Title of the film: 12 Angry Men
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Genre: Drama/Crime
Duration: 96 min.
Certification: Approved
Name of Production: United Artists
Director: Sidney Lumet
Producers: Henry Fonda,Reginald Rose
Associate Producer: George Justin
Story and Screenplay: Reginald Rose
Original Music: Kenyon Hopkins
Cinematographer: Boris Kaufman
Editor: Carl Lerner
Art Direction: Robert Markel
Second Unit Director: Don Kraze
Cast (credited):
Martin Baslam - Juror #1
John Fielder - Juror #2
Lee J Cobb - Juror #3
E G Marshall - Juror #4
Jack Klugmann - Juror #5
Ed Binns - Juror #6
Jack Warden - Juror #7
Henry Fonda - Juror #8
Joseph Sweeney - Juror #9
Ed Begley - Juror #10
George Voskovec - Juror #11
Robert Webber - Juror #12
(Unaccredited)
Rudy Bond - Judge
James Kelly - Guard
Billy Nelson - Court Clerk
John Savoca - The accused
The film begins in a courtroom where the judge after hearing the case wants the 12 men jury to pass on their verdict on the case after the necessary discussion. The case is about an 18 year old guy committing a premeditated murder of his father. The jury has to come to a complete majority to have a verdict i.e. 12-0 either guilty or not guilty. And if found guilty the boy will be sentenced to death. The jury members begin their discussion on the case. The jury members are numbered from 1 to 12. The person, Juror #1 presiding over the discussion decides that as in any case let them have a preliminary voting so that they know in which way the verdict is going. The voting ends and the verdict stand as 11 guilty to 1 not guilty. The only person who thinks that the boy is not guilty is the Juror #8 (Henry Fonda). This begins the debate between him and other jury members. With passage of time he is able to convince more and more members that the boy is innocent. At the end of second voting the verdict begins to sway. It’s now 8 guilty and 4 not guilty. The Juror #3 who is in favor of the boy being guilty gets irritated and accuses Juror #8 of being manipulative and brain washing others. The main point against the boy is the evidences provided by two witnesses an old man and an old lady. The old lady being an eyewitness to the incident and the old man heard the heated confrontation between the father and son. And according to him when the father hits the boy, he retaliates back by killing him using a switch knife. Now the debate gets heated up and it turns into a racial and socio-economic confrontation between the jurors. In mean time, Juror #8 points out certain faults in the evidences provided by the old man. This makes Juror #3 go berserk. He tries to attack Juror #8. The reason for him being very much in favor of sending the boy to electric chair is because he too had a sour relation with his son. And as a result of which his son had abused him and left the house. So he is adamant that the boy is guilty.
As the jurors settles down again, a third voting take place. This time verdict is 6 guilty and 6 not guilty. The debate continues and slowly the verdict sways more in favor of the boy. At one point its 1 guilty to 11 not guilty. Only the Juror #3 does not change his stance. When he finds out that he is alone, he freaks out. He speaks against the verdict made by others and abuses others. At the end of his speech he breaks down and pronounces the boy being not guilty. Juror #8 goes and consoles him. The verdict is now passed and its 0 guilty to 12 not guilty. In the end Juror #8 is shown to go out happily from the court.
The film backs the universal belief that the truth prevails in the end. It through the portrait of the Juror #8 shows a dutiful citizen, who was not convinced with the evidences put up against the accused and so debates in his favor. It shows the various human emotions and how these emotions affect other matters in life. This can be best realized in the case of Juror #3, who had a very sour relation with his son and as an act of vengeance he takes it all against the accused. The film shows that no matter how faithful immigrants are to their adopted country, there always exists an iota of doubt against them in the minds of the “true citizen” of that country. This can be well understood between the heated exchange between the Juror #7 and Juror #11. Also how these immigrants have to try hard to prove their loyalty to their adopted country. The film through the conversations between Juror #5 and Juror #10, also tries to show the tension between different economic classes and the prejudices that they have for others.
All these emotional elements are interwoven in the movie with the sole motive in getting to a verdict in the case. It once again emphasize that in a democratic structure, it’s of utmost importance that there should always be a jury in any case involving sensitive issues. And care should be taken that the jury appointed are people from different background so that the case can be studied, discussed and understood from all perspectives before coming to a unanimous decision.
The casting in the film is spot on. With persons from different strata of life, there always exists friction and to enact them without going over the board is commendable. Henry Fonda as the protagonist is calm, thoughtful and quite assertive in what he states. He in the beginning is not sure or rather confused on the case and therefore votes in favor of the boy being not guilty. Lee J Cobb as Juror #3, who is having a troubled relation with his son, portraits how one reacts at the point of utmost state of sorrow. How one loses his emotions and has his feeling affect the outcome of other matters. Robert Webber as Juror #12, an advertising guy shows his way of pleasing others and even during such a serious discussion has that penchant in impressing others with his advertising strategies. John Fiedler as Juror #2, portraits very well the role of a person who is very reluctant to share his views. Ed Begley as Juror #10 acts as a short tempered 50-some man who has always an opinion on any subject and doesn’t bother whether his opinion is right or wrong. The rest of the cast too gels quite well and together they have given a sterling performance.
The peculiarity about this movie is its location. The movie almost entirely is shot in a single room. As a result of this it would have been difficult for the cinematographer to decide on the type of shots. Being in just a room, chances of the shots getting repetitive is more. So he has gone for lot of mid to full shots as the screenplay involves discussion between a group of people. The camera tracks back when a person stands up to show the simultaneous action and reaction. It doesn’t wait to show a reaction after an action. This is felt when the characters lose their temper and barge on someone from the jury. This helps a lot because it shows reaction of not one but many characters. Close-ups are used in minimum but effectively. The usage of tilt down and tilt up shots too is common.
But all these shots are used so effectively with the screenplay that when watching for the first one never realizes its effectiveness. The editing used is quite conventional. The cuts are infrequent. But there are lots of instances of crossing the line. But as said earlier, the screenplay is so fool-proof that on first viewing all these technical anomalies are not noticed.
The director has brought in the best out of the ensemble. When a film has so many characters of equal importance and equal screen time, its very difficult to handle them. Even though the screenplay is fool-proof, one still need to visualize and present it in a way which is accepted by most. And this is exactly what the director has done. And that too in his first movie as a director, it is quite a remarkable feat.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Film Appreciation of Manichitrathazhu (Contains Spoilers)
Title of the film: Manichitrathazhu
Language: Malayalam
Color: Color
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Comedy/Drama
Duration: 156 min.
Certification: U
Name of Production: Swargachitra
Director: Fazil
Producer: Appachan
Story/Screenplay/Dialogues: Madhu Muttom
Cinematographer: Venu
Editor: T R Shekar
Music Director: M G Radhakrishnan
Second Unit Directors:
Lal
Sibi Malayil
Priyadarsan
Siddique
Second Unit Cinematographers:
Sunny Joseph
Ananthakuttan
Cast:
Mohanlal … Dr. Sunny Joseph
Suresh Gopi … Nakulan
Sobhana … Ganga/Nagavalli
Vinaya Prasad … Sreedevi
Nedimudi Venu … Thampi
Innocent … Unnithan
Thilakan … Brahmadattan Namboothiripad
KPAC Lalitha … Bhasura
Sudeesh … Chanthu
Ganesh … Dasappan Kutty
Kuthiravattom Pappu … Kattuparamban
Rudra … Alli
The film revolves around a haunted villa Madampally. It begins with the arrival of the newly married couples, Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) and Ganga (Sobhana) from Calcutta. As this ancestral property is passed on to Nakulan’s mother, he insists on staying there despite the fact it is haunted.
A series of supernatural incidents follows, leading to which Nakulan’s uncle, Thampi (Nedimudi Venu) reminds him that the incidents are result of the curse, which befalls on the newly wed bride who lives in the villa and iterate that Ganga is one such girl. Nakulan isn’t convinced and he blames that the incidents are happening because of Sreedevi (Vinaya Prasad), Thampi’s daughter.
Nakulan calls up his friend to help him out of this trouble. This brings in the arrival of Dr. Sunny Joseph (Mohanlal), a psychiatrist.
Sunny tries to find out the reasons for such untoward incidents. An incident happens in which poison is found in Nakulan’s tea; Sunny blames it on Sreedevi and locks her up in a room. Thampi can no longer bear the trauma faced by his daughter.
Thampi sorts help of renowned mantravathi (magician-physician), Brahmadattan Namboothiripad (Thilakan) to perform rituals. Sunny happens to be an old acquaintance of Brahmadattan. Sunny reveals to him the real story. He tells him that the actual patient is Ganga and not Sreedevi and she is suffering from Split Personality Disorder. This disorder was dormant in Ganga, who once in her childhood had faced similar psychological problems. This problem became active again when she returned to her husband’s ancestral home. She started to believe that she was Nagavalli, the danseuse who was killed by the then head of the family.
Brahmadattan warns Sunny that curing her is near impossible and so it would be wise to keep Nakulan away from Ganga, for her other personality Nagavalli sees Nakulan as the head of family who had killed her. Sunny tells him that he’s ready to take such a risk.
Sunny then with help from Brahmadattan and Nakulan with great precision and unconventional methodology cures Ganga from the psychological disorder.
The story ends in a happy note with Sunny, Nakulan and Ganga leaving back to Calcutta and also Sunny expressing his desire to marry Sreedevi.
The film’s message is quite simple and clear. It draws parallel between the traditional and the modern beliefs, without hurting either of the sentiments. It smartly avoids criticizing either of the sentiments which in itself is quite a remarkable achievement. It shows through the characters of Nakulan and Ganga, the deep love and caring the husband and wife have for each other. Through the character of Sunny, it portrays the virtue of a true friend and breaks the cliché that intellectuals have to be quite and introverts. Most notable is the character of Chanthu (Sudeesh), younger brother of Sreedevi. He is shown in deep pain and trauma when others accuse his sister to be mentally imbalanced. This gives quite an insight of the relation between the brother and the sister.
Though towards the end of the film, the problem behind the villa to be haunted is revealed and solved, but few questions are still unanswered. As viewers we’re told that the villa is haunted but it is only after the arrival of Ganga, we’re shown. So before Ganga’s arrival who was responsible for it? This is quite important because only Thampi, Nakulan and Chanthu are the only three male children of the family. And as per the story it’s their wives who will be affected by the curse if they live there. Chanthu isn’t married and Thampi and his wife do not live in the haunted villa. We’re only told few untimely deaths have happened in the past.
Overall the film has made an effort to answer the questions it raises with satisfaction. Though the solution for the cure shown at the end of film is quite remarkable and interesting, still one feels had it not been successful, it would have been quite a deadly business. Suppose the lever that turns the movable platform upside down doesn’t work, then Nakulan would have been killed. And moreover the solution is not quite practical but is shown in such a manner that we are indeed made to believe it. And there isn’t any scope for an alternate solution which would result in a happy ending. Solutions are plenty which even the film speaks about but none could give a happy ending.
Casting has been quite extra-ordinary. With such a good script it becomes very necessary that the actors give their best and the best of them are chosen for the role. The performance by each of the actors is noteworthy. Suresh Gopi and Sobhana makes up perfect couples. Mohanlal as psychiatrist is wonderful with his easy go attitude. Nedimudi Venu as the family head easily acts out his role. Innocent comes out as real winner with his role of Unnithan. He provides the comic element in the movie and his confrontation with Mohanlal is quite hilarious. And towards the end Thilakan as Brahmadattan Namboothiripad is indeed magical. Sobhana gives life to the character of Nagavalli. The way she transforms from Ganga to Nagavalli remains one of the highlight of the film. Her performance single handedly lifts the film to a greater level.
Another highlight of this movie is its lighting and camera work. The camera has been handled by Venu as part of the first unit. Sunny Joseph and Anathakuttan does their part quite efficiently as part of the second unit. For a movie having mystery element as its main subject, lighting becomes quite an important aspect. The cinematographer has to make sure the film doesn’t look bright but also has to ensure that the audience is able to notice each and every frame properly without any discomfort. The shot selection too becomes quite an important issue. The cameramen have gone for full shot, mid-shot, and mid close ups for most of the part in the movie. The camera shakes from the point of view of the unknown to create the fear element. Surprisingly the film has avoided using extreme close ups and even close ups, which is quite a norm for mystery and suspense thrillers.
Sound is another important or maybe the most important element in mystery/thriller movies. Johnson has given the back ground music while M G Radhakrishnan has composed the music for the songs. Both ensured usage of traditional, semi-classical carnatic music for the movie. Usage of veena is quite prominent and has been used to bring out the unknown or mystery element. The song Pazham Tamizh Padi…. sung by K J Yesudas is wonderfully composed. Usuage of western instruments in the beginning of a semi-carnatic classical song is quite unnatural. But it has worked out well. The other major composition is Oru Murai … sung by K S Chitra and KJ Yesudas is again excellent. The song which is in Tamil goes well with the mood. Again a semi-carnatic classical one and usage of violin and mridangam in tandem in the beginning of the song comes out really well. The song has been choreographed excellently showing in parts the imaginary situation and the real act. The lyrics of the song too go well with the situation. The song Oru Murai has been used frequently in the movie. The song used in the mid-part of movie is without music instruments. It gives the haunting feel. Then there are two poems wrote by Madhu Muttom. The poems Varuvanillarum and Pallavattom are rendered at two different situations in the film. Both are significant as they give a hint which a viewer might realize only during the second viewing.
Director Fazil has used well of all the resources he got. He even went further by letting his once disciples to be the directors of the second unit. Second unit consisted of Siddiq-Lal, Priyadarsan and Sibi Malayil. The director made sure the actors doesn’t dominate the characters. He made sure they all are introduced at right time. The film has a good dose of drama, comedy and mystery. The mystery element starts from the first scene itself and is only resolved towards the end of the movie. Even the narrative is very good. He hasn’t gone for those lengthy flashback scenes. The only flashback scene which comes at the end is narrated by the psychiatrist giving justification for all the incidents happening and very good thing about that is that it’s without any dialogues so the director was able to cut down the time in flashbacks. And also he has used wisely few shots of the flashbacks in middle of the movie through songs, so this too resulted in a very small flashback scene towards the end of the movie. And the transformation of Ganga’s character to Nagavalli which is quite mesmerizing, because of the director’s visualization skill. He made sure the character of Nagavalli is not over acted.
So to sum up I would like to put down that the output is quite an enthralling and wonderful movie which one would like to watch again and again. And as always the credit should go to the director.
Language: Malayalam
Color: Color
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Comedy/Drama
Duration: 156 min.
Certification: U
Name of Production: Swargachitra
Director: Fazil
Producer: Appachan
Story/Screenplay/Dialogues: Madhu Muttom
Cinematographer: Venu
Editor: T R Shekar
Music Director: M G Radhakrishnan
Second Unit Directors:
Lal
Sibi Malayil
Priyadarsan
Siddique
Second Unit Cinematographers:
Sunny Joseph
Ananthakuttan
Cast:
Mohanlal … Dr. Sunny Joseph
Suresh Gopi … Nakulan
Sobhana … Ganga/Nagavalli
Vinaya Prasad … Sreedevi
Nedimudi Venu … Thampi
Innocent … Unnithan
Thilakan … Brahmadattan Namboothiripad
KPAC Lalitha … Bhasura
Sudeesh … Chanthu
Ganesh … Dasappan Kutty
Kuthiravattom Pappu … Kattuparamban
Rudra … Alli
The film revolves around a haunted villa Madampally. It begins with the arrival of the newly married couples, Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) and Ganga (Sobhana) from Calcutta. As this ancestral property is passed on to Nakulan’s mother, he insists on staying there despite the fact it is haunted.
A series of supernatural incidents follows, leading to which Nakulan’s uncle, Thampi (Nedimudi Venu) reminds him that the incidents are result of the curse, which befalls on the newly wed bride who lives in the villa and iterate that Ganga is one such girl. Nakulan isn’t convinced and he blames that the incidents are happening because of Sreedevi (Vinaya Prasad), Thampi’s daughter.
Nakulan calls up his friend to help him out of this trouble. This brings in the arrival of Dr. Sunny Joseph (Mohanlal), a psychiatrist.
Sunny tries to find out the reasons for such untoward incidents. An incident happens in which poison is found in Nakulan’s tea; Sunny blames it on Sreedevi and locks her up in a room. Thampi can no longer bear the trauma faced by his daughter.
Thampi sorts help of renowned mantravathi (magician-physician), Brahmadattan Namboothiripad (Thilakan) to perform rituals. Sunny happens to be an old acquaintance of Brahmadattan. Sunny reveals to him the real story. He tells him that the actual patient is Ganga and not Sreedevi and she is suffering from Split Personality Disorder. This disorder was dormant in Ganga, who once in her childhood had faced similar psychological problems. This problem became active again when she returned to her husband’s ancestral home. She started to believe that she was Nagavalli, the danseuse who was killed by the then head of the family.
Brahmadattan warns Sunny that curing her is near impossible and so it would be wise to keep Nakulan away from Ganga, for her other personality Nagavalli sees Nakulan as the head of family who had killed her. Sunny tells him that he’s ready to take such a risk.
Sunny then with help from Brahmadattan and Nakulan with great precision and unconventional methodology cures Ganga from the psychological disorder.
The story ends in a happy note with Sunny, Nakulan and Ganga leaving back to Calcutta and also Sunny expressing his desire to marry Sreedevi.
The film’s message is quite simple and clear. It draws parallel between the traditional and the modern beliefs, without hurting either of the sentiments. It smartly avoids criticizing either of the sentiments which in itself is quite a remarkable achievement. It shows through the characters of Nakulan and Ganga, the deep love and caring the husband and wife have for each other. Through the character of Sunny, it portrays the virtue of a true friend and breaks the cliché that intellectuals have to be quite and introverts. Most notable is the character of Chanthu (Sudeesh), younger brother of Sreedevi. He is shown in deep pain and trauma when others accuse his sister to be mentally imbalanced. This gives quite an insight of the relation between the brother and the sister.
Though towards the end of the film, the problem behind the villa to be haunted is revealed and solved, but few questions are still unanswered. As viewers we’re told that the villa is haunted but it is only after the arrival of Ganga, we’re shown. So before Ganga’s arrival who was responsible for it? This is quite important because only Thampi, Nakulan and Chanthu are the only three male children of the family. And as per the story it’s their wives who will be affected by the curse if they live there. Chanthu isn’t married and Thampi and his wife do not live in the haunted villa. We’re only told few untimely deaths have happened in the past.
Overall the film has made an effort to answer the questions it raises with satisfaction. Though the solution for the cure shown at the end of film is quite remarkable and interesting, still one feels had it not been successful, it would have been quite a deadly business. Suppose the lever that turns the movable platform upside down doesn’t work, then Nakulan would have been killed. And moreover the solution is not quite practical but is shown in such a manner that we are indeed made to believe it. And there isn’t any scope for an alternate solution which would result in a happy ending. Solutions are plenty which even the film speaks about but none could give a happy ending.
Casting has been quite extra-ordinary. With such a good script it becomes very necessary that the actors give their best and the best of them are chosen for the role. The performance by each of the actors is noteworthy. Suresh Gopi and Sobhana makes up perfect couples. Mohanlal as psychiatrist is wonderful with his easy go attitude. Nedimudi Venu as the family head easily acts out his role. Innocent comes out as real winner with his role of Unnithan. He provides the comic element in the movie and his confrontation with Mohanlal is quite hilarious. And towards the end Thilakan as Brahmadattan Namboothiripad is indeed magical. Sobhana gives life to the character of Nagavalli. The way she transforms from Ganga to Nagavalli remains one of the highlight of the film. Her performance single handedly lifts the film to a greater level.
Another highlight of this movie is its lighting and camera work. The camera has been handled by Venu as part of the first unit. Sunny Joseph and Anathakuttan does their part quite efficiently as part of the second unit. For a movie having mystery element as its main subject, lighting becomes quite an important aspect. The cinematographer has to make sure the film doesn’t look bright but also has to ensure that the audience is able to notice each and every frame properly without any discomfort. The shot selection too becomes quite an important issue. The cameramen have gone for full shot, mid-shot, and mid close ups for most of the part in the movie. The camera shakes from the point of view of the unknown to create the fear element. Surprisingly the film has avoided using extreme close ups and even close ups, which is quite a norm for mystery and suspense thrillers.
Sound is another important or maybe the most important element in mystery/thriller movies. Johnson has given the back ground music while M G Radhakrishnan has composed the music for the songs. Both ensured usage of traditional, semi-classical carnatic music for the movie. Usage of veena is quite prominent and has been used to bring out the unknown or mystery element. The song Pazham Tamizh Padi…. sung by K J Yesudas is wonderfully composed. Usuage of western instruments in the beginning of a semi-carnatic classical song is quite unnatural. But it has worked out well. The other major composition is Oru Murai … sung by K S Chitra and KJ Yesudas is again excellent. The song which is in Tamil goes well with the mood. Again a semi-carnatic classical one and usage of violin and mridangam in tandem in the beginning of the song comes out really well. The song has been choreographed excellently showing in parts the imaginary situation and the real act. The lyrics of the song too go well with the situation. The song Oru Murai has been used frequently in the movie. The song used in the mid-part of movie is without music instruments. It gives the haunting feel. Then there are two poems wrote by Madhu Muttom. The poems Varuvanillarum and Pallavattom are rendered at two different situations in the film. Both are significant as they give a hint which a viewer might realize only during the second viewing.
Director Fazil has used well of all the resources he got. He even went further by letting his once disciples to be the directors of the second unit. Second unit consisted of Siddiq-Lal, Priyadarsan and Sibi Malayil. The director made sure the actors doesn’t dominate the characters. He made sure they all are introduced at right time. The film has a good dose of drama, comedy and mystery. The mystery element starts from the first scene itself and is only resolved towards the end of the movie. Even the narrative is very good. He hasn’t gone for those lengthy flashback scenes. The only flashback scene which comes at the end is narrated by the psychiatrist giving justification for all the incidents happening and very good thing about that is that it’s without any dialogues so the director was able to cut down the time in flashbacks. And also he has used wisely few shots of the flashbacks in middle of the movie through songs, so this too resulted in a very small flashback scene towards the end of the movie. And the transformation of Ganga’s character to Nagavalli which is quite mesmerizing, because of the director’s visualization skill. He made sure the character of Nagavalli is not over acted.
So to sum up I would like to put down that the output is quite an enthralling and wonderful movie which one would like to watch again and again. And as always the credit should go to the director.
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