At the heart of this dramedy is a conflict between an adamant father, who feels his elder daughter brought disgrace on his family, and a woman fighting for her choices. It is easy to make the audience sympathize with one or two characters in this kind of film. But Senna Hedge and his co-writer Sreeraj Raveendran create a script that treats the characters in a non-judgemental manner while mining comedic gold out of this material.
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Ravi K. Chandran's Bhramam is faithful to Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun. Despite some missteps, the film successfully blends thriller elements and comedy to create an odd world full of deception. The performances of the main characters and the casting make Bhramam eminently watchable.
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Ranjith Sankar's Sunny on Amazon Prime is about a man who gradually self-heals and gets back to the rails of a life he has long deviated from. Shankar uses a one-character/one-actor situation to tell a fairly complex story skillfully.
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Director Manu Ashokan's Kaanekkaane is a film that has an emotional wallop of an impact. In Tovino and Suraj, it has two actors playing conflicting characters with poise and exquisiteness.
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Rojin Thomas's #Home is a straightforward drama about the emotional distance between a father and his son. For the most part, #Home seems all too familiar, and it sometimes feels contrived. Nevertheless, the performances and the seldom-boring nature of the film make it a passable watch.
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Manu Warrier's Amazon Prime film Kuruthi uses a home invasion thriller as a template to explore deeper themes. It is well made as well as works as an entertaining thriller film and one that treats deeper issues carefully and delicately.
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Malik from writer-director Mahesh Narayanan is an intense cocktail of politics, romance and religion. The movie tells the story of a village and its de facto leader. Few recent films match Malik in terms of grandiosity and ensemble cast. I recommend viewing it on the biggest screen possible.
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Sara's works both as a coming-of-age-type movie and a drama on a sensitive matter. While the film is riddled with songs as well as simple to a fault, the performances and the treatment make it worth your time.
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Part paranormal thriller, part whodunit, first-time director Tanu Balak's Cold Case is a different film in terms of narration. Aside from a few jump scares, and a number of paranormal terms and concepts, Cold Case does not have much to offer. If anything, you may view it as a first-time director's attempt to combine two different genres into a seamless whole.
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The characters express deep thought for each other for a long time in the meditative and understated gem that is Aarkkariyam. This is not a plot-driven film but rather a contemplative one that shows how human beings behave in a particular way under some circumstances.
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In Thimiram, writer-director Sivaram Mony portrays a Kerala society in which men and women contribute to a person's chauvinistic character. Mony goes for a simple resolution, and he spoon-feeds the audience through dialogue. Anyhow, by avoiding melodrama and treating the characters well, as well as through some bold stretches of storytelling, Mony makes Thimiram work.
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Despite the excellent performances as well as the gripping narration of the movie up to a point, Nizhal leaves a lot to be desired as a thriller. It has a preposterous plot, an overwrought climax, and some loose ends. Anyhow, Appu Bhattathiri's knack for world-building and storytelling makes it an engaging thriller.
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