I felt very sorry for Keerthy Suresh, who’s stuck with a character whose motivations — at any given point — are: “Er, uh, it says so in the script.”
Spoilers ahead…
Right from the beginning, Penguin proves that it has cunning twists up its sleeve. To start with, the film is not set in Antarctica. Ooh, I bet you didn’t see that coming! There’s more. You thought Charlie Chaplin’s prop was a walking stick. Now, it’s an axe! And the comedian’s garb is appropriated by a serial killer — or maybe this is just a one-off kidnapper. (Do penguins eat red herrings?) But I think my favourite twist is the name of the heroine, played by Keerthy Suresh. It’s Rhythm. No, it’s Ritu. No, it’s Rhythm. No, it’s Ritu. I’m going to settle for Rhythm. It has a nice, um, rhythm to it. That’s more than you can say for this supposedly moody thriller, which mistakes mists and a blueish palette for atmosphere.
Read the rest of this article here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/tamil-review/penguin-with-keerthy-suresh-on-amazon-prime-this-wannabe-moody-thriller-falls-victim-to-some-seriously-bad-writing-baradwaj-rangan/
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SudharsananSampath
June 19, 2020
Hi BR, I am currently in the process of writing my first feature film. I’ve been following your blog for many years now. I comment very rarely. I’ve learnt and I am continuing to learn a lot about writing, character motivations from your reviews, especially from the reviews of “failed” films. Just wanted you to know that you helped quite a bit in my filmmaking journey. Thank you.
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pyrusdragonoidashwin
June 19, 2020
Did not like the trailer, so I went with very low expectations. This turned out to be a decent watch, although the main reveal was horrendous. Up until then I was interested in how this would turn out. As for Keerthi, she was, as usual, great. The best part however, was Maddy as Cyrus. Its interesting to think whether the film would have been much better had they showed it from Cyrus’s POV.
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Vikram s
June 19, 2020
Do penguins eat red herrings… Rofl :-))
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Naren
June 19, 2020
OH WOW is this a bad one or what?!
First and foremost, were all the actors given a serious course of some very strong barbituates?! We can call it lethargy or laissez faire or groggy and it wud all b just fitting. I’ve been noticing this pattern for a few years now and the actors here r very confused between underplaying and being robotic. Be it approaching situations in the first place or delivering lines with negligible intonations it’s all one big flatline. After the failed attempt at rescuing the escapee, the killer is DIRECTLY after Rhythm as she flees the scene and yet she narrates to the cops as though she witnessed a stranger stepping on a rake in a festival. Even the dog wasn’t spared. In the scene where the doctor is supposed to b intimidated, Cyrus, rather than being menacing, was actually being a jolly good boy. How is it that a dog cud b made to look menacing in a comedy movie like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” but it’s the exact opposite here?!
Medical doctor, criminal profiler, psychologist . . . I was actually surprised when he suggested someone else for a speech therapist for the kid. He was the most unwanted and so out of place character in the whole movie who was used as a cheap shot for a lame twist. How Rhythm found out about the secret door inside the cupboard is way beyond me. If that’s not bad enuf, as she tries to escape from the doctor’s slaughterhouse, it’d b not more than a few seconds and yet she manages to shackle his leg and use the fire extinguisher on him . . . WOW!!!
Gautham . . . it was as if C3PO played a stepford husband.
The first husband is a real piece of work. When they got their kid back, he, without sparing a thought, dumps him on the mother instantly, citing his marital shortcomings as a lame justification. Even when he visits the kid in the hospital, he was more focused on expressing his emotions than caring for his long lost son. A cursory hug and he almost drops him back on the bed and flees the room. I bet the character was meant to b a bad husband, not a bad father.
And yet again, the cops r nothing more than marionettes who pop up occasionally. I don’t understand why directors feel compelled to have cops at all. They might as well just give up and follow the tradition of bringing them on screen during the last 5 minutes of the movie just to slap handcuffs on villains.
In order to push the “strong female protagonist” agenda, the director made the rest of the world disappear conveniently during all the actionable plot points. Also, it was an unfair comparison between Vidya Balan and Keerthy Suresh. Vidya Balan was in a situation in Kahani but Keerthy Suresh was performing in front of a camera. I don’t know if it was horrendous editing or just bad acting but we can clearly see that she was acting on cue when she says “Coffee smells nice” to the doctor. BTW, the camera pan in that moment is inspired from “Shutter Island”.
The scene where Rhythm’s friends r consoling her . . . Here’s a woman who lost an actual child to whom she gave birth and one of them was comparing her grief to her own unrequited love and the other compared to being unable to conceive a child at all. I simply cud not believe those words were coming out of a couple of supposedly grown women.
The bees around the kid . . . for some reason that reminded me of “Candyman”. Rhythm being surrounded by bees right outside the oubliette towards the end . . . reminded me of Bruce Wayne surrounded by bats when he first discovers his cave.
Ponmagal Vandhaal and now this . . . it’s as if the directors r ferociously competing to c who cud make a worse movie for the streaming services.
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JPhil
June 20, 2020
Father is is reunited with bruised, mute, battered – possibly abused by a psychopath- son after 6 years …and sagely concludes… ‘ avanude childhood Mattum happy allana nalla theriyudhe ‘ . This was genius level thinking ,no wonder she left him !
A turkey I m afraid not a penguin !
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ravenus1
June 20, 2020
Oooh, that was Savage! 😀
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tonks
June 20, 2020
“He is definitely a ruthless monster”, says a doctor about the killer, for the benefit of those of us in the audience who may have thought the killer was a compassionate angel of mercy
Not so definite. Not when the child comes back to you after six years, without being killed or even molested sexually.
I think this is the third Indian movie I’ve seen recently where the doctor/ medical person is the culprit (Forensic, Anjaam paathira). Why did he want their organs? For transplantation? Which would be beyond stupid seeing how many others would be needed or for eating them like Hannibal the cannibal?
Too dumb a script and characterization to be worth a discussion.
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Anjali
June 20, 2020
The filmmaking techniques are ridiculous and plot holes are unforgivable, but somehow, I still found the movie pretty engaging in the moment. I noticed all the holes and stupidity while watching the film, but it didn’t deter me from feeling engaged to the story. I think I feeling connected to the mother’s persistence helped me get through the movie; it’s interesting how the emotion of a film can help you ignore a few things here and there, at least in the moment that you’re watching.
I think it had a lot of wasted potential, but with how bad the filmmaking was, it’s hard to tell. Also, it seemed like the climax was trying to be a bit feminist while saying that everyone automatically assumed that the villain was a guy— suuuuper cringey. How did someone like Subbaraj not realize the writing’s dire plea for help before he produced it?
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Aman Basha
June 20, 2020
Feel sorry for the fact that you only get to review misfires on OTT due to all the south films kept on Prime and Netflix are mostly disappointments. Hope you review films like Gulabo Sitabo and shows like the recent Aarya. You’re fun when you’re attacking a film but even better when you’re enjoying it
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brangan
June 20, 2020
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Lakshmi Mahadevan
June 20, 2020
Waste of time, an idiotic, silly movie. Nobody would be that idiotic to chase a murderer when one is heavily pregnant. The police could have gone with her when she made the last outing. Some realism would have helped.
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Satya
June 21, 2020
The cinematic equivalent of a good looking yet fragile water tumbler
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Faroo
June 28, 2020
The best thing about this movie? It made Ponmagal Vandhal seem better by comparison 🙂
In some of our circles we call this a “blade” padam — not that it is boring, but rather, you need to have a blade in hand and keep slashing yourself and asking “naa yaen paakren”.
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Arjun
July 4, 2020
Started promisingly, ended absolutely atrociously. Truly horrendous writing. I got fooled into watching it seeing Karthik Subburaj’s name. Only realized later that he is the producer, not director. Arghh.
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