- Fan rating - 5/5
And so I finally saw Drishyam yesterday and it really must be a happy new year because - Man! What a film! It's been a long time since I came out of a theater feeling satisfied and completely thrilled with what I just saw.
First of all, congrats to Jeethu Joseph for a brilliant vision and execution of a story. :) Solid performances by everyone involved (will get specific later).
So let's analyse the movie shall we?
Story :
Beautifully written and exciting style of narration. The story moves smoothly through various emotions and events without making it feel choppy. The characters are well etched out and we remember the events with clarity afterwards. The plot itself is more or less what we might call 'realistic'. Nothing unbelievable or implausible in the entire thing. It's the first Malayalam movie I've watched of it's kind. What you might call a proper suspense- thriller/drama. The intelligence and emotional depth of the plot is gripping and perhaps the best of its kind. But no worries my pure Malayalam lovers, it's not remotely western or foreign feeling. Simple village life and family life portrayed with elegance. I felt different people reacted to different aspects of the plot but almost everyone seemed to like or even love what they saw.
Acting:
Like I said, solid performances by everyone. Mohanlal gave his usual and completely 'natural' and beautiful realism and depth to the character by moving effortlessly through all the human emotions and reactions of light-hearted humor, fear, determination, tensions and pride of a family man and middle class Malayalee. The romance between a man in his forties and his wife, the love of a parent and the tensions of a man protecting his family combined with grace.
Shajon gave, what I felt, was the best performance of his career by showing us what a man with low moral values would do to get his way and succeed on the backs of others, even through obvious and sometimes casual cruelty and abuse of his powers. A corrupt policeman played, without exaggerating the evil in the minds of a man with no social or personal boundaries. He added to the tension of the plot well and gave huge input to the drama and emotional angles as well.
Siddique too gave what I felt was a memorable performance, especially towards the end when the emotion really started to build up.
I chose the above three because I feel I'm going to remember their characters and scenes for some time to come. Not because the others didn't play their characters beautifully and convincingly too. Meena and the two girls (especially the younger one) were stellar in their roles too. So were the other smaller roles played by some known names in the industry. It is to be mentioned that no one could be said as having given a poor or 'not up to the par' performance.
All the characters added to the richness of the story-line.
Cinematography:
While I'm not an expert in the technicalities of film making, I must say the camera work in the movie was noticeably different and creative. Another feature of the movie I'm going to remember and I'm guessing you might too. (Pay attention to the unique and innovative title roll in the beginning.) :)
Editing:
Beautiful editing (I'm tired of saying beautiful but can't help it). The tension and suspense in the movie is no small part due to the brilliant way it is edited leaving the viewer on the edge of the seat (especially from the beginning of the second half).
Direction:
A director is sometimes called the captain of the ship and so "Hats off to Jeethu Joseph!" for a magnificent creation that is going to take its rightful place in Malayalam move history and is probably the best movie to hit the theaters in recent years. Excellent follow up to "Memories".
So Kochi fan says - Thumbs Up! Best movie of 2013!
