Just saw “Iratta” (Malayalam movie; translates to “Twins”) on Netflix. Wow, that ending was something.
Good movie, some excellent performances by Joju George as the twins. Both gray characters, one more gray than the other. It’s crime procedural drama, but less of investigation and more about the two twins. Ultimately it is a sad story, in a way you don’t expect until the end. You got to hate the twin who died; but it brings about a conflict in you as he was a victim of his upbringing and circumstances too. That’s no excuse for his behaviour though. But it’s complicated. And that’s where the movie unexpectedly wrenches your gut.
Sigh.
This is the second good Malayalam movie I saw this week. Last Sunday I saw “Ariyippu” (translates to “Declaration”). Another serious movie with some great performances and character driven plot, starring Kunchacko Boban (in a very different role to what you usually expect him to do) and Divya Prabha (not sure if I have seen her in any other movie, but she was great in this one). It’s not as heart wrenching as “Iratta” in the end though, but is a slow burn on general social issues including inequalities of men and women.
Contrast these two great movies to two three crappy movies I saw over this week – “Kaapa” (what a bore, I gave up some 2/3rd of the way, Prithviraj’s character just made no sense), “Alone” (Mohanlal – good concept I suppose, but was eventually rubbish and it had the obligatory Mohanlal twist that seems to be the case with all his “action” movies nowadays), and “Christopher” (again, what a waste). Interestingly all three movies were directed by the veteran directors such as Shaji Kailas (the first two) and B. Unnikrishnan, and maybe that’s why these movies felt like a throwback to the past. I did like the movies by these directors just before this last lot though – “Kaduva” (Shaji Kailas) and “Aarattu” (B. Unnikrishnan; though it’s ending too was a mess).