Ee Ma Yau - LOCAL IS INTERNATIONAL
Suhansid Srikanth
Lijo Jose Pellissery's EeMaYau opens with an extreme wide shot of a calm, tranquil sea and a fully withered tree standing all one. And then we see a funeral procession walking across the frame. As band music broadens.. marches there.. Priests, Crosses, Clarinets, Coffin, Church men. This single static shot extends for more than 3 minutes on which the entire title credits roll. It not only sets the much needed ambience for the film.. but detaches us from the real world we come from and pulls in at one go to the black hole of the world Lijo and the screenwriter P.F.Mathews created in the film.
As revealed in the teasers and pre release buzz.. the film is centered around a death.. a funeral! But how! Never has been a fisherfolk shown with this keen detailing and atmospheric relevance. The film really kicks off when Vavachan dies. But we see a long, detailed build up to that. We see Vavachan travelling peacefully with his duck. We see him thrashing someone when his daughter is joked about. We see him having a just another day conversation with his son.. holding a drink.. singing.. dancing.. We see him explaining his son how grand a funeral was set by him for his father. Eesy, (essayed by Chemban) promises him that he will conduct Vavachan's as a greater funeral than that.. like that of a king's. Call it the irony of life.. after all this conversation on death and funeral.. Vavachan collapses to death.
There are several instances where the writing and direction blends meticulously. One such was when the corpse is jaw-tied by the nurse. As soon as she leaves, power shut down happens. Metaphorically, we hear Pennamma crying that he has left them all in the dark. And, we are cut to the close up of the corpse's face where the tie loosens and Vavachan's mouth opens in shrill darkness. The irony of corpse being an immortal subject with no consciousness amidst all these chaos is itself a fascinating story to hover upon.
Despite the theme and conflict.. there is humour all over in the most unexpected places. Like the guy who makes a story of his own about Vavuchan's death.. Like the possible affair between nurse and the doctor he says.. The scene where nurse Saramma gets the bike is a scream! Even the mistuned clarinet player distracting the attention of Pennamma and all the crowd comes off a weird joke for the place at which it falls. Over a time, we firmly get that Lijo is more interested in genuine realism and simple, poignant telling that calls for art and everything rather than staging an aesthetic serious art film!
The film is pivoted around several subplots.. an obstinate church father (played by Dileesh Pothan) who refuses to approve the death and burial.. a roadside romeo who is earlier shown as lover boy of Eesy's sister trying to sneak a kiss in the death house.. Ayyappan (played brilliantly by Vinayakan), who manages everything for Eesy in this tough time.. Vavachan's second wife and her family claiming for right, charging a murder suspicion on Eesy.. far away from all this, two men sitting under a shed, playing cards.. the characters keep flooding in as a shoal of fish.
The almost documentary like visuals are drenched with Christian imageries. The broken Clarinet hesitant about playing in the funeral.. The pandal falling down.. The surrealistic shot of angel and demon waiting for taking the immortals to the other world.. there is more to the untold in everything. We see the coffin that Eesy bought for a huge sum of 40000 breaking down in the last moment making people question Eesy whether he made commission even out of his father's death. Eesy is targeted by one and everything that happens around him.. that morally questions his belief, his faith on both his people and religion. It drives him up mad to a decision that sets for the climax.
The motive of every scene Lijo stages is not to give us any information or to show a new detail. It just unfolds like how it happens in life. Only as an afterthought, we get the whys and hows. Even the revenge of the guy who got beaten by Vavachan is crooked gently as him making the gravedigger to drink. Again.. call it the irony or what.. the gravedigger who said 'This is how one should die.. while drinking and enjoying life' dies halfway while digging a grave for Vavachan. He is buried in the same grave that he earlier claimed as the best grave he ever digged. The final grave that Vavachan gets is itself a fitting contrast image to the title.. Rest in Peace!
There are several moments all over where Lijo shines in enthralling us with novelic shades of his filmmaking.. like when right after Vavachan's death.. we see Eesy talking to himself just like Vavachan. The film's mood is painted gloomily with two things. One, a tragic, oceanic, sea wind blowing dark night! Another, a bright, stormy, moody rainy day! Watch out for the brilliant transition from day to night! The hush of wind watered with the waves keep raging in our ears even after hours of watching the film. Everytime the sea is established.. it is shown with an aggression that parallels the colossal drama happening in the story. The turmoil of ships waving in the sea.. disturbed flags.. haunting twilight.. everything enriches the experience that you almost get the sea sickness one feels while visiting a coastal village.
Not to forget the brilliant casting and performances Lijo has pulled off. Be it the smiling, saint like face of Vavuchan.. humanly Ayyapan, who breaks at one point when we are waiting for Eesy to burst out to tears.. the chants of Pennamma.. the daughter in law who is worried about being bare neck when her relatives arrive.. Pradeep, who makes million calls to Eesy, constantly worried about funeral timing to start his printing.. the characters stay with you for their unbelievable realism. When the film ends.. we do feel like coming out of a fisherfolk funeral. There is a sadness that bumps us despite how satirically the film questions existence and rituals. The absurdity of life that Lijo and Mathews translate on screen with visual language is an experience!
Be it Amen's fictional village where Clarinet triumphs over faith and victories.. Or Angamaly Diaries that revolted with an entire village and exploded into a stunning storytelling.. Lijo makes a film out of folks and places that until now was believed as zones cut out for or only for literature. His is a kind of filmmaking that has narration in its blood, flesh and bones. He is redefining not only realism but how effortlessly a huge cinematic celebration of the medium can happen with simple, mundane moments of life. As the posters of EeMaYau reads.. he is shouting from the rooftop through his films.. "L OCAL IS INTERNATIONAL!"