Psycho Analysis

Psycho (2020)

Written & Directed by: Mysskin

Music by: Ilaiyaraaja

Starring: Udayanidhi Stalin, Aditi Rao Hydari, Nithya Menen, Ram

This film punched me right in the gut in the very first scene and even though we've seen a lot of violence, this film can still get overwhelming and it's not because of the graphic imagery but it's because of the sense of psychopathy that's portrayed in the villain and also in the making of the film. Using too much of gore and graphic imagery usually makes us immune to it and makes us feel stone hearted where we don't let us get affected by it. In this film, Mysskin uses the right amount of gore and graphic imagery where in the rest of the film we're empathetic because we're also seeing a blind man falling in love with someone and here we see a psycho chopping heads off.

The psycho played by Udayanidhi Stalin, is one of most frightening villains I've seen in a long time. This psycho is similar to the one in Raatsasan, both of them don't rape these women and they feel like they kill people with dignity. But the psycho in here doesn't torture people before killing them, unlike in Raatsasan. Both of these people have troubled childhoods, they've been wronged by the society. Having such backstory feels like an excuse for them turning out this way, sociopaths can turn out to be the way they're because of bad upbringing but here we're talking about psychopaths and psychopaths usually have underdevelopment in a part of their brains which is responsible for feelings like empathy and remorse. Sociopaths would be guys who're involved in a fist fight with other frequently, whereas a psychopath would methodically kill them three days after.

Mysskin's writing is so good, the sequence of events he puts in and the way the story unfolds, there is always something more he gives us than we'd expect. The best part is that the filmmaking is auteuristic, in every craft of the film. Psycho worked for me as a serial killer mystery movie, but it didn't work in the way he tried to empathise with him like a Joker did.