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Chithha Movie Review: Siddharth’s Chithha is a hard-hitting and deeply unsettling tale of abuse

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Chithha Movie Review: Siddharth’s Chithha is a hard-hitting and deeply unsettling tale of abuse
Chithha Movie Synopsis: A small town where cases of missing women and sexual abuse are on the rise. A young man who dotes on his niece. A paedophile-murderer on the loose. How does it all end?

Chithha Movie Review: In many ways, Chithha is a companion piece to last year’s superb Gargi. As in that film, this one, too, deals with sexual abuse. Both the films have the tone of a thriller, but refrain from sensationalism and handle the fallout of abuse in a sensitive and empathetic manner. Both show the impact that an accusation of sexual abuse can have on an individual and a family as a whole. Both have confident writing and filmmaking, and come with codas that are meant to provide a hopeful closure but feel quite unnecessary.

Where Chithha differs, in addition to its small-town setting, is in the gender of the protagonist. While Gargi had a female protagonist who fights for what’s right through lawful means, here, we have a male protagonist whose reaction is masochist. In a way, this is also a commentary on the misplaced sense of righteousness that men have when it comes to crimes like abuse, and the Catch 22 situation that women find themselves in – on one end, they have to deal with the horror of encountering cold-blooded abusers, and on the other, they have to deal with hot-headed protective figures whose immediate reaction to their turmoil is revenge rather than reassurance.

Chithha’s protagonist, Easwaran (Siddharth) aka Eesu is someone who has had to take over the responsibility of taking care of his family at a young age. We learn that he’s got his government job in the sanitation department due to the sudden death of his elder brother, and is now the caretaker of his sister-in-law (Anjali Nair) and Settai, his eight-year-old niece, Sundari (Sahasra Sree). We see him rekindling his romance with his school mate and now co-worker Sakthi (Nimisha Sajayan). We see the almost familial relationship that he shares with his friend, Vadivelu, a lower-level undercover cop, and his niece Ponni (S Abiya Tasneem). We sense the tragedy that’s about to befall all of these characters in a scene where cops discuss a locality that has become notoriously unsafe for women.

But before that, Arun Kumar shows us the beautiful bond between Eesu and Settai. We see how affectionate she is towards him and how protective he feels about her. In an early scene, we see him chiding a school watchman when the latter jokes that the girl has left for home on her own. We know that a tragedy is waiting to unfold, but until then the film is suffused with feel-goodness. Balaji Subramaniam’s cinematography fills the frames with warmth.

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And then, tragedy strikes! But not in the way we expect it to. We see how the slightest sense of doubt, cropping up with the utterance of a seemingly well-meaning line or an action as simple as a mother choosing to sleep with her daughter on her bed, can be devastating.

And before the characters – and we, the audience – can recover from it, another traumatic episode starts unfolding. The cinematography, now largely handheld, creates a sense of unease and dread, while the writing and filmmaking turn deceptively potent that by the time the interval block plays out, it makes us want to rush out, not wanting to see something bad happen to a character, but at the same time, stay transfixed to witness the hard-to-watch events playing out on screen. From feel-good, we are deep in feel-bad.

Some time later, drama turns into a race-against-time survival thriller, though we do wish the director had refrained from having a scene that depicts the abusive ways of the kidnapper. Given that the very idea of a little girl being held captive by a serial rapist and murderer is enough to convey the horrific nature of the situation, do we really want to see the how? Even if the film doesn’t show anything explicitly, wouldn’t it have been better to let the audience play out such a scenario in their minds?

Thankfully, we immediately get one of the most tense stretches that we will ever see in a film this year when events play out at a police checkpoint. The payoff that follows is so gratifying that all we want to do is stand up and cheer.

But the downside is that the events that follow have a hard time living up to this high point. We get a revenge angle that ends with a gratuitous scene that feels tonally off from the rest of the film as it is played to the gallery (Vishal Chandrashekar’s understated score, too, suddenly turns celebratory here). And a revelation involving a major character doesn’t feel surprising enough. That said, the observations that the character makes are to the point, and the way this scene ends, with a victim asserting herself is commendable.

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The performances, too, are top-notch. There’s a hitherto unseen intensity and grittiness in Siddharth’s performance while Nimisha Sajayan makes a confident debut. The two child actresses, too, shine, especially Sahasra Sree, who conveys the wounded, scared spirit of a victim in a deeply affecting manner.

There are also a couple of tender moments amidst all the grimness. A survivor rushing towards a character and giving a hug, and a scene between two friends who have undergone a shared experience forging a stronger bond. It is such profound moments that elevate Chithha into something vital in these times.

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Movie Reviews

Fire Movie Review: Police officer documents what he already suspects

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Fire Movie Review: Police officer documents what he already suspects
Fire Movie Synopsis: A police inspector investigates the disappearance of a physiotherapist after his elderly parents file a missing person report. As the investigation progresses, multiple women come forward revealing a pattern of seduction and blackmail through secretly filmed encounters.

Fire Movie Review:
When every other film claims to be a gripping thriller, Fire manages the peculiar feat of being both inflammatory and lukewarm. Director J. Satish Kumar’s debut feature presents us with a predatory physiotherapist named Kasi (Balaji Murugadoss) whose modus operandi is as repetitive as a broken record – charm, seduce, film, blackmail, repeat. Inspired by the real-life story of Nagercoil Kasi, JSK has put his own spin on the tale, complete with a twist in the second half.

The narrative follows Inspector Saravanan (played by JSK himself) investigating Kasi’s disappearance after his elderly parents file a missing person report. What unfolds is less a mystery and more a procession of testimonies from Kasi’s victims, each story following the same template: a vulnerable woman, a calculated display of virtue, and inevitable betrayal.

The film’s first half reveals its hand with the subtlety of a spotlight in a dark room. By intermission, we’re well aware of our villain’s proclivities – a physiotherapist with a penchant for recording his conquests, always careful to keep his face hidden while his victims remain exposed, both literally and metaphorically. The second half merely serves as a roll call of his misdeeds, with Inspector Saravanan collecting statements like a jaded census taker.

JSK’s performance as Saravanan is competent – a grounded cop who spends more time listening to testimonies than engaging in the usual heroics kollywood is known for. Balaji Murugadoss brings initial charm to Kasi, but like a trick seen too many times, the character loses its ability to unsettle. The obligatory commercial elements – songs, fights, and dramatic confrontations – feel shoehorned in, serving only to stretch the runtime.

Fire isn’t entirely without merit. It shows occasional sparks of promise in its premise. It is more of an exposition of how women can be exploited and abused by a sociopath. You do genuinely feel for them. Like Rust Cohle might observe in True Detective, time becomes a flat circle here too – each victim’s story echoing the same pattern of manipulation. The film’s scattered strengths just twist the knife deeper. The result is a mystery that generates about as much heat as a matchstick in a rainstorm.

Written By:
Abhinav Subramanian

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Rounding (2025) – Movie Review

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Rounding (2025) – Movie Review

Rounding, 2025.

Directed by Alex Thompson.
Starring Namir Smallwood, Sidney Flanigan, Michael Potts, Rebecca Spence, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, David Cromer, Max Lipchitz, Kelly O’Sullivan, Bradley Grant Smith, Charin Alvarez, Nadirah Bost, Edwin Lee Gibson, Tim Hopper, Kayla Raelle, Ed Kross, Meighan Gerachis, Sara Deodhar, Larry Neumann Jr., Pierce Cravens, Hanna Dworkin, and Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel.

SYNOPSIS:

A driven young medical resident transfers to a rural hospital for a fresh start. There, the demons of his past start to catch up to him when he becomes consumed by the case of a young asthma patient.

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Director Alex Thompson’s Rounding often has one wondering who needs help more: is it the young adult woman Helen (Sidney Flanigan, such an extraordinary revelation in Never Rarely Sometimes Always, deserving of more roles) who keeps finding herself in the hospital with severe asthma and no permanent solution, or her newly transferred Doctor James Hayman (Namir Smallwood) who might be correct that something isn’t adding up about the situation, but also appears mentally unstable for the job, gradually going through a psychological breakdown following a traumatic experience overlooking a patient at the last hospital.

The film also begins with on-screen text about the world’s first “physician” in Ancient Greece, once seen as a descendent of a Greek God, and how those patients were sometimes treated for exorcisms (before going into the modern-day definition of rounding.) It plays into this premise that James may be going through something worse than Helen. That is proven especially true once he starts panicking and hallucinating mythological creatures while blacking out, typically during a stressful visit with a patient.

With that in mind, one might assume Rounding is attempting to be a horror film. That is half true. It works best when functioning as a psychological piece about doctors and the hardships behind their duties (such as putting on an acting performance when explaining a devastating medical diagnosis, trying to empathize and give over a piece of the self, effectively showing humanity during sensitive conversations) and their relationships to patients. Not only are the performances grounded alongside a somewhat convincing depiction of simultaneously managing several patients on light rest, but the mystery of what is going on with the previously mentioned frequently sick woman is also an intriguing mystery.

When a character suggests that what’s really happening is “something typically only seen in the movies,” the narrative starts to feel like it is actively betraying that reality. That’s without getting into the horror aspect, which increasingly becomes more prevalent, that feels hastily slapped together with no lasting imagery, creativity, or impactful substance. Then, some loaded bombshell reveals in the finale go against all reasonable logic regarding how James would successfully get this position after a transfer. It’s an unwieldy mess that’s generally only engaging when sticking to difficult conversations with hospital patients. However, even then, the overreliance on dumping medical jargon will be frustrating for some and is occasionally emotionally detaching.

It’s an unfortunate surprise, considering Alex Thompson (not co-directing this time alongside regular collaborator Kelly O’Sullivan, although she does appear in a small role) typically has no issue allowing human drama to feel real while giving it weight that doesn’t dip into mawkish territory. Here, co-writing the screenplay alongside Christopher Thompson, there isn’t so much a blending of genres but more of forcing one into a story without realizing it’s not fitting.

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Rounding has sat on a shelf for so long that the far superior Ghostlight was made, chosen to play Sundance, and released before this getting a non-festival release. The reason for that is clear after watching this. It’s an uneven blur of ideas, genres, motives, and reveals that never coalesce into anything satisfyingly whole or worthwhile.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist

 

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Movie Review: There’s no feud like an Irish feud over land, fermented guilt and sheep — “Bring Them Down”

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Movie Review: There’s no feud like an Irish feud over land, fermented guilt and sheep — “Bring Them Down”

Not going to sugar-coat this.

“Bring Them Down” is rough, a movie of wrenching, insensate cruelty, much of it directed at animals.

Writer-director Chris Andrews has made a debut feature that is as hard to watch as any recent film, and an intentionally frustrating experience that mimics real life in a world where “the law” doesn’t figure into things, least of all a search for justice.

Andrews tells the story out of order, showing us horrible things that happen as tensions rise in a feud between neighboring sheep farms in hilly, rocky central Ireland (Connemara is the setting, Athenry is mentioned, the Wicklow Mountains were the filming location). And then he flips back to show us how and why things happen, letting us dread the ugliness that we’ve already seen and know we may have to see again.

The story weaves random encounters and bad blood and vague rumors of “rustling” into specific grievances, causes and effects as it does.

A car accident years ago shows us a tearful mother pleading with her son to take the news of her leaving his father well, and Mikey’s mother and girlfriend in the back seat shouting at him to slow down as he road rages into an accident that kills, and disfigures and emotionally scars those who survive.

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Grown up, Mikey (Christopher Abbott, just seen in “Wolf Man”) still lives on the farm with his “waiting for new knees” Da (Colm Meaney, of course), still communicates with the old bully in Gaelic, still tends the the that the O’Sheas graze on a hill they share with a neighbor who doesn’t have their “500 years” of experience, reputation and financial security.

Paul Ready of TV’s “The Terror” is Gary, the burly, bearded and bullying neighbor who has raised his son (Barry Keoghan) in his image. His wife (Nora-Jane Noone) was in the back seat of that car with Mikey, decades before. She bears the scar of that wreck, and Gary isn’t shy about using that to bait Mikey every chance he gets.

We’ve seen Mikey’s temper. We’re allowed to wonder if he’s mellowed, and wonder how wise that approach to a neighbor might be.

Because young Jack (Keoghan) called Mikey to alert him to a couple of dead O’Shea rams on the hill.

“Where there’s livestock, there’s dead stock,” he cracks.

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But Jack is evasive and won’t let Mikey see the corpses. and when two re-branded (with spray paint) rams turn up at the local auction, the game is up. Jack stole them. Mikey’s fury is barely contained as Gary does what bullies do — dares him to do something about it.

As there have been stories of rustlers mutilating sheep, lopping off their legs, the threats to the O’Shea’s way of life are concrete and palpable. What does Old Man O’Shea want Mikey to do about it? Bring back the sheep by force?

Nooo. He wants his son to “Bring me their f–ckin’ HEADS!”

Callous cruelty and self-serving behavior permeates this world, where peer pressure — nobody will buy from shifty, crooked Gary — is almost the only recourse available when one family steps completely out of line. There’s no friendly uniformed Garda to keep the peace and see that wrong is made right.

And with no law, escalations can only end in horror.

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Shoving and threatening leads to road rage and other escalations. And as the story folds back into itself, we see the desperation and amorality of the malefactors, the cowardice of bullies, the consequences of being a bad neighbor and the burden of being trapped with that bad neighbor — for life.

If you’re easily triggered on pretty much any subject listed above, I’d advise you to steer clear of this brutish Irish saga. It’s too bloody, too depressing and infuriating, and Andrews makes it his business to not give the viewer much relief or satisfaction with any of it.

But it’s also quite good, even if it denies us much that would give the viewer some sense of relief or justice.

Rating: R, graphic violence, animal abuse, drug abuse, smoking, profanity

Cast: Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Nora-Jane Noone, Paul Ready and Colm Meaney.

Credits: Scripted and directed by Chris Andrews. A Mubi release.

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Running time: 1:47

About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine

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