Jallikkattu Malayalam Movie
The more you interpret this film, the more it becomes beautiful. Though a tenuous tale to offer, 'Jallikattu' attains its unique status with the aid of its powerful tropes and imagery. It seems filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery has taken 'let the visuals speak' stance as the poetic and stunning visuals overpower dialogues befittingly to convey what the director intends. His sharpened satiric approach hardly falters in the metaphoric, and at the same time, realistic narration.
The film is an equal coalesce of wild mystery and eerie effects on a premise that is set in a high-range at Kattappana, Idukki. The series of interesting closeup shots in the opening scene emphasizes the importance of buffalo meat in the life of villagers.
There are lust, an illicit affair, moral policing, ignored old age man, and Man's greed and humbug to appear in this 90 minutes and 30 seconds film. The frenzy and commotion commence when the buffalo kept in a makeshift abattoir, run by Varky (Chemban Vinod), flees for its life. As the visuals rightly mention, buffalo meat is inevitable for the villagers. Varky along with his helper Antony (Antony Varghese) begins their search for the buffalo which went berserk in the village. No sooner did the news spread, than the villagers come in large numbers to find the buffalo.
Kuttachan, played by Sabumon, arrives at the spot for shooting the buffalo. Antony and Kuttachan are at loggerheads as the former had betrayed the latter a few years ago. Antony has a crush on Varky's sister Sophie (Santhy Balachandran) but she never reciprocates it positively. In one of the scenes where a daughter, who returns home after failing her bid to elope with another youth, and her father, who was caught from a women's house, enter the house at the same time. But none of them are aware of their situations with each other. With minimal dialogues, scenes like these are thought-provoking albeit they bring a smile on your lips all of a sudden.
The simple plot of 'Jallikattu' is written by Hareesh. S and R Jayakumar but the intensity strikes the viewers brilliantly. Like his previous films, Lijo's treatment is inimitable, to say the least, and he conceives it with humongous visual potential. The symbolic elements like tropes remind you that Man reminds as savage at heart in certain situations in life. The background score by Prashant Pillai exquisitely sustains the mood of the film, and it's somewhat like taking you to a fantasy terrain.
Cinematographer Gireesh Gangadharan makes you have a lump in your throat, and it would not be exaggerated to say that the visuals, particularly at night, are really captivating. The signature shots that you find in a Lijo movie are also appearing here. Besides, there are some painstakingly conceived frames that emphatically heralds the effort and hard work behind the camera by Gireesh.
Obviously, Lijo's craft is the hero here; with the least scope for characters to perform. Deviating from the copybook style (as he always does), the filmmaker has brilliantly utilized his amazing sense of lighting pattern and story-telling magic! Where are we frantically heading to? 'Jallikattu' has myriad answers!