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I went for two Malaysian Tamil films this year and I was on
the verge of giving up of ever going to watch one in the cinema anymore. I told
myself that EVT The Farm would the last film I would watch in cinema and if
that also disappoints me, I would stop watching Malaysian Tamil films in cinema
moving forward. EVT The Farm was my last roll of the dice.
I haven’t had a great experience reviewing local films as
the last one got me into a lot of trouble. However I am going to push my luck
and review this film while hoping that all the points in my review would be
received with an open mind. Presenting to you Boggler Blogger’s review of En
Veetu Thottatil- The Farm.
Story Review
Slasher Thriller. That is how the film has been promoted
throughout its marketing campaign. I had no idea previously and EVT gave me an
amazing insight to that. To simplify the film, the story is about a girl mute
and deaf girl who gets kidnapped by The Onai and is trapped in a maze like house.
Her goal is to escape the house alive while the cops try to track down the
kidnapper. The film touches a love/romantic at the early parts of the film before
moving into the slasher thriller genre.
To be honest, when you watch the slasher thriller part of
the film, you would feel the pain of the characters being trapped in the maze
house. So much blood and violent killing to the point it you would also feel
the pain of the victims. Credit to the director for creating a film that allows
the audience to feel the pain as well.
My favorite portion of the film was the cat and mouse game happening between the lead character and The Onai. It was so well designed the sequence of scenes which will keep you glued to your seats and captures your full attention on what is happening.
There was a couple of downside for me with the first being the
pace of the film for me especially the love portion. As beautiful it was shown
I felt that portion had something missing and it wasn’t winning my full
attention on the film.
Also I felt that the role of the boyfriend in the film didn’t
really gel well with the film and didn’t connect the dots that well. I can see
how the whole love portion brought the lead character to the location she was
kidnapped but I don’t think that was strong enough to have that long of a
portion just for that moment.
Also the boyfriend part was left a little hanging in my
opinion on what happens to him after the investigation. As fantastic as The
Onai was, I don’t think the backstory of the character does enough justice to
allow us to understand why The Onai does what it does and how it picks its
victims.
I felt that portion was a little rushed and short. I would
have preferred if the love portion was trimmed and The Onai backstory was
extended as it would have gave the audience more clarity. Another positive in
the film was the opening police fight sequence. That was very well done and I
enjoyed it very much. It reminded me a little of a Gautham Menon Police
chase/fight sequence. Well done again it was brilliant.
The film has been selected in 3-4 film festivals before it
was released here. I believe that alone should be enough to convince you that
this film is a must watch. Remember it is not easy for a film to get selected
for these festivals and if EVT is there, that means something. Also the public opinion on this film has been pouring in all over Facebook which tells you everything you need to know about the film quality
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Director Review
Karthik Shamalan
You deserve all the credit for coming up with such an
engaging and gripping screenplay. I loved the arrangements of the scenes and
how you balance the film between the romantic portion, the police portion and
of cause The Onai portion.
Brother you are gem to the Malaysian Film Industry. I was at
awe watching your product. There has always been a general perception of how a
Malaysian film would be and your film was nothing like that. You showed us
that, we Malaysians too can produce internationally acclaimed quality films and
I can’t thank you enough for that. You restored my faith in Malaysian films.
The arrangement was really good as you didn’t allow the film
to travel in a single mood for a long time. The constant moving around made the
film very gripping to watch. In an industry where by a heroine usually has
almost minimal importance to a film, I got to congratulate you for coming up
with a character design of the female lead which was so impressive and bold.
This character will inspire people.
Credit to you, your art director and make up team for
working on the house maze and the consistency of the blood splattering on your
cast. It looked and felt real and the blood stain in the house and on the
character looked consistent scene by scene. Fantastic work on that part again. I also enjoyed the fact how you design your film in a manner whereby your lead character and villain had 0 dialogues yet the intensity of their scenes were amazing. Well done
You spoke many times saying you are not sure if you would
ever do a film after EVT. Well brother, as a normal audience who craves for
quality films, it is my humble request and I believe I speak behave of the
majority by saying that you should continue to direct more films post EVT. You
have the talent and quality and we want more films from you.
And finally, I clapped and cheered so much for the very last
scene you put out. It was a fantastic touch and I was out of my seats for that.
I was just so happy to watch that final scene. Thank you again. You are the brain
of the film.
Rating: 4.3/5.0
The Cast
Jaya Ganason
Lady, you deserve a standing ovation for your performance in
EVT. I was wowed by your performance. So much class and commitment expressed by
you in your role. The fear you emoted in the film was so convincing that the audience
too traveled with your fear and pain.
Playing a character which is mute and deaf is not an easy
task as you have to rely fully on your eyes, expression and body language to
tell the audience what is going on and how you are feeling and you aced it
well.
The whole proposal scene was just top class. I loved the
fact how your cheeks were kind of shacking and vibrating during those scene.
Such small detailing but adds so much of value to the scene. You have now set
the bar on how a female lead character can perform. Without a doubt you were
the heart of the film.
At this part here I have to give lots of credit to the
person who dubbed for Jaya Ganason. No dialogues just expression sounds but it
was so damn good. The dubbing from you plus Jaya’s expression worked so well
together. I know it wasn’t an easy to thing to do and congratulations to you.
You would have needed to be fully in character just like Jaya to understand how
the character feels and expressive it with your voice. Wonderful job. I am tipping you to win the best actress award for next year's Festival Filem Malaysia.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Mahesh Poobalan & Mohana Raj
Mahesh Poobalan plays the role of Detective Kabilan who is
recovering from a traumatic experience of his own, is assigned to solving a case
whereby people have been going missing. He plays his role convincingly as a relentless
cop who would not stop until he cracks the case.
I enjoyed the complexity he expressed dealing with his own
dark past while at the same time pushing hard to solve this case. By now
everyone would have loved his scene where he says “How do you feel now” and that
includes me as well. He did justice to his role and brought out what is needed.
Meanwhile Mohana Raj plays the character of Dev who is the
love interest of Sujithra (played by Jaya Ganason). Although I didn’t really feel
the relevance played by his character in the film that much, I must say Mohana
does enough to perform in the role he was given. Relevance of the character is
not in his hand therefore I don’t just him for that and only judge him for the
way he performed.
The heartbeat scene and the way he reacts to Jaya’s proposal
would be his highlighting point in the film.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
K.S.Maniam & The Onai
First up K.S.Maniam sir, credit for you for taking up a role
which someone your age would not want to take up. You played a role which
people could laugh about, hate you and also feel for you (credit to Karthik
Shamalan for the character design). Goes to show that you are capable of
playing different type of roles that draws different reactions from the
audience.
Everyone is so curious to know who The Onai and I loved the
way how it was all revealed in the climax. Just like Jaya, you too had no dialogues
and had to rely fully on your body language. Unlike Jaya, who could rely on her
facial expression to translate her reactions to the audience, you on the other
hand was fully masked and can’t do that.
Despite that, you were able to struck fear in peoples hard,
by just the way you walk, the way you move and of cause the sound you made.
That is just wow how you were able to do that. I was told you put on an
additional 27 kg for this role and that shows dedication. You were definitely
another star of the film.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The Music
Shameshan Mani Maran
In a film which only has 30 % dialogues, music plays a far bigger
role than any other normal film. I am glad they picked you for the job because
you went on to give life to the film.
As much as I enjoyed your songs in the film, the little
background score and music in the film between the scenes gives life to it and
allows us to understand what is going on. Your music gave so much meaning to
the scenes and that was the key reason on how the audience were able to connect
with the film.
Shameshan Mani Maran, you are the soul of the film.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Final Verdict: Engaging, Violent & Traumatic. An experience you have to watch to understand
Final Rating: 3.9/5.0
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