•Language: MALAYALAM
•Duration: 01 Hour 53 Minutes.
•Genre: Crime Drama.
•STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEOS
• REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R.VALIYAVEETIL.
•POSITIVES:
1: DIRECTION
2: STORY, SCREENPLAY & DIALOGUES.
3: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS
4: CINEMATOGRAPHY
5: EDITING
6: BACKGROUND SCORE
•NEGATIVES:
1: PREDICTABLE.
•ONE WORD: Joji is an extraordinary cinematic experience that can surprise everyone.
•DETAIL REVIEW:
Joji is directed by the veteran filmmaker Dileesh Pothan, in which story, screenplay and dialogues are made by Syam Pushkaran. The movie is produced by Fahadh Faasil, Dileesh Pothan and Syam Pushkaran. The movie is released on an OTT Platform and streams on Amazon Prime Videos. The cinematography is by Shyju Khalid and edited by Kiran das and the musical composition is by Justin Varghese. The movie comprises the casting of Fahadh Faasil, Baburaj, Shammi Thilakan, Unnimaya Prasad and Basil Joseph.
The film portrays the story of Joji an engineering dropout who is the youngest son of a rich family. His father Kuttapan P.K is a rich businessman who lives with his three sons, and with his son’s wife named Bincy and also with his grandson called Popy. Joji’s life was unstable which lead him to be greedy so he makes a plan, he commits some dreadful crimes. All these crimes lead to some unexpected events in the family, the rest of the story unwraps these events and the various path of Joji.
First of all, let’s began with some praising, Joji is so far simply one of the best movies I had watched in 2021. Joji is all about the experience which it offers, it’s haunting, provoking and disturbing. The making of the movie is something that makes it unique and different, it’s because the way the movie unfolds its series of events is fascinating to watch. As a crime drama, the movie had successfully built the mannerism of curiosity, to know what is next was thrilling and compelling to an extreme. This extremeness makes Joji special, was not at all felt like watching a film, due to the realistic way of making the whole film having a predominant power to take and contrive the viewers. I am confidently sure that the movie can take every single viewer to its premise, it is just felt like a story that is happening in our surroundings, thanks to its realistic way of making.
The direction of Dileesh Pothan is beyond excellence, his confidence was truly evident in the entire making. I couldn’t and no one can found a single error in his making, in an actual sense the movie doesn’t come with any kind of errors. The whole film was executed cleverly and carefully according to the story and screenplay. The movie has many sets of serious thrilling events, therefore, the chances of getting off balances were plenty but surprisingly nothing gets diverted in the direction, the smooth way of making was seen in the whole implementation. The skilful ideas of Dileesh Pothan were magical, his passionate making had taken the movie to another winning level. A complicated plot like this is very much difficult to make so I am sure that Dileesh Pothan had faced many challenges, but these obstacles were overcome brilliantly. For example, the movie largely focuses on pinpointing various kind of emotions and feelings, these traits behind every character was abducted authentically so the direction of Dileesh Pothan gives us a feeling like we’re on roller coaster speeding with many faces and enthusiasms. Therefore this helps every single viewer to realise and perceive what the movie is originally targeting to exhibit. Importantly the combination of Dileesh Pothan and Fahadh Faasil just strikes again, their chemistry had given a great influence in the making, as a performer Fahadh gives what Dileesh Pothan wants, therefore, the job was simple.
The story, screenplay and dialogues written by Syam Pushkaran are remarkable. The whole package he had written down is a thoughtful and creative work of art. The plot for Joji is inspired by Macbeth, so converting the ideas of Macbeth to a story happening in a rural part of Kerala was completely justifying, the inspirational thoughts and the transformations he had adapted from the characters of Macbeth was patronizing to the central characters of Joji. The betrayal emotions which we read on Macbeth was seen in Joji evidently, the critical situations of the central character Macbeth and his cunning path were matching to the character of Joji, just like the original. The adaptation was made truly, when looking into the premise created by Syam Pushkaran, it carries out a genuine arbiter path like of Macbeth. The dark humour wrote in the script was situational, the usage of aggressive words was seen but no sort of vulgarity was felt, the common vocal bad words used by the people of Kerala are crammed in the writing. Therefore at the same time, it’s cracking with situational humour and further makes it also serious. The several stages inside the plot were interesting, these stages were written genuinely which helps to make the incidents intense. Also, the momentum between the situational humour and psychological factors were flawless. For example, the numerous mood of the central character, the thoughts of the central character and the emotions which the central character undertakes through various circumstances was too amazing to watch. The psychological imbalances wrote for the central character Joji had created inquisitiveness, his greed and betray was the prior aspect, so the writer had made the whole character authentic. The screenplay is composed of emotions such as betrayal, greed, parenthood, family sentiments and struggles. These emotions were written out accurately, so when looking and reading the script one can understand the true colours of emotion that leads Joji. The influencing method of writing both the story and screenplay deserves special mention because complications are not arising, everything is understandable and convincing without any form of confusions, the explanations are genuinely written out till the end.
Looking into the performance Fahadh Faasil plays the lead character Joji. Along with him Baburaj, Unnimaya, Shammi Thilakan, Basil Joseph and many others join the casting. Fahadh Faasil as Joji proved once again that he is one of the finest and promising actor. He showed wonders, the acting was natural just like behaving and living like a character. His various expression and charter shades depending on the situations were flawless, delivering the dialogues was also powerful. The demanding factors from a director were genuinely given by him. The change of tone in the character was also acted out authentically and the combination scenes with other actors especially at the climax were pleasing to watch. Baburaj as Jomon did a great job, the seriousness of an elder brother was incredible. The affection and love he showed for his father were also good. Unnimaya as Bency was also excellent, the silent manner of her character was fitting perfectly. Shammi Thilakan’s supporting character DR.Felix was safer on his hands and the performance was matching to the right doctor. Joji Mundakayam as Jaison did a spectacular job, as a newcomer the whole performance was awesome. P.N Sunny as Kuttapan and Alister Alex as Popy did a fine job for their respective supporting roles. Among the technical aspects, the cinematography of Shyju Khalid was fantastic with many magical frames. There are certain shots without dialogues and tunes, here the frames speak the scenarios, which explains the intensity. The placements of the camera were also unique and the types of different shots were a treat to watch. The high angle shots and the close-up shots capturing the emotions of the characters were special. The background score tuned by Justin Varghese was completely dominant, when a scene gets to an end the right background tunes were given to make the scene more influential. The background score had also helped to build the right mood, it also helps to recognize the feel of a particular scene and emotions. The editing of Kiran Das was crisp and steady with the right cuts, mismatches were never felt on any scenes. The transitions and the grading were also good.
So overall Joji had completely given me an unforgettable and shocking cinematic experience, it’s a unique craft of greatness. To be precise the movie has the power to dominate everyone and also got the perfect strength and energy to take one into the world of Joji. Therefore to conclude the winning success of Joji is the team behind the film, the outstanding direction of Dileesh Pothan and the extraordinary performance from Fahadh Faasil and other actors is a completely engaging treat to watch, must-watch.
(Never miss this masterpiece, watch the original only on Amazon Prime Videos)
• VERDICT: MUST WATCH, one of the best of this year.
• RATING: 4.5/5
