Reviews & Ratings for
അങ്കമാലി ഡയറീസ് (2017)

Angamaly Diaries is essentially a gangster flick on paper which depicts the stories of various small town gangs operating in and around the town of Angamaly. But the movie packs a lot of elements and does justice to all of it. Lijo Jose Pellisery's Angamaly Diaries follows the director's earlier trend of setting up movies in a very Christian world of churches, church festivals and Christian households.

Pepe is a fiery youngster brimming with anger that erupts at the slightest provocation. Not just Pepe, but most of the characters in this movie are firecrackers waiting to blow up at any moment, and that is best demonstrated by the character Appani Ravi. The movie does not shy itself from the ugly side of gang wars. A lot of the violence is suggested through sequences of partially hidden pig slaughter that may make some of the viewers queasy. Pig rearing is an important plot element of the story.

The movie has a cast of 86 debut actors who all do such a marvelous job, that it makes you feel like they were professional actors all their life. The music is firmly grounded in the local folk songs of the area and all the songs have a rustic feel to them. The most remarkable aspect of the movie however is its technical brilliance which culminates in a 15 minute long single-take shot involving over a 1000 extras that forms the climax. It is truly a masterfully made film.

I saw a Malayalam film tonight that absolutely blew me away. Margaret of Don't Call It Bollywood emailed me that she'd heard great things about Angamaly Diaries -- did I want to join her tonight? So, I went in knowing pretty much nothing about it, other than that @Mozhin123 raved about it to me on twitter, too. Every single face in the film is new except one cameo by the debut screenwriter, actor Chemban Vinod Jose (Charlie, Kali, and Oppam). I had director Lijo Jose Pellissery's film City of God recommended to me, but this is my first film of his. Oh. My. God. Pellissery is the rock star of this film! The direction and editing knocked my socks off! Read the full review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2017/03/22/angamaly-diaries-a-fresh-malayalam-crime-film-that-knocked-my-socks-off/ I participated in my first podcast discussing this great film! You can listen here: https://moviemavengal.com/2017/03/24/my-first-podcast-margaret-of-dont-call-it-bollywood-and-i-discuss-angamaly-diaries/