Wonder Women: Highly restrained and packed with emotions

Official Trailer:

Anjali Menon has pulled off a casting coup in Wonder Women. What else one can say about Nadia Moidu, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Nithya Menen, Padmapriya, Sayanora Philip, Archana Padmini, and Amruta Subhash in the same movie? All we need is a simple plot to watch these talented actors on screen. We get more than that in Wonder Women, a feel-good film packed with emotions in 80mts. No worries, staging is highly restrained and director Anjali Menon doesn’t push melodrama. But tears do well up in few scenes. Six pregnant women arrive at Sumana, a prenatal class, with their confusion, beliefs, and questions regarding pregnancy and childbirth. Married couples, live-in couple, and a single mother. Then there is one with pregnancy after 3 miscarriages. Similar to Natchathiram Nagargirathu, Wonder Women doesn’t follow a conventional narration or a plot. These women discuss the pain and the fear of pain. They overcome their barriers and bond with each other. Find their identity. Their partners talk openly about their feelings and vulnerability in a moving scene. I liked the scene where Veni’s mother-in-law pulls up her son – minimalistic, effective, and also conveyed her change of mind. Director doesn’t go in for a fake Be positive, feel positive attitude. There are no sudden behavior or emotional state change after a lecture. Wonder Women doesn’t aim for in-depth treatment of various topics it touches upon, but it does give a flavor of emotions women go through. I didn’t know the conventional lying position for delivery is more for doctor’s convenience than the woman. If you are looking for a feel-good heartwarming sisterhood movie, Wonder Women is for you.

Appan: Why everyone, not just the family, the whole village, wants Itty to die!!

Official Trailer:

 How to make an engaging movie about a hateful character who is self-centered, womanizer, abuses everyone both verbally and physically, in short, a reincarnation of the devil? Without any second thoughts, give it to Malayalam writers. Mollywood industry is on a good run with varieties of stories for multiple years now. Appan is a movie about a father, Itty, who is on deathbed, hated by everyone, not just his family, even the people from the village. They all want him to die. Few even come up with interesting schemes to kill him. Strong writing with compelling and deeply etched characters holds the movie together. The complexities of the relationship between the characters, Itty, and his family members, are so beautifully written and brought out well on screen.

While Itty may come across as one-dimensional evil character, Alencier Ley Lopez with his dialogue delivery, mannerisms, and wide-ranging emotions mesmerizes us. We feel immersed by his performance, he makes us see the devil. In a weird way, we get attracted to his performance. Sunny Wayne gives an exceptional performance as the son of Itty, Njoonj. He conveys the trauma and pain of being a son of an evil father brilliantly. Unlike his father, he wants to be a good father to his son, and a good person. He is constantly bullied by the society for his father’s deeds, not well understood by his family members. Two scenes where he breaks down moves us, he makes us feel the fear and the pain he goes through. Pauly Valsan with her flawless performance captures the ordeal, and anguish a woman has to go through being a wife of a person like Itty. Other key players, Ananya as wife of Njoonj, Radhika Radhakrishnan as Sheela, and Grace Anthony as daughter of Itty, all give their best performances.

It is not easy to make a dark, grey topic into a watchable movie. Few scenes are pretty intense too. Full credit to the director Maju for making Appan as a movie that is accessible to most with his balancing act between a dark comedy and an intense drama without indulging in extremes that would have turned away the audience. Appan makes us empathize with people who are stuck in a dysfunctional family. A worthy addition to dysfunctional family dramas.