Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Malayalam«

Vivek’s underwhelming ‘The Teacher’ (Malayalam) might have worked better as a pulpy B-movie than a “serious film with good intentions”

December 2, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… Amala Paul shows us the grit in a woman who faces difficult choices – but both she and Hakkim Shajahan are let down by the predictable writing.  Vivek follows Athiran with The Teacher, and one of the nicest bits of the film takes place in a bus. Sujith (Hakkim Shajahan) is on a […]

Readers Write In #527: Gold – An overlong and indulgent comedy that only shines in parts!

December 2, 2022

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By Bharath Vijayakumar Like Naane Varuven earlier this year, we walk into Gold not knowing much about it. At least, Naane Varuven had a teaser, that kind of gave an idea on what to expect. In the case of Gold, even the teaser did not give anything away. But Alphonse had mentioned in his personal […]

Coming soon: The Galatta Plus Round Table 2022

December 1, 2022

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Jeo Baby’s terrific ‘Sree Dhanya Catering Service’ is a funnier, more free-flowing take on ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’, with men doing the cooking this time

November 23, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… Recently, many films have used humour as a vehicle for thorny subjects, but Jeo Baby’s balancing act is possibly the best – he is not inviting us to laugh at these characters, but with them. Let’s begin with an echo shot. Jeo Baby’s Sree Dhanya Catering Service opens with a few men huffing […]

Readers Write In #525: Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey- An obscene class narrative masquerading as gender rights story

November 20, 2022

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By Sai Ganga R Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey is the latest entrant into the domestic abuse saga which have come up one too many off late. What differentiates the current crop of these movies from those of similar theme say of the 80’s is an element of black comedy that is peppered- This makes […]

Senna Hegde’s ‘1744 White Alto’, with Sharaf U Dheen, is a kind of stoner comedy where some jokes land big-time while others feel forced

November 18, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… For everything that works – say, a random bit with a lottery seller – there are things that seem to be trying too hard. I got the sense that the problem was with the pacing.  Senna Hegde began with a feature-length documentary set in Kanhangad, which is where 1744 White Alto is also […]

Abhinav Sunder Nayak’s ‘Mukundan Unni Associates’, with a superbly cast Vineeth Sreenivasan, is a delicious, deadpan, dark comedy

November 11, 2022

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Spoilers ahead…  It’s such a relief to find such an unadulterated celebration of a pure sociopath, who begins to make money by representing hospital patients in fake insurance-claim cases. Rarely has the “mind voice” been used as well as in Abhinav Sunder Nayak’s Mukundan Unni Associates, where a superb Vineeth Sreenivasan plays the titular character. […]

Interview: Anjali Menon (Wonder Women)

November 3, 2022

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For more, subscribe to GALATTA PLUS: https://tinyurl.com/ysbkyrht Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.

Maju’s ‘Appan’, with Sunny Wayne and Alencier Ley Lopez, now on SonyLiv, is an interesting drama that is better with characters than plot

October 31, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… The film is confined to a house and the surrounding rubber plantation, which adds to the sense of claustrophobia of being locked in with a toxic patriarch. What kind of father gives his one-year-old son some whiskey? Itty (Alencier Ley Lopez) is that kind of father. When this revelation comes out, it’s not […]

Readers Write In #520: PS1 review- Too many flaws to cover up

October 25, 2022

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By ​S Vijaysagar I waited for the buzz to settle down on PS1 and chose the evening show on Diwali eve to catch up on the movie. Hope people would still be interested in reading about the movie. PS1 fell flat on many counts for me. I think the prime account was in lack of […]

Liju Krishna’s ‘Padavettu’, with Nivin Pauly and Aditi Balan, is a powerfully cinematic story of an unlikely saviour

October 22, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… Nivin Pauly, with his bulky frame, gives an excellent performance that comes in two flavours: one wholly internal and one wholly external.  Even if we want to stay away from politics, politics has a way of entering our lives. This is, loosely, the core of Liju Krishna’s Padavettu. When we first meet the […]

Vysakh’s ‘Monster’, with Mohanlal and Honey Rose, is a pulpy thriller that entertains until it starts to explain itself

October 22, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… I laughed at the outrageous plot turns, but I must admit I was also gripped. ‘Monster’ is utterly unpredictable for the most part.  I’ll begin by saying that Vysakh’s Monster is not a “tasteful” film. It’s a film for those with an appetite for trashy pulp fiction, where you keep turning the pages […]

Our mainstream auteurs vs. mainstream cinema’s must-haves

October 17, 2022

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(Will bring over comments soon.) Please continue the topic here. I have brought over the relevant comments above.

Achu Vijayan’s ‘Vichitram’, with Shine Tom Chacko and Kani Kusruti, is a lovely ghost story filled with lovelier human drama

October 14, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… This is not the kind of movie where a family moves into a haunted house and starts experiencing jump scares from SCENE 5. This is – first and foremost – about a family haunted by issues.  Achu Vijayan’s Vichitram is built on a supernatural framework, and right from the first frame, there’s an […]

Random thoughts on ‘Ponniyin Selvan – 1’ and its ‘aftermath’

October 12, 2022

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I saw the film this week, a second time. It was even more impressive. Time and again, screenplay advice has told us that the narrative should be told from a single POV, and that the person whose POV we follow is the “protagonist”. As much as Vandhiyathevan is the “protagonist” of this film, so many […]

Readers Write In #506: Ponniyin Selvan – A Masterpiece and a master’s peace…

October 11, 2022

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By ​Raghu Narayanan Why am I writing this review? The act of penning your thoughts on paper is transformational in nature. The act transforms what is intangible into something that is tangible. It might seem quite a simple thing to do, but as we sit down to do it, it seems as if there is […]

Interview: Kalidas Jayaram (Natchathiram Nagargiradhu and a lot more)

October 10, 2022

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For more, subscribe to GALATTA PLUS: https://tinyurl.com/ysbkyrht Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.

#QnA: Ponniyin Selvan – Part 1

October 5, 2022

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For more, subscribe to GALATTA PLUS: https://tinyurl.com/ysbkyrht Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.

Mani Ratnam and his fantastic team beautifully capture the essence of Kalki’s characters in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, which infuses a period story with a sense of lived-in reality… (continued from earlier post)

October 1, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… All the  actors are fantastic in this character-driven first part that perfectly sets the stage for the second installment, which can now hit the ground running. You can read the review here: https://www.galatta.com/tamil/movie/review/ponniyin-selvan-1/ And you can watch the video review here: Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.

Mani Ratnam and his fantastic team beautifully capture the essence of Kalki’s characters in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, which infuses a period story with a sense of lived-in reality

September 30, 2022

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Spoilers ahead… All the  actors are fantastic in this character-driven first part that perfectly sets the stage for the second installment, which can now hit the ground running. Book adaptations are strange beasts, and in my opinion, the only way to truly enjoy a movie based on a book is to… forget the book. Now, […]

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