Fair warning! Its going to be a long story. I was excited like a little kid when I was going to watch
kadal. The movie was overall good, not great, slightly overcooked in a lot of
places.
Let's start from the beginning. Bergman's language and accent as a youngster in the seminary was very rich but later into the movie during his old age, not so much and I didn't find any justification in the movie for this. Sam was this cold but good hearted, kind of a nerdy character at the beginning. The seminary brought Agni Natchathiram and Minnale memories.
The title, man I have to talk about this. The background music and the camera frame, can it get any better than this. Gave me the chills, almost as if I was standing on that hill top myself. To be fair the bgm was top notch throughout the movie. I mean if you were impressed with the album be ready to get your mind blown with the re-recording. About the camera, well we'll have to talk later.
The roughness of the fishermen in Tamilnadu is very well documented. It’s a no bullshit portrayal of people living by the sea and off the sea, right from their wardrobe to the beedi and tea shop conversations. Now the mother's death, camera shots were too tight and elegant which was absolutely not necessary. It didn't bring out the tragedy as much as the leg breaking did. Chithirai nila song, while I wouldn't say an apt choice given the proceedings, it was a nice touch since the child is finding its steps.
Talking about finding steps, the first occurrence of the magudi song was, well, I didn't like it plain and simple. I would've run with chithirai nila itself. I believe that would've been an apt choice. The child is indeed finding its steps and what explains it better than the lines 'ettu vai makka'.
A child put through gruesome tragedies, taken up and nurtured by a kind hearted guy, growing up worshiping his mentor, falling in love, getting into fights, going bad and then finding his way back to the mentor, finally saving the day, well that's as old as Tamil cinema itself.
I must say this; Mani Ratnam has indeed conquered a new frontier in Tamil cinema, the Sea. I don't remember anyone else who got this deep into the sea until now. Sea related Tamil movies usually portrayed sea as just a beach but this movie takes us all the way in. Elay keechan song was shot well, but the modern girls dancing, masquerading as the locals was an eyesore. The boat/love scenes shot at, what I believe was allleppey backwaters was a bad choice. People tend to recognize it after the huge success of VTV.
Enter Beatrice, well the names in this movie, while unusual, were different in a good way. Bea was beautiful, angel was the apt description both on and off screen. While the scope of the character was good through the movie actual appearance of the character on screen was just meant to be cute and that played out rather okay I would say, climax felt a bit funny than pity, says the laughter from the balcony seats.
I felt the story line was butchered in a bad way. There was a lot left for us to fill up. Lacked continuity and felt like a lot of stuff compressed to fit the time. Exact opposite to NEP I would say, where 1 hour content was dragged beyond limits to fit the time. Nenjukulle was not choreographed so well, but acceptable given the proceedings in the song. Adiye was my personal favorite but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to listen to the song again. I’m not a dancer, I don’t know choreography, but there was not one aspect in the way the song was shot that made me like it.
Let's start from the beginning. Bergman's language and accent as a youngster in the seminary was very rich but later into the movie during his old age, not so much and I didn't find any justification in the movie for this. Sam was this cold but good hearted, kind of a nerdy character at the beginning. The seminary brought Agni Natchathiram and Minnale memories.
The title, man I have to talk about this. The background music and the camera frame, can it get any better than this. Gave me the chills, almost as if I was standing on that hill top myself. To be fair the bgm was top notch throughout the movie. I mean if you were impressed with the album be ready to get your mind blown with the re-recording. About the camera, well we'll have to talk later.
The roughness of the fishermen in Tamilnadu is very well documented. It’s a no bullshit portrayal of people living by the sea and off the sea, right from their wardrobe to the beedi and tea shop conversations. Now the mother's death, camera shots were too tight and elegant which was absolutely not necessary. It didn't bring out the tragedy as much as the leg breaking did. Chithirai nila song, while I wouldn't say an apt choice given the proceedings, it was a nice touch since the child is finding its steps.
Talking about finding steps, the first occurrence of the magudi song was, well, I didn't like it plain and simple. I would've run with chithirai nila itself. I believe that would've been an apt choice. The child is indeed finding its steps and what explains it better than the lines 'ettu vai makka'.
A child put through gruesome tragedies, taken up and nurtured by a kind hearted guy, growing up worshiping his mentor, falling in love, getting into fights, going bad and then finding his way back to the mentor, finally saving the day, well that's as old as Tamil cinema itself.
I must say this; Mani Ratnam has indeed conquered a new frontier in Tamil cinema, the Sea. I don't remember anyone else who got this deep into the sea until now. Sea related Tamil movies usually portrayed sea as just a beach but this movie takes us all the way in. Elay keechan song was shot well, but the modern girls dancing, masquerading as the locals was an eyesore. The boat/love scenes shot at, what I believe was allleppey backwaters was a bad choice. People tend to recognize it after the huge success of VTV.
Enter Beatrice, well the names in this movie, while unusual, were different in a good way. Bea was beautiful, angel was the apt description both on and off screen. While the scope of the character was good through the movie actual appearance of the character on screen was just meant to be cute and that played out rather okay I would say, climax felt a bit funny than pity, says the laughter from the balcony seats.
I felt the story line was butchered in a bad way. There was a lot left for us to fill up. Lacked continuity and felt like a lot of stuff compressed to fit the time. Exact opposite to NEP I would say, where 1 hour content was dragged beyond limits to fit the time. Nenjukulle was not choreographed so well, but acceptable given the proceedings in the song. Adiye was my personal favorite but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to listen to the song again. I’m not a dancer, I don’t know choreography, but there was not one aspect in the way the song was shot that made me like it.
Gautham is an amazing find. Yes he's the son of a big shot actor but he wouldn't need that tag. Such talent and skill especially in the second occurrence of magudi, now that's how it must’ve been. The actor and the song competing against each other, trying to prove who's better. We already loved the song and it was definitely made better by Thomas/Tom. He's destined for greatness. Right from sailing the boat, turning off Yamaha using his clutch, running across boats, stunts during the song, fight at the fish market, falling in love, breaking bad, I mean the guy pulled off a 180 stretch on the top of a car. What a way to starr in a movie and what a way to kick start a career, nurtured by Mani himself, Tom is going places. I just hope the over praising television media doesn’t spoilt this new talent.
Jerina was a beautiful addition. Classy and elegant, her love for Bergman knows no bounds, which is evident from how she explains it to Sam but as soon as she was brought to church the plan becomes clear. While this was a neat idea, it was confusing when Bergman walked into the cell and said he was indeed shot down and was in need of help given that he's such a big shot in the city, a don, rich with necessary connections, he did not see that coming? If this was all a master plan to destroy Sam, then why would he say he needed help?!?
Jerina was a beautiful addition. Classy and elegant, her love for Bergman knows no bounds, which is evident from how she explains it to Sam but as soon as she was brought to church the plan becomes clear. While this was a neat idea, it was confusing when Bergman walked into the cell and said he was indeed shot down and was in need of help given that he's such a big shot in the city, a don, rich with necessary connections, he did not see that coming? If this was all a master plan to destroy Sam, then why would he say he needed help?!?
Speaking of unexpected twists and turns, well there weren't any, at least for me. Bea runs away from hospital, acts weird in bus with Gautham, wasn't so hard to guess something was wrong with her. Then there was the whole church scene with Jerina. Later Sam was taken to the bell tower for no reason and seeing the bell swing was a dead giveaway for what was going to happen next. Bergman tells Gautham he had a child through an affair, meanwhile Gautham was in love with a girl whose parents' names were a mystery, didn't take us till the hot debate of Gautham with Kalairani to figure out what happened there. Sam was almost shot to dead by Bergman but he suddenly reappears in the boat, bound and tied, of course the daughter was also alive.
Rajiv Menon’s camera, well speaks for itself. Particularly
the climax shot on the boat at the sea, such tight compositions, he has handled
them well. He is one of the reasons to actually watch this movie. Art, from the church to
the fish market, it was extraordinary. The dialogues in the movie, I must
say the director had broke his code and made people talk a lot in this movie. Even
though one wouldn’t understand most of the stuff said on screen, mostly because
of the accent and partly because the artists talked so fast, the rich language
and accent was delivered nicely. If you are used to that southern accent you
would know it was almost perfect, also understand why it was so hard to decipher.
Finally, with the best crew in town Kadal was a neat
movie which could’ve been handled better, a lot better. It wasn’t the best work
of Mani sir, but then it was not like any of his other movies. Kadal was a kind
of its own. 3 hours well spent, 2 days of regret, wonderment for the rest.