaadhe in scenes where he replicates what Mysskin had expected of him! Mysskin, in his own role as Wolf, packs a punch with noteable support from Shaji who plays CBCID officer Lal.
• To some extent, the dry sarcastic comedy in the midst of serious scenes work but it is about time Mysskin steps up.

What Doesn't? 

Two things that taut mystery/murder thrillers need are 1. An intelligent set of people chasing the main character; 2. A solid foundational story that, by itself, would justify all the killing.

• Thamba & his clownish gang members comprising a bald guy in shades, a Lays-chips addict, two clad in eye-hurting Martial arts outfits & two bikers who roam around the city with not much purpose don't make for intelligent chasers. The policemen are shown clueless and the character of the CBCID, which seems to be the answer for that intelligent chaser, also fizzles out as we approach the end.
• The story that Wolf narrates in the climax doesn't answer many questions & is something that most of the viewers would have already known!

• Metaphors were aplenty & except for a few touching ones, a lot appeared overbearing!

The film, so, is deceptively good on the surface, with inconspicuous dents as one goes deep into it.

The wolf doesn't bite as well as it howls!

Two Line Reviews - #423

Movie: Mugamoodi (Thamizh, 2012)

Plot: To win his lady's heart, a jobless jack good at martial arts masks himself up and enacts a night-guard's tale. He gets mixed up with a burglar gang who have been a menace to the city for months. His kung-fu expertise helps him nab one, and in due course lets him help the police force, win his love and save people at the end to make him a masked superhero!

What Works?

• Mysskin's treatment of a subject is never a matter of 'will he?'. Here, even though he tries a relatively new premise, his style adoring the chinese, japanese traditions is admirable as always.
• The portions after the  villain and hero get on each others' line are good; Action scenes have been conceived remarkably well!
• Jiiva, Nasser, Girish(doing a Dark Knight's Michael Caine?) have roles that appeal.
• The night sequences are proof enough for the good work behind the lens by Sathya;
• K's Zimmer-style background score stays apt and lets the action on screen be what it should feel like. Naatula namma veetula is the winner among songs!
• Gabriella Wilkins's costumes haven't gone over the board and that's appreciable.

What Doesn't?

• The love portions have been dealt with poorly; It takes too much of the film's running time and isn't that serious too.
• The above line makes Pooja Hegde a liability; Narain's climax act is childish and the screenplay gets spolit towards the end; The burglar group's main mission goes out of line!

'Like' for the Superhero attempt; 'Thumbs down' for the love & climax letdowns!

Two Line Reviews - #181

Movie: Yudhdham Sei (Thamizh, 2011)

Plot: A CB CID officer takes charge of a probable serial murder case and there are two parallel tracks of killing happening; one, he feels, has answers to his sister's kidnapping too & the other, that gives him survival troubles, is connected to the other. Things get unraveled, as usual, in a flashback.

Highlights:

• The core team of Mysskin, Cinematographer Sathya, Music director K. Mysskin, with his deep Kurosawa inspiration, fascinates with the way he frames even the casual scenes. The low angle shots, lamp post shots, leg level shots and the Requiem for a dream style music - all add value to the making style and it is fair enough to say that the film is technically sound.
• Cheran's CID role's characterisation. He priorotises family over work at crucial points like anyone would do. But, I have the feeling that Cheran could have acted better. He just scrapes through the 'convincing' mark with his performance.
• YG Mahendra, the lady who plays his wife, the eternal drunkard Judas and the lady officer do well but have little scope.

Lowlights:

• The mystery - the jigsaw gets solved automatically with a flashback and that is ridiculous  given the way things were shaping up with so much weight to the CID officers.
• The flashback & climax portions were predictable and dragged a bit.
• The horribly positioned traditional yellow-sari song of Mysskin; Unlike Vaala Meenukum & Kathaazha kannaala, it is an Irritant this time!

Loses steam after a refreshing & racy hour and a half.

Nandhalala - Tastefully etched!

Mysskin’s third film was lying in the cans for about two long years. Thankfully, it didn’t stay there. His promising debut with Chithiram Pesudhadee was followed by a riveting Anjadhey and this Nandhalala is daringly different from tamil films we have seen thus far. The film was gripping enough for me. But I was amidst only 30-40 people in a theatre which could seat 950! And the reactions & comments I heard made me doubt if I was lacking in sense or if they were lacking in taste. One guy was snoring during a mellifluous song – Height of tastelessness.

The film is about a kid & an asylum patient who happens to be a kid at heart and their search for their respective mothers for entirely different reasons. One wants to hug and kiss her, the other wants to slap his mother for sending him to an asylum and absconding. Their pursuit is presented as a wonderful road-trip where they meet usual & unusual characters, understand things & subtly develop a bonding that gets unshakable towards the end. When they end up knowing about the circumstances their mothers are in, their intentions take a volte-face and the kid finally ends up getting a kind-hearted but socially exploited woman for a mother. When he kisses her & the lunatic-turned-normal man turns to acknowledge that, the impact hits you on the head & the maker succeeds with that, atleast in my case!

The film is inspired by Kikujiro, a Japanese movie. Mysskin has taken the plot from that film and has taken pains to tweak it and present it differently. Very few scenes from the original have been retained. Some of the characters are retained but are presented unlike. For example, the fatso characters had much to do in Kikujiro but here their roles are restricted. The sex-worker character is non-existent in the original but is brought in here – with relevance or not is a different question.

The main characters are Ashwath Ram (who plays the kid Aghilan) & Mysskin (who plays the lunatic Bhaskar Mani). They both have essayed their roles convincingly. Mysskin’s might be regarded by some as overacting but he’s mentally challenged & his portrayal is acceptable. In some scenes, he startles with amazing expressions. Snigdha (of Kathaazha kannala fame) plays her small role passably & there are some characters brought in for humour and they end up doing that successfully (a lorry driver, a sports-car youth gang & fatsos).

Mysskin,as a director, scores in the tweaking of characters – especially the character of his mother – played by Rohini (shocker!) and some of the symbolic unique touches he employs. Dialogs are few and far between but they impress on many occasions. On the flip side of his execution are the unconvincing characterization of Snigdha’s role & her flashback narration. It is a non-event in the film.

The curious things about Nandhalala are the unusual camera angles employed & the music-less dialog-less sequences. These are proof enough to the fact that Mysskin is a big fan of yesteryear stalwart director Kurosawa. One very appreciable thing about the film is that the camera and its zoom-in zoom-out have been used in scenes to single-handedly provide slapstick humour. That is a daring attempt & the thinktank shall take a bow for that.

Editing is also peculiar for a tamil film but in this section, the style employed in Kikujiro seems to have been honestly adopted.

If the two main characters form the cerebrum & cerebellum of the film, the heart and soul of it is represented by the background music offered by Maestro Ilaiyaraja. That is probably the reason why his name is shown first in the credits. With his lilting, soul-stirring, supreme, blissful etc etc.. music, he pulls the strings, not only of the instruments, but also those of our hearts. One’s heart cannot escape from skipping a beat when he listens to Raja sing 'Thaalatu ketka naanum', aided by an apt scene. Onnukonnu & Mella oorndhu songs have been picturised well but it is a pity that the other wondrous songs (Kai veesi & Oru vaandu kootame) have not been immortalized on screen.

To sum things up, Mysskin adds another feather to his cap with a tastefully woven lullaby that is Nandhalala& it is only fitting that he wanted to direct Kamal next. But that didn’t materialize. Hope it happens someday. If & when that happens, we are in for a treat ‘o’ treat.

Verdict: The film is already a flop, won’t be in theatres for long. Watch it atleast in a CD/DVD,for, what it shows and how it shows the what are entirely new for a tamil film!!