Joji (movie on Amazon Prime); Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Baburaj, Unnimaya Prasad, Joji Mundakayam, Sunny PN, Alister Alex; Direction: Dileesh Pothan; Rating: * * * and 1/2 (three and a half stars)
Just once you’d suppose one other contemporary tackle William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” could not probably be executed, comes “Joji”. Fahadh Faasil’s new collaboration with director Dileesh Pothan retains the fundamental define of human avarice and slant at violence, however sheds Shakespearean grandeur of the story in favour of restraint because it builds up the crime drama.
“Macbeth” and its innumerable retellings (together with Vishal Bhardwaj’s magnificent “Maqbool”) have historically banked on a singular tragic flaw whereas spelling doom for the towering Shakespearean antihero — his ambition. Pothan’s movie underplays that bit, and offers the titular protagonist (performed by Faasil) the persona of a weakling, ridden by inferiority complicated.
Faasil’s Joji is clearly the weakest in each means amongst the three sons of a wealthy plantation proprietor, Kuttappan (Sunny PN). Screenwriter Syam Pushkaran attracts up Joji, youngest of the brothers, as a loser. He is an engineering dropout and whereas he goals of being a rich NRI he has no clue learn how to go about it. Twist in the story comes when Kuttappan, on returning house after a stroke, clearly refuses to present Joji any inheritance by any means. Angered, Joji quietly modifications his father’s remedy, which results in the latter’s demise. As the narrative strikes forward, a paranoid Joji units on a frantic bid to cowl his tracks, solely complicating his scenario additional.
Pothan and Pushkaran have tried fascinating departures from what defines the “Macbeth” storyline. Among the most pertinent re-jigs is Lady Macbeth, imagined right here as Bincy, performed with chilly precision by Unnimaya Prasad. Bincy, spouse of the second son Jaison (Joji Mundakayam), is an confederate of brother-in-law Joji extra by probability than design. Her function is restricted to enjoying alongside, as a result of she sees potential subsequent benefit that she might draw out of Joji’s nefarious plan of motion.
Unlike “Macbeth” and virtually all of its interpretations, the Lady Macbeth monitor right here is restricted to greed. There is not any sexual or marital subtext of any consequence in Bincy’s equation with Joji. The thought lets Pothan craft a story that stays singleminded in its concentrate on Joji’s thoughts video games.
That kind of an method can be the motive this movie has executed away with the symbolism that renders “Macbeth” a lot of its textual richness. Parallels to blood on the arms, supernatural apparitions, the Three Witches, or the Birnham Wood coming to Dunsinane are both negligibly touched upon or executed away with, in sync with the frills-free cinematic remedy of “Joji”.
The largest departure, of course, needs to be Fahadh Faasil’s reorganised Macbeth. As the low-key Joji, he strikes an antithesis of the heartless killer the protagonist will finally change into, executing the function with impeccable restraint.
Faasil will get ample assist from the prop solid. Baburaj as the eldest of the brothers, Jomon, an alcoholic divorcee and single father, is aptly solid, as is Joji Mundakayam as Jaison, the mild-mannered second brother.
“Joji” strikes subtly because it delivers influence, by means of Shyju Khalid’s impersonal cinematography that nearly features as a discreet onlooker in a family of disquiet, and thru Justin Varghese’s tender background rating that leaves a word of menace.
The movie was shot in the Covid period, and Pothan has crafted an beautiful “Macbeth” in the time of carrying masks. The characters of “Joji” put on their masks not simply actually however metaphorically, too.
