Where to begin with this movie? Well first a heads up; the trailer gives away nothing about where this movie ends up going. I'm not going to spoil it here although in all honesty it's not particularly interesting.
The movie opens promisingly by introducing our main characters Uma and Gopal, an unhappily (recently) married couple living in Mumbai. Uma has been uprooted from her home and moved to a place she doesn't understand.
The first 45 minutes or so are her trying and failing to get to grips with her new life with her unsatisfactory husband. The first 15 minutes are fine with nice world building, artistic cinematography somewhat reminiscent of Wes Anderson. There are some comedic elements within quite a dialogue sparse set of scenes that are essentially a series of vignettes. But then this just goes on... and on... and on. By 45 minutes in this plodding plot becomes stale and boring.
Then there is the "twist". Uma comes down with an odd sickness. It's not really apparent that this is a plot point until it is repeated multiple times and the audience eventually get the idea of what is happening by brute force.
Then things just get bizarre. I won't say any more to avoid spoiling what little novelty the film has. But it's just all so weird... and this means it's a real struggle to figure out what the movie is supposed to be about.
Such slim pickings of themes and a barren plot will be fertile ground for some (i.e critics) to come up with a plethora of interpretations that somehow rescue the movie from the yawnfest I felt it was. There has to be some reason critical reception for this movie is good right?
Unless the movie is supposed to be a modern retelling of some Indian folklore story I am ignorant of, I am really struggling to understand what it is supposed to be about. This would be less of a problem if the rest of the film has good pacing, funny dialogue or some thrills but it has none of these. It would be a difficult watch even if it was a 20 minute short, let alone a 110 minute feature.
3/10.
