Memories

Memories, is a noteworthy movie that comes from Jeethu Joseph who previously gave us the mediocre yet entertaining My Boss, Mummy & Me and Detective. It was quite unexpected for me that he's come up with a movie with such a gripping and entertaining plot. I mean I knew he had skills, evident from his other movies, but Memories turned out to be quite a welcome change from his recent flicks.

Memories uncannily stands out among the recent hyped releases from Ranjith, Lal Jose and Samir Thahir, and with good reason. The lesser you know about Memories the better experience it'd be. Though in a nutshell, it's about a tragedy-stricken, alcoholic police officer named Sam Alex who's shoved into investigating a series of murder cases. The first half of the movie effectively portrays how much distress Sam was in and in the second act the narrative smoothly slides into the investigative mode.

Its been marketed as a psychological thriller, it is definitely a thriller but hardly psychological (an exception being the main antagonist). The pacing was at its finest in Memories allocating equal time for character development and, in its second half, where it transitions into a good thriller. And among all that, there was barely a boring scene anywhere which keeps things intriguing. The second half was more akin to a true whodunnit mystery which keeps you guessing till its revelation in the finale.

Despite the quasi-star-studded cast of the movie, the sole spotlight was on Prithviraj and he effortlessly handled his role of Alex. I wouldn't say its his best performance till date, thats still set aside to his performance as J C Daniel in Celluloid. Commendable performances from Vijayaraghavan, Suresh Krishna kept things flowing. Brownie points for the antagonist which I have no intention of revealing here. (Thank me! :P)

Memories doesn't have the best cinematography or the finest score and the cg was silly and unnecessary but what it lacks there, it more than makes up for, in its intriguing narrative and direction. Its a promising thriller from director Jeethu Joseph which comes off as a plain thriller with no frills attached that never goes over-the-top neither does it fail to entertain you at any point. Watch this one at the big screen and before someone spoils it for you.

The Film is indeed one of the brilliant Indian thrillers made till date with a tinge of romance, drama and neo noir by director Jeethu Joseph (shares my birthday!) after giving all hit films "Detective" (2007), "Mummy and Me" (2010) and "My Boss" (2012) in his career which has shades of films like "Windstruck" (Korea/2004) and "Talaash" (2012) which scores full marks in it's original and taut screenplay (Joseph), the characters who are warm and humane, the brilliant editing by John Kutty which plays a pivotal role in maintaining the chills and thrills in some of the scenes brilliantly edited by him and the music score by Sejo John and Anil Johnson which is equally pivotal and instrumental as the editing in the film. The cinematography by Sujith Vaassudev is brilliant. The flaw in the film, lies in the melodrama, the dialogue scenes which could have been crisper and the visual effects which actually somewhere, look a bit awkward. In the performances, Mia George, Srijeeth Ravi and Vijayaraghavan are brilliant. The others are good and Prithviraj churns out yet another brilliant performance after a spate of his marvelous performances in films like "Celluloid" and 'Mumbai Police", which has shades of Aamir Khan (Sarfarosh and Talaash), Shahrukh Khan (Devdas) and Abhay Deol (Dev D). Overall, director Joseph's narration maintains a good hold over his narration with a killer climax in the end, making the film a must watch. My rating would be: 4/5

Memories are developed for accurate logic and intelligence. No bottom, punch dialogless, no old cinema noises in front of the computer. Sam Alex and the audience are traveling with. The camera is sleeping with the long and aerial shots. Prithviraj has been able to transform his role as a Rough and Tough Police officer, as his husband, father, and as a broken son. We can say that the heroine has a name. A two-and-a-half hour slide down.

You may have seen a lot of movies where an ex cop is asked to solve a case, but mind you this one is different. The major difference is Jeethu Joseph. Memories is a very intense crime thriller drama having excellent performance by Prithviraj.

Acting 8 / 10 Direction 10/10 Screenplay 9/10

Overall a very good movie for the thrill lovers.

Malayalam cinema yet again proves they're boss when it comes to thrillers. Prithviraj is so convincing! You can't guess the main culprit until thr end. The BGM is perfectly balances the tone of the film. Although at times cinematography looks sluggish, overall the movie delivers the best!