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grameshk
Reviews
Bhramaram (2009)
Not Blessy's best
Blessy's previous movies featured ordinary human beings caught in natural situations in a refreshing way. But Bhramaram story was centred on a rather extraordinary crime and the hero's response to it was even more extraordinary. The beginning of the movie did have a Hitchcockian flavour, but the second half was slow paced - more Adoor than Hitchcock. A striking quality of Blessy's first movies were the speed and flow of the narrative - the economy of dialogue and the agility with which one scene gave way to the next - with Thanmatra and Kazhcha, the flow was swift - there was never a bump or breakdown - giving no chance for boredom to raise its head in the viewer at any time. I felt this was not the case with Bhramaram. The mature romance between the portly Mohanlal and the nubile Bhoomika and the surrealistic (belly) dance number in a supposedly rustic village lacked the authenticity of similar scenes of Kazhcha and Thanmatra. There was hardly any suspense in the second half. In both Kazhcha and Thanmatra, the movie ended leaving the viewer with positive and warm reflections on human nature and convincingly showed that love could get the better of adversity - but in Bhramaram, the ending was not nearly as heartwarming- though the director may have tried to bring in a positive feeling by projecting the goodness of forgiveness.
Palunku (2006)
Blessy is a breath of fresh air
'Palunku' means crystal. The life of Monichan, the farmer in a picturesque mountainous village in Kerala was transparent and beautiful like a crystal until he became seduced by the glamour of city life and a series of events follows that finally leaves the crystal shattered.
Like Kaazhcha and Tanmatra, Palunku also carries the stamp of Blessy's exceptional skills. His sensitive portrayal of the nuances of day to day life reminded me of Aravindan in his 'cheriya manushayrum valia lokavum' (a cartoon serial published in Mathrubhumi weekly in the sixties).
In his movies, Blessy has chosen themes that are tragic, but his main focus is on the strengths of innocence and simplicity and how 'education' that is associated with urban civilization, bureaucracy and the legal system only undermines these strengths. As such, his movies, although disturbing, are undoubtedly educative - they are able to point to some very basic facts and makes us question our values associated with urban notions of success and quality of living.
Blessy left me in awe with the way he has made the actors including a seven year old child live their roles. He is the only Malayalam director I have known who can make actors transform into their characters so completely that we tend to even forget who the actors are.
I don't want to see this movie again (it is powerful enough) but Blessy has consistently given me something to look forward to in life his next movie.