Jacob's Kingdom of Heaven

Vineeth Sreenivasan's 2016 Malayalam film follows Jacob, a businessman whose settled life in Dubai collapses when a partner betrays him. Buried in debt and forced to leave the country, he tries to carry his family with him, and the story proceeds as a family portrait. At its centre is a question of generations: how the sons meet the collapse of the order their father built. The patriarch played by Renji Panicker stays inside the dignified head-of-family template Malayalam cinema likes, but Nivin Pauly's son balances it. The film's weakness is leaning too heavily on music at its emotional peaks and running long in the final section. Who it's for: viewers interested in Malayalam family drama and stories of the Indian diaspora in the Gulf. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a short, tight narrative, or put off by a melodramatic register.