Por Thozil (2023)

Por Thozil (2023)

Directed by: Vignesh Raja
Starring: Ashok Selvan, R. Sharathkumar
SPOILERS AHEAD.

Serial-killer murder mysteries is a genre that I love watching - the tension building, the twists and turns - and Por Thozil does a good job at everything. It draws its tone and style from Fincher's films, True Detective and it takes a classical approach to filmmaking. The film picks up post the entry of Sharath Babu's character - Kennedy. Every scene there on carries terrific tension. Although the end reveal of him being the killer was eerily similar to the scene in Zodiac - I wish it was done slightly differently. Although what I loved about the whole Kennedy bit was that in the beginning, he feels like a red herring - but he is not. That's a nice diversion from the usual tropes of a serial killer film. Although he partly is. There is another killer too - although the link between both the killers didn't work for me. The whole act of the other killer kidnapping Sharath Babu's character to learn the tricks of killing people didn't seem convincing to me even at a writing level. But apart from this one link in the whole puzzle of the narrative, I enjoyed pretty much everything. I loved the whole act of catching the new killer too.

I really enjoyed Kennedy's backstory - it felt rich and it's a nice way of showing how circumstances can push people into extremes. It's a big debate - nature vs nurture - certain research says that psychopaths are not made, but are born. Some portions of their brains are not as developed and they cannot feel things. Now whether they turn criminals or not is circumstantial. Some research says that there are so many successful, famous people who could be psychopaths. The film touches upon this and doesn't go any deep into this - understandably so. The last scene, though, was a nice touch for the ending with a kind act - it also felt like a convenient visual way of solving a problem that can't be solved by any person. Although I loved the fact that the film even touches upon this whole debate - whereas I was happy with just the cat and mouse, serial-killer murder mystery.

Minnal Murali (2021)

Minnal Murali (2021)

Directed by: Basil Joseph

Starring: Tovino Thomas, Femina George, Guru Somasundaram

Streaming on Netflix.

Not being a big fan of superhero films, I wanted to give this a shot because it's rare to see one come out of Indian cinema and especially Malayalam cinema which is known for its layered and nuanced writing and filmmaking. What I loved about this film is about how they set a film in rural Kerala and still completely transported us into the idea that two characters from here get superpowers almost like any other Marvel or DC heroes. I think it's because of the time it took to set up the milieu, the inciting incidents and everything which leads up to the incident that gets them to have superpowers. And though the film is slightly in the meta zone where it shows its awareness of existing superheroes in Hollywood films, it never gets into the parody zone - it takes its characters very seriously.

What's beautiful about Malayalam cinema is, even in a film like this or 2018, which are heavily centered around the premise of the film - they still set up the whole world in an extremely nuanced way. No lazy writing at all. Apart from this general aspect, I liked a few things about the writing of the film - I liked the backstory of the kid - I liked the Joker touch they gave to the villain which is usually not so easy to pull off - I also liked the bit where the villain pulls off a fake identity. Although what I didn't enjoy as much was that it felt predictable. They didn't address the whole - how will Minnal Murali prove to people that he did only the good things and not the bad things? They chose a convenient way out of it. The fight between the superpowers felt very Marvel-ey. But having said that, as a film, I have huge respect for the execution. Not once did the VFX feel weird, or the action sequences seem bad or not even one thing felt out of place. Everything felt very stylish and yet seamless.

2018 (2023)

2018

Directed by: Jude Anthany Joseph

Starring: Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban

Streaming on Sony LIV

It's a film based on some events centered around the floods in Kerala in 2018. The film tells us stories about how people helped each other in the time of crisis. The caption of the film says - everyone is a hero - and that is the emotional energy that the film is built upon. The protagonist happens to be one of those so many people. The film celebrates every person who selflessly helped others. The film celebrates humanity. With stories like these, it's very easy to get into the zone of a preachy space - but this film never gets there. One of the reasons is because even though the film is about how people's lives are saved - in spite of that every character is fleshed out very well by showing us very nuanced everyday conflicts they keep going through. And it just subconsciously reminds us of how life is happening to everyone and one day, suddenly everything goes for a toss. And what matters is, if we are safe and alive.

Another reason, the film never goes into a preachy or a boring biopic sort of a space is because the film carries terrific tension throughout. The tone of the film is that of a Hollywood survival thriller and yet it retains all of the nuance and subtext that usually a format like that would lose. Apart from the writing, it's amazing how the world is built with the cinematography, the production design and the VFX - it felt humongously scary at so many times. It felt like a vision perfectly executed on screen. The film got me inspired as an artist, and more than that - as a human.