A Look Back on 2023 in Movies

Unlike most of the folks preparing for their NYE parties, my day job does not give me an off for the next day, so here I am sitting by my lonesome, filing the time by keying in my annual retrospective of watch experiences. If I have generated enough of a guilt feeling to dampen your spirits a little, that's mission accomplished. No? Oh well, we move on.

Compared to the last couple of years 2023 had me watching more films at the cinema, although they still add up only to a handful.  I also watched a few more web-shows than I normally do. Anyway here's this year in retrospective, divided into the usual good-bad-ugly categories (and listing the current streaming networks they're available on in India). Some of the choices will raise an eyebrow or sneering comment, but I'm just going by my gut instinct here. This list also includes a couple of releases from Nov-Dec 2022, which I only caught this year.

The Good Stuff

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (English, Netflix) About, this movie the first thing I would say is THE HYPE IS REAL. Visually outstanding, upping the ante on the terrific first film, this one is equally engaging drama-wise and leaves me wanting for the concluding installment like a heroin junkie craving for his fix.

12th Fail (Hindi) It's old-fashioned, it's sentimental, it's idealistic...it's also one of the best films Vinod Chopra has made (definitely better than anything his protege Raju Hirani made), and an object lesson in how mainstream Indian cinema need not be solely the exaggerated machismo jackasserie the industry is celebrating right now. I LOVED it. (Detailed review HERE)

Nanpakal Neratthu Mayakkam (Malayalam, Netflix) Apart from its all too on-the-nose "screen within the screen" conceit that constantly blares a sensory overload of symbolic dialog and songs, NNM is a pretty darn good whimsical little story about a man that appears to have been occupied by the spirit of another man, the ripples it creates in the lives of the people that knew each of the men, and finally his own identity crisis. Both director Lijo Jose Pelissery and star Mammootty seemed to have had a ball making it. Not a masterpiece like Ee Maa Yau, but damn good all the same.

Bheed (Hindi, Netflix) I thought Anubhav Sinha's film was pretty damn good as a story of grounded heroism in which a cop manning a state border post has to contend with busloads of migrant passengers trying to reach their home while he has orders to keep them out. Rajkummar Rao is a terrific protagonist and there is a sterling supporting cast. The movie falters somewhat when it tries to portray a larger picture about the govt's mismanagement as well as the more generalized points about class differences in society. But when it focuses on the characters and their drama it is a fine example of a more credible coming of age hero story.

Thankam (Malayalam, Amazon Prime) Thankam is a moral mystery (like another of Biju Menon's films - Aarkkariyam). It has its narrative slips (not tight enough in the procedural segments), but the easy depiction of deep friendships, and the emotional upheavals that come from unraveling of the secrets withheld even between the best of friends is terrific. Add in great performances from the lead cast (Biju, Vineeth Srinivasan and Girish Kularni) and some nail-biting tense individual scenes, and this noir-inflected drama is a worthwhile watch.

Dahaad (Hindi web-series, Amazon Prime) - In Dahaad, Sonakshi Sinha plays a lower-caste cop in Rajasthan investigating a series of murders by a womanizing serial killer. I thought it was worthwhile on the whole. Solid performances from Sinha and Vijay Varma in this nicely paced procedural with a well-realized setting. I would recommend it to fans of dark crime thrillers. (Detailed review HERE)

Farzi (Hindi web-series, Amazon Prime) The generic and lackluster first episode of this (Family Man fame) Raj and DK series had me seriously wondering if the burden of simultaneously taking on multiple projects had severely stretched out the creative juices of these guys. Thankfully, the further episodes picked up the slack, and while the best parts of Family Man are superior to anything we see here, this is still a well-made piece of entertainment. (Detailed review HERE)

Cinema Marte Dum Tak (Hindi web-series, Amazon Prime) Director Vasan Bala's exploration of the micro-budget exploitation movie scene by inviting four of its former major players to each make a new film and use it to chart the rise and fall of the genre has humor, passion and a lot of heart. There are moments that have you shaking your head in amused disbelief and other that will bring an honest-to-goodness lump to the throat. Well worth it for the non-snooty cinema nerd.

Arnold (English mini-series, Netflix) - In its 3 defined chapters - Athlete, Actor and American - Arnold sets out to demonstrate its subject's determination to "get there" in all of his chosen endeavors. It goes without saying that the treatment is glossy with more than a little dash of hagiography. But it does offer a detailed and entertaining picture of this larger-than-life fitness/movie icon for whom "Too big is not big enough". (Detailed review HERE)

The Decent Stuff

Oppenheimer (English) I struggled a bit whether I should put in my top-tier list, but my expectations for this film were higher than what it ultimately delivered to me. On the whole Christopher Nolan's magnum opus about the man behind the atomic bomb tests is a decent film, and has some strong moments, but ultimately it is not as emotionally affecting as it should have been. In the back-and-forth narrative I see inspiration from Oliver Stone's seminal film of JFK and David Fincher's The Social Network. But in terms of cinematic imagination the film lacks the bravado of a Kubrick or an Oliver Stone. It looks nice, sure, but not memorable.

Animal (Hindi) This male dominated violent drama is not without its problems, but it at least strikes me as a work that reflects the vision and sensibilities of an individual movie-maker and not a collection of box-office choices. The fact that I could sit through this 200(!) min slogathon without at the end wanting to kill myself tells me that it was doing a few things right. Your mileage may vary. (Detailed review HERE)

Khufiya (Hindi, Netflix) I watched Vishal Bhardwaj's spy drama with mixed feelings. Like with several of his movies there are some good scenes and excellent performances, marred by some really ill-fitting 'quirky' humor and absurd writing. And don't believe the 'based on a true story' heading for one second. Still, it went well enough for me to watch the whole thing late at night in a single sitting. Tabu is a pleasure to watch and I was impressed with what Wamiqa Gabbi, Ali Fazal and sultry Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhon brought to their parts. (Detailed review HERE)

Mukundan Unni Associates (Malayalam, Hotstar) Mukundan Unni is probably the most amoral protagonist seen in an Indian movie. I can see where comparisons to the Jake Gyllenhaal movie Nightcrawler come in. This movie has issues for me - I thought it had a great ending near the scene of a bus accident, but it goes on for another 20 min unnecessarily dotting i's and crossing t's. Still, I would suggest giving it the look see.

Maamannan (Tamil, Netflix) Mamannan is a masala film but within that space does try to stand out. While there are fight scenes, the film does not devolve into a brainless machismo action fest. Likewise female lead Keerthi Suresh is not the usual birdbrained damsel in distress. The utter lack of nuance in Faasil's villain is a letdown, and the screenplay could have done with some serious pruning, but I found a film like this more palatable than Jai Bhim which reduces the lower castes to being faceless victims, dependent on rescue by Benevolent Brahminical Heroes. (Detailed review HERE)

The Pope's Exorcist (English, Netflix) After I saw the trailer for this film, I was expecting a campy LOL-fest knockoff of The Exorcist. In most respects this is true. Russell Crowe in the titular part seems to be aware of the camp quotient and his performance reflects the tongue-in-cheek. TPE has sufficient hilariously absurd material to be a decent time-pass watch, especially if you call over buddies and set up some drinks. (Detailed review HERE)

Evil Dead Rise (English, Jio) To its credit, this latest installment in the Evil Dead franchise runs a brisk pace, relies mainly on make-up and practical FX for the scares, and does not detour (apart from the prologue that gets an "eh, whatever" resolution at the end). It is decent popcorn entertainment if also eminently forgettable. (Detailed review HERE)

Renfield (English, Jio) This horror-action-comedy is never particularly inventive and the screenplay not the most well-constructed, but it is in large measure a fun film, in its scrappy way more fun IMO than several of the current phase Marvel movies. Nicholas Cage as Dracula seems to be having a good time.

Monica O My Darling (Hindi, Netflix) MOMD doesn't entirely escape Vasan Bala's penchant for over-writing and referencing, but this is fortunately rare enough that one can enjoy the film for what it is: a solid romp that owes more than a smidgen of debt to Shriram Raghavan's crime capers (dutifully referenced). Huma Qureshi (❤ ❤ ❤) and Sikander Kher totally owned their parts.

The Meh Stuff

The Railway Men (Hindi web-series, Netflix) The first episode of this YRF production gave me pleasant Kaala Patthar type vibes, of a tale of hope within a greater disaster. But soon after, the writing becomes so sloppy as to destroy all sense of immersion. By the third episode, the piling up of "kuch bhi!" moments like when the zombie bride rises up from her gas-slain wedding party to stroll down to the railway station and Raghubir Yadav's train ticket checker gives out a dying speech after he gets stabbed by villainous rioters while saving a Sikh woman, this feels more like one of the scores of terrible 80's Bollywood films. I did watch it to the end (it's just 4 episodes long), but by then I didn't care what happened to who.

Dancing on the Grave (Hindi/English web-series, Netflix) People of a particular generation in Bengaluru will remember the sensational case of Shakereh Khaleeli, on which the series is based. In terms of the making, I would think that the 'series' could easily have been an 80-90 min documentary. It loses too much time on re-enactment of trivialities. Still, if you're interested in this piece of shocking true crime history, it's only a couple of hours of your time in all. (Detailed review HERE)

Bholaa (Hindi, Amazon Prime) I'd say Ajay Devgan's Bholaa is to Lokesh Kanagaraj's Kaithi, what Feroze Khan's Dayavan was to Maniratnam's Nayakan, a remake that took the trappings of the original but buggered the spirit of it. What an absolute waste of time.

Ponniyin Selvan -2 (Tamil, Amazon Prime) I enjoyed the first installment of Maniratnam's adaptation of this historical fantasy but didn't much care for its concluding segment. PS2 seemed sloppier and more hurried, with events and character bits coming across very staccato. Even visually, the number of times the camera kept randomly circling around characters became annoying, and the battle scenes were generic.

Pathaan (Hindi, Amazon Prime) I can't see this as a BOLLYWOOD movie, it is so much borne out of director Siddharth Anand's love of the Mission Impossible and James Bond movies. And like the last few MI films, I admire the technical prowess, but I just don't feel anything for the characters. There is nothing in the writing that strikes a chord: Here everyone just too busy trying to appear cool.

Jailer (Tamil, Amazon Prime) There’s a scene around the 110min mark in Jailer where, as per Prime’s subtitles, Rajini’s character is advising a Telugu movie guy “Don’t make garbage in the name of commercial cinema”. Given the no-emotional-stakes, no-internal-logic and utterly no respect for the audience’s patience this wankfest displays, they have some gall to make a statement like that.  

Leo (Tamil, Netflix) This is basically A History of Violence for Dummies. A trainwreck script of dead-ends and pointless twists is occasionally made interesting by some energetic and imaginative action sequences. (Detailed review HERE)

Sisu (Finnish) In which a Finnish ex-commando turned prospector goes after a Nazi platoon for stealing his gold. I was really hoping to like Sisu, but it was more okey-dokey than thrilling. The movie was a lot like John Wick for me - there's a good bit of exaggerated action and grittiness abounds, but the tone and build-up were wobbly. It's a little too deadpan for its own good and I couldn't give a flying fuck for the lead guy...or even his dog.

Meg 2: The Trench (English) I wasn't expecting cinematic art, but even as a film featuring multiple giant sharks and a giant octopus, Meg 2 can't get its priorities right. The monsters are a muddled side-act in this leaky boat weighed down with an inept plot about muhahaha evil humans going after oceanic unobtaniums. While officially credited to horror maverick Ben Wheatley (Kill List, A Field in England) this one has all the signs of being made by committee.

Pachuvum Athbhuthavilakkum (Malayalam, Amzon Prime) Fahad Faasil vehicle in which he undertakes an escort mission that eventually tests his moral fiber. Individual scenes can be really good, brimming with emotion and subtle comedy, but the pacing is way off at the script level, and it fails to immerse.

Iratta (Malayalam, Netflix) I had great expectations from this, but after watching I thought it was a complete GAAND movie. The basic premise of a crime mystery film where you have identical twin protagonists and the plot is not about them exchanging places is interesting in itself, but the screenplay is sloppy as heck and relies on face-palming contrivances. Characters appear and disappear puppet fashion. You have BGM that orders you to feel a particular way instead of it coming across naturally in the performances. Joju George is a great actor, but this ego trip was a serious misfire.