PISAASU MOVIE REVIEW

After the critically-acclaimed dark and morbid ' Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum', director Mysskin is back and intriguingly, he has chose horror as his next genre. Being an atheist and joining hands with fellow hard-hitting director Bala as the producer, it definitely piques the interest of Tamizh audience. Produced under Bala's B Studios, can Mysskin pull of another brilliant piece of work ?

Naga, an assistant director of Bala, makes his debut as an actor and he excels in his role. The hard work he put in, for learning the violin-playing techniques, paid of well. Though his characterization reminds us of Prasanna's character from 'Anjaathey', Naga commands a good screen presence and hope he chooses proper scripts which can elevate his status in Tamizh industry. Debutante actress Prayaga Martin, looks angelic as herself, but unfortunately she's the purported "pisaasu" of the film and is seen only in her make-up. Kudos for the arduous and grueling task she had to go through. Hope this charming lass becomes a household name in Tamizh cinema. Radha Ravi's performance was an absolute screamer and the veteran literally stole the show, in those emotional scenes ! Hope we get to see more of such performances from this ace character artiste. Harish Uthaman, Kani Kusruti, Kalyani Natarajan, Arnold, John, Om Selva, Bala and etc make up for the rest of the cast and they ably supported the main leads.

On the technical front, 'Pisaasu' is definitely top-notch and Mysskin has extracted wonderful work from his technicians. The action scene choreographed by Mysskin himself with additional output from Tony Leung Siu-hung, was brilliantly staged and beautifully picturized. It's very realistic and raw, but relevant to the nature of the scene. Gopinath's editing was in tandem with Mysskin's style of story presentation. The film's pace and flow was very apt for Mysskin's style and the duration of the film was kept in check. The sharp cuts for the sequences involving the ghost, made the trick, in spooking or freaking us out at the most unexpected of times. Art direction is handled by Jayashree Lakshminarayanan, and the all important protagonist's apartment setup was aesthetically done. The plenty of space in the apartment complemented Mysskin's wide-angle type scenes. Cinematography by Ravi Roy was excellent, especially with all the wide-angle shots, low-angle shots, long shots, slow-motion technique, static camera and the usage of GoPro camera, were very creatively used and re-establishes Mysskin's own style of scene presentation. The lighting was very well taken care, and its important for such scripts, especially when you involve the horror element. The way some scenes were framed, asked for our undivided attention ! Equally impressive was Arrol Corelli's background score. The solo song, "Nadhi Pogum" sung by Uthra Unnikrishnan, was shot on the protagonist, who plays a pathos piece on his violin, and surrounded by beggars and physically-challenged. The subway shots were very well framed and the song catches our attention, with its sad mood. Arrol Corelli's background score is heavy in violin-based re-recording and it serves like an ode to 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja. The heavy tone delivers the right mood and apt depth for the emotional sequences, as well as for the hair-raising moments. Certainly a talent to look out for !

What makes Mysskin's 'Pisaasu' stand out from the regular horror films, is the innovative story-line and the emotional hook, which is the surprise package. Mysskin's compelling presentation, his visual sense, the gripping scene development, everything screams brand "MYSSKIN". The various camera angles associated with his films like the wide-angle, low-angle, static camera, frozen shots and in 'Pisaasu', the usage of GoPro camera, worked out tremendously well for the film. The element of colors as the point of focus, too was very obvious with 'Pisaasu'. Even comedy was very well handled in the film, and its great to watch how Mysskin intertwined humor and scare factor into a single scene, in his own style. The only potential low-point of the film, would be the weak emotional bonding in the "romance" portion. There is no affirmative scene which establishes the importance or reason for the love to be present in the first place. 'Pisaasu' proves that Mysskin has grown into or developed into an extraordinary filmmaker, with his own stamp of film-making style (scene visualization and thematic elements), if you compare it with his earlier films. This uncompromising way of scripting and presenting a film, deserves a big round of applause.

'Pisaasu' - Simple, yet terrifyingly scripted and executed.


Ratings: 3.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

MUGAMOODI MOVIE REVIEW

After false alarms such as 'Kandhaswamy' and 'Velayudham', finally we have an authentic super hero film made in Tamizh cinema, keeping in mind of the Indian sensibilities and milieu. An ambitious project from Mysskin, this UTV backed film was supposedly meant for Suriya who had to pull out from this project and finally Jiiva stepped into the project and became Tamizh cinema's first super hero. "With great powers, comes great responsibilities". The responsibility is even greater for the director who is going to direct the super hero who has those great responsibilities. Did Mysskin live up to the expectations because he has a very good proven track record and considered to be one of the intense and detailed film director in Tamizh cinema, among the current young and established directors.

Coming to the performance, Jiiva has really done well for the role. Though he has been trained in martial arts before, he took this role seriously and the pain of undergoing intense training was evident in the performance while executing the complex martial arts moves. His dialogue delivery too was very appropriate and facial expressions were spot on. With more serious films under the baton of experienced and talented directors, he will definitely be one among the best of actors in Tamizh cinema. Another flawless acting from Jiiva ! Its been sometime since we saw Narain in the silver screen, and its commendable for him to step out of the conventional roles and do a negative character or precisely the villain. He has given his best, did what Mysskin told him to do so and has worked really well to buff up his physique and also to undergo months of martial arts training. His looks too was very intimidating but his performance in the second half was very questionable. Probably, Mysskin should answer why he asked Narain to perform as such. Pooja Hegde, a second runner-up winner of Miss Universe India 2010, makes her debut through this film. She looks pretty but lesser make up should make her look better. Acting wise, she was just okay. Nassar plays a an important role as the police officer who is on the hunt and he was in his usual best. Flawless and perfect ! Selvaah, makes his appearance as the master of Jiiva, and he has a beautiful role to perform. Kudos to him as well for taking the pains to train for this role. His emotional expressions were subtle, yet strong. The rest of the cast such as Girish Karnad, Naren, Anupama Kumar, Murugados, Sivaraj, Amalados, Darshan and etc does what was taught to them by Mysskin.

'Mugamoodi' has the best of resources with UTV backing it and certainly Mysskin extracted what can be extracted from them. For the costume of 'Mugamoodi' the super hero, it was designed by one called Gaebriella Wilkins, a costume designer for distinguished production units such as Disneyland Hong Kong and Cirque Du Soleil. She has done a good job with the mask especially, considering the fact, the costume was made out of five materials only. Besides her, Amritha Ram the costume designer has done a decent job with the usual clothing of the characters. The costumes of Jiiva and Pooja Hegde for the songs were simple, yet elegant. And not to forget, the costume for the antagonist, Narain.  Radhika, has done well with the choreography section, incorporating some of Mysskin's quirky dance moves. Tapas Nayak, has done good work with the sound designing, especially for the chasing scenes and the night sequences and not to forget, the action sequences. Balasubramaniam, has done a decent job with the art work, especially the hospital set and the room of the Girish Karnad, with all the gadgetry and also the bar setup as well. Gaugin, could have done better with the editing because the second half was quite slow and many scenes which was required, was deleted by him. Cinematography by Sathya was good, with the regular wide-angle shots and lengthy shots, which are a must for a Mysskin film. The night effect shots were well done too, with apt lighting, capturing the moods very well. The highlight of the movie is definitely the stunt choreography and hats off to Tony Leung Siu-hung, an acclaimed expert in Wing Chun - a close-combat form popularized by the legendary Bruce Lee. Tony has had sparring moments with the legend himself, and ironically Wing Chun was developed by Ip Man, the master of Bruce Lee, of whom a feature film was made of, and Tony was the stunts choreographer for that film ! He has trained the artistes very well and with the additional support of 'Action' Prakash, each stunt sequences were unique, realistic and powerful. One of the best action sequences to come out in Tamizh cinema !

Music by K was really good. There are only three songs in the film and it starts off with the "Bar Anthem", a typical Mysskin film song with foot-tapping beats and dance movements, this song was shot in a simple bar setup and had good lighting by Sathya. The pick of the album, "Vaaya Moodi Summa Iruda" was shot in Switzerland, in lush and beautiful scenic locales. The lead pair looked lovely and had soft and fresh color tone throughout the song and "Maayavi" too was shot there in night sequences with the protagonist being the 'Mugamoodi' and the heroine, yearning for him. Though the songs were well shot, its a head-scratching question of why the need for a foreign-location song. The theme music was riveting by K but he could have avoided the techno beats, which are awkward for a dark themed film such as this but his string section composition was brilliant. A real talent to look out for.

Mysskin starts off the movie very well with a suspenseful scene, and the Marvel-type comic book title card was cute, but all that is just secondary when it comes to the overall film. The first half of the film was good, with necessary introductions of the characters and the establishment of the super hero character. But the second half was slow and and quite amusing for the intensity built up in the first half. A couple of scenes were executed well, but the editing choice of Mysskin was not good and he should have worked with his editor in retaining the true essence of his script. In order to establish a super hero, you need to have a real, good, super villain. Narain was good, but his character suffers due to poor handling by Mysskin and by the end of the film, Narain looks like a comical villain with laughable and very fake mannerisms and dialogue delivery. With such a bad villain, your favoritism for the super hero will suffer big time, and it suffered indeed. The birth of 'Mugamoodi' was too simple and conflict goes kaput. The film was imbalanced as Mysskin tried to please all sections of audiences and his action failed big time. The film gets caught in between being dark/serious and simple/appealing. When one finishes watching it, he or she would feel disappointed because Mysskin has done brilliant works before in 'Anjaathey' and 'Yuddham Sei' and this time, its too simple, light and comical and is not hard-hitting as what he wants it to be. This could have been done purposely to attract the children, but Mysskin should know that its very, very difficult to please all of the people, at the same time and he should have used it for some other script, rather than for this. And the other main mistake by him is to etch a rather caricature-style villain who looks like a mean and menacing one, but spews silly and funny dialogues in the end.

'Mugamoodi' is good and not so good, at the same time. Its good, for being a proper super hero film within the Tamizh sensibilities and for its superior technical works. Its not so good because Mysskin's script lacks the raciness and excitement and we have watched better works from him, in the form of his own earlier films. Low intensity, low excitement, slow presentation, 'Mugamoodi' could and should have been better than this.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL