Memories Malayalam Movie Review

Producer– P K Muralidharan, Shanta Murali

Director- Jeethu Joseph

Cast- Prithviraj, Miya, Vanitha, Suresh Krishna, Vijayaraghavan, Sreejith Ravi, Meghna Raj, Nedumudi Venu etc.

Music- Sejo John

Cinematography :Sujith Vassudev

Review By : Unni R Nair (Kerala9.com )

Jeethu Joseph, who last delivered the typical Dileep comedy ‘My Boss’ and before that another humour-oriented film, ‘Mummy & Me’, had begun his directorial career with ‘Detective’, a rather well-made investigative thriller starring Suresh Gopi in the lead. Now, when Jeethu comes up with his new film, his fourth one, he goes back to doing a thriller, a real good suspense thriller. The film, ‘Memories’, is a slick thriller, well-written, well directed and with a clean performance by the lead actor Prithviraj,

‘Memories’ is an almost taut thriller; yes, an ‘almost taut’ thriller. There are a few hiccups, some minor, pardonable flaws, which however don’t stand in the way of your enjoying the movie. I did enjoy watching it. Good work Jeethu Joseph; you’ve proved that you can handle different genres quite effectively.

Sam Alex (Prithviraj) had been a dynamic, daring cop. But after a criminal targeted and shot down his wife and daughter before his eyes, he just lost all control of himself, his life and his career. He spends his days and nights boozing and doing almost nothing. His mother Marykutty (Vanitha Krishnachandran) is concerned about her son while his younger brother Sanju (Rahul Madhav) has begun to hate him and is disrespectful and indifferent towards Sam. He doesn’t even want Sam to attend his marriage, which he himself has decided, even without his mother’s involvement.

In the meantime, a couple of young officers working with the Customs department get abducted and murdered in a gruesome manner. Leading the investigating team is Vinod Krishna (Suresh Krishna), who’s the Superintendent of Police. As the case gets more complicated, with another murder happening and the cops remaining almost clueless, IG of Police Aravindaksha Menon (Vijayaraghavan), who is also a mentor and godfather to Sam, comes to meet him. He asks Sam to take up the investigation. Sam refuses, but finally takes it up, yielding to his mother’s earnest requests. Sam begins the investigation very callously, most of the time arriving drunk. But as things catch fire, we see the same old dynamic, daring cop back in action. The plot thus builds up, moving towards a very interesting climax…

‘Memories’ moves at a steady pace, it’s all controlled and well-knit. The plot is developed in the most convincing of manners and the suspense is well maintained. It’s almost a perfect edge-of-the-seat feel that you get while seeing the film. Of course the tempo is broken a bit when some flashback sequences come in, especially when it sort of meanders into a light romantic track, with a song, which however is well rendered and is pleasing too. In fact the director could have done away with the song and the romance bit too could have been cut short. That wouldn’t have affected the film; in fact that would have made it more effective and taut.

The fact that it’s all well-presented, well acted out and coherent to a great extent makes ‘Memories’ a film worth watching. Yes, go watch it if you like watching thrillers. ‘Memories’ is a good one, definitely worth a watch or two…

Performance 

The film, on the performance side, belongs to Prithviraj. He has done a real commendable job, as Sam Alex. The drunken, irresponsible cop appears so natural and the gradual transformation that he undergoes too is portrayed very naturally. Real good work indeed! Suresh Krishna, Vanitha, Rahul, Sreejith Ravi, Nedumudi Venu etc have done justice to their parts. Miya’s character, that of a journalist, is typical of such thrillers and she does her part convincingly. Of course, for Miya, there is not much scope for performance with the character in hand. Meghna as Sam’s wife doesn’t have much to do.

Technical aspects

Sujith Vassudev deserves special appreciation for the splendid cinematography work that enhances the tempo in all respects. The others on the technical side, editor Johnkutty and art-director Saburam too have done good work.

Music

Background score, by Anil Johnson, is good. The songs (one is the title song and the other the romantic number) are good, but the romantic song, which is real good, could have been avoided. As for me, I won’t mind the song being there; but it does affect the flow a bit…

Script

Good work Jeethu Joseph. The script, by the director himself, is good and forms real good base for the film. He could of course have toned down the romance and family parts a bit; that would have made the film a perfect thriller. At the same time, Jeethu takes perfect care to show the transformation that Sam undergoes- from a drunken, irresponsible cop to a sober investigator- in the most natural and gradual of manners. That’s one of the highlights of the film. The investigation part and the suspense part are all handled brilliantly. Of course, ‘Memories’ is good work, from the writer’s side…

Direction

Jeethu Joseph had proved his grip over the thriller genre with his very first film. But now, with ‘Memories’ he proves that he could handle thrillers brilliantly and that he is real versatile, as a director of commercial films of all genres. Good work, Jeethu!!

Verdict- Good thriller; worth a watch or two…

Rating: 3.5/5