Movies

I've been trying to get myself to blog some movie reviews, but just couldn't. Finally realised why: I didn't really have all that much to say about the movies I've watched in the past couple of weeks. So instead of a movie review, here's a snack pack of bite sized reviews :

Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu

Nice movie to watch; there were a number of elements that worked together well. The music was good, and the background score was also pretty decent. Looking forward to more stuff from Selvaganesh. A lot of fun moments in the movie, the tempo doesn't drop much. Casting is pretty good, a lot of new faces. My only qualm is the ending :  It was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. Having a melancholic ending isn't what makes a film good, and judging by the incongruity of this ending I'm guessing that's what the director thought. I don't regret watching it, I had a fun time. But wouldn't watch again.

TN 07 AL 4777 - TAXI

Hope I got the title right, typed that off memory. The random sounding title grabs attention, and I had some expectation for the film. The technical team for the film is very good, and the cut shots don't irritate unlike many recent movies. Vijay Anthony's background score is pretty sufficient for the film's subject. The scripting of the story is pretty weak, though. A lot of the screenplay falls apart due to cliche scenes and dialogues. Characterisation is very poor, and Pasupathy's character is confusing and I have no idea why does some of the things he does. By the end of the movie, it turns into a complete fable. The message is very contrived and irritating.  Heard that it's a remake of a Hindi movie, I have no idea how that movie was. Don't know how a popular movie can be remade and made into this. Completely annoying movie if you ask me.

Ayan

Pretty nice movie to watch. The production values are good, and there seems to have been a significant budget, judging by the locales. Nowadays I just feel so good when I see a stylish movie that does not have any stupidly annoying cutshots. This multiple cutshot trend is something editor Anthony brought with him, but it's unfortunately something only Anthony can do properly. Most editors who imitate him create irritating sequences that hurt the eye. Even Anthony stumbles in some bad movies with immature cinematographers. Ayan scores in the department of cinematography and editing. The first stunt sequence in Congo is stunning, and is not far from the realism and pacing that u can see in some well made English movies. Harris Jeyaraj's background score is actually good. I can remember enjoying specific scenes, like the scene when the kanakku pillai is being interrogated; the flute piece was awesome. Tamanna's role was unnecessary, and the songs that she brought with her dragged the movie in some places. But I guess the movie would have been too serious without her role. There were some unnecesary double entendres that could have been avoided. The movie seems a bit too long towards the ending. Other than that, this is definitely a movie I don't mind watching again.

Abiyum Naanum

I'm somewhat a fan of Radha Mohan's movies. Azhagiya Theeye, Ponniyin Selvan, and of course Mozhi, were all fairly unique ideas, and had entertaining dialogue. Abiyum Naanum continues the trend with a fairly unique premise, but I think the execution could have been better.

The basic premise of a father-daughter relationship is unique; in our Tamil cinema, it's the only permutation of father-mother-son-daughter that hasn't really been touched. There are a lot of cute scenes, especially in the beginning of the movie (before the daughter is older). The hot water scene is funny, and also adds to the plot. The school admissions scenes are a laugh riot, and classic Radhamohan/Viji. The casting is absolutely perfect, with each actor giving his/her best effort into the character. Aishwarya as the mother is the real surprise, with such a commendable performance. Thalaivaasal Vijay's character is a bit random, but he does whatever can be done to justify it.

Comparisons with Mozhi are inevitable, and I think there is a major difference I can see. Mozhi was astounding in the level of depth given to the basic premise. There were so many scenes that made me think, "Ippadi kooda yosika mudiyuma?" The scene in which Prithviraj tells Jyothika that he imagined that she had a voice, and that it's very beautiful, is so subtle in the idea it presents, and is something I would have never thought of without seeing the movie. There are countless scenes like this in Mozhi. In Abiyum Naanum, however, a lot of the plot seems fairly superficial. The emotional nuances I expected weren't there. The one exception is the beautiful scene in which Prakashraj and Aishwarya are talking at night, and Aishwarya appears weak for the first time in the movie.

Vaaranam Aayiram handled a father-son relationship, and Abiyum Naanum handles a father-daughter relationship. The basic conflicts of the plot are definitely different, but I think both movies suffer the same flaw, with Abiyum Naanum being guilty to a larger degree :  Oversimplification. In VA, if you think about it, the father wasn't well characterised. He was just a guy who said, "Go for it, kiddo" whatever the son says. There are fathers who give freedom, but Krishnan's character went a bit overboard in my opinion. Abiyum Naanum is guilty of this oversimplification to a much greater extent. The recurring element of the plot is that the father is constantly worried, and she is constantly correct in her life decisions. Even in VA, the son does mess up a bit, and the father helps him to recover. In Abiyum, the "I know what I'm doing, dad" routine happens way too many times.

The other major simplification was the mapillai's character. The scene in which Trisha describes all the good things he does is, I think, the greatest weakness in the movie. At that point, the movie shifts from something every father relates to, to a usual movie fantasy. No character is that perfect, and the fact that he is so perfect weakens the basic plot. The point to be made is not that all daughters always make the best decision in the world! The point is that, even if they might make mistakes, parents should allow them the freedom to do what they want. The plot would have been stronger if the mapillai had not been Punjabi, and had been a normal guy with some flaws. Instead, the father has been turned into a xenophobic idiot who is just superficially judging him, and deep inside he is a very nice guy. This severely weakens the plot, and turns all the characters into caricatures. I know that cinema is all about exaggeration. Without it, a lifetime cannot be captured in 2 hours. But the film maker must always keep in mind that the larger the exaggeration, the more you are separating the movie from the viewers, and the less they can relate to it. 

If the second half of the plot had been handled more sensitively and realistically, this may have been one of the really good movies of the year. It has a good premise, and some very good performances. The entertainment quotient is there, as is usual in Radha Mohan's movies. So do watch it if you haven't, but I don't think this is a movie I'll watch a second time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I saw the movie over a week ago, and read the script online a few days ago. This is the second movie script I have read after watching the movie, and it is quite a different experience. It consists of way more than dialogues; the scriptwriters write their descriptions like novelists, and bring life to the inner emotions that are not spoken. I guess this makes it easier for the director and the actors to connect to the writer's intention. If you haven't done so yet, check out imsdb.com. It has a nice collection of full movie scripts, and it is quite enjoyable to read the script of a movie you just watched.

As for the movie itself, it was enjoyable to watch, though the movie is far from perfect. I liked the performance of Julia Ormond as Daisy's daughter; she looked very natural (and surprisingly young) in the role. The flow of the script is good, without any excessively slow portions. 

Brad Pitt did a decent job, though I didn't think it was very memorable. His personality stayed pretty much the same throughout. His characterisation was quite weak; I think the writers just left his characterisation as "guy who ages backwards". But how about who he is as a person? We never get to know. There was an interesting lead about how he grew up seeing death around him, but the issue is never fleshed out to show how that makes him who he is.  

Cate Blanchett's performance is significantly more impressive, as is her character. Daisy shows a wonderful range of personality changes as she ages, going from a carefree girl in her 20s to a tired woman in her 30s to a dignified lady in the later parts of the movie. Because the writers weren't distracted by a basic premise like they were for Benjamin, they have fleshed her character out so well.

The main feeling I got in the movie is one of lost potential. There were a lot of things that started to develop and were dropped halfway. The clock that ages backwards was a symbol that could have been used more, and the link to Benjamin's life should have been a lot tighter, more than just "both go backwards". I still don't know what the hummingbird is supposed to represent in the movie. Like I mentioned earlier, Benjamin's characterisation is poor, which is a pity. With such a bizarre character trait, a lot more aspects of his personality could have been fully explored. There is a message of "Live life to the fullest" in the movie, but I could never see how that tied in with Benjamin's bizarre character trait. True, he learnt that from the people he saw in life, and those parts do tie together nicely. But why would he have not learnt these exact things if he had aged properly? At the end of the movie, he sounds like an old man who has seen life, which is what he is. But why does he sound like any other old man? How did aging backwards change his view? What was the point of the fundamental premise of the movie, if it is irrelevant to the conclusion? There, to me, lies the basic problem of the movie.

I did enjoy the movie, but not as much I had hoped to. The movie tried to provoke me, or teach me a message of living life, but it didn't quite connect with me. I have yet to watch Slumdog Millionaire, the other big Oscar movie. Need to catch it sometime soon.

Naan Kadavul Review

I liked some of Bala's previous movies, but the extended hype for this movie had also tired me out, so it was with a mix of anticipation and nonchalance that I went to watch the movie.

I didn't really like the movie. I liked the Pooja half of the story, but the Arya half was very underdeveloped; to the extent that I found him irrelevant whenever they showed him, and wanted the story to return to Pooja. 

I didn't like the fight scenes either, looked exactly like Pithamagan climax to me. In Pithamagan it was shocking and intriguing. In Naan Kadavul I found it boring; the two fights in the movie even resemble each other. The character's violence seemed very forced to me.  

The MGR/Sivaji portions looked very irrelevant, as if there was a channel change to Vijay TV Kalakkapovathu Yaaru. And I also thought they should have rerecorded the songs that Pooja sings; I found it distracting that they just played the original songs.  

Minuses aside, I did like some things about the movie, like most of the Pooja story arc. The very poor Arya characterisation is in stark contrast to the unbelievable depth in the Murugan character. The humour scenes involving the beggars, while crass, are quite funny.  

Overall, the movie looked like Bala was very distracted and never had time to complete his thoughts. I really liked Pithamagan and Nandha, but this one didn't click for me.