Kolamavu Kokila

Nelson Dilipkumar's 2018 Tamil film is about a family that has to find money. Kokila is shy and quiet; when her mother is diagnosed with cancer the cost of treatment rises far beyond what the family can meet and her attempts to find work come to nothing. She ends up working as a courier for a drug gang and turns out to be unexpectedly good at it. The film does not present the crime as a story of ascent; it describes her sinking deeper at every step in a comic register and builds its tension inside that strange tone. The family's situation and the question of medical costs stand seriously in the background. Nayanthara carries the character with almost no dialogue. It was Nelson's first film. Who it's for: viewers who like black comedy and Tamil cinema. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a consistent tone; the film moves back and forth between comedy and tension.