Gold (2022)

Gold (2022)

Written, Directed and Edited by: Alphonse Puthren
Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Nayantara

Gold is a classic example of style over substance. There's barely any story in the film, and the whole film runs on the Alphonse Puthren treatment. There's terrific style throughout - almost every scene is cut to the beats of the background music, almost like music videos, even when nothing is happening in a scene, these minor jump cuts are what make the scenes dynamic and interesting, there's usage of text, split screen, and there's so much style in the edit that it feels like the film was tripping on the edit table. The comedy also works - Alphonse Puthren sometimes has better comedy in the filler/background scenes than in the main scenes, and even in Gold, almost every scene has really good filler comedy. It's probably because there's no pressure and the filler comedy can be really silly too sometimes and it's okay.

The waferthin plot of Gold is not the problem, the issue is that even after watching the whole film, I felt like I didn't know Joshi, the protagonist. On one hand, he's a middle class mama boy. On the other, he becomes this macho man suddenly. The ending is too much of a jump that it almost felt like a parody. I like the self referential nature of the film - it's beautiful that the film reminds you that with edit, style and music a director has such a strong visual signature. I just wish there was some substance in the film to latch on to. With films without a focused plot and great style, it's fun to watch the film for about an hour. After that is when it can get a little draining. Nevertheless, Gold should be studied by editors and filmmakers to see how one can trip on the edit in a film.