Movie Review: Memories

Okay, the verdict is out - Prithviraj the actor trumps Prithviraj the producer this festival season! Last week we watched Kadal Kadannoru Mathukkutty which would have been better named Kadalil Mungippoya Mathukkutty. This weekend, the Association of Whodunit Fans at Karthi made a beeline for Attingal where Memories is playing. Another weird thing - we searched high and low for movie listings online since our daily did not carry the listings on Saturday (no paper on Friday because of Independence Day holiday). Know what? They simply were not available! Do let me know if there are any reliable online show listings for theaters in and around Tvm. We relied on Thursday's paper and kept our fingers crossed till we reached the theater and saw the movie hadn't changed on Friday.

Memories is the story of a cop Sam (Prithvi, of course) who has been trying hard to drown his sorrows in alcohol since the tragic abduction and murder of his wife and daughter. When a series of murders leave the police clueless, one of his former mentors (Vijayaraghavan) seeks Sam ostensibly for help and hoping that the challenge will kick him out of his apathy. Despite himself, Sam becomes involved in the case, but finds that he is mentally and physically incapable of being effective due to his drinking habit. The rest is really worth a watch...

Now, I take my whodunits seriously - for me to really like a detective movie, I need a watertight script (But then I also swallow anything romantic with my eyes shut!). My DH on the other hand just needs the movie to be "engaging" by which he means that with a little suspension of disbelief, and with the plot tension kept steady, he finds the movie good. This leads to some heated debates in Karthi. DH accuses me of poking holes in the tightest of scripts Eg., after watching Mumbai Police, {I had guessed the motive for murder in the first half}, I was wondering how the murderer had a hi-tech murder weapon lying around on hand to do a spontaneous murder, why he had got it in the first place and how seemingly absurdly outdated the motive was. The motive and the technology couldn't exist together even in the same decade. Also, how did amnesia cloud his "ahem" amorous sensibilities? So, I liked the movie for its terse action, wonderful dialogue and superb performances, but couldn't write a good review because the plot points bothered me. 

Memories also has a couple of such absurd plot points, but they are much more tolerable. And I have another way of measuring the quality of a movie - my kids bother me less for snacks and more for explanation of plot points!!! During Mathukkutty both of them kept pestering me for snacks ALL THE TIME while for Memories our older one was silent and on the edge of his seat throughout and the younger was asking doubts and holding one of my hands for reassurance! :-)

Prithvi delivers another good performance although he has nowhere near enough to do as he had in Mumbai Police. I feel the frequent glugging closeups were a bit overdone. One doesn't need to see the constant glugging to reinforce the fact that hero is a pathetic alcoholic - a little more subtlety would have been better.  The supporting cast also does its job well. The villain is also good  (won't reveal his name so that suspense is not spoiled). Rahul Madhav adds the right touch of estranged brother. Vanitha, Nedumudi etc. fit the bill. 

All in all, a good movie, enjoyable. Jeethu Joseph has got his basics and twists right.