This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on August 1, 2014. On the busy day of a celebratory function in an apartment building, nine people end up stuck in the building’s elevator. All of them are, in some way, connected with a mysterious woman (Meghna Raj), who ends up dead…
Leave a CommentTag: Malayalam Cinema
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on August 1, 2016. Award-winning Malayalam director Jayaraj turned to an Anton Chekov short story, “Vanka”, to find the inspiration for his most recent film Ottaal (“The Trap”), proof that some themes transcend place and time. Eight-year-old Kuttappai (Ashanth K. Sha), orphaned after the…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on November 5, 2017. One of the things the film Ustad Hotel introduced me to was Sulaimani chai, which is mentioned many times in the film, and which has an important role in one scene in particular. It’s also known as Malabar spiced tea —…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on November 17, 2017. This post is part of the It Takes a Thief blogathon organized by Moon in Gemini (and fair warning, it’s also a bit spoilery). Be sure to check out all the entries! Marti (Chemban Vinod Jose) arrives at a church in…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on May 14, 2019. Pallavi Raveendran (Parvathy) is a smart, vibrant young woman who, from a young age, wants to become a pilot. Pallavi’s father, Raveendran (Siddique) is loving and supportive, taking on work so that he can pay for the things Pallavi…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 4, 2019. Fans of director Lijo Jose Pellissery (LJP) were delighted to finally see one of his films turn up at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) – and a recent article in the Toronto Star devoted to “buzz picks” for this…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 7, 2019. The first part of this overview of Lijo Jose Pellissery (LJP)’s films focussed on the director’s earlier work — in this installment, I look at LJP’s three most recent films, starting with the very strange (and sometimes quite wonderful) Double…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on October 27, 2019. Ittymaani: Made in China gets its title from the fact that its protagonist (Mohanlal) is named Ittymaani and he was, well, literally “made in China”, born there to Ittymathan (also Mohanlal) and his wife Theyyamma (Madhuri Braganza as young Theyyamma,…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on October 31, 2019. We first met the four friends Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindankutty (Siddique), Appukuttan (Jagadish) and Thomaskutty (Ashokan) in the 1990 film In Harihar Nagar, a comedy thriller from the writing/directing duo Siddique-Lal which became a massive hit and which remains a cult…
Leave a Comment