City of God

City of god is a 2011 malayalam movie directed by Lijo Jose Pelliserry. It is basically a crime thriller and the film uses a hyperlink narrative.The film deals with 4 stories: 1)Prithviraj and his friend Sony 2)Rema Kallingal and his husband 3)Remya Nambisan and her friend 4)A group of tamil migrant workers(Indrajith and Parvathy) While the first three stories are interlinked ,the last one(tamil migrant workers) stands alone and according to me that is the major problem of the film. Almost all the actors have performed well.There us not much to talk about the performance of Prithviraj's and Swetha Menon but Indrajith along with Parvathy,Rima Kallingal,Rohini,Anil Murali ,Sudheer Karamanhave performed very well but what really surprised me was the performance of Chemban Vinod. Even though he only got a few scenes he has performed extremely well.He just nailed it.The handy cam work by Sujith Vasudev was just mesmerizing.Lijo has again done a brilliant work with the different narrative style and has also been careful not to add any cliché.The film is pretty good but could have been better if the script could have linked the story of Indrajith with the other three and also could have given much more role to Remya Nambisan. A must watchable for all those who love Lijo's work.

Now that the pitchforks are out, let me tell you that this movie has a decent story and some pretty good characters. Plenty of grey to explore when it comes to the characters except maybe a couple. However, the camerawork in this movie is downright nauseating. Shaky cam works well when it's used in moderation and follows the motion and actions. Over here it just feels like the cameraman is having a random spasm while filming. It completely dilutes the experience of watching this movie. With better direction (the director is clearly capable of it) this could've easily been a 7/10 but as that's not the case, this just ends up being a below average mess.

The movie is an illustration of contrasts and balance in life. It is a showcase of different shades of life and how people from different strata react to life in general. There are basically four different story lines running parallel to each other. The narration is one of the types that have never been tried in the industry. The whole movie is a like a collection of short stories. For each story the script has a reference point and the narration follows a pattern where each story line is followed until they reach that particular reference point. And when a segment gets over, the characters would have added themselves a new layer or a wing and they would be flying around or crawling about. Prithviraj(Jyothilal) plays a character where his wooden frame-set is perfect. He plays a muscle and friend-in-need for his rich friend. Then we have Rima Kaliingal(Surya Prabha) playing the character of a cine artist who has to face horrors from the past and present of her life. She has done a decent job with her character. Then there is a NRI wife, Viji(Swetha Menon), whose husband is murdered by Jyothilal and co. Her revenge forms her story. And final group is a set of Tamil workers settled in Kochi. A love story set in the midst of unconventiality. All these four story lines keeps converging and diverging. And these converging and diverging keeps the interest level stable. The screenplay does not have any clearly defined acts. And therefore the peak which the movie tends to reach before interval and towards the climax does not have much of an effect. The shaky-handy cam feature reaches Malayalam industry with this movie. It lends a much needed realistic touch to the movie. The BGM which gets hiked up in the climax sequences shows the true classy nature of the director. This movie is an experiment. It will not work with the commercial audience as there are no commercial elements to satisfy them. But this is a movie to be noted down for future references. Solid characterizations, a different format for narration, and a bold script.

Script wise story wise and acting wise a top notch one but the cinematography made it down.The camera is extremely shaky which made it hard to watch especially stunts. An accident and more than 4 story's with each ones back story is great.One of best scripts in last 15 years of malayalam industry.I really wish if some one remake it once more. Prithviraj indrajith parvathy rima swetha also the protagonist characters each and every one done their best.

i was waiting for this movie since i saw the trailer i expected a good movie from the young talent Lijo Jose Palliserry. who had a great debut in the previous year

i loved the movie . the movie is far apart from my expectation. i never thought a movie of this kind will not happen in Malayalam.everything is very natural and the best part the director tried to do everything creative no clichéd scenes are not in this movie.. very original duologue's .very original scenes and everything have a naturalism.

every department of the movie is perfect music,cinematography, Back Ground music, acting, sound editing.

the movie contain three story that parallel to each other.

Lijo introduces the protagonists one by one through a road accident scene where incidentally all the characters are involved. The movie then rolls into flashback….

Swarnavel (Indrajith) is a Tamil immigrant His raw love and affection for a fellow worker Marathakam (Parvathy Menon) and his desire to marry her makes him run into a lot of trouble.

Soorya (Rima Kallingal ) is a film actor She has a troubled marriage and has a history of a love relation that had gone sour with a businessman – one Mr. Sony Vadayaattil (Rajeev Pillai)

Jyothilal (Prithviraj) is a good friend of Sony and does all the dirty work for him. When a business deal with Mr. Punnoose goes sour, Sony seeks Jyothilal's help to 'deal' with Punnoose.

Mrs. Punnoose (Swetha Menon). seeks revenge for the death of her husband and she plays with men of power in the city to ensure her husband is avenged.

The story develops centering around the love story of Swarnavel, Sony's quest for getting Soorya back into his life and Mrs. Punnoose 's revenge. The journey is slow at times, but the action and suspense with an unorthodox way of story telling keeps the audience interested.

Lijo is renowned for his different story telling and this too is not one of the 'characteristic' Malayalam Box Office movie. He has dealt with an above average script by keeping the raw bloody feel of the action intact along with the hand held cinematography of Sujith Vasudev. Sujith's work needs to be lauded as he keeps the movie as realistic to the viewer without letting effects take a toll.

the director is a gift to the Malayalam cinema.

City of God's unconventional approach might find divided opinion among the Malayalee audience, though in my opinion, Hollywood fans will appreciate the effort put in to make this movie.