4v291o

have always ALWAYS hated how disturbingly the tone shift happens right from the ⛰️ song.

but my dear god, banger writing, banger direction and banger performances.

would forever watch a Ponjikkara body show even if it means I need to get married to that family.

half my childhood looked like this movie.

lived a life. :)

half star for the setup,
half star for the character quirks,
one star for the DySP joke (so dumb, I love it),
and
one star for the cameo, that's ONLY possible in malayalam cinema.

Sinners is a cool band name. (worship)
.
sooo original.
sooo...cinema. :)

ah, there it is.

Chekov's Title.

Tumbbad with atheism.

a very good make-believe.

logging this here after watching that new clip on YouTube.

i watching this in the theatres with family, and fighting with dad after, about "dreams", and getting my ass kicked.

would not recommend (fighting with a mallu dad at 17 i mean). 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

This review may contain spoilers.

The Ant-Man 3 of Malayalam Cinema : you just pretend that it doesn't exist. (in the trilogy atleast)

"Govardhanu endhenkilum health issues undo?" took me out.💀
also youth gen z Jathin, with his little vape and the  "i'M a BaD bAd BoY😎🥴😏" habits.

kinky ahh film -

"handcuff me" - Robert McCarthy

"haath uthake hilaalo" - Bajrangi

"I'll use you." - KA

"handcuff me" - Priyadarshini Ramdas

REALLY liked the first 3-4 scenes, on how they established the tone of the film and its world. the sexual violence was VERY unnecessary though.

really enjoyed Bajrangi's theme, with the hard electric guitar and chenda.

Songs were nice, specifically the Job Kurian track, felt the kerala-ness, was a good shift of tone.
music did what it should, except for Stephen's, Bajrangi's and Priyadarshini's, the rest of the themes weren't as memorable. the trailer had a better theme for K-A than the film.

also fashion designer ahh gangster, with that drip for A10, was very cheesy to stare at for a long time. there were such really interesting creative choices throughout the film, which I'm not sure landed the way Prithviraj wanted it to.

the final action scene really felt like it could be placed in a Telugu film, specifically Mirchi (2013).

Dialogues really did feel like an old theatre play, Lucifer (2019) had SOO much aura with A10 and the entire writing of it, missed that here.

i think Prashant Neel did to R10 what Santosh Sivan did to A10.

no matter what the production quality, or the big-scale of it all, where Malayalam cinema shines is truly in its writing, and that's what lacked here, a cohesive, impactful foundation for all the technical mega-towers to stand on, unlike Lucifer (2019), which delivered a "big world, small story", that worked really well for me. missed that here as well.

But beyond all that, I am so proud of Malayalam cinema and the irable production quality in this. Definitely a path-breaker for more films to come. Still enjoyed experiencing this in the theatres. I just wish the writing had earned the incredible cinematography and sound design this film delivered.

1 star for the technical strength and 2 stars for the 2 Ls that the film, and the audience, took.

gonna go re-watch Lucifer (2019) to redeem myself from this.

i learnt a thing or seven about the Hindi audience today.

Christopher Nolan's most human film, yet.

all the followers of Cinema entered a dark room today, drowning themselves in space, thanking the god of light and sound, for the magic of what Nolan and his team has created for the history of the world. for the history of art. for the history of humanity.

this is probably what people in the 90's felt like when they watched Jurassic Park in the theatres.

ingesting all those pixels into your eyeballs, immersing yourself in that huge-ass IMAX screen, definitely does things to your body.

📸 cinema that changed me 🎥

do saji, jeevikande?

what a perfect piece of cinema, with a perfectly edited trailer. this is how you sell a movie.

did not expect to cry as much as I did. the film hit me a lot more than my first watch.

the music, the editing, the cinematography, the writing, the performances, the direction!! everything is so incredibly well done. 

once in a lifetime.
always in this lifetime.

📸 cinema that changed me 🎥

yearning sandwich of a film.

holy shit i love the editing so much. the performances are incredible.

parking ticket gags always get me.

a very interesting screenplay, that ends with a heart.

-----------

on the Academy Awards 2025 wins :

this is such a win and an exciting phase for independent cinema.
I'm so happy. the same happiness I got when an
"academy" like The Academy recognised Everything Everywhere All At Once as the best picture, best director(s) and best screenplay, 2 years ago. a screenplay that was so..unconventional.
and that is comforting and inspiring to know.

the same kind of comfort I experienced when Barbie (2022) had an ending like it did. with fucking montage of clips from the internet???? yes please. very unconventional. very indie. very non-textbook Hollywood.
very, original :)

this is a win for the art of cinema.

i'm sorry to myself.

the same team that was involved in making Vanaprastham (1999) was involved in making A10 sit on a huge the middle of a CGI sea, that honestly just looked like a blue curtain. that's wild.
i am not even gonna comment on the lizard on the wall.png scene. because i can't. i don't have words.

This review may contain spoilers.

cinema is history.

i really liked the setting, premise, and Zarin Shihab's performance, my dear god, so good! I wish we saw more of Pushpam's lore and motivations.

i personally have an issue with investigative dramas and thrillers choosing "co-incidences" as a narrative tool because it always feels like a cop-out, and I start trusting the story lesser.

but a very decently made love letter to the dream of cinema, and an after-thought of a main character.

that house was gorgeous.

the involvement of a "faceless" Mammootty in this and the "Mammootty Chettan" moment felt like a good meta closure for the Mammootty x Asif Ali arc that started with Rorschach (2022).

an absolute representation of the migrant bangalore experience, and a not so absolute representation of my relationship (non-existent).

what nothing, except everything. wishes it was.

the character quirks and one liners in this work really well for an ensemble film.

I envy at the ability of such commercial films that don't take themselves that seriously, but also gives you a shit load of emotional reasons to care for the characters.

This review may contain spoilers.

I miss this kind of comedy in cinema these days. 

here's a list, from 'A Film by A Lot of People',
to 'I don't understand fishing metaphors',
to the Fake Beard Guy,
to Earl's excessive gymnastic policing, and Cal,
to Sam's blurry view of Chad Flint right before she wears the glasses,
to the mayor's 'Choice. Choice. Choice',
to the Remote Control TV that steals a man,
to Sam's food puns,
to Steve repeatedly screaming 'Steve!',
to Cameraman/Comedian/Pilot/Doctor Manny,
to that one Chinese man in London,
to realising midway that it's Bill Hader's voice,
to the age old "Boomer parent trying to send an email" gag,
to the well earned 'Mamma Mia' at the sight of a spaghetti tornado,
to the Fake Beard Guy casually enjoying his car drive in the middle of a spaghetti tornado who was polite enough to let Flint through his door,
to the British screaming 'Hot tea? Please, sir, hot tea?'
to Flint's dad's eyeballs that are waiting to taste the light of day,
to the credit sequence that has monuments made with vegetables - but dark gloomy London just stays as dark gloomy London - and 
to the heart and soul in the story,
& soo many more moments that I'm forgetting to rememory, that I'd absolutely LOVVE to re-watch. 

what a banger.

Lord and Miller's yummy brains ftw!

coolest start to the year.

ending the year with this was an absolute win.
the compositions were GORGEOUS. beautiful soundtrack.

i, unfortunately, wasn't able to connect with the characters as much as they tried, but loved how the psychology is shown. it's probably due to the time of my life i am watching this at. might need a rewatch to take it all in.

this would make such a good companion piece for Monster (2023).

bro, i didn't even think of 7.

Retention Editing : The Movie

7? i'll tell you what's cool about the number 7.
i am 7 minutes in, and i don't even know what's going on, yet.
this felt like 7 movies muddled into one "what is death if not the cessation of life" montage, that said nothing. oh.
OHHHH.

i mean, it's shot decently, and there's a slight tinge of effort in the editing.

i wish people didn't force out philosophy, from the most basic of experiences (just like me).

a comment on youtube by @suryagurung7793 sums up my experience of experiencing this :

I guess this is the new age. A shit ton of polished nothing is what attracts us.

and holy shit what's with the font size and the scroll speed for the end credits??? YOU CAN READ THAT??

stories we tell.

i really like how RBP writes romance.

air-il chaadunadh mukhyam, Bigile.

what a funky, groovy milestone of an experience.

I think I may have a thing for British filmmakers, and their cultural influences.

Boris's Tetris music fading out as he goes into a door and fading back in as he walks out was so hilarious to me.

This review may contain spoilers.

the vibes are immaculate, but the feelings aren't.

this film could have been a really good campy comedy, in Aadu (2015) or Edgar Wright style, if it hadn't taken itself so seriously. it forces me to care when there was nothing to care about in the first place.

we missed out on two of the greatest modern Indian filmmakers having a Mexican Stand-off.

and yet again, Rex Vijayan lives up to his name.

enjoyed the dialogues, enjoyed the background score from Rex, Yakzan & Neha Nair.

but if I imagine this to be a movie that came out in the 90s, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

9/11 time capsule.

omg i can finally listen to the score now.

the story existed for the sake of the film.

although the movie looked and sounded beautiful, the world and the characters felt like they wouldn't exist out of the 4 borders of this screen and the camera.

"no pain, no gain" is wild.

dark, man.

animated stories always do have the best use of the cinematic medium.

this not being on Netflix was the biggest red-herring.

not enough rifles, or clubs, or men.

idk, i didn't read the book.
nor did i watch the film, yet. :))))

(please i was REALLLY bored on letterboxd at 7:42 am on a thursday morning)

the screenplay and the direction felt exactly like kurup. they kept running away from any sense of tonal consistency.

this universe will always make me feel.

i also realised why i love mockumentaries now. it's because of house much I relate to the unhinged and unstructured narratives that they carry, because of my brain yaps.

delulu is, quite literally, the solulu.

an ✨ a e s t h e t i c ✨ exploration of the cinematic medium.

the camera stopped existing.

i looked at women differently today, and it was beautiful.

how did nobody EVER think of showing text messages in cinema in such a simple way! 

this film and the world grows on you, especially when you drive with the soundtrack blasting in your ears at 9:30 PM on a monday night in Bangalore traffic, while the light of full moon glares at you and you stare back at it.

why was this on Netflix?

and the frames were cropped out??

the world of this film grows on you, like a little coconut tree.

🦹🏼‍♂️hari's indian superhero archive.🦹🏼‍♀️

so much soul! loved it!

easily one of the best written commercial films from Tamizh. loved looking at it, loved feeling it. that's what she said.

i think this is SK's best as well.

🦹🏼‍♂️hari's indian superhero archive.🦹🏼‍♀️

i liked episode 4 and the character of Madhavan.
i also enjoyed the score. very nice.

but i am worried that i have started to look like Harshad Mehta.

a brilliant piece of storytelling and direction, with a great set of actors, but i don't think it hit me the way i hoped it would.

ken burns who?

kneekill boy put me on a gunpoint to watch this, for MONTHS, and dear god am i glad that i finally did.

things i learnt from this -
1. this was made in 1962????? holy shit.
2. how incredibly well the beauty of cinema works, even when stripped down to its bare minimum. the implied idea of feelings, of a war, of a future & of worlds, are all conveyed with just the usage of montage.
3. love is the easiest go-to emotional tool you can use to make people care about your characters, even if they're just literal photographs.
4. the music made me love this more than i thought i would.
5. this was made in 1962????? holy shit.

thought i wouldn't enjoy this, but art inspires art. and the art of cinema inspires my yappery.

i am so....mesmerized.

one of those films that makes you want to make films.

📸 cinema that changed me 🎥

kani, kusruthi kanikalle

is my favourite dialogue from cinema of the last decade.

loved the performances, loved the music (although seemed excessive at times) and loved the (almost) tight writing.

i wish the movie visually also looked quirky.
i wish it went darker, with the events.
i wish the cat had a rat in its mouth in the end.

but so proud and happy that this is Malayalam Cinema.

This review may contain spoilers.

kunjikka's big short.

damn that ikka drip in the end.

I think I'll be entering my Bhaskar-era now because the father and son Bhaskar duology has convinced me enough to be a Bhaskar.

the third act didn't feel like a third act to me (unusually), because the film had multiple third act feeling episodes that kept me engaged and to care for, and I liked that.

also, GVP cooking back to back. so cool.

i shall go watch Scam 1992 (2020) and The Big Short (2015) and become a millionaire on the side now.

i still can't get over Monster (2023).

i already miss this.

this film felt & looked like a dream and a memory that i eternally want to live in.

i always cry at the idea of freedom, i think.

i LOVED the simple but such strong exploration of trauma, sexuality and childhood.

this film unraveled something in me.
I mean, it replaced CID MOOSA from my four favourites on letterboxd! (I KNOWWW!!!) idk what else to call that phenomenon other than life-changing.

🌼 cinema that changed me 🌸

a Japanese film about 2 Japanese kids who grew up in sub-urban Japan, spoke so much about MY childhood. about myself. about a boy who grew up in sub-urban Bangalore. personal is universal.
I loved this so much.

edit : i really miss this.

all i kept thinking throughout was "how would have Priyadarshan made this?"

the set-up and the ambience is impeccable.

bro, they had jump cuts DURING the action shots. well, that's a first.

was intrigued to see the biggest and the most impactful action star in this movie : the camera.

a solid army biopic in it's classic, basic format.

liked all the different military episodes and perspectives they took me through. liked how sensitively each theme of the movie is handled. atleast on the surface level.
loved the songs.

i wish more of Major Mukund's (RIP) psyche was explored. the pain, trauma, anxiety, flaws, joys, all of it. or atleast some of it.

what is with tamizh cinema and it's very first draft portrayal of malayalam man, on repeated occasions (looking at you Anirudh and Hip Hop Tamizha). 
Sai Pallavi's performance redeemed her "REALLY GOOD" malayalam for me.

i don't watch enough movies. but from the ones that i do, this is cinema that has touched my soul.

a list of films that have changed my perspective on cinema and life, in no particular order.

• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Truman Show
• Inception
• Mr. Nobody
• Manichitrathazhu
• Your Name.
• C.I.D. Moosa
• American Animals

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

you know what i mean???

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

  i mean, it's in the title.

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

  i want to inject all of those pixels into my eyeballs again.

• Love, Death & Robots: The Witness

Indian films that I have watched, that technnically (or already) belong in the "Superhero" genre.

• Minnal Murali
• Maaveeran
• Saripodhaa Sanivaaram
• The Man Who Feels No Pain

yet another iconic cinematic universe from the Indian Film Industry, starring a father and the son, as Bhaskars.

• Bhaskar The Rascal
• Lucky Baskhar

an on-going critically acclaimed franchise from the malayalam film industry. the greatest one yet.

• Kumbalangi Nights
• Rorschach

courtesy - instagram.com/@_the_movie_guy_ and @unnikrishnan.jr

• Pappan Priyappetta Pappan
• O' Faby
• Dr. Pasupathy
• Mandanmar Londonil
• Naradhan Keralathil
• Tharangam
• Ayal Njanalla
• Vaayai Moodi Pesavum
• Mariyam Vannu Vilakkoothi
• Adventures of Omanakuttan

in no particular order, please 🙏🏼
actually you know what? in yes particular order.
also, had to drop a few gems to pick "12",
choices will be the death of me, GOD!!
I DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO DO THIS, LETTERBOXD'S INSTA !!

1. Oppenheimer
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
3. Jigarthanda DoubleX
4. Sapta Sagaradaache Ello - Side B
5. Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare
6. Barbie
7. Killers of the Flower Moon
8. BEEF
9. Kannur Squad
10. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

and how the rest of the crew made sense out of it.

• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• Tenet
• Swiss Army Man
• C.I.D. Moosa
• Love, Death & Robots: The Witness
• Mahaveeryar
• RRR
• Big Brother
• The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Originals & Featured productions by Ten Thousand Pixels, a new media artist collective based in Bangalore, India.

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