Best Malayalam Films 2022: A year so good that keeping this list down to 10 was impossible
Best Malayalam Films 2022: A year so good that keeping this list down to 10 was impossible
The adversity of the COVID19 years seems to have brought out the best in the writers and directors of Malayalam cinema. After the visionary approach that had them first off the block in tailoring their formats to COVID protocols and incorporating the pandemic into their storylines in films such as C U Soon, Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam and Joji in 2020 and 2021, they got even better in 2022. In the year gone by, Malayalam cinema explored themes and issues that many other Indian film industries avoid, and some that Malayalam itself is often accused of treating poorly; filmmakers stood the conventions of traditional genres on their head, all this while staying true to themselves. They persisted with the culturally rooted, middle-of-the-road works that have drawn pan-India audiences to Malayalam cinema, and ended up standing out even in this year of big bucks earned by big-budget Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films mounted on a massive scale.
There were so many great Malayalam films released in 2022 that keeping this list down to the customary 10 proved impossible. Even restricting myself to 15 was heartbreaking. Here they are:
BEST FILM: Ariyippu
Director: Mahesh Narayanan
Primary cast: Divya Prabha, Kunchacko Boban
Excerpt from my review: “No man in Ariyippu bears the grotesque markers of villainy that commercial cinema often resorts to. Here, we have sweet-looking Hareesh, the avuncular manager Suresh… and the merciful factory owner… – the sort of benign-looking chaps whose grievous acts of omission or commission society would gladly forgive. The film, however, is clear that it stands with the persecuted, not the persecutors or their facilitators… Ariyippu depicts women’s oppression including physical abuse without ever seeking to titillate. Even in the video that sparks the pivotal conflict, sex is implied, not shown. In the film’s most shocking scene, when a man commits rape, we barely see the violence with our eyes.”
Read the full review here:
Misogyny collides with corruption and alienation in a compelling COVID-time saga
Director: Rahul Sadasivan
Primary cast: Revathy, Shane Nigam
Excerpt from my review: “Bhoothakaalam is as terrifying as it is clever, a horror drama that is impossible to pin down as being a psychological thriller or a paranormal thriller. It is either or both, depending on how you wish to view it. Neither the title nor the finale provides a spoon-fed answer… The games in this film are being played as much in a viewer’s mind as in the goings-on on screen, which of course is how it is in any good suspense story, but in this one more than most.”
Read the full review here:
Terrifying mind games with Revathy and Shane Nigam on board
3: Aavasavyuham – The Arbit Documentation of an Amphibian Hunt
Director: Krishand R.K.
Primary cast: Rahul Rajagopal, Nileen Sandra
Excerpt from my review: “The hero of Aavasavyuham: The Arbit Documentation of an Amphibian Hunt shares a name with a species of frog that plays a crucial part in the story. This is no fairytale about a princess kissing a frog and turning him into a prince though. Quite the opposite. It is also far from being an academic treatise although that’s what that mouthful of a title might suggest. Aavasavyuham is wacky, wacko in the nicest way possible and wild. Linguists and critics might have to put their heads together to envision a new genre into which they can fit this film by writer-director-producer Krishand, since it is, as of now, indefinable and unslottable.”
Read the full review here:
The Arbit Documentation of an Amphibian Hunt movie review: Wacky, wacko, wild and indefinable
4: Asanghadithar (from the anthology Freedom Fight)
Director: Kunjila Mascillamani
Primary cast: Srindaa
Excerpt from my review: “Srindaa is lovely as an ordinary woman forced into activism because she is – it sounds bizarre when stated in black and white – desperate to pee. She does not have lofty-sounding goals, and the essence of Asanghadithar is that even the tiniest of rights in this world have been gained through hard-fought battles that seem ridiculous in retrospect once those rights have been granted to oppressed communities – and taken for granted by younger generations.”
Read the full review here:
The Great Indian Kitchen’s director presents a solid anthology with a glaring blemish
Director: Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval
Primary cast: Kunchacko Boban, Gayathrie Shankar
Excerpt from my review: “…sharpness and underplayed hilarity…(define) Nna, Thaan Case Kodu (Then Sue Me), a biting political satire about a former petty criminal taking on a mighty netav. It is written and directed by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval whose Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 risked scrutinising a difficult father-son relationship in a society that pedestalises parents. In Nna, Thaan Case Kodu, Poduval sticks his neck out again, this time to spotlight systemic support for government corruption.”
Read the full review here:
Sparkling political satire, one of contemporary Indian cinema’s best
6: Oruthee
Director: V.K. Prakash
Primary cast: Navya Nair, Vinayakan
Excerpt from my review: “Oruthee follows in the footsteps of Maheshinte Prathikaaram, Vikruthi and other precious Malayalam films of the past decade that spotted cinematic potential in seemingly simple yet unusual, telling real-life occurrences. Sometimes, Soumyas emerge because instinct kicks in and gives them more stamina and courage than they knew they possessed. In Radhamani’s case, her resilience is a result of desperation due to straitened circumstances made worse by a series of recent setbacks. She has her back to the wall. Her anguish powers her. National Award winning director V.K. Prakash’s Oruthee is about the latent extraordinariness in ordinary folk, the havoc that wealthy, well-connected people casually cause while covering up their corruption, and what could happen when one of the ‘little people’ decides to fight back.”
Read the full review here:
Navya Nair makes this world a better place
7: Puzhu
Director: Ratheena
Primary cast: Mammootty, Parvathy, Vasudev Sajeesh Marar
Excerpt from my review: “It is unfortunate that Mammootty’s filmography for decades has been dominated by loud, spiced-up, formulaic, misogynistic fare. Every once in a while though, he picks a film like Puzhu and reminds us of the greatness he is capable of. He did it most recently with Khalidh Rahman’s Unda (2019, Malayalam), the screenplay of which was written by Harshad who has co-written Puzhu with Sharfu and Suhas (Varathan, Virus). Together, the thespian, the writers and the director have created a deeply disturbing portrait of a bigot’s persecution complex.”
Read the full review here:
Mammootty’s electrifying portrait of a bigot’s persecution complex eclipses a mishandled climax
8: Pada
Director: Kamal K.M.
Primary cast: Kunchacko Boban, Joju George, Vinayakan, Dileesh Pothan
Excerpt from my review: “There is anger throughout – the anger of the righteous against oppressive dominant forces – yet Pada steers clear of cinematic loudness. In this, it is far removed from formulaic, machoistic commercial Indian cinema of all languages, which substitutes hollow, violent machismo for valour. These four are certifiable heroes who do not require the crutches of low-angle shots, hyper-ventilating dialogue writers or screaming signature tunes to lionise them in the way characters played by male megastars are faux lionised in mass-targeted men-centric films.”
Read the full review here:
Captivating thriller on a real-life fight for Adivasi rights and the fury of the oppressed
9: 19(1)(a)
Director: Indhu V.S.
Primary cast: Nithya Menen, Vijay Sethupathi
Excerpt from my review: “19(1)(a) is cinema in Pranayam form. It engages with pressing political issues, but it does not scream like noisy TV debates. Instead, it pauses, it observes, it absorbs, it reflects, it calms. Debutant director Indhu V.S. draws the title of her film from Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and expression to every citizen. The bravely black-and-white name fronts a film that is, in contrast, incredibly nuanced even as it remains unequivocal about its politics and intent every step of the way.”
Read the full review here:
Nithya Menen and Vijay Sethupathi lead a meditative ode to the idea called Gauri Lankesh
10: Dear Friend
Director: Vineeth Kumar
Primary cast: Tovino Thomas, Darshana Rajendran, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Basil Joseph, Arjun Lal
Excerpt from my review: “Vineeth Kumar’s sophomore enterprise as a director is an ensemble film about Jannath (played by Darshana Rajendran), Vinod (Tovino Thomas), Shyam (Arjun Radhakrishnan), Sajith (Basil Joseph), Arjun (Arjun Lal, who is also one of Dear Friend’s writers) and Amudha (Sanchana Natarajan). Jannath is a psychologist. The men are flatmates and business partners in an app development project. When a member of this seemingly tightly knit band disappears, Dear Friend metamorphoses from being a buddy flick – or rather, from giving the appearance of being a regular buddy flick – to becoming an indefinable thriller.”
Read the full review here:
Intriguing blend of buddy flick, thriller and psychological profile
11: Appan
Director: Maju
12: Old Age Home (from the anthology Freedom Fight)
Director: Jeo Baby
13: Rorschach
Director: Nisam Basheer
Director: Nithin Lukose
15: Naradan
Director: Aashiq Abu
SPECIAL MENTIONS:
Ela Veezha Poonchira
Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial
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