‘No Man’s Land’ Malayalam movie review: An experimental affair that just misses the mark
The indie thriller’s plot goes haywire within the second half, however Sreeja Das and Lukman Avaran’s performances nonetheless make it an intriguing watch
A seemingly-normal resort nestled between the lush-green mountains, the place folks come to evade actuality, and spend a couple of days in the course of nowhere. What might probably go flawed?
No Man’s Land, Jishnu Harindra Varma’s directorial debut, takes you on a rollercoaster journey to traverse via what seem to be the seven lethal sins: lust, envy, anger, greed, gluttony, sloth, and satisfaction. An experimental indie movie that explores the deep realms of human feelings, the narrative treads into topics which can be extra darkish and sinister because the plot thickens.
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The scenes depicting substance abuse and blood-curdling violence additional add to this ominous impact, aided by Pleasure Jinith’s background rating and cinematographer Pavi Okay Pavan’s remedy of the visuals.
Sreeja Das performs the function of Sumitra, a intercourse employee, who can also be a home assist on the resort. Sumitra is despondent with how her life has turned out, and is consumed with remorse as she struggles to make ends meet and lead a content material life. She takes refuge in being intoxicated, and turns to alcohol and medicines to momentarily pry herself away from the gripping arms of her sorrowful actuality.
In the meantime, Mathayikutty, performed by Lukman Avaran, is one other home assist on the similar resort, who is usually appeared down upon for his psychological well being situation. Lukman continues his streak of doing justice to the characters he takes on; he had earlier garnered reward for his roles as Vinay Dasan in Operation Java and Dr. Sajith in Virus. The actor’s transformation from a harmless and naive-hearted helper descending into the avatar of a satan makes for nervy viewing, and he’s the scene-stealer on many a event.
Nonetheless, the movie suffers from an all-too-predictable storyline; the looks of Sudhy Kopa as a cop seeks to inject some curiosity to proceedings, however his character is moderately constrained by the constraints of the script.
In the end, the Malayalam indie thriller misses the mark with the plot going haywire within the second half, however Sreeja and Lukman’s performances nonetheless make it an intriguing debut from filmmaker Jishnu.
No Man’s Land is at the moment streaming on Amazon Prime
