Adam Joan

When you look at the characters and their emotions, there is sensibility in Jinu Abraham’s Adam Joan. But the movie has this parallel mood of being a suspense thriller. That path is its highlight and due to the lack of enough intrigue in that area, Adam Joan becomes an average passable thriller.

Adam is a planter who lives in Kerala. His brother, brother’s wife and his mother are living in Scotland. One day a gang kidnaps his brother’s daughter and his mother got shot in that incident. Adam comes to Scotland for the funeral of his mother and decides to stay there until he gets sufficient information about the girl. That journey in search of the girl is what Adam Joan showing us.

As per one of the pre release interviews Prithviraj did, this movie was inspired by a true incident that happened in Scotland. Well when I look at the film, it feels like a lot has got added to the real incident. In the beginning of the movie we get to see a flash back portion that shows the past of Adam and the reason why the little girl was important to him. When the movie slides in to that thriller mode, there is this baggage of melodrama that reduces the intrigue. And if you analyze the progress of Adam’s investigation, there is very little unprecedented turn of events. Jinu Abraham as a writer has managed to make the emotional equations between almost all the characters look sensible. But it is in the construction of excitement, he is lacking the punch. When a thriller goes on for almost a 3 hour long duration without much thrill, you sort of lose the interest over the story.

As an actor Prithviraj doesn’t have many shades to play in this movie. The situation is such that he is mostly in that vulnerable furious mode. And in his typical dialogue rendering style he manages to make Adam look like that concerned parent. Mishti as Ami doesn’t have much of a screen space here. Bhavana and Lena were good in their roles. Narain and Rahul Madhav were also fine in their respective roles. Madhusudhan Rao is also there in the film in an important role.

Jinu Abraham who previously scripted Prithviraj movies Masters and London Bridge makes his directorial debut through Adam Joan. When compared to the making of the two films I just mentioned, Adam Joan is definitely better. Jinu seems to be interested in using the visual grandeur of Scotland to make the movie look intense. As a writer he manages to capture emotions neatly but fails to build thrill. The dialogues are on the dramatic side. Jithu Damodar’s visuals are on the visually lush side. The luxury (occasionally slipping into brand endorsement) in the visuals at times work in favor of the film and sometimes will make you question its necessity. The much hyped climax fight sequence was a little too much in terms of length. Deepak Dev’s tracks were nice.

If you are looking for a thriller, Adam Joan might not satisfy you fully. But as an emotional story it has segments that would please you. Effort is there, but the result isn’t completely satisfying.

Rating: 2.5/5