In his close-ups, he takes us into his character’s soul. (Even as we are oppressed, we can end up oppressing ourselves.) As a “nice boy” who transforms into an Angry Young Man, Kathir gives an extraordinary physical performance, the year’s best. This is a remarkably level-headed drama that tackles both the without and the within. The helplessness and humiliation that the protagonist experiences aren’t a one-note beat. It feels personal in a manner that resembles reading someone’s diary. In Ranjith’s films, the awakening comes through external forces. Mari Selvaraj provides a compassionate counterpoint to the cinema of Pa Ranjith, and yet, the anger is intact. The second half doesn’t live up to the earlier promise, but with this kind of style, I didn’t really mind. The understated cinematography (Rodrigo Del Rio Herrara, Saravanan Ramasamy) is filled with classy wide shots and natural light, contrasting the sunny outside with the murky happenings indoors. Instead of the ever-sharpening focus of a crime drama, we get the sprawl of an existential epic. Instead of edge-of-danger scenes, we get mundane repetitions. And yet, in a way, the director desensationalises the thriller. The writing, combined with Antony’s sensational editing, shuffles between past and present and also moves to parallel events – and it’s thrilling. Manoj Beedha’s whodunit wears its retro-coolth like a second skin. the timeless) and the drama (the timebound). The narrative, thus, gets demarcated into two distinct tracks: the documentary-like (i.e. But when the milestones of a life unfold, it’s all compressed into a song. When nothing seems to be happening time crawls.
I wished for some variety of emotion in the non-professional cast, but that’s a small complaint in the face of the film’s strengths, like its use of time. Lenin Bharathi’s moving drama is filled with painterly shots - say, a blacked-out screen that’s lit up when a door opens and light floods in – but the film’s meaning rests in the repeated wide shots of people dwarfed by their unforgiving surroundings. The film’s advertising made me think it would be a disposable rom-com, but there’s genuine emotion at work here. The character played by Raiza Wilson is a revelation, a beautiful mix of “Indian” roots and “Western” sensibilities. Elan is one of the few Tamil filmmakers who not only respects women, but also gets them. They’re people you’d find at work, or in the house next to yours. The film feels less like a movie, more like life. Director Elan takes a well-worn story of a middle-class boy and upper-class girl and makes it seem like a more realistic Selvaraghavan film.
Pyaar Prema KaadhalĪs much as I liked 96 (coming up later), this Yuvan Shankar Raja production was, for me, the year’s best romance. Both films have a refreshing sense of a self-awareness (they know how ridiculous their premises are), and work hard to make the action-movie clichés seem less clichéd. Thimiru Pudichavan doesn’t have as much craft, but its writing is just as good.
#RATSASAN TAMIL MOVIE 2018 DRIVER#
Maruthupandian’s Asuravadham is a series of mind games centred around a strong, silent protagonist, a relentless pursuer like the unseen truck driver in Steven Spielberg’s Duel (but he’s the good guy). The latter film (by Ganesha) came later in the year (November), but I’m clubbing these two joyous B-movies together because they show what’s lacking in the “mass” movies made by bigger directors, with bigger-name stars. The film begins with the line “To err is human” and ends with “To forgive is divine.” This applies as much to the wife who strayed as the husband who deceived her. But given the sickening moralism in Tamil cinema, Oru Kuppai Kathai must count as progress. I wish the film had expended similar empathy to the city folks ( They drink! They have casual sex!), whose portions end up laughably simplistic.
#RATSASAN TAMIL MOVIE 2018 SOFTWARE#
What if Engeyo Kaetta Kural (1982) was made in a less judgemental era? You’d get this morality tale by Kaali Rangasamy, which shows a surprising amount of compassion to its heroine, who leaves her kindly sanitation-worker husband and begins a relationship with a software dude.
0 kommentar(er)
