Friday, March 22, 2013

Amen review: "Quirky divine satire!!!"

Just a couple of days back, the 60th National Film Awards were announced & deservedly our Malayalam film industry stood out by the plethora of awards coming its way. It's a testament to the influx of new talent into the industry who has been bold enough to venture into untrodden paths. Fahad has already become the craze of the industry coz of this & Lijo Jose Pallissery has already proved his directorial credentials with "Nayakan" & "City of God". So when both of them come together along with the talented Indrajith in "Amen", the expectations are bound to be sky high!!!

 

Kumaragiri Church was believed to be set up at the behest of St. George's spiritual appearance. Over the years, the church was known not only for being a divine pilgrimage site but also for its talented "Geevarghese" band troupe. But all this famed glory had gathered dust after an accident deprived Kumaragiri of their ace clarinetist Estappan & the band was reduced to a pale image of its former self. Estappan's son Solomon (Fahad Fazal) was a talented clarinetist himself, but whose fingers quivered and voice shivered in front of others. He was in love with Sosanna (Swati Reddy), much to the displeasure of her wealthy household. Amidst all this turmoil happening in Kumaragiri, lands Father Vincent Vattoli (Indrajith) who tries to seek an amicable solution, but could he???


Just as with his previous ventures, Lijo Jose Palissery has come up with an impressive product which thrills & engages us in many sequences while doing quite the opposite in quite a few as well. Rafeeque's script needs to be applauded for its experimental take on normal sequence of events which has been assisted to a large extent by the humorous screenplay. Prashant Pillai's music is a major highlight of the film considering its unique choice of songs & not to forget the visuals of Abhinandan Ramanujam. The major flaw of the film is its intermittent slow tempo & length, which could test the patience of some. 

Both Indrajith & Fahad Fazil are awesome as always & they have been handsomely supported by Kalabhavan Mani, Joy Mathew and Co. Equally impressive were the female casts essayed by Swati, Rachana & Sandra Thomas. All in all, each and every member of the cast has performed to what has been expected of them.

Verdict: Already the impressive promos has caught the imagination of the audience. When you add Fahad along with Indrajith to the concoction, it should be able to garner a decent opening though it could be impacted by the opening of "Red Wine". The film is definitely experimental & might not be palatable for some primarily owing to the drawbacks I have mentioned earlier. However, I would surely suggest that you guys got to check it out!!!

Rating: 4.25/5

Regards...Ben




2 comments:

  1. This is why I disagree with your ratings though I find your reviews pretty good most of the time. Your ratings are not necessarily in sync with your reviews. You rated "shutter" as 3/5. The tone of your review "urged" the reader to watch it. (it seemed like you very much enjoyed the movie). In the review for "Amen", you are not sure about it. But, it is given the same rating as "Shutter"?

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  2. Well the ratings are based on how I perceive about the film personally. But regarding what you meant by my tone of urging or not is based on my gut feeling as to how majority of my friends & colleagues usually react to different genres of films.

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