To tell the truth, it was excruciatingly boring and towards the end I was restless and raring to leave. Was this really the movie that some film critics and scribes had described as a great movie that Malayalam cinema was closing the year with? Agreed that it was Malayalam's effort at creating a superhero of the likes of Superman and Batman, but if I expected more Superman-like actions throughout I was disappointed. Here was a guy who was unsure of his new-found power and hardly did anything till the end when he donned a Superman costume to destroy the Evil Guy. Both our hero and the villain were struck by the same lightning, but each display a different set of skills. Guru Somasundaram excels as the villain with a touch of madness and consumed by his love for his childhood sweetheart; one does not feel much anger towards him and all his murderous acts - instead one feels a chord of sympathy.
Tovino's hippie hairstyle and demeanour in the beginning reminded me of a guy in college who had a pretty Malloo lass as girlfriend then (according to hostel sources, Erskin allegedly brushed, bathed and washed his ass with just ONE mug of water).
There is some attempt at comedy - Tovino as Jaison wears Abibas, Poma and Lowcoste tshirts, and says the fake is called Adidas. He is trying to make a passport to go to the US - I dont understand how he can without a job offer or a spouse already there. He plans to become a tailor there as Americans have only readymades to wear because there is a dearth of tailors. The studio doesnt seem to know the size and background required for a passport photo 😲😲and so we have our hero taking a ful-size photograph with a shiny curtain all around him. His girlfriend has ditched him for a local entrepreneur who himself has ditched his love interest, and we have the jilted lovers teaming up.
Me and Mira found the movie insufferable but stayed till the end as it was an OTT movie we were watching together as family after Trance. With rooms and laptops of their own, the kids prefer to watch Malayalam with the help of English subtitles rewinding occasionally when a dialogue is not clear. I find Malayalam dialogues difficult to follow at time as new-gen movie characters have a proclivity to mumble as we would in real life.
The men thought it was a fun watch. V who rubbishes all new-gen movies in the Covid era and nostalgically remembers movies from the 80s and 90s as classics - with rape, pregnancy, jilted lovers, suicides and the like providing complex plots - commented MM was a fun movie to watch. He couldnt say anything less when his bro recommended it 😀.
V has been nervous about watching 2021's masterpieces like Great Indian Kitchen, Joji and Kappela. While he skipped the former totally, the left the latter two half way as he cannot stomach tense plots.
Though reviews said Tovino has finally arrived with this movie, I would say this is one of his silliest performances. I really liked him in Luca, while his roles in ABCD, Forensic, Uyare etc have been pretty good. Theevandi and Maradona were movies I left after the initial 15 minutes of watching while Kilometres & Kilometres and Ente Ummante Peru were passable. Tovino characters have an endearing vulnerability that brings out the protective and motherly instinct in the women characters around him. I hope he finds other great acts like Luca.
Meanwhile, watch #Minnal Murali at your own risk and if you have nothing better to do on a weekend.
p.s. One interest I had about the movie was the destruction of its set last year by saffron goons, who said the church hurt their sensibilities!
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