MOVIE REVIEWS

Melvilasam Movie Review

Directed by debutant Madhav Ramadasan, Melvilasom is exciting as it experiments with new ways of storytelling. Shot in a room with hardly a dozen actors and a child making a special appearance, this film shows how dialogues can create mental images for a viewer and also propel the story forward.
It's not like what this film has achieved hasn't been attempted before. There's Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men (1957), where 12 jurors argue about the fate of a teenager who is accused of stabbing his own father to death. There's A Few Good Men (1992), starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, about the court martial of two US Marines deputed in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base for killing a fellow Mariner.
he movie set in the late seventies tells the events of a court martial of Sawar Ramachandran (Parthiban), who is alleged to have shot two of his officers, killing one and gravely injuring the other.Colonal Puri (,Nizhalgal ravi) is there as the government counsel while Captain Vikas Roy (SureshGopi) comes up as the defence counsel. Upright colonel Suraj Singh is the presiding judge before whom the accused , witnesses and others are brought up for questioning.Since Ramachandran has already acknowledged his attempt to kill the officers, Vikas Roy is now after throwing some light into the events that could have prompted Ramachandran to do the crime.
The 110 minutes movie is shot in the single court room, the first card of the movie itself publicises it as a real time movie, which follows the actual happenings in the two hours of court martial proceedings.Soorya Krishnamoorthy's finesse in telling stories is famous and his script is the biggest highlight of the movie. Unleashing a complex tale of life, the power and subdued characters in the army which is not much known to outer world, the movie also stick to the every proceedings that is followed in a court martial.
But the choice of the subject may not find many takers in current Mollywood. It could have worked better as a play on television but the feature film format doesn't seems too inviting. The biggest drawback is also that the director Ramdas and crew has seldom attempted to present it as a convincing movie.Apart from the breakdown into filmi shots and lighting patterns, there is nothing much that the crew has done to give it a filmy look.
The only complain we can have from the film is the fact that it is loud and theatrical in some portions. But considering the fact that the film is devoid of any other technical support to assist the movement of the story, it can be ignored as a minor glitch.
The actors' performances give the film the requisite solidity. Parthiban as Ramachandran is silent during the most part of the film but registers as solid presence nonetheless and plays an iimportant part in the story.
Suresh Gopi's performance shines with his legendary dialogue delivery, peppers his lines with English and he gets his trademark punchline in the form of 'hunter of the soul' around half time. Thalaivasal Vijay, who acts as the presiding officer, has the next important role. Krishna Kumar as the villainous B D Kapoor goes overboard in parts.
Verdict: Melvilasam Clicks !!