90. Alone; movie review

 

ALONE

Cert 12A

122 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate threat, suicide references, brief sexual violence references

Well, that was utterly bewildering.

I guess the creative thinking of producing a lockdown movie with just one superstar actor to ensure social distancing should be applauded.

However, Alone is barely comprehensible and its conclusion just left me scratching my head.

Mohanlal and director Shaji Kailas joined forces to design a thriller confined to an apartment block during India's ultra-strict anti-Covid measures.

The Malayalam cinema hero plays Kalidasan who mysteriously beats all security measures to be driving the only car on the road leading to the city of Kochi.

He then moves into the rental apartment where he settles down to order takeaway food and lots of hard booze.

But his reverie is interrupted by the cries of a mother and daughter who he initially thinks must be in the neighbouring apartment and then realises they are spirits who are residing in his.

Thus, he enlists the help of contacts and friends on the phone to try to fathom what happened to the pair.

The premise isn't a bad one but there are so many confusing tangents.

For starters, what is Kalidasan's job? It seems he could be a policeman, United Nations official or anything in between.

His contacts include a doctor, a journalist and a fiancee. And he has almost telepathic methods of investigating and knowing how the pieces fit together.

The problem is that Mohanlal has to overact to compensate for the lack of cast and there just isn't enough meat in the story to make a two-hour feature.

And don't get me on the ending which is a crushing disappointment.

In other words, the movie was a nice try to fill a horrible void but it doesn't work.

Reasons to watch: A Mohanlal experiment

Reasons to avoid: Not enough meat for a two-hour film

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 4.5/10

Did you know?  Due to the Covid lockdown in India, more than 350 deaths were reported with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides, exhaustion, road and rail accidents, police brutality and denial of timely medical care. Most deaths were among marginalised migrants and labourers.

The final word. Mohanlal: "When I heard the story of Alone, I found it very interesting. It doesn’t have too many actors. It’s just me and so, we thought we could take the risk ourselves and produce the film.” OTT Play

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