Awe!

Prasanth Varma's 2018 Telugu film brings together apparently unconnected stories set in one restaurant. A woman carries another being inside her body, a cook works with a man who claims to travel in time, a girl cannot come out to her partner, a talking fish converses with a bonsai tree. The film keeps the single thread that ties these pieces together until the end, and the resolution rests on a question of mental health. It attempts a structure unusual in Telugu commercial cinema: no hero, no song sequences and a cast made up largely of women. Some sections are much stronger than others and the overall balance does not hold, but the attempt itself drew attention. Who it's for: viewers who like portmanteau narratives and mixtures of genre. Who it's not for: anyone who would rather not approach self-harm and trauma unprepared; the ending rests on them.