‘Footage’ movie review: Manju Warrier, Saiju Sreedharan’s found footage film lacks the writing to complement its experimentation

A nonetheless from ‘Footage’

Barring some wonderful exceptions, an utter pointlessness marks a very good variety of the zillion vlogs that get uploaded on-line day-after-day. Typically documented for the viewing pleasure of the general public are the mundane particulars from the each day lives of the vloggers. However, a few of them do spring surprises for these affected person sufficient to sit down via the uneventful visuals.

In his debut directorial, movie editor Saiju Sreedharan makes use of the discovered footage of a vlogger couple (Vishak Nair and Gayathri Ashok) to inform a narrative which if advised within the typical type won’t have a lot of a novelty. This being the format, the movie has its share of inconsequential sequences from their each day lives, however it on the identical time provides one the texture of being part of the dangerous adventures they embark on.

Proper from the start, the movie provides us a clue about their behavior of prying on the lives of others. The couple additionally compulsively paperwork their intimate moments, fairly a couple of of which doesn’t have a lot to do with the narrative. Whereas the primary half of the movie is made up of visuals from the person’s digital camera, the latter half takes us via the identical eventualities utilizing visuals from the girl’s digital camera, filling within the many gaps in her companion’s visuals. The duo, with their cameras working, follows a mysterious girl (Manju Warrier) dwelling of their house advanced, inevitably touchdown in bother.

Saiju, who has edited a number of the finest recognized movies of the previous decade together with Maheshinte Prathikaaram, Kumbalangi Nights and Virus, leans closely on the experimental ingredient to take ahead the narrative, which isn’t helped a lot by the sparse screenplay and skinny materials. With the central characters by no means letting go of the digital camera, even when they’re in peril, there are loads of visuals which convey the immediacy of the hazard they’re dealing with.

There are, after all, a number of visuals with the shaky cameras pointed at working ft, sequences in weirdly tilted angles and immersive experiences inside darkish forests in wind and rain. Among the standout sequences embrace a detailed encounter with wild elephants and people inside a rusty outdated boat in the midst of the forest. The intricate sound design provides to the impact of those scenes; the songs from post-rock band Aswekeepsearching makes some pointless scenes worthwhile.

Manju Warrier, who’s launched as a mysterious girl, stays so even in the long run, as a result of her character is kind of under-written. She doesn’t have a line of dialogue within the movie, however we aren’t even certain whether or not she is mute or whether or not she chooses to speak with handwritten notes. The revenge drama on the centre is plainly run-of-the mill, and wouldn’t have stood by itself.

With some higher writing to enrich its experimentation, Footage, one of many first characteristic movies within the discovered footage style in Malayalam, may need left a long-lasting impression.

Footage is at the moment working in theatres