When a Malayalam filmmaker got inspired by Scandinavian investigation movies and South Korean revenge movies, this happened. The concept is really intriguing, flipping off a stereotypical horror movie trope and turning it into a mystery thriller. The film is technically sound with great sound design and cinematography. But the slow-paced narrative starts feeling a little bit weird when it feels like too many twists are revealed even before the interval and then more twists come in. In the end, it felt like it should have been either shorter and crisper or a longer mini-series with enough character development for each of the characters. Even with all these problems, I still felt that this is a solid film. The most notable aspect is the amazing performance of each of the cast members. Actors like Bindhu Panicker, Jagadeesh and Kottayam Naseer are always cast in stereotypical roles and thus underutilized. Here they shine in something different than what they usually do. Especially Bindhu Panicker who starts off in the film as a stereotypical mother character and then the changes in the character's actions and motivations are reflected in a very effective way without being loud. The box office success of this movie is kind of surprising for me and makes me hopeful about films that would try to be different. Even if it has to make some compromises like this, the commercial milieu being attached to these types of films is better than many others.
Review of Rorschach
