Jallikattu

A village at the foot of the hills in Kerala. The butcher slaughters every morning and the village gets its meat there. One morning a buffalo brought for slaughter breaks loose. The animal gets into a field, tramples the crop, knocks over a shop and runs toward the forest. The villagers go after it. A few set out at first, then everyone joins: hundreds of men with sticks, knives and torches. After a while catching the animal stops being the aim; who will catch it and who will be in front becomes the matter. Lijo Jose Pellissery directs. Antony Varghese and Chemban Vinod Jose are in the cast. It is in Malayalam. The film was submitted as India's entry for the Oscars and widely shown at festivals. What the narrative builds is not plot; the film rests almost entirely on a chase and a crowd that keeps growing. The editing and sound design are its most striking features; breath, footfall and shouting keep piling over each other. The night scenes were shot by torchlight and the crowd shots were made with hundreds of people. Its final scene carries the narrative into a direct figure and removes the distinction between people and animals. The matter it works at is masculinity and herd behaviour; the film does not explain it, it shows it. Who it is for: viewers who like formally bold films and Malayalam cinema. Who it is not for: the violence is explicit, the animal scenes uncomfortable, and the narrative offers no characters.