Solid: Mohanlal, Unni Mukundan, Saiju Kurup, Shivada, Anu Sithara, Anusree
Director: Jeethu Joseph
Among the many the reason why Jeethu Joseph’s third movie with Mohanlal doesn’t fairly obtain the complete potential of its promising setup is the burden of excessive expectations driving down on this superhit duo. Not solely did they obtain a thriller masterpiece with Drishyam however they managed to observe it up with a compelling sequel as nicely. The requirements have been set and it’s not straightforward for a movie like twelfth Man to match that, particularly when it follows the themes of a thriller like their earlier movies.
The director, although, builds a stable case for a chamber drama set in a single resort by means of the course of at some point. It’s a reunion of types as 5 {couples} and their one single pal meet earlier than considered one of them will get married. On the outset, all of them seem like the very definition of first rate, educated women and men. They’re privileged and complex however in addition they seem like a set of fine pals who’ve not let problems with early maturity have an effect on their bond. Given the chronology of the movie’s occasions, it’s maybe greatest to make use of a Malayalam phrase to explain them. They’re what you’d name pakal manyanmaar.
The emphasis on the chronology is as a result of the group’s decency and uprightness are restricted to the daytime (pakal). Because the day shifts into nightfall after which on to nighttime, we additionally see their vibrant, fairly faces recede to make manner for his or her darker selves. Like skeletons tumbling out of the closet, nobody is the saint you thought they had been. The writing decisions listed here are fascinating in an effort to make use of the viewers’s biases towards them. A lately separated lady is proven ingesting, smoking and spending time with a married man, as if to create a personality that’s closest to committing against the law. On the opposite finish of the “ethical spectrum” is the stereotypical paavam who believes individuals sin as a result of they don’t seem to be scared of God.
Even in the event you don’t purchase into these tips, the movie nonetheless manages to present you 11 distinct characters, their particular person equations and the non-public baggage with which they arrive at this celebration. The pakal manyan phrase will get a neat extension onto the titular twelfth Man (mockingly, he’s solely the sixth MAN), performed by Mohanlal. His character is that of a daytime drunk who says the crassest of issues to the ladies there. He suits exterior the norms of decency set by the group and it additionally suits into the movie’s bigger level and Jeethu Joseph’s most favorite life philosophy—visuals will be deceiving.
Because the 11 insiders sit down for dinner and drinks, the movie introduces to us a harmful recreation that includes unlocked cell telephones and a butt load of secrets and techniques. From stealing to mendacity, coveting to homicide, we be taught fairly quickly that there should not many commandments left to interrupt throughout this final supper. And when the motion shifts totally into one eating room after one of many 11 is discovered lifeless, it’s additionally time for the group to get their simply desserts.
That is additionally when the aforementioned expectations begin to overwhelm on the movie. As an viewers, we’ve educated ourselves to by no means take Jeethu Joseph flippantly, particularly in relation to his potential to maintain springing surprises. Which implies that it’s now not sufficient for the movie to maneuver unpredictably, however these twists need to additionally spring up and chunk you. However given the character of the chamber drama, there are solely so many potentialities the script can discover to reach at an ending. And as with twelfth Man, when you’ve thought of every individual within the group as a attainable wrongdoer a minimum of as soon as throughout its runtime, how stunning can it’s when a reputation is revealed in direction of the top?
This side of the movie backs itself right into a nook as a result of it doesn’t have the room to present you a Jeethu Joseph Twist™ on the finish. The 160-minute runtime too provides to this sense as a result of the character of the movie additional provides to the claustrophobia. So when these characters start to get uncovered for his or her darkish pasts, one after the opposite, it seems like a actuality present you’d title Worst Individual Wins.
The movie tries to sidestep the monotony of this closed room by taking us backwards and forwards to recreate the evening because the occasions unfold. In locations, the author makes use of the unreliable narrator trope to maintain issues fascinating. However the machine I discovered most distracting is the overuse of jarring transitions to maintain transferring the drama out and in of the eating room. That is the place it retains reminding you that you simply’re ultimately watching a lockdown movie. In some locations, these transitions are so cheesy that you may virtually odor the inexperienced display. All of this chips away from a promising setup about hypocrisies and the facade of decency all of us conceal behind. It’s nonetheless eminently watchable, however that’s hardly sufficient from the staff that left you with top-of-the-line ever endings in Malayalam cinema.
