Identity

One witness remains to a murder, and all the witness remembers is the killer's face. The police bring in a sketch artist to turn that account into a drawing, and the search proceeds from the drawing. But memory does not hold still; the sketch shifts a little at every session, and as the investigation follows it, its direction changes. Directed by Anas Khan, this Malayalam thriller makes identity both the subject and the method of its plot. The narrative is built on how unreliable describing a face is, and uses that uncertainty as its source of tension. Tovino Thomas plays the sketch artist, with Trisha Krishnan and Vinay Rai in the cast. Who it's for: Viewers who like police thrillers, narratives built on memory and testimony, and Malayalam genre cinema. Who it's not for: The second half shifts toward action and the psychological line falls back. Some plot resolutions also come too easily.