Marcus Bartley, who shot epics like Mayabazaar in Telugu, also shot a majority of what was then the biggest ever Malayalam film. A longish dissolve from a smiling photograph to Bhargavi’s ghost is two pictures giving us more than a thousand words.
Lighting is all it needs to take us back to cheerier, more romantic times. It doesn’t have to rely on a separate tone or heavy DI to set another time period for the flashback. Some shots feel like they’re right out of a 1930’s German movie while others, opulent and precise, feel like they have American heritage.
WHERE IS MALAYAM MOVIE CHARLIE SHOT WINDOWS
We never get a sense of the geography but when the two windows upstairs keep opening and closing, they look like two blinking eyes of a scary bad guy we shouldn’t mess with. The shadowy glimpses of the haunted house is clearer than an ‘enter-at-your-own-risk’ warning sign.
It doesn’t need jump scares or special effects to scare us. Bhargavi Nilayam (1964)Īll you need to see is the opening credits of this film to be convinced of its beauty (directed by A. The songs are even more beautiful and you can see the influence of ‘Kuyiline Thedi’ on a particular genre of the hero-praise song. This is one of many interesting uses of the visual to amplify the plot. Each time the curtain moves, it cuts light from Sreedharan’s face, getting us to see his two minds, before he shuts the door to let the plot kick in. A curtain-like separation keeps waving back and forth to the wind outside. Notice the scene in which the privileged Sreedharan (Sathyan) goes through a conundrum when Neeli, a Dalit woman, takes refuge in his house. It’s not merely a two-dimensional recording of a stage play the use of space and shadows could be employed even in films today. Among the first films to be shot outdoors, the 70-year-old classic looks nothing like films of its time. Neelakuyil (1954)Ī Vincent’s mastery comes through even on the terrible print that’s available on YouTube. Here’s a list of 30 such films that took us to new places and left us there. Despite the limitations of its budget, Malayalam cinema has always had a treasure trove of great looking films that have the power to outlive performances and storylines.