Amen (I) (2013) User Reviews

A Lively Musical Talking About Theism, Love, Gospel, Faith & Horror. ♦ 77%

[nairtejas · 8/10 · 9 June 2013]

It is actually a divine drama which has ounces of good humor, great music & melodrama. It talks about a small town which is running under a tension of church-renovation. All the corruption & illegality involved is related to the band contests and a love story.

The direction & camera work is fabulous. It reminded me of Qeuntin Tarantino. Lijo Pallissery is a stalwart with the camera. SFX is terrific, while the screenplay is amazing. Slow-mo scenes, spur-of-the- moment impulses and impromptu music performances blew my mind out. Performance by Fahadh Faasil, Swati Reddy & Indrajtih is scintillating. Supporting cast is energetic.

The plot goes flip-flop throughout the movie but as it reaches climax, Amen will prove to be gob-smacking. The level of details is good, locations are exotic, and angles are best. They just increase the inquisitiveness. Only the story seemed a bit low, otherwise Amen has ample stuffs to make you go gaga over it. Elements juxtaposed in a running time of 150 minutes is a let-down, but you should feel every bit of it in order to enjoy the play. It starts off with comedy and ends with you experiencing goosebumps.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended. It gives something new. Powerful & rare execution. A gem of Malayalam cinema. One of the best climaxes ever.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity: Mild | Sex/Foreplay/Nudity: No | Violence: Strong | Gore: Very Mild | Smoking: No | Alcohol: Critical

Brilliant!

[jibu80 · 8/10 · 7 April 2013]

Taken in a previously unseen manner, Amen promises what it gives by the title, a pure divine comedy. The story has all what is needed in optimum level, along-with an excellent performance by an ensemble cast. The technical brilliance in camera and every other aspect of the film are to be noted. Director Lijo Jose, who had already shown his class with the critically acclaimed movies "Nayakan" and "City of God" proves he is a man to look out for in the future. Fahadh Faasil, Indrajith, Swati Reddy did their roles with full commitment, and so did the film's entire crew. The audience will surely be surprised at the film's way of making, and undoubtedly, the climax was one of the best in Malayalam cinema!

Perhaps the first Malayalam movie in Magic Realism

[Pranavist · 8/10 · 7 February 2014]

First of all I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Abinandhan Ramanujam for such a great cinematography.

Amen as it claims itself, is a divine comedy, directed by Lijo Jose Pallissery. The primary objective of the films which comes under this art-movement called "magical realism" is to create an illusion to the viewer despite the existence of some supernatural being or something bizarre to be blended with. Spontaneously the user would hesitate to think that the visual clusters are purely hypothetical. In spite of fabricating the VIRTUAL REALITY to end-user, the director could emphasize the same chunk of conditions in the story-plot as well as makeup aspects. It could extrapolate an extraordinary time-period of Kerala that I guessed it might be around 1980's.

Even though the script was dull at the beginning, audience forgot to notice it because of the consistent sitcom. Regarding the essence of comedy throughout this movie, is inherently related to the culture of Kerala especially the middle-aged Christian culture. So I presume, even if some non-native people of Kerala try to see it with subtitles it's not going to hit at the comical point that's supposed to be. Apparently audience adopted the situation comedies as in dialog as well as in trace movements of camera like zooming and panning which was captured with a mediocre high definition camera and was often shown it in extremely slow motion. I've seen a lot of internet-memes of this movie in social media networking sites so far.

Peculiar twist at the climax was another highlight.

Twist No.1 : Although some of the audience could predict what was going to happen after the instrumental extravaganza, a significant part of audience remained stunned especially when the remarkable character(Kalabhavan Mani) eventually died keeping the statue of the Saint beside him. Yes! Have you noticed the silence a few seconds after the instrumental climax? It's rather picturesque and bizarre chunk of clip at the same time. It was good way of representing as the breeze of calm air to the countryside up next.

Twist No.2 The metaphor of God as a representative of the new Bishop to be in charged. When the foreign girl realized whether it was a dream or illusion, I literally felt an experience resembling to Deja Vu at the denouement part especially when the new Bishop was rendering in front of the local store at the bay of the lake that has already been shown before at the arrival of the same Bishop.

Evidently the movie "Amen" is subjecting magical realism into theistic objectives, Optimistically it's been blended smoothly with the mesmerizing sitcoms. Music was innovative, the first song uses minimal instruments while the ending is embellished with a lot of instruments. I'd say music would be a mediocre attempt.

Now I'm more anticipated and looking forward to watch phenomenal extravaganzas like this in Malayalam as well as Indian movies. In short I'm absolutely convinced by what a new generation film looks like. NEW GENERATION film is not just an blurred imitation of modern life in hallucinations of drugs or sexual euphoria as a dignity or an extraordinary love story of an ordinary nerd.

PS: The peculiar cinematographic style reflected in this film was adopted from a french movie "Amelie(2001)". So is style of narration. Having said that assertion I might have watched it for 5 times. Obviously I have to emphasize that Amen can be recommended as a typical example of a NEW GENERATION movie. Once again thanks to the entire team of Amen in this regard.

Brilliant filmmaking 🔥

[rahulpramod-11072 · 10/10 · 29 October 2019]

If there was an option for 20/10 . I would have given that such an amazing film. LJP proved his brilliance in this film.

Truly magical

[harelives · 8/10 · 6 November 2018]

This is a magical movie. Great visuals and music. I watched this because Fahaad Fazil but it's the director who took my attention after a while. It's amazing how he made this in this tone. Because in his other recent movies like Ee Ma Yau and Angmali Diaries, it's a totally different tone. Loved this the entire time. Can't get my self rid of its music.

An entirely different movie

[sonegeorge · 10/10 · 16 August 2013]

The movie portrays lives of few people in a fictional village of Kumaramkari. The movie is a sure shot entertainer but might not be liked by everyone at the same level. Mainly because, most of us try to find the flaws in the movie or do not accept what movie maker is pointing on.

Lijo Pallissery has done his home work properly before going for each scene in the movie, which makes the work similar to a Quentin Tarantino movie (Director of renowned movies like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill etc). All characters in the movie are complete, no fillers used or you will not see anyone just delivering a dialog without a character to portray (from Joymon to Solomon). Each scene is almost perfect, I don't think any one else can make it more perfect.

Sound effects, visual effects and sets are extraordinary, costumes are simple but could have been better. Comedy scenes are in sync with the story, no deliberate comedy scenes or comedian characters are present, which makes it different from the conventional comedy scenes. The twin climax in the end was brilliant. Overall the movie is a must watch and deserved a bigger success.

Creamy magical realism created with music, romance and comedy

[azemillancy · 8/10 · 1 June 2021]

Lijo Jose Pellissery's first commercial success Amen is a wonderful treat filled with stunning aesthetics and an extremely creative world of magical realism. The film tells the story of Solomon and Shoshanna, two lovers who strives to be together despite having Shoshanna's family members standing against their relationship. Solomon is a saxophonist in the church band who has great talent in him but fails to express it due to a fearful memory. Fahadh Faasil and Swathi Reddy shined as Solomon and Shoshanna but the best actor award goes to Kalabhavan Mani for playing the role of Louis Pappan. As the story progresses Louis Pappan discovers the artist inside Solomon, from there on happens a change in Solomon's life and situation. The film also tells about choosing humanity over the evil of religious traditions and cultural norms.

Lijo Jose Pellissery created a wonderful movie of magical realism which has creamy cinematography and amazing camera movements done by the skilled Abhinandam Ramanujan. There was a shot which had the camera rotated in a semi-circular path set at a long and wide angle, the focus point of the frame was a boat going through river. I wondered how Abhinandam managed to do this kind of a camera movement from this kind of an angle. The plot was cliche but it was narrated in a different manner that was so fresh. PS Rafeeque's screenplay was well written with freshness and without much errors and it had nice quirky comedy by both Rafeeque and Pellissery.

As a director this film got Lijo Jose Pellissery's level raised among other malayalam directors and also gave a huge hope to cinephiles. The direction was visionary and aesthetically shot with the angles of POV he chose. Prashant Pillai also did a fantastic job in designing the sound and bgm beautifully.

Divine comedy, it's not worth missing!

Amen is experimental movie & can be seen as one among them!

[Vibijithnair · 6/10 · 2 February 2014]

Amen probably India's first ecumenical movie surely a magical movie indeed. Well i was not that impressed by the script except for the climax but i was more mesmerize how they all executed it. All the actors were performed exquisitely & here we got a new villain (Joy mathew) and he is not Siddique. Among bunch of actor Joy mathew was my best pick-up & his countenance and grudging sound was perfect. Songs by Prashant pillai were aberrant and apt which add feel to the film. Cinematography by Abhinandan ramanjum was transcended, he brilliantly captured all the beautiful scenery of mystical Kumarakom. Direction was fine but pace was stagnate and there were many slow motion which by default unnecessarily increases the running time. It could be better if it get trimmed by at least 20 min. What i liked the most among was the Aura, way they created was terrific & surely renaissance in theism will evoke up at the end when climax get revealed. Amen is ostensibly romantic satire in between which do didactic about faith in theism and gospel.

+ve: ¤Actors. ¤Songs. ¤Cinematography. ¤Direction. ¤Technical department. ¤Climax.

-ve: ¤Editing could have been better. ¤Script except climax.

¤Watch it if you like experimental movie. Amen is magical movie which revive faith in God in you.

LJP<3

[midhjosxav · 10/10 · 11 July 2020]

Magicall,out of the world, best ever Malayalam movie,LJP <3

Watching Amen gives a feel of Malayalam movies of 80s and 90s

[moseslmathew-789-671472 · 9/10 · 11 September 2013]

The movie is made to good entertainment package for all age group. Its a movie which has moved away from conventional way of making Malayalam movies in recent times. The plot revolves around the lives of few people around an ancient Syrian Church in a Kuttanadan village called Kumarangeri. Solomon (Fahadh Faasil) is in love with Shoshanna (Swati Reddy) who is the daughter of a wealthy contractor. All the characters have played well and story moves logically well except one scene where the character eats liquor glass. Movie is packed with good humor, romance and a very good climax.The movie moves slowly but suits the story line. Whole story revolves around musical folk band which is struggling for its survival in parallel with a love story which is also struggling to survive. It also depicts the politics of church priests and trusties.Songs are good with a different style. Choreography of the movie is well appreciated. Fahadh Faasil had done with the character with Mani as per the expectation .A Malayalam movie fan of Old days will not be disappointed with Amen,

A bunch of beautiful visuals strung together by banalities .....

[PimpinAinttEasy · 3/10 · 17 July 2013]

AMEN is one of the biggest hits in Malayalm cinema in 2013. AMEN aspires to be a magical love story set against the backdrop of the beautiful Kumarankari village which has a colorful and boisterous Syrian Christian culture. The director Lijo Pallisery is obviously inspired by Emir Kusturica's BLACK CAT WHITE CAT and Fellini's AMARCORD.

The script and the performances are so weak that the director has to resort to slapstick in slow motion and beautiful visuals to shore up audience interest. The film is like a collection of every single cliché in Malayalam cinema - the feuding families, cruel priest, star crossed lovers, naughty kappiar and the supportive grandmother. The first 40 minutes of the film is used up in introducing the boisterous, naughty and hard drinking but highly devout villagers of Kumarankari. Some of the characters are just there to get excreta thrown at them or fall off bridges or get chicken curry thrown at them by fiery and defiant Christian women. Some of the comedy scenes seem to have been added only to increase the length of the movie or because the writer did not know what to do with the main plot which is the love story between two individuals that can be fulfilled only if the bumbling guy can pull up his socks and lead his church music band to a victory in a fierce domestic clarinet competition. So you have the usual cringe worthy scenes where the heroine and the hero grin at each other and the hero's sister reprimands them and the heroine and the hero's sister lash out at each other for no obvious reason. Most of the villagers are loud imbeciles and the writer cannot come up with even one witty or biting piece of dialog so every other line is filled with expletives and all of the dialog has to be delivered at the top of the actor's voice almost as if the actors could shout the audience into liking the movie. The whole film is a bunch of beautiful visuals strung together by banalities.

The performances indicate the continued decline in acting standards in Malayalam cinema. None of these new character actors can hold a candle to nedumudi or tilakan or jagathi sreekumar. I have been watching malayalam movies for the last 25 years and as far as acting performances were concerned, it was like travelling in a mercedez benz but nowadays its like going around in a Marathi 800. Fahad Fazil is his usual dull and flat self. Swathi Reddy doesn't do much except smile with her crooked teeth (which is nice to look at) and act defiant. Indrajeet does a decent job as the liberal minded priest. John Paul was mostly convincing as the cruel head priest. But the guy looked like he was hammered most of the time. Everyone else was below average.

Anyway, this is a huge opportunity lost. If the director had paid as much attention to the script as he did with the visuals and the sets, this could have been a very entertaining and magical film.

(3/10)