AMEN

AMEN

Theatre : Aluva Madhurya
Showtime & Date : 11.30am, 07-04-2013
Status : 45%
AMEN, the third movie by LIJO JOSE PALLISSERY who created NAYAKAN & CITY OF GOD before, is turning out to be a serious threat to malayalam movie makers. Lets see HOW

Story
Its as old as a hill storyline : Poor hero, Rich heroine, Heroine's relatives & others as villains. How they unite. Difference is the story is happening in  60s/70s. Solomon(Fahad Fazil) is in love with Sosanna(Swathy) though her father and brother are against this. Solomon wants to be part of band team run by the chruch. But he couldn't. Then comes Fr.Vincent Vattoly(Indrajith) as priest to the church. Watch the rest on screen.

Performances
Fahad Fazil as Solomon was good with his trademark innocent smile which we saw in Annayum Rasoolum this year. Indrajith as Vincent Vattoly was effective. Swathy steals the scenes in which she appear. Anil Murali as in every Lijo Jose movie was superb. Nandulal though good, reminds us Jagathy Sreekumar. Sudheer Karamana was typical. Sunil Sugatha was apt, Rachana was fine. Kalabhavan Mani reminds us Thilakan in his role. He did it well.

It is the rest of the supporting cast which makes the show entertaining with their fresh faces and performances.

Songs & BGM
Songs fitted perfectly to the treatment of the movie. BGM was top class. Prashanth Pillai did a good job.

Technical
Cinematographer Abhinandan Ramanujam makes the movie an experience with his work. Kuttanad was picturied in a mesmerising way. Top angle camera works were awesome in lake shots. Editing was good though final band competition & second half at parts lags. Art Direction, though good lacked perfection especially flexes and other things towards climax parts.

Script & Direction
Story by Lijo was a cliched one. Its the screenplay by P S Rafeeq makes it different. Dialogues by Lijo & Rafeeq could have been a bit more better atleast in certain scenes as it does not fit well to the mood and scene. Second half was a bit lagging and predictable one with lengthy proceedings. Could have been better.

It is direction by Lijo Jose Pallissery that takes the movie from pass mark level to A grade. In his first movie NAYAKAN itself he proved his approach in making cliched scenes a different one. In this one, it was evident in each frame amply supported by cinematographer. EXCELLENT FIRST HALF and a GOOD SECOND HALF DIRECTION


Overall an entertaining movie that can be watched for the director's craft

Verdict : Director's movie
BO Verdict : HIT

Coming to the opening line, how Lijo becomes a threat to Malayalam movie makers. 90% of Malayalam movie makers including debutants tries to make movies for audience and tries to make it a hit with the formula created by predecessors enjoyed by audience before. Lijo takes it other way. He makes movie from his point of view and make it liked by all. So movie makers and future movie makers out there, remember, this director is setting standards on how to approach a scene eventhough a cliched one and make it appealing to all. You people have to work hard more to satisfy audience from now on.

IMMANUEL

IMMANUEL

Theatre : Aluva Matha
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 06-04-2013
Status : Balcony Almost FULL, Fc 30%+

First of all, special thanks to SIFY website which gave verdict for this movie as AVERAGE in their website.

After "Puramkazhchakal" episode in KERALA CAFE, Mammootty and LalJose joins together for a new movie IMMANUEL scripted by newcomer Vijeesh A C. Is this movie an average one only a SIFY rated??? Or is it below that?? Or ....???? Lets see

Story
Immanuel(Mammootty) a good kindhearted man with wife & a son Robin, loses his job in his publishing house as Josephettan(Sunil Sugatha) had a lot of debt. To survive, he joins a Life Insurance Company. Rest is his life there & about his good heart.

Performances
Mammootty-that may be the only name, even a debutant director too will think for this role. Tailor made one which he performed, sorry lived on screen. What to tell more especially about his voice modulation in certain scenes.

Fahadh Fazil in his brief role was fine. Reena Mathews(Is she the one who played Chakky aka Nisha Varghese in DECEMBER MIST, the telefilm) was fine. The kid who played Robin was good. Mukesh, Innocent, Devan, Salimkumar, Ramesh Pisharady, Anil Murali, Bijukuttan all in their limited screenspace was good.  Suni Sugathan was superb in his role as Josephettan.

Sukumari made her final role an emotional one with a fantastic final dialogue.


Songs & BGM
Both departments handled by Afsal Yusuf. Immanuel title song was good. Rest were ok. BGM had a GopiSundar touch in initial sequences, later it was fine.

Technical
Art Direction needs special mention. Cinematography & Editing were apt.

Script & Direction
Script by debutant Vijeesh A C needs mention. Story was a cliched one only. But screenplay was refreshing one. Dialogues were the main plus point of the movie - simple but powerfull and hard hitting. Though Mukta episode in second half was a lengthy one in second half, later it managed. Also mentioning newgen as villains through Salimkumar also could have been avoided. Though predictable things only, overall a good work. I think script writer worked in an insurance company before, good homework on script was evident.

LAL JOSE - the master craftsman. An ordinary script when comes through the frames of LAL JOSE will be something welcomed and loved by all kinds of audience. That MAGIC worked here may be to a great level. EXCELLENT WORK

THERE IS AN IMMANUEL IN EACH ONE OF US. WATCH THE MOVIE & REALISE OUR MISTAKES & BE ANOTHER IMMANUEL ATLEAST AT TIMES, GOD BLESS!!!
Verdict : Very Good
BO Verdict : Nalla Cinemaye ishtappedunnavar ee moviede koode

Tears of happiness can be experienced in many scenes.

Coming to SIFY matter mentioned in the beginning. I think the person who wrote the review was a kind of person which Fahad enacted in the movie. I think he/she watched the movie and reviewed it as part of her job mentioning only Fahad as a positive factor. Mr/Miss/Mrs REVIEWER, please understand that people watching movie in theatres are not watching it for the sake of it like you did. Kerala Audience are still the same old audience who always welcomes these good movies.