Amen

AMEN is one of the biggest hits in Malayalm cinema in 2013. AMEN aspires to be a magical love story set against the backdrop of the beautiful Kumarankari village which has a colorful and boisterous Syrian Christian culture. The director Lijo Pallisery is obviously inspired by Emir Kusturica's BLACK CAT WHITE CAT and Fellini's AMARCORD.

The script and the performances are so weak that the director has to resort to slapstick in slow motion and beautiful visuals to shore up audience interest. The film is like a collection of every single cliché in Malayalam cinema - the feuding families, cruel priest, star crossed lovers, naughty kappiar and the supportive grandmother. The first 40 minutes of the film is used up in introducing the boisterous, naughty and hard drinking but highly devout villagers of Kumarankari. Some of the characters are just there to get excreta thrown at them or fall off bridges or get chicken curry thrown at them by fiery and defiant Christian women. Some of the comedy scenes seem to have been added only to increase the length of the movie or because the writer did not know what to do with the main plot which is the love story between two individuals that can be fulfilled only if the bumbling guy can pull up his socks and lead his church music band to a victory in a fierce domestic clarinet competition. So you have the usual cringe worthy scenes where the heroine and the hero grin at each other and the hero's sister reprimands them and the heroine and the hero's sister lash out at each other for no obvious reason. Most of the villagers are loud imbeciles and the writer cannot come up with even one witty or biting piece of dialog so every other line is filled with expletives and all of the dialog has to be delivered at the top of the actor's voice almost as if the actors could shout the audience into liking the movie. The whole film is a bunch of beautiful visuals strung together by banalities.

The performances indicate the continued decline in acting standards in Malayalam cinema. None of these new character actors can hold a candle to nedumudi or tilakan or jagathi sreekumar. I have been watching malayalam movies for the last 25 years and as far as acting performances were concerned, it was like travelling in a mercedez benz but nowadays its like going around in a Marathi 800. Fahad Fazil is his usual dull and flat self. Swathi Reddy doesn't do much except smile with her crooked teeth (which is nice to look at) and act defiant. Indrajeet does a decent job as the liberal minded priest. John Paul was mostly convincing as the cruel head priest. But the guy looked like he was hammered most of the time. Everyone else was below average.

Anyway, this is a huge opportunity lost. If the director had paid as much attention to the script as he did with the visuals and the sets, this could have been a very entertaining and magical film.

(3/10)

Taken in a previously unseen manner, Amen promises what it gives by the title, a pure divine comedy. The story has all what is needed in optimum level, along-with an excellent performance by an ensemble cast. The technical brilliance in camera and every other aspect of the film are to be noted. Director Lijo Jose, who had already shown his class with the critically acclaimed movies "Nayakan" and "City of God" proves he is a man to look out for in the future. Fahadh Faasil, Indrajith, Swati Reddy did their roles with full commitment, and so did the film's entire crew. The audience will surely be surprised at the film's way of making, and undoubtedly, the climax was one of the best in Malayalam cinema!

If there was an option for 20/10 . I would have given that such an amazing film. LJP proved his brilliance in this film.

It is actually a divine drama which has ounces of good humor, great music & melodrama. It talks about a small town which is running under a tension of church-renovation. All the corruption & illegality involved is related to the band contests and a love story.

The direction & camera work is fabulous. It reminded me of Qeuntin Tarantino. Lijo Pallissery is a stalwart with the camera. SFX is terrific, while the screenplay is amazing. Slow-mo scenes, spur-of-the- moment impulses and impromptu music performances blew my mind out. Performance by Fahadh Faasil, Swati Reddy & Indrajtih is scintillating. Supporting cast is energetic.

The plot goes flip-flop throughout the movie but as it reaches climax, Amen will prove to be gob-smacking. The level of details is good, locations are exotic, and angles are best. They just increase the inquisitiveness. Only the story seemed a bit low, otherwise Amen has ample stuffs to make you go gaga over it. Elements juxtaposed in a running time of 150 minutes is a let-down, but you should feel every bit of it in order to enjoy the play. It starts off with comedy and ends with you experiencing goosebumps.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended. It gives something new. Powerful & rare execution. A gem of Malayalam cinema. One of the best climaxes ever.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity: Mild | Sex/Foreplay/Nudity: No | Violence: Strong | Gore: Very Mild | Smoking: No | Alcohol: Critical

Magicall,out of the world, best ever Malayalam movie,LJP <3