Appavum Veenjum Malayalam Movie
'Appavum Veenjum' deconstructs the mystery genre in ways that authentically interest the discerning cinephile, throwing up one surprise after the other even while keeping a guessing game on in full swing.
Sunny Wayne plays Jude in 'Appavum Veenjum' who has strayed on to a hazy terrain where the mist has spread its elusiveness all around, day and night. There he runs into Fernandez, an odd estate owner with whom he strikes up an amity. He is also introduced to the indefinable Merlyn (Remya Krishnan), Fernandez's wife, who with an obscure and almost deceptive charm adds up to the mystery of the place.
The foggy backdrop of 'Appavum Veenjum' is one that lets its chill seep across the screen and the confounding mindscapes of its leading characters are no less intriguing. Viswanathan shrewdly lets us come to conclusions every now and then, only to dismantle them time and again and perplex us even further.
This does not however suggest that 'Appavum Veenjum' is a flawless cinematic creation that will not at any moment let down the film lover in you. At times, the film appears to take an incredibly long while to convey things across and there also are the several queries with a few lose ends here and there that keep hanging in the air even after the film has ended.
The real hero of the film remains Prathap Pothen who productively brings in the right amount of weirdness into his character, where as Sunny Wayne carries his brooding act a bit further with the film, deciding to give expressiveness the royal ignore this time around as well. Remya Krishnan looks ravishingly good despite age having caught up with her, and the oomph that she exudes is delightfully seductive.
Ouseppachan's striking musical store is haunting, and the creepy cinematography by Venugopal exemplifies the intrigue. The silence that comes to play with only the rustle of the wind raking up a poignant melody of its own is at once soothing and shattering, and makes the arresting sound design stand way apart.
I would say that at the end of it all, I was left wishing that there was a bit more to it than what eventually transpired. Which is why I feel that it's the journey towards the finale that is fascinating in 'Appavum Veenjum' much more than the culmination itself; the instances that lead towards the final moments are much more enthralling than what ensues as the film draws to a close.
'Appavum Veenjum' serves as a reminder that it plainly isn't enough that a film is crafted with all industriousness; since with the kind of minimal publicity that a film as this has received, it isn't surprising that I could very easily count the heads around me in the cinema hall. Not much of a surprise then that shows were cancelled the very next day, thereby denying what was left of the viewers a varied cinematic experience.
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