Irul- Movie Review

Irul- Movie Review

Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Darshana Rajendran, Soubin Shahir

Director: Naseef Yusuf Izuddin

Released: April 2, 2021

Streaming on: Netflix

Mysterious movies have a special quality to them. Audiences get readily invested in whodunits and become a part of the narrative themselves. While identifying with the investigators themselves, the audience starts solving the crime and making predictions.

One of the latest murder mysteries released on Netflix is Irul. Released on April 2nd, Irul is a Malayalam film that has only three characters. The film stars Soubin Shahir, Darshana Rajendran and the extremely talented Fahadh Faasil in the three lead roles.  

Introduction

Soubin and Darshana’s characters get out for a weekend trip without their phones on them. On their way, there is a classic car breakdown that forces the couple to take shelter in Fahad Fasil’s home. A series of unfortunate events follow and the dynamic of Soubin and Fahad’s character gets transformed into a cops and robbers game. 

Positives

The first 10 minutes of the movie boast of exceptional cinematography. The opening wide shots in the beginning of the film by Jomon T John are impressive to say the least. Even the in-house close-range shots are captivating. Whether it’s the beer glass scene, pendulum shot or the slow-motion rain sequence, the movie has been brilliantly captured by the camera. 

40 minutes into the movie, the real fun begins. The creators do not take much time to set up the premise of the story and get into action. The story leaves you guessing what’s coming next till the last moment only for you to realise at the end that judging these threw characters is no small feat. And that’s the essence of the movie- the character work. You know that there is a cat and mouse game going on in the movie. But it’s impossible to guess who is playing the cat and who is playing the mouse in the game. 

The tension in the movie has been set by the creators. However, the shock value and suspense quotient on the story depends on the intuition of the audience. If you can guess the right direction the story is going in early on in the movie, there isn’t much to look forward to. But that is the case with all murder mysteries. Taking que from the characters of the movie, it is challenging to categorize the movie as only a psychological thriller or a crime thriller, for it is a clever combination of both. 

The actors in the movie perform exceptionally well, nearly outgoing each other with every scene. Soubin and Darshana appear believable in their roles but the scene-stealer is easily Fahadh Faasil. His powerful performance makes it easy for the audience to ignore a few shortcomings of the series. The layers he has given to his character is rewarding to both his co-stars and the audience. 

Negatives

Although the movie is paced well once the action starts, the first 40 minutes of the movie are slow and offer no surprises to the audience. They are spent in exposition and premise-building only. In these 40 minutes, the story seems to be stretching more than it has to and that might cause a few movie-watchers to hit the back button on their screens. 

Another shortcoming of the movie is that many questions are left unanswered in the end of the movie. The climax of the movie leaves more questions asked than answered and that also can be a reason that the audience feels unsettled after the movie. At the end, there are too many loose ends that the audience have to tie themselves. 

Despite a few pain points, the movie is an exceptional piece of cinema that is a must-watch for all thriller fans. The movie’s audio is only available in Malayalam but it is as much of a treat to watch with subtitles. Watch it and see if you can guess who’s the culprit in the movie. 

Quote- One can say the whole truth. But not a complete lie. There is some truth in every lie

LitGleam rating 4/5

Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Darshana Rajendran, Soubin Shahir

Director: Naseef Yusuf Izuddin

Released: April 2, 2021

Streaming on: Netflix

Mysterious movies have a special quality to them. Audiences get readily invested in whodunits and become a part of the narrative themselves. While identifying with the investigators themselves, the audience starts solving the crime and making predictions.

One of the latest murder mysteries released on Netflix is Irul. Released on April 2nd, Irul is a Malayalam film that has only three characters. The film stars Soubin Shahir, Darshana Rajendran and the extremely talented Fahadh Faasil in the three lead roles.  

Introduction

Soubin and Darshana’s characters get out for a weekend trip without their phones on them. On their way, there is a classic car breakdown that forces the couple to take shelter in Fahad Fasil’s home. A series of unfortunate events follow and the dynamic of Soubin and Fahad’s character gets transformed into a cops and robbers game. 

Positives

The first 10 minutes of the movie boast of exceptional cinematography. The opening wide shots in the beginning of the film by Jomon T John are impressive to say the least. Even the in-house close-range shots are captivating. Whether it’s the beer glass scene, pendulum shot or the slow-motion rain sequence, the movie has been brilliantly captured by the camera. 

40 minutes into the movie, the real fun begins. The creators do not take much time to set up the premise of the story and get into action. The story leaves you guessing what’s coming next till the last moment only for you to realise at the end that judging these threw characters is no small feat. And that’s the essence of the movie- the character work. You know that there is a cat and mouse game going on in the movie. But it’s impossible to guess who is playing the cat and who is playing the mouse in the game. 

The tension in the movie has been set by the creators. However, the shock value and suspense quotient on the story depends on the intuition of the audience. If you can guess the right direction the story is going in early on in the movie, there isn’t much to look forward to. But that is the case with all murder mysteries. Taking que from the characters of the movie, it is challenging to categorize the movie as only a psychological thriller or a crime thriller, for it is a clever combination of both. 

The actors in the movie perform exceptionally well, nearly outgoing each other with every scene. Soubin and Darshana appear believable in their roles but the scene-stealer is easily Fahadh Faasil. His powerful performance makes it easy for the audience to ignore a few shortcomings of the series. The layers he has given to his character is rewarding to both his co-stars and the audience. 

Negatives

Although the movie is paced well once the action starts, the first 40 minutes of the movie are slow and offer no surprises to the audience. They are spent in exposition and premise-building only. In these 40 minutes, the story seems to be stretching more than it has to and that might cause a few movie-watchers to hit the back button on their screens. 

Another shortcoming of the movie is that many questions are left unanswered in the end of the movie. The climax of the movie leaves more questions asked than answered and that also can be a reason that the audience feels unsettled after the movie. At the end, there are too many loose ends that the audience have to tie themselves. 

Despite a few pain points, the movie is an exceptional piece of cinema that is a must-watch for all thriller fans. The movie’s audio is only available in Malayalam but it is as much of a treat to watch with subtitles. Watch it and see if you can guess who’s the culprit in the movie. 

Quote- One can say the whole truth. But not a complete lie. There is some truth in every lie

⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

LitGleam rating

Focusing on Literature and Lifestyle of the Urban Youth of the Country, LitGleam is a monthly magazine, an intrinsic part of BlueRose Publishers.

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