From the Archives - ANGAMALY DIARIES - Blu-ray Review

After the ballsy experiment named Double Barrel that unfortunately crashed and burned to ashes at the BO, Angamaly Diaries marks the director Lijo Jose Pellissery's comeback, though without the budget or star-power that ultimately sealed the fate of his previous film. Scripted by actor and the director's BFF Chemban Vinod - who also appears as himself in a cameo that lasts for only a few seconds - the film is a much more grounded and realistic affair that thankfully, never skimps on the director's trademark whimsical humor. It also helps that the mammoth cast consists entirely of debutantes - as indicated by the title card: "We Introduce 86 new faces" - as the characters would have had much lesser chances of being related to, if played by established names.

Plot-wise, the film covers familiar grounds. Hotheaded Vincent Pepe - the protagonist, but hardly a hero - and his ragtag bunch of childhood friends are an aimless group who find solace in pork, liquor and occasional troublemaking. Soon, money matters creep in and the gang opens a pork farm. Though initially successful, they start facing hurdles mainly in the form of rival pork sellers Ravi and Rajan... and as expected, chaos ensues and violence erupts. Soon, it's time for Pepe and Co to face the music and make life-altering decisions. Also running in parallel to the main plot is Pepe's love life, which like Premam, is the usual third-time-lucky stuff that thankfully, does not stick out and ruin the enjoyment.

However, it's the setting and the "Katta Local" flavor (laced with generous doses of black humor) that drive the film more than its plot. The film rarely strays out of Angamaly Town, and even links a few key events metaphorically with what seems to be the townspeople's staple food - Tapioca and Pork. Speaking about pork, there are numerous sequences that show the meat - and the other, more scandalous meat too  - being cut, cooked and served... so meat-haters, proceed with caution . The all-Malayalam opening credits montage, cut to the beats of "Angamaly Song", sets the mood and the ambiance right from the get go, followed by the prologue that has a drunk Pepe dressed as Christ... and beating the shit out of the goons, complete with a brass band recreation of Illayaraja's "Ilamai Idho Idho" playing in the background.

And though rated U/A by CBFC, there is a lot of grisly violence that happens offscreen (like the pig slaughters and the pre-interval bomb scare that goes tragically awry) in addition to the raw and bloody fisticuffs. Also, there are a few scenes where the dialogue seems to have been overdubbed, presumably to mask the expletives.



Unlike Double Barrel where the main story almost got buried under the weight of those numerous subplots, Angamaly Diaries has Lijo keeping a firm grip on the narrative, which is further aided by the crisp and hyperkinetic editing. The film loses points on lacking in emotional quotient though, something that the similarly-themed Kammattippadam could achieve on account of having the main characters being manipulated by the villain to the extent of losing their own land (In this film, Pepe's predicament arises out of his own harebrained impulsiveness).

The cinematographer Gireesh Gangadharan - whose work on films like Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi, Kali and Guppy have been widely appreciated - opts for an entirely different visual language in this one and ditches spectacle (and drones) in favor of gritty realism with numerous shaky-cam shots and long takes. In fact, the entire climax is one unbroken 12-minute tracking shot with a lot of crowd activity, fireworks and chaos going on around, and barring a couple of instances where the DP momentarily loses track of the subject and the camera gets bumped by an extra, the shot is a major win for the guy.

The composer Prashant Pillai too goes for broke on the film's soundtrack with brass-band tracks and weird vocalizations thrown in at many junctures in the film. The traditional folk songs like "Theeyame" and "Thana Dhina" are brilliantly placed at key points and aid immensely in the film's progression.

Coming to the performances, all the 86 debutantes are complete naturals and make it easier for the audience to accept the fact that sometimes, the villains can be much more sensible and empathetic than the so-called heroes.

Empire's Blu-ray presentation of the film is excellent, but I could notice a few instances of audio drop-outs (in the Dolby TrueHD track). The theatrical subtitles have been used for the home release (After all, this film has the subtitler Vivek Ranjit credited in the opening reel itself), though the songs are left unsubtitled. Sadly, no extras here... Doubly sad, because there's a credit provided for the "making video" which seemingly hasn't seen the light of the day yet.

UNDA - Review (Prime)

The sophomore venture from director Khalid Rahman features an ensemble cast, headlined by a very de-glammed Mammootty. Much like his debut Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (The Tender Coconut Water of Love…?), Unda too revolves around a borderline-dysfunctional group – the hero’s family in the former - though this time, it’s a larger one with much bigger stakes. Unda begins with a battalion of cops from the Kerala Police camp getting set for a mission: assist the ITBP in ensuring that the local elections in certain stations, deep within the forests of Chhattisgarh and considered infested by Maoists, take place on time and sans a hitch. The battalion gets further divided once they’ve reached the state, and from here on, we follow the 9-men troop, led by Sub-Inspector Manikandan (Mammootty) and headed to Bastar. Now unlike the actor’s khaki-clad characters from the past, SI Mani is a world-weary man who is nearing retirement and yet, doesn’t have much to highlight in his resume. However, that doesn’t stop his teammates from looking up to him… until he falters miserably during the first of many near-death situations faced by the rag-tag squad. And yes, Mammootty performs best when provided with roles outside the starry rut and he continues the trend here too.

Coming to the subordinates, the writer (Harshad) and the director have etched each of the eight guys with distinct personalities and backstories. And as a result, there are several internal conflicts too: ones which must be resolved before the insurgents get to hit the station. There is the cop who happens to be the only one capable of properly handling a rifle, but is totally pissed, thanks to an impending divorce. And there is that guy who gets his high from spitting racial slurs at his colleague, who happens to hail from a tribal area. Another is expecting a child, while yet another is just about to tie the knot. Also on the scene are the ever-suspicious guy, the one who hopes to make it big on the silver screen someday and the one who hardly speaks, but has a bottle ready and tucked away in his bag. Naturally, it's up to the leader to keep the bunch in check. And amidst these ever-escalating internal issues and the team's whole fish-out-of-water situation, comes another, even bigger problem: Lack of Ammo (and hence the title, Unda).

Naturally, one would expect a film with such a storyline to be a wholly dark, dour and serious affair, and Unda is anything but. The makers use the plot to not-so-subtly lampoon how the Government machineries keep playing the blame game through such a grave situation, and to emphasize the point that after all, the so-called Maoists might well be the manifestations of vote-hungry politicians . There are also plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that strangely, but brilliantly gel with the morbidity of the situation. The climactic fight sequence gets a bit OTT compared to the rest of the film, but here too, we get to see teamwork at play, rather than the lone hero single-handedly mowing an armed gang down.

Also at the heart of the movie is Kunal Chand (Omkar Das Manikpuri), a Bastar native whose village had been ruthlessly cleared out to accomodate the armed forces in the name of fighting the Maoist threats. It's through this character and Kapil Dev (Bhagwan Tiwari), the hard-drinking resident guard-cum-doctor at the Bastar station, the team slowly get to learn the gravity of the whole situation. And there's the ITBP Commander, who gets flummoxed by the team's complete lack of awareness, every time he comes to assess the situation. Thankfully, apart from a gang that arrives near the film's climax, all these characters are just flesh-and-blood humans, but exhausted beyond their limits.

Supporting performances are solid all around in this film, though special mention goes for Omkar Das as well as Lukman, who plays Biju, the cop who gets subjected to racial insults so frequently , that once he reaches the breaking point, he vows to quit his hard-earned job . Coming to the technical merits, the film fires on all rounds and hits the target, and hence, without a doubt, the film looks and sounds great in the Full HD-Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation from Amazon Prime.

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OVERLORD - Blu-ray Review

Produced by J J Abrams and directed by Julius Avery, Overlord is that kind of WWII-based genre-mashup flick one quite does not expect to be brought out by a studio major like Paramount, let alone a prolific producer of Abrams' stature. Very much reminiscent of the FPS classic Wolfenstein, the very hard-R film's plot follows a quartet of surviving American soldiers - fresh from a gruesomely botched D-day airdrop - making their move to take down a Nazi comms tower stationed on top of a church. Finding an ally in Chloe - a Nazi-hatin' girl from the village where the church is located - and a refuge in her house, they finally begin hatching a plan... until trouble arrives at the doorstep in the form of Captain Wafner, the bad guy with a lustful eye on Chloe. And as the said church is revealed to be housing stuff much more nefarious and sickening than that pesky radio tower, the titular Overlord is born and the film kicks into overdrive, never stopping to catch a breath till the end.

Despite its predictable plot and archetypal characters, Overlord is a blast throughout, as it succeeds in taking its time to build the tension up to the inevitable breaking point while still managing to nail the occasional jolts with jump-scares and graphic moments of hyperviolence. The film also complements the already bonkers plot with fun artistic liberties, chief among them being the middle finger raised against WWII racial segregation, in the form of Pvt Boyce (Jovan Adepo), the naïve black soldier who fights alongside the whites. Game of Thrones breakout Pilou Asbæk effortlessly seethes and snarls as the uber-evil Cap'n Wafner, whereas Wyatt Russell, much like the yesteryear roles by his legendary Dad, plays up his tough guy act as the gruff corporal Ford who believes in playing dirty to get the job done. Mathilde Ollivier makes an impression as Chloe, though she does not get much heroic moments for most of the film. The real stars of the film though, are the VFX and sound departments, with the former going all-out deviant to portray the horrors lurking inside the church and the latter, going for broke from the very start (that plane crash!) and further ratcheting the dread up with the aid of Jed Kurzel's creepy score and perhaps, some of the most terrifying foley work heard till date. Though 110 mins long, the film's edited to keep up with the breakneck nature of the plot and does not feel overlong.

Paramount delivers an excellent presentation of Overlord on its 4k release (which itself contains the 4k UHD disc and the routine 1080p Blu). Shot by Laurie Rose and Fabian Wagner, the film goes for a warm, yet grimdark visual aesthetic for most of the film, complete with oppressive shadows and occasional lens flares (c'mon, you didn't expect that from a JJ flick?), though that doesn't take away anything from the overall picture quality or distract anyone from the bloody, gooey mayhem on display. However, the Dolby Atmos (for both 4k and HD) audio here is an absolute beast that never lets up and keep assaulting from front, back and centre (and even above, per the reviewers equipped with Atmos systems). The lone extra here is an almost-an-hour-long 7-part BTS documentary on the 1080p disc.

SICARIO - Blu-ray Review

Directed by Denis Villeneuve ("Prisoners"), "Sicario" follows a by-the-books FBI agent Kate (Emily Blunt) who, eager to take out the Mexican drug cartel, volunteers to participate in an on-site mission proposed by a very casual and laid-back DOD officer Matt (Josh Brolin) who also instructs her to "watch and learn" without divulging any useful info. Joining the ride is Matt's partner Alejandro (Benecio Del Toro) who turns out to be even more enigmatic and sinister, and may harbor some kind of hidden agenda.
In short, Kate gets more than what she bargained for, and as the movie progresses, becomes increasingly frustrated and unsure about what the hell's really happening under the guise of tactical ops.

The film opens with a seemingly routine raid sequence which ends with a very gruesome revelation that also sets the tone for the rest of the flick. And to be honest, Sicario can be quite an uneasy film to watch, with the tension being frequently ratcheted to unbearable levels and the violence, unflinchingly brutal and disturbing without ever resorting to flashy stunts or over-the-top gore. Sure, there are the bad guys who run the cartel and execute numerous innocents, but they are just tiny blips in the bigger picture. The film, after all, is all about the three leads - Kate, Alejandro & Matt - with Kate serving as the audience surrogate who, like the viewer, only gradually manages to get a clear picture of the situation she's in. 

Speaking of these characters, Emily Blunt is perfect as the tough idealist who also happens to be quite vulnerable underneath all that toughness, whereas Josh Brolin lives the part of Matt, the federal douchebag for whom the end, and not the means, is all that matters... which brings us to Benecio Del Toro's turn as the mystery man Alejandro. The actor's in top form here as the ruthless lawyer-turned-enforcer who also inhabits some shreds of humanity deep within, but not enough to have him give up his murderous pursuits. There are a few important supporting characters too, namely, Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya), Kate's equally idealistic partner in FBI who is as clueless as Kate is, if not more, about the specifics of the cross-border mission, and Silvio (Maximiliano Hernández), a Mexican cop who has an entire subplot running parallel to the main story and culminating at a critical juncture in it.

Technically, the film is very strong. In fact, Sicario seems to have been designed much like a neo-western with its usage of numerous sweeping aerial shots of the Mexican landscape, courtesy of the legendary lensman Roger Deakins, and the insanely tense pursuits and shootouts. The deft editing too helps the film keep a firm pace throughout, and the sound design elevates an already excellent movie to another level with Johann Johannsson's incredibly dark score contributing a lot to the already bleak atmosphere. 

And I'm glad to report that Lionsgate's Blu-ray release pretty much perfectly recreates the film's dark and moody AV design, with the Dolby Atmos track often threatening to knock one off the couch. Speaking of extras, there are four short, but fairly informative featurettes. No filmmaker/cast commentary though.

ARMY OF DARKNESS -Blu-ray Review

Sam Raimi's cult horror comedy starts off with a brief recap of events from Evil Dead II, after which our chainsaw-and-shotgun-wielding hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) finds himself trapped in the past and surrounded by medieval knights. They first suspect him to be a foe and sentences him to being consumed by Deadites (a.k.a zombies who know kung-fu) along with a few other suspects. However, armed with his chainsaw, shotg...err... Boomstick, one-liners and (lack of) wits, he becomes the darling of the masses and is bestowed the title of "The Chosen One" who has been brought there to deal with the Deadites. He is tasked with retrieving the "Necronomicon" (Book of the dead) from a Deadite-infested cemetry, in order to have the zombies done for good and to have Ash travel forward in time and back to his normal life... and that's just the first third of the story, folks! 

AOD, from the get-go, is loaded with laughs. Or in Ash's words, AOD is a horror comedy... and horror has already left the town. In any other movie, the aforementioned Deadite-infested cemetry sequence would be fodder for countless scares... but this one is not any other movie, and Raimi and Co. makes the whole scenario a non-stop barrage of Looney Toons-esque gags involving Ash, lots of bones 

and miniature doppelgangers of Ash himself, finally leading to the birth, death and undeath of the film's villain, Evil Ash. And the goofy action-packed finale is testament to the fact that the entire cast and crew - especially the stunt and FX guys - were having the time of their lives with this film. Last but not the least, there's Bruce Campbell who owns the show as Ash 

as well as his evil twin, Evil Ash. Hail to the king, indeed, baby!

Scream Factory has released a truly awesome collector's edition for AOD with three BD-50's, each brimming with content. Disc 1 contains the Theatrical cut with related extras, Disc 2 contains the Director's Cut (which I watched) with related extras and Disc 3 contains the 4k-sourced International cut as well as a TV cut, along with the rest of the extras. The DC looks very good, even though print-related damage can be spotted at places. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is a fairly active one, although spatially limited by its Dolby Stereo source.

The extras include a commentary (DC only), a feature-length making-of doc, alternate beginning and ending (for the TC disc only; the DC has these reinstated), another doc on the old-school VFX and quite a few more, which I can't recollect. The cover art is reversible, with one side having the theatrical poster art and the other having the new artwork commissioned by SF (which is used for marketing and release).

ANDROID KUNJAPPAN -Review (Prime)

As his comedic characters in countless films had started becoming increasingly stale and cringe-worthy – thanks to the writers and his own signature elements – one day, a shocker of an announcement appeared on the telly: Suraj Venjaramoodu wins the National Award for the Best Actor. The surprise didn’t last long though, as his big win was quickly dismissed by public – and the Government, which awarded him with the “Best Comedian” award for that year – and written off as a one-off affair. And then came Action Hero Biju. Though Nivin Pauly played the titular cop, it was Suraj’s cameo appearance that won laurels from all around, and since then, the man has been on a winning streak with his selection of roles, both character and comedic - most notable being Thondimuthalum Drikshakshiyum, Kammattippadam and Theevandi. And 2019 had been very eventful for the actor, with him scoring a hattrick of critically acclaimed roles by the end of the year. Here are my thoughts on the first of them, Android Kunjappan Version 5.25, available on Prime.

Predominantly set in a village in Kannur district with occasional detours to Russia, this sci-fi film lies on the less-explored side of the genre – a grounded, humane and plausible look at whether AI has the potential to replace/be a loved one. Suraj plays Bhaskaran, a grumpy, conservative, tech-averse octogenarian who never gets along with anyone, his own son included, and is not above tricking his son into quitting his many hard-earned jobs just to have him by his side all the time. Soubin plays the disillusioned, yet loving son Subramanian alias Chuppan, torn between his duty as a son and his aspiration. The film begins showing the rather strained relationship between the father and son and subtly changes gears once the latter gets employed in a Russian tech firm and brings home the titular Android during a brief vacation, after many a caretaker calls it quits trying hard to deal with the old man. Naturally, Bhaskaran - who doesn't have even a TV - resents the robot at the first sight, but then gradually warms up to it, thanks to its unconditional loyalty and care. His conservative worldview too starts giving way to rationality, thanks to the machine's consistent learning and supply of wisdom. The bot becomes a favorite among the village folks too, and they start calling it Kunjappan. However,
Things start going out of hand as Bhaskaran stops caring about his son - to the point that he declares "Kunjappan" as his own son to Chuppan - and starts pursuing an old flame... on Facebook with a fake ID. 

Though the plot primarily revolves around the father-son-android relationship dynamics, there are many other characters the film touches upon - like Chuppan's Mallu-Jap girlfriend Hitomi (Kendy Zirdo), his hilariously naïve cousin Prasannan (Saiju Kurup) and an eclectic bevy of villagers who keep commenting on the goings-on. However, the film goes a bit off track whenever Bhaskaran is on his online pursuit for Saudamini, his ex-flame, 

and the final moments do feel a bit rushed. But then again, Suraj shines brightest during those very same moments.

Marked only by a few duds like the Hulk-ripoff Athisayan, the sci-fi genre has never been quite a prolific one in Malayalam cinema. It's in this space, that director Ratheesh Poduval has arrived with his debut feature. Along with exploring the key man-bot relationship, the film is also interested in providing sociopolitical commentary, mainly in the form of the robot's innocent, yet witty and sharp statements (the one about Prasannan's "existence" is a riot). It's also heartening that the film's focus is mainly on the emotional aspects and the humor that arises from having a very advanced robot placed in a very rural atmosphere. Coming to the performances, Suraj reigns over the whole show in his career-best role, making even his co-lead Soubin look like an extended cameo. Not even once would one get the feeling that Bhaskaran is actually being played by an actor in his early forties. That said, Soubin is excellent as Subramanian, the intelligent son who is desperate to make his mark and later, the accomplished son, now desperate to bring his dad back to the real world. His numerous emotional breakdowns are relatable and key to the story being told. The Anurachal-based actress Kendy Zirdo is lovable as Hitomi, who stays by Chuppan's side and provides him emotional support throughout. And yes, the film employs sync sound, so all the her Malayalam lines are the ones painstakingly learnt and admirably delivered by herself. The Mr. Bean of Mollywood, Saiju is both funny and endearing as Prasannan, as are the village folks who are always ready with a one-liner for any situation. The lady who plays one of Bhaskaran's caretakers - post Chuppan's departure to Russia - is a hoot, with her addiction to TV serials (which she watches on her phone) and her banter with the old man. And last but not the least, the Android itself is a fascinating character - realized with the aid of animatronics and the short-statured actor Sooraj with VFX only used for the displays - that wins the audience's hearts too, along with Bhaskaran's over the course of the film. The cinematography and editing are deliberately slow-paced, and songs and score gel well with the narrative without sticking out even once.

All said, Android Kunjappan Ver. 5.25 has definitely made an impact in the industry in terms of quality and BO performance, and more importantly, the benchmark has been set for the often dormant sci-fi genre here.

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HARA-KIRI (Japan) - Blu-Ray Review

Hara-Kiri, Masaki Kobayashi's unflinchingly scathing satire on the Samurai code of honor stars Tatsuya Nakadai as Hanshiro, a ronin (masterless warrior) who arrives at a Lord's palace in order to commit the titular act of ritual suicide. The Lord's counselor and the housekeepers have had way too many such cases, which were ultimately shams to extort money from the lord so that no blood would spill on his courtyard. So naturally, the counselor tries to warn the samurai by recounting the fate of the one who came before him. However, Hanshiro never budges and insists on having the ritual performed, though he has a few demands of his own in order to have it done. And it turns out that Hanshiro has come there with some ulterior motives which would slowly, but surely threaten to strip the whole concept of Samurai honor into what turns out to be nothing more than a web of hypocrisy, prejudice and naked lies. Also told in flashbacks is the tale of what leads Hanshiro to take such an extreme step.

The acting is fantastic throughout, headlined by Nakadai as Hanshiro - the ronin who stares at the face of death with defiance - and Rentarō Mikuni as Lord Saito, the ruler who appears stern but reasonable at first, only to be gradually reduced to a puerile piece of shit by the ronin's revelations. Also, the film boasts of impeccable use of visual language all along the runtime, starting off in ultra-wide angles and with smooth dolly movements, and subtly constricting the field of view from there by means of close-ups and zooms which only gradually increase in number, culminating in utter chaos at the end. And yes, the storytelling is brutal and unforgiving when it comes to depicting poverty and hypocrisy.

Criterion hits a home run with the video transfer of its Blu-ray release, in that it does full justice to the intentions of the director and the cinematographer. This is an absolutely fantastic B&W presentation devoid of any artifacts and rich in grain. The LPCM Mono track is robust and clean - maybe the best mono track I've heard till date. The release is a bit light on extras by Criterion standards, but that's okay. There's also a booklet with essays on the film as well as the Blu-ray release credits.