In majority of action film tradition, gangster drama have been a go-to idea for many filmmakers. The larger falls for sensationalism made digestible only for the entertainment factor and dedicated to praising the hero. Directors like Arun Matheswaran is the opposite of the former and he picks a familiar theme part of the gangster troupe, moves away a bit from the cliché of this type of genre and presents it with high artistic vision.
This film is like a novel that studies the Sisyphean persistence, the psyche of the character that seeks its extremes and tests its endurance. The film has a simple story but it is executed with arthouse stamps all over combining long silences, wide and static shots. Rocky is divided into numerically studied philosophical chapters with accompanying titles for respective segments, featuring a prologue and an epilogue that has all the answer for Rocky's existence with an ambivalent desire to start over and make it up for his past deeds. When he is released from the prison after 17 years, he has no interest in the escalation of the revenge or return to violent gangsterism. Things take a bad turn when he winds up in a situation for the actions of his past, he is involved in altercation with his nemesis and comes to terms that the outside world is still as unforgiving and selfish as it was before. And as is well known in the gangster revenge drama, the film turns everything into its opposite as Rocky takes it upon himself to avenge the death of his sister. As tension rises sharply, there is no way out at all because the characters are surrounded by a longing for blood. Behind all this chaos, who is at fault or what is the motive? Everything is revealed as the screenplay acting as its own animal and blood washes the blood as the deadly duel, the eagle eye story comes in full circle.
Coming to the performances, we have Rocky (Vasanth Ravi) who is simply great, i was amazed at his tenacity and courage. He not only becomes Rocky, he gives him a life to live, even his hammer and watch has a key role in the film and all his nuances are really amazing. In a key scene, Rocky is level-headed, yet he exudes a subliminal aggression with his hammer as the TITLE card pops up. It was so cool, i immediately though of Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car (2021) and Bi Gan's Long Day's Journey into Night (2018). Rocky's performance in the pre interval fight which works as a fitting tribute for Oldboy (2003) is absolute fun and the classical score left me with my mouth open (in awe).
Veteran Bharathiraja plays Manimaran, perfectly embodying a man with 'Manithan Enbavan Deivamagalam' song as his phone ringtone but radiates something dangerous throughout and imposes fear without needing the gangster rowdy troupes. A special mention for Dhanraj, who plays a nasty right-hand of Manimaran in a supporting role willing to crush the enemies and take them with him into the abyss (brownie points for the bulldozer and the saw). All the other actors are great, but the little girl, she does a brilliant job and her performance in the climax reveal accompanied by melancholic score standouts. Her performance in one of the best scenes during the pre climax portion when she encounters a presumed pedophile and in the real world is shot so brilliantly, it will send chills down your spine. Rocky's 7-months pregnant sister and her acting in the static shot must be mentioned separately, she displays so many emotions and even feels sorry for his brother's life (Like father, like son).
The film is dedicated to Park Chan-wook with a mix of Quentin Tarantino, S. Craig Zahler, Kim Seong-hun, Paul McGuigan, Gareth Evans, Seijun Suzuki, Luc Besson, Zhang Yimou, Karen Moncrieff, Takeshi Kitano, Shane Meadows, Fred Cavayé, Macon Blair, Ben Wheatley and Bong Joon-ho. For his directorial debut, Arun Matheswaran hits the mark on almost every level and it will have an lasting effect. I appreciate him for not comprising and invoking a tour-de-force quality acting from all the characters. The cinematography is intense, poetically staged and technically stunning. The editing, stunt choreography and sound design are exquisite and it adds to the uncanny atmosphere of the film.
To summarize, Rocky is definitely a breakthrough for Tamil indie scene and I'm sure this won't please everyone and it is definitely for the acquired taste. But this is the kind of movie that passionate cinephiles must support and SPREAD THE WORD..!!
