2021,Malayalam, Netflix, 7/10 IMBD, Directed by Naseef Yusuf Izuddin
Besides the concoction of semiotic denotations and connotations, and a deal of intertwining indexes and symbols- there seems a sincere attempt to denaturalize the myth of conveying terror ideologies, through a refreshing brew of innovative templates.
The film opens, sans any boring prologue, with Alex’s (Soubin Shahir) nightmare. He tries to meet his lawyer friend Archana (Dharshana Rajendran), to vent his distress but she is immersed with her office work. They plan for a get away without their mobiles, and end up being stranded with a broke down car. They try to seek shelter from the rain in the nearby house. The owner of the house, Unni (Fahadh Fassil) opens the door after a mysterious wait. The template should be, either Alex is a man of sleezy intentions or the lavish house owner, a nerdy hawk waiting to grab his prey. Within 20 minutes of the film, you find yourself in its intended crux, when the old templates start shifting towards some intellect debate and you are convinced, it isn’t going to be mundane anymore.
The aesthetics of the film engulfs you with its dramatic camera works, the striking sound and crisp edit. You still braise yourself for the creepy faced supernatural to push through the screen across to your face anytime though. But the makers defy strongly such naturalizations and you hook yourself to the curious plot. Using the colour ‘red’ to foreshadow fear, seems to be used often, but your brain constantly cautions you of a cheat code, that the maker might be pranking you with.
The dangling sword keeps shifting over the heads of the three characters, teasing the audience to correlate retrospectively the normal dialogues that appear abnormal with the turn of events every minute. The maker scores with his choice of a simple narrative, of the plot’s complex thread, in his own time. Thankfully the film’s running time is short.
It does fatigue you with the mystery of who the convict is going to be, as the chair keeps swirling till the end credit roles, but nevertheless, it keeps you engaging throughout. Playing on the lines of the Rashamon-effect, the story journeys with its unreliability or absence of eye witness and its contradictory descriptions that manipulate the interpretations of the audience.
The maker’s inspirations, fondly reminds of the ‘Circle Dance’ of Bela Tarr’s, in the sequence that precede the epilogue, in bringing the film to its closure. From the perspective of the maker’s, his attempt to unravel the plot in stripping its layers, sure is impressive. Unsure, if the efforts would get translated to the audience, with the team’s true intentions though.
Good watch.