Virus – From Mollywood, a highly engaging and moving film, based on incidents around Nipah virus. Similar to HBO series Chernobyl, story focuses on how doctors, nurses, Collector, health minister, rise to the occasion to control the spread of virus taking risks. While the movie progresses like a procedural investigation, the director does a brilliant job of giving us back stories of few characters, their personal struggles, that makes us feel for them. Given the premise and so many opportunities, it was highly refreshing to see Director didn’t go for melodrama. When the movie gets over, I had only appreciation for the director for packing so many details and moments in 2.5 hours maintaining a fast pace. This is the kind of story that would have benefited with short series format like Chernobyl. There are so many things that worked just right in the movie, rather than calling them out here I would urge you to watch the movie 😁
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Kavaludaari – A must watch police procedural drama that differs from other movies of this genre in what it focuses on. A traffic constable collaborates with retired police office to investigate a crime that happened 20+ years back, when he hits upon bunch of skeletons at a construction site. Slow paced movie which keeps building towards the climax, focus on people and moments along with drama. Loved the scenes where director visually shows us the dead victims in a gallery setup, one by one they get up and leave the room as the constable goes through the old crime files trying to find a match. We get to see how boring a stakeout is and is a test of patience in reality. The fly swatting scene reminded me of similar scene from Once upon a time in the west. For those concerned about slow pace, don’t worry, story does have its twists and turns that keep you guessing.
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Monster – A light hearted comedy, made for children but adults can enjoy the movie too. Movie has its moments, camera movement from mouse’s point of view, liked the way director closed the loop as to why the mouse comes back to the same house, and character arc of the hero. For the given premise, movie has potential to have more CGI action scenes which would have made it more engaging and fun, but I guess market reach and cost would have played a role in keeping it low key.
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Uriyadi 2– If you liked Uriyadi 1 and go expecting something similar, Uriyadi 2 will let you down 😞 While the first one was down to earth, no hero, and had a raw appeal, this one goes for a bigger canvas, and heroism but lose out in writing and narration. Premise has good potential with relevance to current period but director goes for message, ideology, and usual easy solution, violence to solve the big social malice. Loved the pre-interval stretch, where we expect a regular chase but what it leads to takes us by surprise we didn’t prepare for.
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