Thriller toys with expectations; documentary goes for backstage drama

Director Anucharan Murugaiyan gleefully toys with traditional Tamil moviemaking expectations with this frenetic, almost cartoonish crime thriller about the exploits of Kathir, a cocky, small-time schemer with a wife and child who runs afoul of thugs and corrupt cops after drifting into the shadowy, potentially profitable world of police informants. While the movie’s swaggering wannabe anti-hero is compelling enough, and there are enough colourful characters and lively fight and chase sequences here to hold our interest, the film suffers from some major credibility gaps and jarring tonal shifts. As lively as this eventual cat-and-mouse game is, it’s so rough around the edges, it’s hard to accept how Murugaiyan abruptly downshifts into a more sombre state where we’re suddenly expected to care about this overzealous opportunist. Sorry, not buying it.

If you’ve never been to Italy’s famed 2,000-year-old Arena dif Verona, you might be tempted to add it to your itinerary after seeing this interesting behind- the-scenes documentary from directors Andrea Prandstraller and Niccolo Bruna. Awe-inspiring and fluidly photographed, it provides a veritable front-row seat to the meticulous, albeit at times mundane, preparations for the Spanish theatre company La Fura dels Baus’s wildly ambitious production of Verdi’s Aida, complete with giant mechanical elephants, dancing crocodiles and elaborately costumed performers hitting their marks. Although it would certainly enhance the experience, you needn’t be an opera lover to appreciate this ancient ampitheatre’s backstage drama, the mind-boggling complexity and magnitude of the production that the filmmakers capture, and their revealing glimpses of opera stars, musicians, mime artists and other collaborators.