Golam

Samjad P S's 2024 Malayalam film opens with a body found in an office during working hours. The death looks natural at first and everyone around accepts that; only Sandeep Krishna, leading the investigation, thinks it was murder. From there the film does not become a conventional detective story but a reconstruction, built step by step inside a closed space among a limited number of people, of who was where and when. It uses the calm, procedure-led thriller language Malayalam cinema has developed recently: no action, interrogation and observation instead. Dileesh Pothan's presence in support is one of the elements setting the tone. The construction withholds information from the viewer in measured amounts. Who it's for: viewers who like closed-space mysteries and Malayalam procedurals. Who it's not for: anyone wanting pace and action; the film advances almost entirely through talk.