Zombie Reddy Analysis

Zombie Reddy (2020)

Written and Directed by: Prashant Varma

Streaming on Aha!

It's a fun flick. It sticks to the zombie film genre, doesn't subvert much or it doesn't have any socio-political comment going on undercurrent. But the way, it reimagines the popular Telugu cinema faction genre, is terrific. It's a blast in those episodes. The comedy is also physical, and out in our faces. It feels like a parody at places. They create humour out of weird hair and make up choices - actor Prithvi not having two arms, RJ Hemanth's beard - create fun. The scene where Getup Srinu headbutts every one and ends up headbutting an iron pole is hilarious. Teja Sajja is good, I was not sure about him looking at the posters - but in the film - he fits very well. The angle of 'gamers never give up' is interestingly explored.

I felt that the scientist was too caricature-ish, his experiments - they don't even try to shoot these scenes in a convincing way. I think the film is unapologetically on the face and it works in favor of the film for the most. The poster sets the expectations right. There are some really good moments, like the mother breastfeeding her baby when she's bit. The plot of temple's water being a cure was also a visually interesting choice. The film takes a good path when the girl doesn't pull the trigger and gives up her own life because she can't shoot - the stakes suddenly go up. All in all, it's a fun film. It is extremely self aware in what it's trying to do and this is how I'd love to watch commercial, masala films where they exactly know what they're doing and what they're not.

Koode Analysis

Koode (2018)

Directed by: Anjali Menon

Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Nazriya Nazim, Parvathy Thiruvothu

Based on Marathi film 'Happy Journey'

Streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

It's a film with a simple premise, which talks about coming to terms with loss. I really liked how they treated such a complex theme with a slice of life treatment and such simplicity. This is a good example as to how we can mask a story of a complex theme in a story about love. The Josh and Sophie track, although explores how Josh overcomes his fear and inhibitions - it doesn't have much to do with the core story - but it cleverly designed in a way that we feel satisfied after Josh and Sophie get together after rounds of conflicts. It's a good example as to how we can seamlessly introduce stakes in a story dealing with complex themes as well. I really liked the premise, where we sees the spirit of his sister. It just goes to say that he hasn't gotten over the loss and is thinking what she'd do or say. It's a beautiful coming-of-age arc for Josh, where he goes from 'doing stuff because it's duty' to 'doing stuff out of love' - when he stands up for himself and takes Sophie with him - he isn't concerned about the consequences. He for once, thought about himself.

The filmmaking has a strong voice which comes through even in the most simple shots, whether it's the dog sitting somewhere in the scene, or the shots of food, the locations the film is shot in. Prithviraj Sukumaran was really good as Josh, mainly his body language. It's in total contrast with what he did in Ayyapanum Koshiyum. Nazriya was also terrific, especially there's a scene when Josh apologizes to Jenny after they have a fight when they're sitting on the van. And she just cries - that reaction was terrific - it's exactly how people react when someone confronts their feelings after they pile it up for a while. They just burst. I wasn't a big fan of Jenny's flashback, but I liked how they used it in Jenny's eulogy where they help Josh and Sophie flee. 

Ricky Gervais: Humanity

Ricky Gervais: Humanity (2018)

Streaming on Netflix. 

It's a hilarious take on how people take offence for anything and everything, often without understanding the context and the intention. He talks about how people won't laugh at a joke, which has the word 'rape' in it and there's a difference between having the word in a joke, and making jokes on the act itself. He also talks about how sometimes, it's not even punching up and down - it could be plain, witty word play or pun. His entire humor is punching down, and yet it makes us laugh because his way of telling the story is so good and in a way empathetic that we forget our problems, our own lives, our tolerance to pain and go into his shoes and look at things from his perspective. Doesn't mean our lives are trivial - it's just that for a life you forget stuff and just enjoy the jokes. The ordinary 'scum'. The jokes on the posters offering guitar lessons. Why he won't have kids. All of these are hilarious. And he even has jokes in between narrating, for example - he narrates two long stories about why he won't have children, and then he says, 'my third reason is...' and that's funny because we wouldn't expect he'd have more. It's very interesting how he has this special full of jokes. It's entirely unpredictable. I'm really enjoying the way trying to understand how jokes work - and that's the best part - understanding comedy doesn't make jokes any less fun, just like how people say - when you study cinema, how do you enjoy it? It's the same here too, knowing more about the form makes it more fun to appreciate and engage with it. Absolutely loved this one.

Bo Burnham: what.

 Bo Burnham: what. 

Streaming on Netflix. 

This piece is a mixture of a lot of art forms, which all blend together seamlessly. Comedy, music, satire, parody, mime, poetry, prose, dance. It's almost like there's nothing he doesn't do. He uses every form to tell something, and it's so fun to watch. His multi-talent makes him so unique an artist that it could even be difficult to define what he exactly is. A stand up comedian, actor, musician, screenwriter, director. All of them come together seamlessly to create a unique voice. The entire show is heavily meta in nature. My favorite piece is the left brain, right brain division - it's brilliant humor created through really good understanding of basic psychology. His jokes about how everyone gives advice, on catering to the audience more is also funny. I always find parody and humor based on imitating hilarious, because there's no setup needed and the jokes can come back to back. In fact, that was my very first piece of writing. I used to write and direct plays based on parody in school back then. I would imitate lecturers in college, by putting them in scenes from popular movies. It's hilarious. Even spoofs. I love them. 

The Family Man S2 Analysis

The Family Man Season 2 (2021)

Created, Directed and Produced by: Raj & DK
Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Samantha, Priyamani
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Spoilers Alert.

The series opens with a terrific 7-minutes which sets up the conflict of the entire season very well. The best part about the show is it's funny and tension evoking at different times, never feeling out of tone anytime in the show. The funniest was the ending of Ep-4, where Srikanth and Talpade get caught near the dead body, I watched this scene thrice already. I loved how they didn't hesitate to set up the show cross culturally, and how there is a lot of Tamil dialogue. Though they create a lot of fun through the cultural differences at times, that's not their only resort to comedy. It mostly comes through the quirks of Manoj Bajpayee and his initial track of how he deals with drudgery. 

I love how the series picks up tension as the episodes progress, the subplot of Dhriti getting trapped is brilliantly done throughout the show. I love how they had some internal conflict for Kalyan - and how he is struggling between two very strong choices - war and love. It finally comes to an end with a lot of stake for Srikanth. It's personal for him, everything could break apart for him - he'd probably even lose his wife, and also for his cause. I liked what they did with Raaji - Sam did a great job in spite of it seeming a bit out of tone in a scene or two. The threat that she could be, comes through the coldness very well. It's interesting how they deal the Srikanth - Suchi track, always by hiding something - they don't show us the drama there. Perhaps because it'd turn out to be out of tone of the show. Yet, the way their arc progressed in this season was interesting - I'm interested to see how Srikanth will deal with what Suchi tells him.

The action scenes with the long takes are amazingly done - whether it's the rebels attacking the police station to get out Raaji, or the climax episode - the way the camera goes in with the characters as they go in a car, come out of it - it makes the experience so immersive. I'm excited to see the next season, the premise is simple and just kick-ass.

Kala Analysis

Kala (2021)

Directed by: Rohith V. S.
Starring: Tovino Thomas, Sumesh Moor

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The best part about the film is the tone of the film - it is a result of the locations, the costume, the editing, the character, production design, music - they arrive at this world, and this tone after using all the tools of filmmaking. There is a strange sense of eeriness to the world, and sometimes it feels psychological too. The film is high on style - it has non-continuity editing, it uses a lot of wide angle close shots to create a sense of distortion - in the way we see the characters - and the camera moves a lot. The setting is a simple house in a forest, there is a family and though it is a simple family - Shaji is an extremely complex character which is what makes the film more than just a horror/home invasion flick. That's the best part about films that subvert genres - they inspire other writers to try all genres and not get taken aback just because the general films that come out in that genre are not that great. 

For me, the point that the film was trying to make didn't come through that well. It talks about how deep down, we all are animals and how it creates problems in the modern world. It's a simple point, did I have to watch them fighting for about 40 minutes to arrive at this? Maybe not. That's what my issue was. Perhaps I didn't understand the other layers the film had. I could see how the film is pro-compassion too, with the ending. I like that it's a complex film, but I'm just wondering why they approached a film which talks about peace, and humanity in this violent a form. The violence is disturbing too, it's not fun to watch. And when they are fighting, I wasn't empathizing with either - I just felt like they're fighting and I'm watching them from a distance. Tovino Thomas killed it, I remember him in Mayanadhi - even there he plays a complex character - but he is so soft spoken and silent there - it's such a contrast that I see in both these films.