Samara

Charles Joseph's Samara is a movie with stunning camera work. The cinematographer, Sinu Siddharth has done a wonderful job in bringing out stunning visuals.


The plot itself is a bit convoluted and the cop, Anthony, played by Rahman, mostly seem to be walking around stylishly or doing some common stunts that often show the character in a good light. Poor writing and a mishmash of elements tied up together to make a thriller- that's Samara.


The film has somewhat of an open ending which is fine and the last minute villain was not really unexpected especially because in every scene the actor appeared in, we see a lot of foreshadowing and forced goodness. While the subject of bio-war is not something often explored in Malayalam, it's disappointing when done with little to no conviction.


The location of the film, the snow capped mountains of Himachal Pradesh does offer the movie an aesthetic appeal. The songs are also good. Even the rather irrelevant background segment we see between Dr Alan played by Binoj Vilya and the sex worker he rescued is more appealing than the investigation itself.


This supposed super-cop's heroics and brilliance, whatever it is, happens off-screen. Rahul Madhav has done a lot of similar villain roles now that it wasn't surprising or unexpected when he turned out to be one of the villains half -way. With so much focus on the aesthetics, the characters never grow on viewers. Their decisions come out of nowhere and even Alan's last minute patriotism feels forced.


Rahman didn't have much to do in the film and same is the case with Bharath and Rahul Madhav. Binoj Villya did a decent job of portraying a former military man who was disfigured during a military attack.