The film is a combination of verbal and situational comedy, and at a time when so much of our “humour” is so mean-spirited, Monster is a lovely reminder of how gently (and generously) smiles can be evoked. A micro-mini set piece involving a gas cylinder, an umbrella and a ridiculously expensive sofa is staged like a dream. The director reveals an utterly unexpected eye for slapstick ballet. His cartoony rigidity, his fondness for jerky movements, his exaggerated expressions - everything fits. MonsterĪfter Oru Naal Koothu, Nelson Venkatesan makes a hell of a U-turn with a live-action cartoon about a man who battles a rat. WTF, right? The film has the year’s best craft, and Vijay Sethupathi’s trans-woman act is one for the ages. It’s a long, slow fuse that keeps you on edge about when it will explode, and when it does, it’s a big bang. But in my head, this is the year’s most dazzling film - a kinda-sorta companion piece to Aaranya Kaandam that’s unique, ambitious, insanely detailed and blessedly amoral. I haven’t summoned up the guts, yet, to re-watch Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s second film, because I was so mind-blown when I saw it and I fear a subsequent watch might bring to the fore some… flaws. We get a sense of how difficult it must be to track someone down in an urban sprawl. First-time director Naveen Nanjundan’s solid, focussed cat-and-mouse thriller uses locations beautifully. But rarely has a mainstream-movie cop seemed so vulnerable, so helpless over events that spin out of control around him, and so equally matched with the ruthless villain (Laguparan), who heads a child-kidnapping ring. Looking at the trailer, this seemed to be the case of yet another young actor ( Kathir) trying to give his career a jump-start by playing a cop. It does what a film like this should do: it keeps us guessing. And after a murder, both end up suspects! We think we know whodunit - but do we? Despite a few low points (the motive behind the murder is too hastily explained away), the result is a deliciously pulpy whodunit. Neither man is exactly a moral person, but they’re both treated sympathetically. Arun Vijay plays Kavin (shot mostly in daylight) and Ezhil (bathed in the orange glow of night-time street lights) - but there’s no good/evil demarcation. Magizh Thirumeni puts a new spin on one of the oldest masala -cinema tropes: the double role. Chezhiyan puts his premise through on his own terms, making you want to coin a filmic term: “staged neorealism”, perhaps? The scene where Ilango hands Amudha some much-needed money, as the grinder grinds away in a corner, is a beauty. These ups and downs keep colouring their relationship throughout the narrative. Ilango (Santhosh Sreeram) and Amudha (Sheela Rajkumar) are a lived-in couple, convincingly frayed around the edges. There’s no artifice, no background score. R Chezhiyan’s earnest portrait of a family’s struggle to find a rented house is as real a film as you can get. In Peranbu, we sense much love for the medium, too. Ram’s films have always displayed love for his protagonists. Paradise is truly lost - and the filmmaking conveys this beautifully. In the second half, the film moves away from this Eden, to the city. The first half of Peranbu is set in the middle of nowhere, and in the midst of Nature. Unknown to him, the culprit is someone very close to him.Ram appears to have expended all his angst on his globalisation trilogy ( Kattradhu Thamizh, Thanga Meengal, Taramani ), and Peranbu is his quietest, gentlest, least angry film: a moving drama about a father (Mammootty) whose life revolves around a daughter (Sadhana) with cerebral palsy. It focuses on a shepherd who vows to avenge his parents by killing the murderers.īabu vows to take revenge on Balu and Johnny, who killed his family members, and trains himself for the fight. Ashokan, Nagesh, Ambareesh, Jayamalini and Sukumari in supporting roles. The film stars Rajinikanth and Sripriya, with Mohan Babu, Prabhakar, Suruli Rajan, Sundararajan, A. Thai Meethu Sathiyam (transl. I swear upon my mother) is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language Curry Western film directed by R.