Adam Joan Malayalam Movie
Jinu Abraham's Adam Joan is a film that mistakes itself for a rubber band. It stretches and stretches till it is no longer in one piece. This is a movie that will easily disappear into obscurity for the complete lack of entertainment it has at its disposal.
The dialogues are slow and dramatic. The editing reeks of immobility and the background score only fills the awkwardness of each scene with loud, grim arrangements. The shots bask in flat close-ups and out-of-fashion Dutch angles. Disheartening, because even the Gothic landscape of Scotland couldn't inspire beautiful visuals on the lens of Jithu Damodar, the cinematographer.
With A-listers in front of the camera, Adam Joan is still just an excuse for a suspense thriller because it simply has no idea what it is doing. Sure, it may have quite a few fictional villains up its sleeve but they have nothing on the true villain here- Jinu Abraham's clueless script and direction.
Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran has a reputation of selecting risky scripts. So, one can see why he chooses to play the titular character here. Firstly, it is a film where he can show off his heroism in the least complicated ways. Secondly and more temptingly, there is a Hollywood-inspired storytelling trope that forges a unique concept as first impression. Sadly, when each scene of the film overstays its welcome, none of the gimmicks last long.
One thing Adam Joan gets right, though, is its foreign cast. Unlike what most Malayalam films set overseas get horribly wrong, the actors who play some of the major non-Malayali characters here, all have surprising restraint to their respective performances. The same can't be said about the principal cast of Malayalam stars, who are obligated to act theatrically in keeping with the misguided tone of the film.
Adam Joan is the kind of film that will hurt your senses with its listless cinematic tricks.
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