Kooman

Film Review: Kooman (The Night Rider) Streaming on Prime Video!!

(English subtitles available)

This is a 2022 Malayalam language suspense film directed by Jethu Joseph!!

The story is about a young police officer in a small village in Kerala who suffers from a mental disorder in which he feels a compulsive urge to respond to any dare or humiliation thrown across to him and will go to any length to come up on top. In this foolhardy quest he unwittingly enlists the help of a retired thief and carries out a series of daring thefts in order to discredit his boss !!

The twist in the tale comes when a series of suicides start happening in the village and our protagonist is captured fleeing the scene of the crime !! Are these simple suicide cases or is there something else behind these occurrences! What is our hero's connection to all this ?

All I can say about this film is ' Brilliant Jeethu sir.. absolutely brilliant!! . The twists in the story have been so intricately woven that you can't just help but feel amazed at the director's ingenuity!! The plot moves from a spate of simple robberies, sometimes shown in humorous light in the first half to something totally different & sinister in the second . The investigation and the final reveal are truly mind-blowing !!

Asif Ali as police officer Giri , the protagonist has given a restrained performance. Others like Renji Panikar, Giri's empathetic ex boss and Jaffer Idukki as Giri's mentor who teaches Giri the expert art of robbing houses have both essayed their part very well !!

All in all , a very different investigative suspense thriller!! Highly recommended.. don't miss it !!

Going with 3.5/5 for this one ... Adios 🙂!!

#sanjuzzreviews #kooman #AsifAli #PrimeVideo #JeethuJoseph #JeethuJospehFilm.

Jeethu Joseph has reveled in taking existing thriller archetypes and dismantling them with his scripts that often turn the narrative on its head with completely unexpected twists and thrills. Despite some missteps in his filmography like "Oozham (2016)" and "The Body (2019)", the veteran master of murder mysteries returns to full form in "Kooman", effectively using an excellent Asif Ali to narrate an immersive tale of a deeply damaged investigator hot on the heels of an elusive, psychotic serial killer.

Asif Ali disappears into the character of "Giri", a scheming, near-megalomaniacal police constable, who while excelling in his deductive and investigative skills, often displays psychotic tendencies and a desire to get back at people who he perceives as having wronged him. His mentor, retired CI Somasekharan (an on-point Renji Panicker) tries his darndest to keep him in check and diverts his energies to the search for a ritualistic serial killer who has eluded authorities for decades.

While the first half of the film painstakingly builds up the multifaceted character of "Giri", Jeethu Joseph pulls off a masterful set of twists in the second half that turns the narrative flow on its head, making the audience root for the grey-shaded protagonist. Jaffer Idukki excels in yet another well-written supporting role, while Hannah Reji Koshy, Baburaj and the ever-dependable Pauly Valsan turn in noteworthy performances.

But it is the writing from K. R Krishna Kumar and the mold-breaking directorial prowess of Jeethu Joseph that is the true hero here, utilizing the diminutive Asif Ali to glorious effect, riding on their depiction of the unassuming but observant and intelligent investigator rather than the alpha male, all-conquering superhero detective that mainstream cinema has driven down out throats for far too long. Trust Jeethu Joseph to innovate yet again in a genre that has craved ingenuity for ages now. "Kooman" is a refreshing thriller and a must-watch theatre experience. Highly recommended!

Thoroughly enjoyed another well written, well acted suspense thriller from Jeethu Joseph. Everyone acted so well and it the background score was apt for the mood of the film. Asif Ali nailed the psychological mood of the character and saw some old Mohanlal element in it. The story is different until the interval and completely changed the direction of the movie after that, with the first half is still looming in to the second.

This is a totally different kind of Whodunit suspense thriller which has never been done before. The twist ends 15 minutes before the film but still kept few suspense to the end.

7.5/10 from me.

Movie starts off well with excellent acting by Asif and others.. however, the second half of the movie is a bit of a let down and feels rushed and written quite poorly.

The background score and cinematography is top notch as usual for Malyalam movies. It captures the mood quite well, something similar to Drishyam. I love how they captured the small town Kerala feel.

The first half of the movie is really quite well made, but the second half it felt like the writer was just trying to finish the script. I would've gone for a higher rating of they had just stuck to the story of the first half instead of making it a mystery thriller.

I would argue Kooman and Memories are the best-directed works by Jeethu Joseph regardless of what someone's personal opinion is about his best film. The protagonist is almost an anti-hero, a regular police constable with a criminal mind. But at the same time, that greyness of the character is treated almost like how Krishna's despicable acts are glossed over as his naughtiness in retellings of Hindu mythology so that even though it's shown like that, there's still space for the audience to perceive the truth of it. Asif Ali fits into this role perfectly and this finally looks like the film that will be successful at the box office which he's in desperate need of right now.

The release of this movie is timed perfectly. The audience can easily relate to the twists in the second half because of recent news and the impact of it, that otherwise would have been considered a little bit far-fetched.