okay the climax of Ponniyin Selvan 2 had me transfixed. this movie is so so so so
So
good. mani Ratnam is so fuckin good at his job
copy pasting my letterboxd review: “brilliant costume design, cinematography, color grading, dialogue (you are missing out if you don’t speak tamil seriously), music (AR Rahman GOAT), set design, etc. very interesting ideas on religion and interplay with the history - the events but also the ideas of the time, E.g. what makes a good king” in a very Hindu scripture and classical sense.
this movie is unapologetically medieval, i found that the most interesting part, it neither says “we should all be monarchists now” or “monarchy is bad mmkay” or passes modern judgment on medieval custom it’s all just exploring these terms thru the lens of a contemporary with greatly magnified empathy, and refuses to play the game of telling you what to think in the present.
I love the tamil dialogue, is 100x more subtle and witty, nuanced, adds so much depth compared to the subtitles.
anyway just watch these movies you will most likely not be disappointed