Thendral's Take: September 2022
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
My Thoughts
It's a rom-com meets murder mystery set in alternating timelines between past and present. Yes. It's exactly how it sounds and I know it seems a lot - which is why the book has elements of incredulity, bordering on ridiculous at times but for some reason, it all just works! The humour, the pace and the charm just carry you right through from start to finish. I don't expect you to take this book too seriously, especially since nearly all the characters are one-dimensional. But sometimes, a mindless read is exactly what you need and this fits the bill so perfectly. It's funny, and with an Asian setting, there were loads of moments to go, "Oh I totally get it 🤦🏽♀️" or "I know right 🙄"
Overall
I don’t think this book will stay with me but it made for a thoroughly entertaining 3 hours for me and may be one of my favourite books of this year. I'll be sure to check out Jesse Q. Sutanto's works!
Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
My Thoughts
This was an average read for me. And one of the biggest reasons for that was I guessed the killer far too early on and found all subsequent mentions of them jarring - basically, I ruined the mystery for myself. I found the lead fairly flat and completely unaware of her surroundings too - which I felt didn’t work for the whodunnit vibe and narrating the story through the lead's point of view. It gave me a very detached feeling and so, it was hard to invest in the plot and any of the characters. It was still an interesting read because the author took the time to describe otherwise mundane details unique to the time such as clothing, food, and settings. But this made for a meandering pace. The book also gave insights into topics that I personally feel are relatively underexplored in contemporary fiction for the time period: N*zi sentiments at the time, Great Depression and underage s*x trafficking. Which I feel gives the book a very valid social commentary vibe rather than a murder/ mystery vibe. The book is also very layered, no scene is ever unidimensional or singular - there's a poignant take on the drinking culture back then, or the mismatch of classes or something very striking even if the object of a scene is fairly simple. Yet, something just didn't click about this book and it just didn't feel exciting.
Overall
I wouldn't say it had the "oh my godddd!! no wayyyy!" kind of effect I've experienced from other books but it was still an okay read. I wouldn't jump to recommend this though!
People Person by Candice Carty-Williams
Overall
I cannot decide where I stand with this book! This is one of those books I would describe as more of a character study than one that focuses on the plot. It’s more important for you to get a feel of the characters of the book, understand their motivations for why they act in a certain way and the influencing factors that have made them who they are. Character development takes a back seat. The problem is, some of the characters were dancing a very thin line between stereotypes and people we have all probably met. Which made this a slightly awkward read for me because it’s fiction, but it has a serious tone, I’m heavily invested in a character to the point I want to tell them how to live their life and yet I’m also a detached observer; I couldn’t decide how I should be involved in this book. As this is the second book from the author, I went in thinking it would have a similar tone to her debut, Queenie. Unfortunately, it’s significantly different tonally and it took some time to regroup and get on board with this slightly cynical book with a tinge of hope. Yet having said all that, I have to share this quote that I’ll be thinking about for a long time: “You are a people person in that the way that you get people. You see people. And, like, properly see people. You see us, you see who we all are, in our own way. And you don’t judge us for it. You don’t ask people to be who they aren’t. And I don’t think many people are like that, so, yeah.”
Jurassic World: Dominion
My Thoughts
Guys, I’m all the colours of disappointment when it comes to this movie. It was SUCH a letdown and I cannot believe this is how we will be saying goodbye to the Jurrasic Park/ World franchise. It doesn’t help that most of the movie is made up of scenes and references to previous movies. Scene from first JP where bad guy gets sprayed in the face? Check. Ian distracting predator from JP2? Check. A whole thing about voltage fences from Jurassic park 3? Check. Massive faceoff between T-Rex and another apex predator with a smaller dinosaur from JW? Check. The problem is they felt more like recycled content rather than nostalgic callbacks. Much like Fallen Kingdom, Dominion’s “new” dinosaur doesn’t have much of an origin story or personality carved out like the Indominus Rex from the first Jurassic World movie. So I struggled in believing that this was a worthy opponent of T-Rex and that it is bone-chilling nor did I have an emotional connection in the form of hatred- which made for a relatively flat moment rather than a triumphant one when T-Rex eventually wins the battle (à la JP, JP 2, JW). Very disappointed with tropes such as people being in the right place at the right time ALL the time too and the lack of discussion around dinosaurs co-existing with humans which is SUCH a lost opportunity and would have been a wonderful nod to Jurassic Park before closing off the franchise.
Overall
Now, would I watch this again? You bet. But I just can’t express my disappointment enough that they brought back Alan, Ian and Ellie for THIS. Formulaic is fine but sometimes, formulaic risks disappointment.
Veetla Vishesham/ வீட்ல விசேஷம்
My Thoughts
What an unexpectedly cute movie! I thought it would be full-fledged comedy but it was actually more of a balance between comedy and drama - this was HUGELY bolstered by Urvashi's performance! So good to see her in a non-comedy role after so long! (I've not watched Soorarai Potru yet!) Completely here for showing: 1. it's normal for a husband to be supportive and doting on his wife. 2. the hypocrisies in a woman getting pregnant "later" in life versus a man. 3. Aging standards for men vs women. Aka, why doesn't a woman disappear into a bundle of grey hairs and wrinkles? I feel like the younger couple - Ilango and Sowmya were fairly realistic too. I didn't watch the original Baadhai Ho so I was an empty slate going into this - I found it worthy of a standalone and had no awkwardness that sometimes comes with remakes. It has a whole bunch of heart so I don't have it in me to bring up anything as "flaws".
Overall
Just watch this movie if you haven't already - just don't go in with the mindset of a comedy the way the trailer made it seem. I mean. I cried a little. HUGE props to the writers and directors for making a movie you can watch as a family despite having such a "sensitive/ taboo" topic as the focus!
Ponniyin Selvan: 1/ பொன்னியின் செல்வன் : I
My Thoughts
THIS MOVIE! You GUYS! I was rapidly blinking away tears during the first 15 minutes because this is EVERYTHING I’ve longed to see on screen: an older Tamil civilisation in its FULL glory. After seeing “older” civilisations from so many different cultures for SO long and LONGING to see one of our own, I am so happy this movie exists in Tamil cinema’s history. This is the movie I’ve been waiting for ALL my life purely for this reason and this is the hill I’m willing to die on when it comes to defending this movie. Yes, we have depictions of kingdoms and such in our black and white era of Tamil cinema but it never felt satisfying - maybe because of the utilisation of such movies as political tools for the time(necessary but can make for a biased story and of course, being a man’s world and such). Moving on. I’ve not read the book and once I heard about this movie, I decided not to so I could watch the movie with a fresh pair of eyes. This was important for me so I’m not influenced by the book, but I’m also glad I read the Wikipedia page for a quick summary of characters and a rough idea of the plot because I think I might have been a little lost otherwise. There is A LOT crammed into the two hours and forty-five minutes and I came away thinking PS-1 could have been done in 2 parts. In terms of actors and performances, everyone is at their PEAK. Everyone’s individual talent has been fully used, or they have been pushed out of their comfort zones sufficiently enough to make this movie a milestone in their career. My personal favourites in terms of performances were Aishwarya Lekshmi, Jayam Ravi, Jayaram, Karthi and Trisha. I was sorely disappointed by Vikram’s character who ironically, I was MOST excited to see. I’m not sure if it’s per book but man-child characters disappoint me to no end (which sadly also made for a disappointing visualisation for Chozha Chozha, literally my most favourite song ever). AR Rahman’s music makes you realise every time how layered his work is and it just add SO much depth to the scenes. It’s so obvious there is so much attention to detail and every single crew member did their best which makes for such a polished final product. I wish VFX and CGI were much, much stronger in Kollywood, and I have some personal qualms in some of the word choices but neither detracts from how I feel about the movie overall. Oh, and did they not film a scene for Sol or did it not make the final cut? I missed it on screen!
One thing that did affect me: I recently saw the controversy around the Hindi translation of the trailer referring to Eelam as a Sinhala country. Some digging identified Kalki Krishnamurthy, the author, to have referred to Eelam as Eela Naadu in his work. However, the movie uses “Ilankai” in the Tamil dialogues and “Lanka” in the English subtitles to refer to this part of the world. While a lot of the language used in the movie was “made current” to be understood by everyone and anyone, this is not a piece of “modernisation” I agree with. It’s really not hard nor is it too much of a reach to use “Eela Naadu” or “Eelam”.
Overall
This is well on its way to becoming a cult classic and I am just grateful to be living in the time this movie was released. Ponniying Selvan-1 is an experience, and it's so rich I am still savouring it such that I’m in no way desperate for PS-2 but will be ready for it when the time comes. My heart is full, from the visualisation of an illustrious Tamil civilisation. I just wish it had been an inclusive one as well.
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