Amen

Lijo Jose Pellissery's 2013 Malayalam film is a church band fable set in the Kuttanad region of Kerala. Solomon, who plays in the band, is in love with Shoshanna, the daughter of an upper-class family, and the film runs the obstacles to that love alongside the band's attempt to prove itself in a competition. The story never tries to be realistic: miracles, ghosts and outsized types share the same space. This early Pellissery film foreshadows the mastery of crowded scenes in his later work. The visual language rests on saturated colour and wide compositions, with the canals of Kuttanad functioning as one of the characters. Fahadh Faasil's villain is exaggerated and deliberately so. The film's limit is humour that in places treats religious representation too lightly. Who it's for: viewers who like the formally bold wing of Malayalam cinema and fable-like storytelling. Who it's not for: anyone wanting realism, or who will struggle with the local religious and cultural references.