Category Archive: Mystery

‘Badla’ review: The Story’s in the Details

Reading Time: 4 minutes Director Sujoy Ghosh lays out a detailed, conversational thriller that’s high on the quality of ingredients, even if the flavors are all too familiar and predictable. But the point of ‘Badla’ isn’t to surprise you as much as it is to make you pay attention and revel in the atmosphere. Plus, of course the top notch acting that rivets, diverts, and then delivers a climactic scene that’s more heartbreaking triumph than a twist.

‘Andhadhun’ review: Run, Rabbit Run

Reading Time: 5 minutes Director Sriram Raghavan with his team of writers comes up with a devilishly clever and sharp entertainer that’s full of twists, jumps, guffaws, and references galore. As with any satisfying thriller, it’s when it throws you off most unexpectedly that you give out a sigh most evil.

‘Memories’ review: Total Recall

Reading Time: 4 minutes Director Jeethu Joseph, in this 2013 outing, writes and directs a tightly paced mystery, invoking memories from traumatic pasts that intertwine and knot into a murderous present. While the clues reveal themselves in layers and the suspects are never in clear sight, your biggest worry is: will the lead character—played by Prithviraj with an intensity that flows underneath and mixes freely with alcohol—unravel before the mystery does?

‘Hereditary’ review: Of Blue Genes and the Indian Censor Bored

Reading Time: 6 minutes Director Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” is a nerve-wracking and terrific addition to the skull cap of horror movies where the unravelling of a family is as mysterious as it is terrifying, and the boiling cauldron of secrets bubbles throughout its length, keeping you worried and anxious. Meanwhile in India, the censor board carries out its own act of dismemberment, unforgivably mutilating the movie beyond repair.

‘Get Out’ review: Racism Chills

Reading Time: 4 minutes Director Jordan Peele skewers the dark, all too real face of racism and gentrification in a pulse-pounding thriller. But he also adds delicious layers of horror, terror, comedy, and nail-biting suspense. And yet, the questions “Get Out” raises are even more horrifying than its premise.

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ review: Standard Gauge

Reading Time: 5 minutes The director fails to capture the stifling, terrorizing claustrophobia of the coach, making it look all very simple and straight-forward. Even the top shots inside the carriages that he shoots are more distracting, taking an almost detached view of the goings-on below, you wondering what to make of all the heads you see. With the result, the breathtaking scenery is memorable, the mystery less so. Is that why the denouement, weak by any detective movie standards, takes place outside the train – all the passengers lined up on chairs, as if guests of honor at a valedictory event – instead of inside of the dining car, where the tension in the book and the 1974 movie was unbearable?

‘13 Reasons Why’ review: An Education Most Harrowing

Reading Time: 6 minutes You’re shocked at the viciousness of people at people who don’t ‘belong’ in their group. You’re mortified as you see Hannah reach out to help, though not ostensibly so, and at folks who just brush her aside – because they don’t care, or are too busy fighting their own battles – and you ask yourself, how many times did you not read the signs? You’re pushed into cringe-mode as you see hurt, yearn, and hurt fester in a vicious cycle of perpetuating isolation and eventual numbness.