Samanala Sandhawaniya

Review

The latest addition to Jayantha Chandrasiri's brief, but impressive line up of movies, Samanala Sandhawaniya or The Butterfly Symphony is a love story. It is directed and scripted by Jayantha Chandrasiri while produced by Ruwan Jayasinghe and Palitha Gunawardhana.

Although I would like to move on to the review it would be unfair to pass on without saying a word or two about the director. If to say simply, Jayantha Chandrasiri is one of the best out there. He directed two other movies namely 'Guerrilla marketing' and 'Agnidahaya' both praised highly not only by the critics but also by the Sri lankan audience at large.

He also went behind the camera to create some teledramas. 'Akala sandya' and 'Dandubasnamanaya' are two cult teledramas included in his successful line of dramas. I never failed to be entertained every time they are played on television once again proving the talent of this movie maker.

But does his latest addition to this great collection of art pieces manage to earn a place among them? I think so.

Butterfly is a beautiful insect and certainly a wonder of nature. But there is a way to observe that beauty. If you get too close to it you might accidently touch it, which will damage it's sensitive wings hence causing it's destruction. Too far away, you might not enjoy it as it's very small. The movie proceeds explaining a lovestory which is just as eye catching as a butterfly.

Let's start off with the first half of the movie. To be honest this part is rather a disappointment. Maybe this was because my anticipation when I entered the theater was sky high as it was a Chandrasiri movie.

It didn't take much time for me to miss the usual battalion of actors and actress, Chandrasiri often use, except for Yashoda Wimaladharma. Buddhadasa Withanachchi's talents are wasted, giving him very small space to act.

Although Yashoda, Pubudu Chathuranga, and the newcomer  Surya Sandaruwan give decent  performances, same cannot be said to the rest of the cast in the first half.

Even the comedy scenes do not seem right at some points. Don't get me wrong. The usual odd jokes in all Chandrasiri movies are quite welcoming and they maintain the freshness of the stories. But some of the comedy scenes, in my opinion, are silly and unworthy for such a movie. 

The first half of the movie takes place in the beautiful hill country of the island with great cinematography. But some scenes failed to inspire me. I remember one such occasion where the young Vadeesha (the protagonist of the story) is in a dilemma whether to read the love letter which he accidentally comes across in the beginning. In this particular scene, his right hand goes for the letter while his left tries to stop the right hand from reaching. This, in my opinion, is poor picturization.  

The only card Chandrasiri plays right in the first half is managing the curiosity of the audience. With the soft voice of Yashoda explaining the letter and the deep voice of Amarasiri Peiris mixed with great music (I will be talking about the music later in this review), you feel that the story is building up to something that you still don't know. And the desire to understand that keeps you entwined to the movie.

But it's the second half that really shows the potential of the movie. Note that by second half, i am referring to the events happen after twenty one years later, which according to Chandrasiri, is called the 'sms era'. In the beginning of this half, we are introduced to an older version of the protagonist. And I have to say that I was a little taken aback when I saw what he has changed into.

It is shocking when we see the quiet shy boy turned into a rich drunkard playboy. I say this because the love, that this character has lost, isn't the usual love we see these days in movies. It is not the love that a person would die for or a person would face the destruction if it's lost. It's the kind of love that leaves an itch in your heart or a memory that you cannot forget.  So it was a little difficult for me to understand that shocking transformation. I'm not saying that it's impossible, just felt that the director should have spent a little more time showing the transformation of the character, so that the audience would be convinced enough.

Although Yashoda pulls out a natural and an effortless performance as Punya, for me, the real stand out performance in the movie was given by Uddika Premarathna playing the older version of the lead character. His deep eyes are capable of showcasing a wide range of emotions and feelings, specially in the songs.

All the songs in the movie are shot in stages as live performances reminding us that the movie is all about a symphony. Even though the songs are not visually dazzling or rich as a Hollywood or a Bollywood movie, they are well executed with the help of the lead actor and the brilliant music.

Jayantha Chandrasiri's movies depend highly on the performance of the actors. His lines(dialogues) changes from a whisper to a scream within seconds, making the actor literally dance on screen. But in this movie, it's the music that gets most of the credit for all the brilliance of the movie. 

It's most unfortunate that we didn't get to meet the music composer Ruwan Dissanayaka prior to this movie. But I hope we will see him more offently in future projects. Who knows, maybe we are witnessing the next Kemadasa in the making...

There are few moments in the movie that I felt more dialogues were needed to make it more compelling and natural. And speaking about the dialgoues, the use of english sentences doesn't work well for the movie. There is a scene in the movie where the protagonist enters a stage to sing, drunk, and shouts saying "Where is the f***ing applause" and then the crowd starts cheering. Really? If I was in that crowd I would have left the room immediately even if he's the best musician in the world.

It's is ending that impressed me the most. Jayantha Chandrasiri rounds up everythings happened in the movie in the end and present it to the audience with a magnificent conlcusion. The editing and the cinematography is out standing.

 The use of music is also brilliant and clever. The song 'Iki gasa handana' plays not once or twice but several times throughout the movie. This not only reminds the audience that the whole movie is a symphony, but also causes the words and the tune to get sunk into you as the story unveil itself, making the song more and more meaningful each time.

The movie ends giving a true and inspiring definition to what love and life are. Chandrasiri wraps up saying that artists get their ideas through pain and the movie with it's protagonist stands as the proof for that.

I didn't came out of the theater crying as some of the promotions promised, but I did came out thoroughly satisfied. When many other movie makers go on making so called commercial movies constantly plagiarising Hollywood, Bollywood or South Indian movies, Chandrasiri stands tall with quality movies like this, attracting a massive audience at the same time.

Siri Parakum

Review

Siri parakum is a movie about the childhood of Sri Lanka's one of the most significant kings, king Parakramabahu II. It's written and directed by Somarathne Dissanayake, produced by  Renuka Balasooriya.

This is my first review. So here goes nothing.

As mentioned above, this film is created by the award winning famous director himself, Somarathne Dissanayake. After doing movies like Saroja, Punchi suranganavi, Suriya Arana etc, now the director has done his first periodic film Siri Parakum.

So does the newest movie also stand among the previous well created movies?
I would say no.

So lets start from the beginning. Shall we?

The movie starts well. Decent performances all around. Mr.Dissanayake goes on creating a good backstory with a nice humor mixed in.

But the real magic in the first hour or so in the movie was the little prince himself. Although I was taken aback slightly by the very first line the boy delivers which sounded unnatural and should have been reshooted, the boy quickly becomes the center of attention to everybody.  

Mr.Dissanayake doe what he does best. All the scenes including children are fun to watch and Mr.Dissanayake succeeds with his strategy again. Children at this age( around this age) do not act with experience or the level of understanding. They act naturally and without caring about the outcome, which, if captured properly in a movie, does wonders.

The chemistry between  Chandani Senevirathne's character and the boy is charming in the first half of the movie with comedic dialogues which keeps the audience wanting more.The middle group of actors also do a great job maintaining the charm in the movie.

Well, after the first half or so of the movie, the charm begins to wear off. The audience keeps asking for more, but the movie just doesn't provide more. The story keeps revolving around the same idea and ends without any notable climax.

What I was really disappointed was about the story of the movie. It ends in a disturbing manner and kept me puzzled when I was leaving the cinema hall. It felt like a loosely combined story of several small stories which brings up absolutely nothing to the main story. I mean, where is the hero parakramabahu the second? What did the protagonist actually do?

If you didn't get what I said in the last paragraph let me tell you once again,
We see a young man who has forgotten about his true origin, doing some mesmerizing stuff in the village. The boy-genius lady-killer, one day rests under a tree with his girlfriend and suddenly an elephant comes and kneel before him and people start calling him the king. HOORAY! Wait, is that it?  Yes, that's pretty much it.
It reminded me of Cinderella, except this time, we are talking about a man rescued  by an elephant.

The boy does nothing heroic or kingly to deserve what he gets. He dreams of leaving the palace when he is small  and his wish is granted. He dreams of a girl, the girls is his. He dreams to become a more respected person and suddenly an elephant comes and he is the king. Lucky guy.

Then the king wonders around the village like a boss with his queen smilling to everyone around. Don't get me wrong here, I am not saying it is not funny. But I expected more from a director who has exceptional films like Saroja under his belt.

Another disturbing fact is the revelation of who is the main villain in the story. The evil queen? or the chief priest? I am a Buddhist myself but still it felt very disturbing when the General (senevi) and the chief priest secretly plot to kill the new king. Not just that, it is done in  the middle of a Pirith Deshanawa. Correct me if I am wrong, but come on,seriously? It just didn't felt like an act of a monk at all.

In movies these kind of things happen,mind you. People, or even the heroes, do something bad for greater good. But in all those occasions  convincing justifications are provided. But in this case no such justification is given as to why this king,his wife and his guards are brutally murdered by one the heroes in the story with the blessings of a great monk. To me the only wrong doing of the king apart from having an evil mother(which was not his fault,obviously )was being sleepy in the middle of a Piritha. (and being a non- Buddhist) . Maybe that's why non Buddhists these days don't invite monks for piritha in their houses.( that was a bad joke).

The love triangle has its charm in the beginning but looses it shortly.The idea of king kneeling in front of a Govirala is interesting though. A fresh idea nicely executed.

Nothing much to say about the acting though. Even though the film carries lot of experiences talented actors and actresses there is nothing really exceptional like you usually find in a  Somarathne Dissanayake film.
Talented people like Palitha Silva,Chandani Senevirathne,Bimal Jayakodi,Jayani Senanayake were not given much story time or character space.  They felt like flat characters or supporting bystanders creating nothing new. A somewhat decent  performance by Sachini Ayendra as the evil queen herself. Something has to be said about the actor Ashan Dias who seems to have real talent. For the second time he proves himself after Alimankada.Who knows, he might be the next Gamini Fonseka.

But this much I can say, I went to the film hall  expecting another mind blowing performance like Jackson Anthony in Suriya Arana or emotional performance like Dulika Marapana in Samala Thatu, but came out of the hall disappointed on that aspect.

The songs are beautiful as ever. Well written and music is magnificent is those songs. Mr.Dissanayake scores again with his songs and shows to all those directors copying the exact songs from Bollywood who is real the boss. Same cannot be said about the background music though. Nothing very interesting there.

To conclude my review , I should say to all those who go to the film hall looking for a bit of relaxation or to see your kids laughing in the middle of the film, this film is to you. But to those who expecting another intriguing piece of art by an award winning director, the chances are that this would not be your movie.

This is the age of periodic films in Sinhala cinema. Everyone tries to do it. And no matter whether they are good or bad, lot of people come to watch them. We are a race which is very proud of our history. We want to get away from the complex present and dream to live in that simple past. In all these periodic movies, past is a beautiful place, with good people and lots of fun all around. So it's not a big mystery why directors always makes these movies.

But have we really lost our creativity there? Building up a story which has already happened and not really bringing up a new idea to the table? Do we really have  the technology or the budget to create such historical events? Clearly, no.

There is a reason why in this movie, the story ending just after the coronation. Because the creators couldn't pull out the great battle scene between Parakramabahu the second and Magha. Why do we always consider stories which we ,as an industry, are yet unable to do when there are millions of other territories which modern directors haven't even thought to touch? Why can't we be a little more bit creative? Even if it's a periodic film, can't it just be about creative but small incidents rather than great kings and great wars? Do we always have to make cheap versions of epic historical tales for the sake of getting a larger audience? 

Something to think about........ 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

Introduction

First of all i must tell you that I am not someone who has an academic background on movies or any other related materials. I am just a person who loves to watch good Sinhala movies and enjoy them to the same extent i enjoy good English movies (or good Bollywood movies).

I want to keep this blog as simple as possible. This will include my thoughts regarding the movies that I have already watched and that are yet to come.

My intentions are only to express my views on Sinhala movies and create a meaningful discussion in the society about our films.
So lets start this people. Feel free to comment.
And stay classy!