Anomie movie review: Bhavana’s sci-fi thriller failed by too many derivative elements

Genre cinema often comes with its expected trappings which unless backed by exceptional writing skills, gives the audience that sinking feeling of going through the motions. Anomie, written and directed by Riyas Marath, has several phases which convey a sense of ‘been there, done that,’ but as with many thrillers of late, the writer goes to great extents to ensure that the mystery about the series of killings is something beyond our wildest guesses. Just that this far-fetched idea had to sound a tad bit more convincing for it to work.

Anomie revolves around Zaara Philip (Bhavana), a forensic expert, who begins to look at a series of deaths that has happened in a locality after her brother Ziyan (Shebin Benson) goes missing. She unearths patterns that Ghibran (Rahman), the police officer who was assigned to her brother’s missing case, failed to notice. The search from both ends lead to something sinister beyond their imaginations.

In the initial half, the film looks and feels derivative, be it with the much overused side story of the cop with an emotional baggage or in its colour grading or dialogues, which are meant to be merely functional and expository in nature. Many of the dialogues get repeated, sometimes in the gap of a few minutes, perhaps to ensure that the audience will not lose track. For long portions, the screenplay meanders along without any eventful turns. Consequently, the film fails to be engaging except in the latter portions of the investigation.

Half-baked novelty

With Anomie being branded as a science-fiction thriller, the rather run-of-the-mill narrative makes one wonder about that branding till the fag end of the film, when the film unveils its real game. Although the hunt for the serial killer has its moments, it is only when the movie reaches the climax that there is any sign of novelty. But this novel turn in the narrative is somewhat half-baked and hence does not become the kind of pay-off that it was intended to be.

Handled with ease

Bhavana, appearing in a Malayalam film after a gap of three years, handles the character who has to go through emotional upheavals with a touch of ease. But in the latter portions of the investigation, her character is absent from the thick of things for long periods. The other characters are not too well-etched and are mostly present just to be in the service of the story, with the cop’s background story appearing to be a rushed job to give some context to his general attitude.

With too many derivative elements, Anomie fails to achieve its ambitions of being an engaging sci-fi thriller.