Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Vihari_Krishna Story : It is an atypical "Good vs Evil" story told in Maniratnam's perception.Performances : The casting is superb. Everyone acted well but Aravind Swamy and Arjun shine in their roles. Gautham Karthik makes a fine debut.Story-Screenplay-Direction : Story is nice with some interesting twists thrown in. Screenplay is little dragging. It is absolutely dull in the scenes following Sam's conviction. The concept of hero joining Bergman is unconvincingly told. I thought hero is avenging. Direction is nice. The scenes like Thomas taking the newly born baby into his hands and looking at Jesus Christ's idol are excellently shot and they show the class of Maniratnam.Music & Background Score : Music by A.R.Rahman is godly. It is divine, sweet, eclectic, soul stirring and adjectives are insufficient. Every song is a gem. This is easily the best album from Mani-ARR combo since "Alaipayuthey". Background Score is excellent again. Rahman has bought in the global music feel to the background score. The orchestration is superb. In short, the music and background score out shines the movie itself.Other Departments : Cinematography by Rajeev Menon is topnotch effort. Watch the climax and know how good the cinematography of this film is. Editing is okay. Artwork is excellent.Final Piece : This is typical Maniratnam movie. It is dark, silent and has little commercial elements. But Maniratnam's fans like me may like this film. I liked it. Plus points are some extraordinary scenes, excellent music, performances by Arjun and Aravind and world class cinematography. Minus points are over all slow pace of the movie, unconvincing told concept of hero joining Bergman and lack of universal appeal. Watch it with academic interest.

JOSEPH PIUS KADAL ( 2013 )Saw this on the release date itself. Normally it doesn't happen with Tamil movies as far as my movie watching habit is concerned.KADAL is a pretty simple story. The life of a boy who grows up among the illiterate fishermen on sea shores. But that's not just about it. its also the story of good v/s evil fight. Good represented by the priest ( played by Aravind Sami ) and evil represented by rich bad guy (played by Arjun). That's not it about it its also about how love can change someone into good and bring them close to god. Now, that's it about the movie.All clichéd plots, no unseen situations or anything. KADAL is a normal average movie. There is nothing mind blowing or supergood story wise. But in terms of making there are few things I really loved.Songs of a movie play a huge role in pulling the audience to it. KADAL album is already a huge hit and there would be people coming in also to see those beautiful songs. I was also waiting for it to come on screen and I am totally surprised!! The sound track of the movie had different genres of songs and I was wondering what placement or picturisation they would have in a movie related to sea.Right from the moment when my favorite track MAGUDI unfolded on screen, I realized that the experimentation begins then onwards. When you see the songs with the movie, I felt all of them doesn't blend well. But if the songs are viewed alone, they would look good and different. I liked the ' adiye.. enne enge ne' song picturisation very much for that was never what I had imagined that song would be like. MAGUDI also could have been better.As always, Rajeev Menon's cinematography is beautiful and stunning in the climax scene. The climax scene in the sea reminded of Hollywood movies like Pirates of the Caribbean. I was so stunned to see that quality of vfx making it so real!!Coming to the actors in this, KADAL marked the debut of two star-kids. KARTHIK's son GAUTAM and actress RADHA's second daughter TULSI. They could not have asked for a greater opening than this. Gautam has some allu arjun mannerisms but other than that he looks promising. Tulsi needs an acting workshop/course before she moves on . it was so delighting to see the wonderful actors ARAVIND SAMI and ARJUN on screen again.KADAL has very few characters only and they were very limited in the script. It seemed as if they had not much to do in the story. Screenplay could have been much better and powerful. May be the Director Sir wanted to concentrate more on the emotion side of the story rather than the actual story.. who knows?? I am no one to talk about it.

Mahesh C Visit: http://movies.chennaivision.com/tamil/review.php?id=1177A story that hardly kindles any interest, a narration that fails to impress and dialogues which heavily remind Neerparavai sum up the hugely expected Mani Ratnam's Kadal.But for Rajeev Menon's cinematography, which is the big saving grace of Kadal, the flick disappoints movie-goers a lot. And it is doubly so for who love Mani Ratnam's films.No doubt A R Rahman's music is great as usual. But it fails to gel with a rural story which deals with the lives of fisherfok.It was more than three decades ago Karthik and Radha made their debut together with Alaigial Oyvadhillai. Now Gautham and Thulasi, Karthik's son and Radha's daughter respectively, have debuted with Mani Ratnam's Kadal.Both Gautham and Thulasi are good in parts. Considering that this is their first film, all that we can say at this point of time is experience would mould them well.Aravind Samy is back and he is here to do a character with some different shades. And Arjun plays a meaty (negative) role.Coming to the story, Sam Fernandez (Aravind Swamy) and Bergmans (Arjun) undergo training to become priests. But over a period of time, they take different paths.As years pass on, Thomas (Gautham Karthik), an orphan, is showered love and affection by a priest (Aravindsamy). He falls for Bergman's daughter Beatrice (Thulasi Nair). What destiny has in store for them is the crux of the story.Kadal presents us never seen before locations in a beautiful and tasteful way. A R Rahman has blended the music of the east and west.Dialogues in Kadal differ a lot from earlier movies of Mani Ratnam, courtesy Jeyamohan. But he could have avoided repeating Neerparavai. Also there is a feel as if we are attending a Christian missionary meeting.The minus point is the narration by Mani Ratnam. Though the ace director got it right in terms of beautiful locations and best output from the cast and crew, his narration takes the sheen away. At many places, the script moves very slow.Kadal - Coastal FlavourVerdict - Poor

amar-nathanson Forgiveness or Revenge: When faced with the criminal destroying everything you stand for, which path would you choose? What leads to spiritual enlightenment, following a preacher formally educated in a religious discipline, or a peek into a heart filled with childlike innocence. Can a human truly be classified as being God or Devil, or are both entities inside each of us, and only the circumstances dictate who manifests outside? With a biblically inspired tale set in the backdrop of the lives of Christian fishermen in Southern Tamil Nadu, these are some of the questions director Mani Ratnam seems to be asking.While the ideas of sin, redemption, revenge, forgiveness in cinema have been around since the beginning of cinema itself, the choice of the sea as a backdrop allows the director to use the various moods of Mother Nature to elevate the emotions in the depicted events, and credit, in this regard, is due to the cinematographer, Rajiv Menon. For a movie with seemingly lofty intentions, the actors do not disappoint. Arvind Swamy as the pragmatic priest who uses carrots and sticks to straighten a boy with an adverse past, Gautham as the enigmatic young hero in constant struggle to grapple with his place in the society around him, Thulasi the young convent girl who refuses to grow up, and Arjun, the man who made a deal with the Devil, and would stop at nothing to get ahead, all of them play their characters convincingly. The disappointments in the movie are the under utilization of some songs in the excellent soundtrack, and the final showdown which, although shot splendidly, could have packed a stronger emotional punch, either through better dialogue or by tweaking the storyline. Part of this could have also been an outcome of editing, and one hopes that an uncut version of the movie releases on DVD at some point that better explains these problems.Following Thalapathy and Raavan, this is the director's third venture to be inspired by a religious epic. While the other two movies were more direct retelling of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, Kadal is not quite a reinterpretation of an epic, but characters and events were certainly inspired by the stories from the Christian faith (the betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection). Is it mere coincidence that the hero, born as a child to a woman named Mary, and constantly referred to as God's son in the movie, sported longish hair, mustache and beard on his thin visage almost reminding us of the Biblical son of God. Of course, if indeed the purpose was make a movie inspired by the story of Christ, then unlike Raavan and Thalapathy, why is religion an explicit element in this movie. Perhaps, since the question posed is that of choosing a path for life, a religious backdrop is inevitable. In a tale about forgiveness, Christianity may have provided the ideal landscape.Director Mani Ratnam, it appears, has indeed traveled a far distance from his evergreen hits such as Mouna Ragam, Roja, Anjali, where the movie takes you through an emotional journey without necessarily asking you to stop and think about what you just saw. Movies such as Raavan and Kadal have through their sub-textual intent made us question our premises about their stories and possibly, our own.