Movie: Loud Speaker
Language : Malayalam
Date : 22-Sep-09, Tuesday
Review
Nostalgia, Camaraderie, Innocence, Simplicity and Humility are good emotions of the human heart. Director Jayaraj plays wonderfully with these good emotions of the human heart to portray an endearing tale of friendship between an organ donor, Mike (played by Mammotty) and his patient recipient, Menon (played by Sasikumar). Jayaraj tries to strike a poignant balance between the ease at which he wants his story to unfurl and the commercial aspects of entertainment. The director succeeds to a great extent in striking this balance. 'Loud Speaker' and its characters leave the mark of an intelligent director who wants to try a middle path of story telling, within the realms of art house and mainstream cinema.
'Mike' is Marvelous
This year we already have seen a fascinating manifestation of innocence by Mohanlal as Shivankutty in Blessy's 'Bharamaram'. This time its Mammotty's turn to deliver a stellar of a performance as the simpleton, 'Mike Philippose'. 'Mike' is what they call 'The Son of the Soil'. He is natural, simple and mostly naive in the world of modern fast paced city life. But in each one of us, living in today's times, there lies traces of 'Mike', wherein lies the success of the character. We know at the bottom of our hearts that the inexplicable display of emotions which he shows for the people around, is the right way to live but we shudder at the thought that if we do the same, we would also be regarded as a misfits in today's society, just as 'Mike' in this movie is.
From being the odd man out in the city life to being caring and selfless to others, from being 'senseless' in being loud to the self shattering love for his friend, Mammotty makes each moment of Mike a pleasure to watch.
When you watch him as 'Mike' you would not feel it as an extraordinary performance. The reason is that he does it with so much ease that it looks so simple. Its easily Mammotty's best role and performance for some time now.
Jayaraj - Just Worth It !
The story of 'Loud Speaker' is so simple that there is nothing much to go ga-ga about but the script and screenplay has saved the day for Jayaraj. The way he has created characters like 'Mike' and 'Menon' and other characters in the flat where they stay, is the clincher for this movie. Also, his play with nostalgia and human goodness surely deserves a pat on the back. Music also has been well used. The sequences seem carefully planned, songs well picturised especially the 'Alliyambal' one. Cinematography has been used to enhance the mood many a times.
Other Positives
Songs are befitting the situations. Mammotty singing in 2 of the songs may look a bit amateurish voice but when you consider it as 'Mike' singing it, it looks realistic. 'Alliyambal' is superb and memorably rendered by Vijay Yesudas. Its hard not have a lump in your throat while watching this song on screen. Looks and sounds beautiful. Bijibal's background score is good in parts.Cinematography is really good. Supporting cast and characters have been put in a notable show. Janardhanan, Jagathy, Salim Kumar, Suraj all do competent jobs. Gracy Singh has the same set of expressions as 'Munnabhai MBBS' and is over expressive at times.
Negatives
Now to the negatives. 'Loud Speaker' is not a boring film by any stretch of the imagination. Comedy scenes involving Mike in the first half and in the second are good but at a few instances the comedy looks like forced upon. It goes over the top. Jagathy getting bashed by kids in the Play School, Jagathy's dog bite sequence, Jagathy - Suraj counselling etc are examples where the comedy goes over the top and seems like forced upon. But it never reaches the point of unbearable and most of the gags involving Mike are funny.
Secondly, 'Menon' has an almost equally important screen space as 'Mike'. Considering this, Sasikumar puts in an average performance. Its not a revetting performance as Mammotty's. If it was a top notchperformance by the actor who played 'Menon', then the movie would have rose few notches high. When his past unfurls(which has been unduly delayed as well) one does not empathize with him. Its always with 'Mike's' character that the audience is. Hence the love story of 'Menon' and his return to home look a bit disconnected for the audience. The saving grace is that Mammotty has many a times covered it with his performance.
Thirdly, even at 2 hours and 15 minutes, 'Loud Speaker' feels its length especially towards the later part of second half. A bit intelligent audience may ask questions like 'What is the logic behind the donor being made to stay in a flat for so long without the operation happening?'. Even the date of the operation is shown as getting fixed only in the second half. Once the past of 'Menon' unfurls, the move goes in to a lethargic pace. The portions where he visits his home and then the post operation portions take its own time to unfurl. One would need some patience to sit through these portions. A good 10 minutes can be edited out of the movie.
Fourthly, the sync sound has not come forth effectively. Many dialogues in the first half go inaudible. Audience also needs some time to adjust themselves to this Sync Sound. Lack of clarity has affected many sequences.
Finally, to sum it all up, 'Mike' and 'Loud Speaker' talk of goodness of the human heart which are rare these days. It pulls at your heart strings and if you can have some patience, can be endearing as well.
Its one of the better Malaylalam movies of recent times but the vital question is in this age of ultra fast life, how many would have the patience to value this goodness?
Verdict - 3.5/5 as a RATING
GOOD in terms of Opinion
'Loud Speaker' - All about the good things!
6 comments:
thanks critic ...might see this soon
KK
Thanks macha
Thanks Critic,
will see this today,
:-)Shambu
Hi Critic ...This is shyamavanil
Good work carry on
Thanks KK. Try to see this. Do not miss.
Thanks ottayan
Thanks Shambu. Do post ur views.
Thanks Shyaman
Thanks critic
Aromal..
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