Reviews

Well crafted film, with tight script, wondeful acting. But it leaves you at the end sad, gloomy and haunted.

You don't see justice get done, you don't see the system rectified, you don't see anyone changing for the good. Nothing. Like current reality I guess.

Interesting movie. I do recommend it but I have issues with it.

First of all, well directed movie, the cinematography was good, score was beautiful overall whatever the vision was for the film, they have accomplished it.

My issue is with the plot and screen time. I feel the film went tad too long and should have ended early. Also the characters response to the situation is not real or adequate enough, meaning that if someone is to come across such a situation there would be more questions.

So my first complaint is that when the kid first comes up to Anna and claims to be her dead husband, she scoffs him away! What! Aren't you a bit curious who this kid is? How did he know about her dead husband? Why come now? What all does this kid know etc? I expected a barrage of questions but nah nothing. Also at the 'don't talk to Anna again' scene in the corridor, aren't you bit curious Anna and Joseph? Don't you want to ask questions? Isn't it all very interesting and curious? So for me till they began asking him relevant questions, it was all time waste. Then the kid started laying down facts and Anna falls for it. And we can't blame her, the whole thing is quite spooky.

Problem for Anna is there's no other way but to believe the kid about Sean being reincarnated. The fact that you can trick someone with the information on their love letters is very very scary. Anna is unable to figure out how the kid knows about all these stuff and have to eventually believe the kid is reincarnated. She wouldn't at all have thought of those love letters stored by Sean's lover as being the source. Therefore the eventual turmoil she faces is very believable.

For me there is no doubt left in my mind that the kid is a fraud. Why the fudge is that kid still writing to Anna despite saying he is not Sean and that he is lying? He is fudging with her head. And why hasn't Anna pursued to know the source via which he got all the info and lied about. When the kid says he is not Sean, that should have been the first question. How the fudge did you know all these stuff?? Maybe she wants to believe he is reincarnated and thinks Sean wants her to lead a normal life and the kid deliberately lied. Thats the only reasonable explanation why she didn't pursue for the source and why she still remains tormented at her wedding.

Why Clara didn't talk about this to Anna might be because Anna, out of anger and resentment over the broken perfect husband image might tell it to Clifford and that could end Clara's marriage. So it is kind of justifiable why she hasn't told this to Anna.

The kid is a psychopath. The kid got hold of the letters, learned the details and messes with a family. And still continues to do so by manipulating her head. From that last scene monologue by the kid, it seems Anna didn't get to know his source nor did the kid reveal nor did Clara (Sean's lover) reveal. So the kid despite knowing the act is over and that he is caught (by Clara), is still playing the Sean card and being sentimental and all by saying let's meet in another lifetime, the experts can figure it out, mom says it's a spell and other BS. Duh nobody can figure out where you got this info from, sicko kid. And still the kid is playing innocent. This kid is an a**hole.

Therefore this movie is about a fraud kid, using details from unopened love letters to fraud a woman and claim her in a way. Basically he brainwashed her and got the idea into her head to wait for about a decade to make her his wife. This is an evil kid!

PS - I don't give a hoot about the scenes with Anna and the kid. It was all okay, stop making big issue out of it weirdos.

I'm sure this film is going to get many awards and appreciations and quite certain that its among the best malayalam movies of 2019. There's no part of the script which was unnecessary or immature and just adding stuff to meddle with audience emotions and be like look at the poor acid victim, or any in your face propaganada etc. The story was very well told with arch of each character (mainly the protagonist) beautifully portrayed. The protogonist is ambititous, gets accepetd to a pilot school, but her toxic reltionship leads her to be an acid victim and shows how she copes with it. At first time itself we feel that the guy is just toxic but she has her reason for sticking with him and we think that may he's just in the rough. We can see that he is depressed and just angry and lonely. But it takes a turn for the worse and our protoganist, Pallavi has to face hardship. She loses her pilot license, is scarred for life both physically and mentally. But that said i have issues with the film. The guy is dumped by the girl beacuse he is an a**hole, is distraught, calls her many times through phone and next day she gets thrown acid. You don't see a motive there Judge!!! What!!! Next one can be subjective. This is an issue i have with many Malayalam films. The invisible mover. The powerful emotion maker. Soundtracks! The movies try to manipulate audience through soundtracks. Sometimes you see a scene and feel like the visual doesn't feel much, but i am feeling the emotion. What's happening? Its the soundtrack. People who are unsure of their actors presence and skill ONLY would resort to unnecessary soundtracks to put weight into a scene. And i was like Parvathy and others are doing a great job with the acting, let the acting and real sounds do the work. Don't force emotions! Soundtracks can be supplementary to a scene and can be used wisely. But the injudicious use is just frustrating and takes you out of a scene completely.

But the script was very good and the acting and direction was solid. So i was very satisfied and happy to leave the theatre having watched a splendid movie.

I am a great fan of JW and they have, true to their genre, made excellent action sequences but there ends the movie. The plot is straightforward. JW is excommunicated. People who helped him is punished by the High Table. Continental is deconsecrated after Winston fails to step down and they fight back. Finally High Table and Continental reach a parley. Some people are pissed at the High Table for all this. Next film's mostly going to be about overthrowing the High Table. Dialogue was so so cringy. Halle Berry, Keanu, GoT guy all got poor dialogues. I was laughing for most part, both the dialogue and its delivery was so cringy and funny. It felt like a video game snippet where characters talk but the dialogue is stiff. Walk in the desert with water 1/4th of bottle. Be in the verge of thirst and death and they will find you?? What nonsense! Felt like some fable told in ancient times. The action sequences were good but some felt drawn out and could have been cut down. But hey I'm not complaining, some sequences at start were really good. Kudos to Keanu for doing the work and also to the director for keeping the camera on the action than cutting it up. And the ending. I don't care if JW is invincible in a fight, but if you fall from that height, no matter the sheets he bounce off, you are seriously seriously injured.

I think maybe I am stupid to go to too much details, but the original movie had also a good plot along with the actions. The whole atmosphere was fresh. Now it's becoming just action and stupid dialogues. Are you pissed? Yeah, yeah

So i decided to watch all Koreeda films after Shoplifters. And man this guy has a talent to let story unravel like a mystery through normal dialogues. I find that very refreshing in exposition led films and also an acknowledgement to the audience's deduction power. He never dumbs down to explain anything, the story speaks for itself.

But that said i have got issues with this film. Very interesting premise from the start and portrayed very good. But when they finalised to exchange children, and they were in respective homes, i was like what?? Maybe that twisted Ryoto would have wanted that, but i don't think others wanted any part with it. Lily franky family would have never wanted that. But somehow all of them decided to swap?? Going to other persons home for some time and all is okay. But permanent swap was out of question. All of them agreeing to that was bizzare. Maybe they could have shown a proper altercation happening over this issue between Ryoto and Lily franky. Because Ryoto was the distant guy, didn't engage with his child. While his wife and the other family was fully involved and in loving relation with respective child. When the permanent swap thing came on, i am 100% sure they won't agree to that. Thats the only problem i have with this movie and i really believe its a valid one. Without a doubt except this possible nitpick, other parts are very well done.

All these comes to point out that no matter how much money you put in a film and how much interesting character you can use from a beloved universe, if you don't set the story straight, you will KILL its potential. DC had already messed up its film and Wonder Woman being just AVERAGE, Aquaman was seen with lot of hope. And without a doubt compared to previous DC films, it may be a better film,, but we don't lower our standards.

At start, though Nicole Kidman acted well and the other guy tried his best, the connection was just not there. Their reunion was like blah. Nobody cares.

Joke attempts were pathetic. You could pinpoint the joke long before the joke is delivered. They even added some joke sounds or something. Just pitiful.

And the MUSIC! Totally out of place. Just didn't feel right at all. Soundtracks accompanying many a things were just bad, pulled you out of the experience.

Villian generic. The sub villian whose dad died, just total waste. Could have scrapped him and developed the story well. The chemistry between the leads Jason Mamoa and Amber Heard - NON EXISTENT. Totally forced, out of place. You can't blame the actors because the dialogue and script was crap. They can do nothing with the crap dialogue. You could just predict, yes this is the joke part, yes this is the caring part, romance part and all feels so stupid and manipulated. Most unintentional hilarious scene - Goes to some place in Italy (Here the aspect ratio changes to 'bring in the romance or whatever'). She looks around in wonder and some guy gives her a bunch of roses for NO REASON (maybe he got enticed by the red hair and just blatantly obvious distracting dress) , makes some water dolphins and the kid watching it gives her a Pinocchio book. WHAT? Everything feels plastic. No amount of light and CGI effects can mask the blandness of the whole movie. Trying to suck out emotions from audience unsuccessfully. Just different styles mixed here and there. At times felt cinematic, other times like a badly made romcom tv, other times like a video game! There's a scene when its nighttime and they are in the boat towards the place with the trident, and some creature things jump the ship to attack them. That whole 1-2 minutes feels like that out of a video game! The camera movement, closeups, the whole thing.

Ultimately the plot as a whole was not the best. But it could have been salvagable.

Forgettable watch. But its not without its positives. Had some pretty cool action scenes. Atlantis was very colourful! And thats it.

(This is the longest review I have ever written! Why I wrote this long because I needed to pour out my whole brain in to a thing which was all against what I am hearing from people. I might be going harsh on this film but it is to express my flaws in the movie. I have no idea if you would read all this, but hey if you are up for it, let go on this ride.) Guess I'm the black ship. Because I think the movie is okay, not much more than that. I think it had great potential to be more. This large hype and this hysteria, I really don't know, maybe because people always got/saw 'mass' films and over the top films, not the down to earth one. If you loved and enjoyed this film, good for you!

The beginning montage shots through Aruvi's life was brilliant. The director deserves due respect for those moments, just beautiful. The way he concealed how her family ostracize her, how she got aids, the family misunderstanding was very good.

But for me in the 2nd act while the director, Arun prabhu was getting on with his commentary of reality shows (the comedy moments) ,when the three guys were called up, she reveals she has aids and all hell breaks loose, the movie faltered for me. The timing of her coming to the show is off. Because temple guy, friend's dad all violated her when she was still in home (with her parents) or after she left her home. Then she arranged the 1 lakh for her father, where the 3rd person (guy who hired her for tailoring) comes into play. But after that she goes on a vacation with her friend and all. All these must have taken at least some months before the tv show events right? Then all of a sudden, she wanted to bring this into fore. Maybe she was mulling on this on her vacation and wanted some justice or some reveal to happen. I don't know.

Main question. What was her motive to come to the show - For them to apologize. She tells that beforehand. I guess she must have called them or confronted before for the apology. She might not have got what she wanted, so she took it to the next level - TV show. So, what was her plan (after the aids reveal) if they don't apologize. Get the gun from her bag and force them? Kind of stupid! So seriously what was her motive??? Reveal to them in a shocking fashion that they could have contradicted aids? To shame them on TV? Expose them? That seems like a more probable reason. What if they don't act as they have done any wrong? I really don't know. So all three must have had raped her or some form of sexual acts on her judging by their reactions on hearing the reveal. The guy who employed her asked for some sexual favour for money. But knowing she has aids she shouldn't have indulged in that, but that guy is bad for asking for sex but still I don't know if she should transfer the disease knowingly. Friend's dad guy and temple dude did bad things to her when she was not conscious, so they are very much in the guilty side. They raped her! But it's okay she don't want to file a case or anything, she just wants them to apologize to her. Not very good scenario if all girls just want apologies if something horrible happens to them. But I guess she didn't want anything more from them, because she was feeling guilty that they might have contracted aids and she didn't tell them after what they have done to her.

Also the bashing scene of her (for not revealing being an aids patient) by the host was so stupid, because if they (the 3 bad guys) did anything bad to her, it was while she was NOT conscious except that guy who hired her. Any 'fault' on her part might be that she didn't inform them but they were monsters, I don't think they deserve that info considering she didn't report to the authorities, maybe that was best punishment for them. So everybody ignoring that aspect is just plain stupidity. Aruvi kind of mentions about it in a blitz but it wasn't stressed enough in the movie.

Major plot point - Shooting the director of TV show The 'All hope lost aids' card can't be played like that while she shot the director. She could have just shot up the ceiling if she wanted everyone to quieten down. Also she could have really lost control and shot the director but then the scene was not convincingly set up, she didn't look angry or anything to commit the act. And this scene is very important because it changes the whole dynamics of the film. When she shot that director, you can't argue she was trained in shooting. Though she saw the gun from her childhood, it's not like she has shot or practised shooting. So basically, she could have killed the director which is very much important, you just can't take life of a person just because you are sick of the person or irritated or angry or whatever. She just met that guy! You can't claim that this was all a plan because she herelf confirms everything got out of hand.

The fact that she carries her gun in bag is very unsettling, plus the bullets! What is she preparing for. So was she staging a big commotion on a big regional TV, if so it would be for nothing.

The ragging scene. Blah. I was like all the people in the TV show room must be knowing at this point that she is just messing around and stuff. Felt more like put in for comedy relief and to reflect the hypocrisy in reality shows about everything being staged and not real. She could have just walked off at the start itself and surrender to the police. But she just wanted to be a college senior for a while, mess around and later feed them. Kind of like an exposition scene to show how loving,caring, funny she is?

Police catches her. I understand they be kept in medical camps but that doesn't mean that all aids people can cause crime and not be punished. What happened in between, did I miss anything? Doesn't the case still exist? Well it was a national news and a hostage crisis case's culprit (also an attempted murder, also shooting the director itself could be brought in focus her mental instability ) can't be released just like that. Even if all the people involved were to be like she was very loving towards us or we were treated nicely etc, we don't have any complains, can a case of such public attention and high profile be left like that and not punished. No security details around them???? How did she, how can she escape with such deteriorated, fragile health and supposedly police surveillance around her? How did she acquire money to living alone somewhere remote, consuming her ART medications and cooking stuff, internet connection? I don't know the legal side to all this so there's that.

The last scenes were projected as the sad scenes, didn't really feel real to me. While she was explaining about how she missed everyone and how she was scared, the director could have atleast removed the background sad music to make it more real and though wind sounds were put in it doesn't at all feel like something taken in a smartphone, her voice was so crisp and clear (ADR done in a studio), it removed the originality. Also the above things bothered me and took me out of the scene completely. (Also how did they track her down, it's not like she told anyone her address and if it was possible to track her, I can't imagine how much media people would be trying to get to her because she presents a great story. And like I said above is the case still on, doesn't the police want her for court trial?)

Finally this is all seems like a rant (having myself read this essay) but I don't want this to be so. Just a thought process by an average joe. Maybe there is answers to all questions that I have posed here, but from what the movie showed me, I wasn't satisfied. For me the film is a flawed attempt with a good short film at the beginning.

And Joss Whedon did what he could with it. No single person to blame. Whole set up around the development of film meant this was bound to fail.