Ee.Ma.Yau Movie Review: When Death becomes a Postmodern fantasy

In the treatment of death as a theme and its effect on people, Ee.Ma.Yau I was reminded of the novel ‘Chronicles of the Death foretold’, which was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It says about the death of Santiago Nasar, in the eyes of a journalist. At the beginning of the novel, Santiago is murdered and no one really knows why. It unfolds as a newspaper report, surrounding his death and steadily moves into his biography and peeks on the lives of the townspeople on the event of his death.

But here, it is a live action representation, which the majority will relate to. The death of a mere nobody, but someone reflects many through his persona. He is not famous, he is not rich or influential. Just a man who cares for his family and a bit philosophical with some brandy in the tummy, a favorite pastime of Malayalees. The characters of Chemban Vinod, Vinayakan and Dileesh Pothen stick on to us and makes us wonder after the movie. Don’t we all know someone like this?

The comedy we encounter, isn’t artificial, as most of the dialogues are crafted in such a way that it doesn’t feel out of place. The movie begins with a death procession, in its entirety, while the opening credits are still rolling, and one might invoke the 15 minute walking sequence of the PJ Antony as the Velichapadu in the award winning Nirmalyam movie. The movie progresses like a novel, where the storyteller has addressed the background, not just the protagonist. Truth to be told, there is no protagonist. It is hard to label someone in the old fashioned way, who is throwing punches and kicking the bad guys and the narrative shadowed under his towering persona. The camera moves into the lives of the people inhabiting the seashore, mapping their reaction to the death. Every scene seems to offer some philosophical musings to the main story and when we think about the fact that life is too short, we are just small beings in the cosmos who are thankful to be alive.

Instead of offering a definite solution, it seems that the director has left the crux of the plot, about what really happened, to the imagination of the viewers. The lens doesn’t judge the characters who can’t be analyzed based on their reaction to the bad news. We are only offered just facets of their personality and how they react to the death. The climate and the life around the seashore also go into a state of turmoil. The anguish, disappointment and the helplessness in the face of a tragedy, is well represented by the Director.

A cocktail of magical realist techniques, breathtaking choreography and music that keeps you on the edge of your seat, Lijo Jose Pellisery has gifted us a jewel in the crown of Malayalam Cinema. This one of that rare cinema that you’ve to go watch in a theatre.