Let this be a lesson for people who expect astronomy from a man who just got lucky with his magnum opus.
After a gymnastic performance by the cameraman through the valleys of high-range Kattappana, the story about a 6th grade failure named Josutty (Dileep) begins. He comes from a poor family whose head talks like he is Aristotle. Brought up in a poor, lousy environment, all that Josutty wants from life is to marry his childhood sweetheart (Narayanankutty) and get laid. However, his beggarly background poses a threat, and then ironically and manipulatively, he marries a money machine and flies to New Zealand hoping to make babies.
Before I talk more about anything else, I want to inform you that throughout the film the only thing I wondered was if the camera was being handled by an infant. Shaky, robotic shots, weird close-ups, more focus on the locations than the characters, and plain restlessness. Believe me, the cinematography is so bad, it might give you epilepsy. Why don't people just hire Jomon T John? If the draggy start doesn't put you to sleep, the never-ending second act definitely will. Songs are thrown at you like Hussain used to throw paint at his canvases. Characters are introduced nicely, but all we want to focus about is Josutty getting lucky with any one of the eligible characters. In the first half, he doesn't. In the second half... well, if you get there.
The film primarily talks about how detachment affects people's lives. How living far away from the people close to you can be the source of pain, and by the time you realize what you're missing, it's too late. Conveying this specific point, mostly to Malayalis who are obsessed with Gulf, is the only thing the film achieves during its 57 hours of running time. Nevertheless, the way the film is executed using cliché, is what sabotages the whole shindig.
My 3-year old niece does better make-up, but she's not as funny as some of the characters in the film. Humor is a relief, but relying on puns and slapstick is not artistic anymore. Mr Joseph should know that his unschooled protagonist fails at playing life this time because maybe education is after all important. The direction could have been more intrusive; the characters seems like they improvised a lot, which is not always a good thing.
However, there are minute details which, if picked up, can boost one's ability to appreciate the writing. But, still, adding a comedy skit-like sequence in the middle of a drama shows how ill-prepared the writers were. It pokes fun at the insanity of marriage functions, debunks the popular claim that one can see Sri Lanka from Kerala, and uses cultural references to spew humor.
The cast is fine, nothing extraordinary. Exotic Kiwi locales may enthrall you, but a twist, which we were assured that it won't have, plays against the whole drama as we see the story slip into melodrama and high dosage of ridiculousness. I felt no pity for the primary characters nor did I care if Josutty put his P in a V. Usually, I am interested in those stuffs, but hey, the snooze-fest had started and I don't like to be disturbed in my sleep.
BOTTOM LINE: Jeethu Joseph's Life of Josutty is an average drama about a villager whose life story was written by the film's spot boys because the writers just got lazy, the way you would after completing the marathon.
GRADE: D+
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
