Dorothy is almost a horror film, isn’t it? The setting of period Madurai feels like a ghost town, where anecdotes of murders and suicides are casually shared. “This is where my mother and sister’s bodies were found!” says young Subbu. Something about this young boy being so nonchalant about it broke me, just as it…
Month: September 2026
Enna Vilai Movie Review: When the Case Becomes Bigger than the Man
You know, I really, really dug the first half of Enna Vilai. I enjoyed how lived-in everything feels, how its characters seem to have lived long before the movie began and will continue to live long after it ends. We just happen to catch them during a particular time in their lives… especially Thavasi (Karunas),…
Sardar 2 Movie Review: A Moral Minefield Gets Reduced to a Hero Playfield
Like spies have dual identities, so too does Sardar 2. Pre-interval Sardar 2 feels like a very different film: a film that is energetic, alert, constantly on the move, with every piece of the puzzle organically seeming to lead to the next. In fact, for vast portions during this period, I remember thinking how cool…
Mandaadi Movie Review: A Spectacle Effort that Forgets to Breathe
There are interesting things happening in Mandaadi. Like the grace with which the protagonist, Kaali (Soori), and his former girlfriend, Angel (Mahima Nambiar), have moved on with their lives. Like the wonderfully easy relationship Kaali is able to have with her husband, Singaram (Ravindra Vijay), with no hint of any masculine insecurity from either man….
Modha Rathiri Movie Review: When Two Wounded People Stop Performing
I kept noticing these artificial, awkward smiles in Raja Karuppasamy’s Modha Rathiri. Watch Muthu’s (Anishma) smiles at Marudhu (Rishikanth), even though we know she would rather be anywhere else but with him. Watch in-laws smile at each other in ways that suggest neither affection nor happiness. In this film, people smile because they are supposed…
