Jomonte Suvisheshangal

Sathyan Anthikad's 2017 Malayalam film is a late example of the family drama template the director worked for forty years. Jomon, the irresponsible son of a wealthy father, has never considered acting his age; when the family unexpectedly collapses financially, another side of him emerges. Anthikad's method is familiar: instead of large events there are small humiliations, the neighbours' glances, and the sentences a father and son never say. Dulquer Salmaan builds the passage from self-satisfied young man to someone taking responsibility without forcing it. The father played by Mukesh is a little more complicated than the sacrificing patriarch common in Malayalam cinema. The film's limit is how softly it handles class: becoming poor is presented as an opportunity for moral cleansing. Who it's for: viewers who like Malayalam family drama and Sathyan Anthikad's cinema. Who it's not for: anyone bothered by an emotional resolution that arrives too neatly, or who will find the shifts in pace slow.