Mili

Mathukutty Xavier's 2022 Hindi film is a remake of his own Malayalam film Helen. Mili, a nursing graduate planning to move to Canada, is working temporarily at a food outlet. One evening she disappears. Most of the film takes place in a single space: the outlet's freezer. Mili is accidentally locked inside and the temperature keeps dropping. The survival narrative here is entirely physical; every attempt to keep warm, to attract attention and to open the door is shown in detail. In the parallel story her father searches for her and the police's first response is not to take him seriously. That section forms the film's second subject: an adult woman's disappearance being treated as her having run away. Who it's for: those who like survival thrillers. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by enclosed spaces and scenes of freezing; the film keeps them long and realistic.