Monster Movie Monday: Jallikattu (2019)
Review Overview
Featured creature
7Metaphor
7Direction
7Matthew Turner | On 07, Mar 2022
Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery
Cast: Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad, Santhy Balachandran
Certificate: 15
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Directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, this widely acclaimed Indian creature feature is based on the short story Maoist by Hareesh. Set in present-day Kerala, the film is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the Malayalam-language New Wave Movement, making it a “Mollywood” success story.
The film begins in a remote, rural village, where the local butcher, Varkey (Chemban Vinod Jose), and his assistant, Antony (Antony Varghese), are preparing to slaughter a buffalo. However, the beast escapes, immediately laying waste to several local businesses and amassing a crowd of angry, torch-wielding men, intent on killing it before it does any more damage.
When the buffalo proves harder to take down than anyone anticipated, the men call in skilled poacher Kuttachan (Sabumon Abdusamad), much to the chagrin of Antony, who has a bitter history with him. Soon, the testosterone level of the angry crowd reaches fever pitch and the mob descends into a bloodthirsty horde, with several local rivalries caught up in the chaos.
Pellissery does an extremely impressive job of making the buffalo look real. In fact, it’s a seamless mixture of a practical model and VFX work, with a real buffalo (happily safe and sound and now named after the movie) only used for tight close-ups.
The direction is thrilling and dynamic throughout, with several long tracking shots courtesy of cinematographer Girish Gangadharan. One repeated highlight involves a buffalo POV-shot, whereby a camera appears to be mounted to the side of the creature as it charges and tosses various villagers in blackly comic fashion.
The film achieves a real sense of momentum, thanks to a pounding soundtrack from composer Prashant Pillai, some aggressively percussive sound design work and skilful editing from Deepu Joseph. The opening of the film is particularly striking, introducing several characters in short, rhythmic bursts, building up to the buffalo’s escape.
The script makes the central allegory pretty heavy-handed, but it’s no less effective for being so on the nose, gleefully skewering toxic masculinity and the destructive nature of jealousy and male ego. To that end, the climax of the film is both powerful and surreal, conjuring up an unforgettable image borne of primal, animalistic rage and aggression. It’s really quite something.