‘I, Nobody’ movie review: An unconventional thriller that fumbles in the final act

How far would a fallen man go for redemption? If one were to ask Rajeevan (Prithviraj Sukumaran), the protagonist of Nissam Basheer’s, I, Nobody, he would probably say: from one extreme, reckless act to another. Consequently, the film also takes one on a rollercoaster series of events, which are intriguing and unconventional up to a point until they turn chaotic misfires.

For that matter, almost every other character in I, Nobody appears to believe that their redemption arc lies in jumping into an even bigger problem than the one which they are already entangled in, almost as if they gained some pleasure from further tightening the noose around their neck. These are the kind of men who would bring an earth mover to pick a dry leaf which had fallen on their front yard. But then, we need people like that to create uncommon cinematic situations, which are aplenty in I, Nobody.

Rajeevan is a government employee, who accidentally gets entangled in a bank heist. It becomes the starting point of a series of events that would upturn the life of someone who has been having a rather ordinary existence with his wife Meera (Parvathy) and two children. The incident also serves as the seed for a man-against-the-system narrative, with the unknown entity suddenly finding itself in a spotlight which he didn’t yearn for.

Parts of I,Nobody even feel like an outburst against certain rumour mongering YouTube channels who spread false stories against individuals without verification or editorial control. It depicts the real world ramifications of such videos, which are consumed by millions who are hungry for controversies. Nissam Basheer, who with screenwriter Sameer Abdul created the interesting psychological thriller Rorschach, this time brings a theme which is closer to the real world, but which still feels far-fetched at times.

Things are quite taut till the halfway point, with the movie taking us to all the unimaginable directions that Rajeevan’s mind can travel to. These are some of the best written parts of the film, managing to keep us wholly engrossed. Prithviraj also puts up a restrained act after a long time, which fits well for the character. Technically, the film is on par with some of the best works from Malayalam cinema in recent years, with slick, thoughtful framing and editing. The action sequences, especially the one inside a flat elevator, also get a novel approach.

Like how some teams have lost their footing due to the hydration breaks in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, the film becomes quite a different, messed up beast post-interval. In its final act, one can sense shades of the spirit of Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday (2008), but unlike that film, which managed to land its message with remarkable impact, I, Nobody fumbles a bit. The so-called redemption is achieved through a contrived set of sequences, while the closing scenes makes one wonder what the film really wanted to convey. A film with such a promising opening hour and a half-time high deserved to have a better final act. 

I, Nobody is currently running in theatres