Kannathil Muthamittal

I saw this film at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival.

This is the first Indian film I've seen in the Tamil language, and while it does share some similarities with other Indian films (wonderful music and choreography, sweeping storyline), the director attempts more than just to entertain. The film tells the story of Amudha, a precocious nine-year old whose parents reveal to her that she was adopted, thus beginning an odyssey that takes them all from India to war-torn Sri Lanka. Gorgeous visuals mix with horrifying scenes of violence expressly to make a point, though it is a simplistic one. Amudha is played by P.S. Keerthana, and she is one of the few child actors I've seen who can be precocious and yet not annoying. Her charm and beauty held the film together.

The film has Maniratnam written all over it. It is subtle in its content, yet manages to be in-your-face with some trademark-Maniratnam blunt dialogs and blunt visuals too. I've only seen Spielberg and Benigni who have managed to balance subtlety and directness wonderfully. Maniratnam is not their class but very close on their heels. At times he is better than them!

The performances are superb, the production values are excellent, particularly the camera and art direction. Yet I have to mention two let downs in the movie. One is sort of major - Rahman's background score. It had a widely fluctuating quality - at times (in the final scenes and in the scenes following Amudha's birthday) bordering on superb and at times (in most of the war scenes, in the scene when Amudha sees the young LTTE girls) downright intrusive. The second one is a minor let down - editing. The movie could have used a good 10 minute trimming in the middle stages.

The first half hour is a series of disjointed events thrown at you at a rapidfire pace, which may not be easy for even Tamilians to follow, not to say how difficult it is for the Western audience. Yet, being a Tamilian, while I relished the first half hour of the movie so much, I can't help but wonder how much of that brilliance remained after translating the dialogs. Personally I had a very hard time translating all the comedy in the movie when I attempted it for North Indians and Americans!

That said, I have watched the movie 5 times already. I don't think I'll stop watching it anytime soon. One of the best to come out of India, heck, one of the finest movies ever made. Kudos to Maniratnam and the entire team!

A hearty 8.5 out of 10.0!

This movie was astonishing how good it was! The plot is extraordinary, and the acting spectacular. At first I thought this wasn't going to be that great because of a summary, but after about the first five or ten minutes of the movie, it struck me that I was dead wrong. I literally cried about four or five times in this movie, and despite this, I must've watched the same scenes over and over again about thirty times in one week! No, the song scenes were not as awesome as they could've been, but the plot is what really gets you. American or Asain, I would recommend this to anyone--and I have now. I guarantee that after seeing this one, you'll get the best out of it, and its plot. I hope you feel the same, and write a rave review too!

Mani Rathnam is seriously a World Class Talent. If he had been working in Western Countries he would be considered in the same league as Stanley Kubrick, Stephen Spielberg or Martin Scorsese.

With Kannathil Muthamittal ( A Peck on the Cheek) he has taken the two sensitive subjects of Adoption and the Civil War in Sri Lanka and linked them together to make a heart wrenching story.

The entire cast is superb. Special Mention should go to P.S. Keertana who acts like a veteran despite being so young. Simran and Nadita Das should also not be forgotten.

Mani Rathnam's directs as always with flair and purpose. He is not as flashy as in his other films but this suits the story.

Overall this is an excellent film. Mani Rathnam please make more films! Also hopefully he will soon get the international recognition he so richly deserves.

The Director of Kannathil Muthamittal directed the first Indian film I had seen "Dil Se" which led me down the path of buying well over 122 Hindi DVDs in the

course of four months. I can say I understood the total attraction, I was

somehow confused as to why the film would stop for "music videos". It was an excellent movie, I didn't know what to make of the dancing and the female

vocals were a bit shrill for my western ears, but somehow I found AR Rahmen's score hypnotic. I bought the soundtrack the following day and then Lagan, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and K3G the following week and with the exception of "Ichi the

killer" a few other Korean films , I can't be bothered to watch much else. Kind of strange for someone who has only watched a strict diet of Hong Kong, Horror

and Action/Science fiction films for the past 30 years.

But I should get back to Kannathil Muthamittal, It is one of the Mani Ratman's latest efforts and I laughed, Cried, Got totally mad, terrified and most of all I didn't feel manipulated. The acting was superb, the photography was beautiful, I think you could stop the movie at any given time and would notice that any give frame would be worthy of painting. The music fit the movie perfectly and after the

credits rolled, I wanted to watch again... so I did.

It would be foolish to discuss the plot for fear that you may miss the pleasure of watching the events unfold and the characters develop. This is what great film is all about! I stood and applauded in my home theater when it was over!

My wife is watching now, and I can't wait for her reaction, I can't expect it will be anything less than mine.