Immanuel Movie Reviews

Immanuel (Mammootty) works in a publishing company run by Joseph (Sunil Sukhada). But the publishing firm seems to be going the wrong way as business is down. People working there haven’t been paid for months. Immanuel himself is looking for the pay that’s due to him. He needs to buy things for his wife Annie (Reenu Mathews) and kid and take care of his familial responsibilities. There is also a rapport that he shares with Joseph, who is like an elder brother to him. Joseph vanishes one day and Immanuel is rendered jobless. The next morning Immanuel gets a letter plus some money, left for him by Joseph. Joseph directs him to go meet a friend Rajashekharan (Mukesh), who could help him find a job. Rajashekharan tells Immanuel that there is a vacancy with an insurance company, but the company is looking for youngsters. He promises to help Immanuel get to the interview level, after which he would have to fend for himself. Immanuel gets selected and then on it’s a totally new world for him. Once in, he gets a totally different picture of what the insurance sector is. Good at heart, upright, honest and humble- Immanuel is so unlike the people in the company. He presents a picture that’s totally in contrast to the picture presented by the young Branch Head Jeevan Raj (Fahadh Faasil), who is only after profit and nothing else. It’s from here that the story takes off…

There are, in the movie, things that might bore you a bit. There are things that you’d want to be treated differently and there are places where you feel the film is a bit slow. But just stop a while and ask yourself if you are here to judge the film or watch it and enjoy it. I guess it all goes wrong if we tend to take up this judging business so seriously. Everyone wants to emerge a reviewer and that kills the charm of watching a movie and enjoying it, despite flaws and shortcomings. Lal Jose’s ‘Immanuel’ is a film that I’d like and love to watch again. It touched my heart and communicates things positive. It speaks of goodness in a world where ‘profit’ becomes the mantra in almost everything that we do, even in the realm of personal relationships. And hence, I believe, once in a while we need such films, which we can take our family to watch on a quiet evening. It re-iterates values that perhaps have become ‘old fashioned’ in a world of trendy things, peppy films and where style rather than substance gets amplified. I would vote positive for a film like ‘Immanuel’. Kudos Lal Jose and team!!

Performance

There is nothing for Mammootty fans in ‘Immanuel’; the actor in him tackles the role almost perfectly well. Reenu Mathews is just about OK. Fahadh, as usual, is really good and delivers a neat performance as Jeevan Raj. I liked Sunil Sukhada as well. The rest of them are OK with their respective roles.

Technical aspects

I guess the film could have been different if it had been made a bit slicker at the editing table. But maybe the editor had his own limitations and had to go as per the script. The other technical aspects jell well with the film and its overall mood.

Music

Background music suits the mood of the film; songs are good, but not too impressive. They won’t stay for long in your minds…

Script

Writer Vijeesh A C deserves appreciation for having come up with such a story. But he could have reworked on the script and polished it a bit. That would have given a totally different and better result.

Direction

Lal Jose seems to have sleepwalked through the direction part. He seems totally relaxed and that reflects upon the slow, relaxed pace of the movie, something that may not go down well with erudite reviewers or the younger generation. But despite the lags and the flaws, the director needs to be appreciated for delivering a movie that has something good to say and that has plusses overshadowing the minuses. Good work!