Joji movie review

Joji is a low-key adaptation of Macbeth soaked in the mood of K G George’s unsettling classic Irakal which released thirty-six years back. Dileesh Pothan returns to directing after his dream like entry into Malayalam cinema with his celebrated breakout films reuniting with his favourite actor and writer for the third time.

The story revolves around the kingdom of Panachel Kuttapan, a level- headed patriarch in a practically male dominated household. The head of the family is a tough to please, physically dominating, giant of a man who runs the Panachel household with his three sons and family consisting of a daughter in law and grandson who rarely speaks in his presence. Shyam Pushkaran successfully touches down on major players from Macbeth like the domesticated and quiet daughter is intended to be the surrogate for Lady Macbeth with the youngest son Joji serving the arc of Macbeth in his quest for riches and over ambition.

The filmmaking is quite minimalistic and contained in the sense that majority part of the movie lingers around the huge house with the huge plantation surrounding it in the background. Dileesh Pothan uses the restricted spatial conditions to his advantage by framing the characters in a distance in relation to each other in pivotal scenes underlining the lack of attachment among the disgruntled members of the household. Several of the character beats and writing bear much similarity to the world of Irakal and the backdrop helps in elevating its eerie closeness to the KG George classic in a good way. The dialogues are especially sharp and economical in the interactions between Joji and his bedridden father that reveal much about the character of Joji and his motivations or lack of it which makes him do the things he does once his father starts recovering from a fatal heart attack that leads to partial paralysis. The whole family except for the elder son Jomon (Baburaj) was waiting for the big mans fall and slowly begin to realize that they are just in touching distance from freedom and self-respect in a house which has ignored their identities for long.

The film is layered with several themes like structural exploitation of powerless by the powerful and small things that might avoid impending tragedy that lurks behind the contained and demeaned souls not happy with the way people treat them (read society!). The film tries to present a micro sample of a household where no one cares for each other, not because they are inherently bad people but by virtue of the situations that they get themselves in an oppressive environment where self-respect and mutual care is taken for granted. Fahad Faasil yet again sinks deep into the abyss of psychologically affected protagonists where he has traversed with great results in the past and lends credibility to the selfish yet somewhat likable Joji who schemes to get himself out of a series of planned and impulsive moves that eats away at his mental state and personality. Joji is a kind of film that works when the casting works and Unnimaya Prasad and Baburaj make Shyam Pushkaran’s rendering of the tragic Shakespearian drama even more grounded and one that befits the lineage of countless interpretations and versions that has come out over the years.