Jan-e-Man

Chidambaram's first film begins with Joymon returning to his hometown in Kerala to mark his thirtieth birthday after a lonely, monotonous life in Canada. The party he planned does not go as expected; the people who come bring their own troubles and the night turns in an entirely different direction. The film uses the shape of comedies set in one place across one night, but builds its humour on loneliness. Most of the characters have missed something, arrived late or failed to make themselves understood. Basil Joseph, Balu Varghese and Arjun Ashokan hold the balance of tone between them. In the final section the shift between comedy and sadness turns abrupt. Some viewers read that as inconsistency; the film's defenders argue that nights really do go that way. Both readings hold. Who it's for: viewers who like the new generation of Malayalam cinema and ensemble comedies set across a single night. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a light comedy throughout; the film changes its register seriously in the last quarter.