Irul — An absence of intent

Irul, directed by debutante Naseef Yusuf Izzudin, is a suspense thriller, a whodunit if you will.

Alex & Archana are a new couple who wish to spend quality time together without the hassles of their busy careers. While Archana is a lawyer, Alex is a businessman by profession but a published writer by passion. The name of his book makes up for the name of the movie — Irul (darkness or as a character states — ‘the absence of light’).

The couple plan a weekend getaway & decide to leave the trappings of mobile phones & internet behind. But as it happens, their car breaks down in the middle of a forest while it is raining cats & dogs and without their phones, all they can do is physically walk over to a nearby house & ask for help. But in the house lives an eccentric, overly curious man and trouble ensues.

The plot is not the most original but in such a genre, it seldom is. Therefore, what makes such films stand out is their treatment, characterisations & suspense build-up.

Irul is disappointing because it sets you up with very high expectations. The build up is excellent. You will be at the edge of your seat, numerous theories and calculations going on in your head with each argument seemingly more plausible than the other. You will take into account the books on the shelf, the colour palette, the number on the blank sheet of paper, hang on each word of the characters because you feel that you must, the film will demand it being as richly designed as it is, but just when you expect to be wowed by the film, stand up and scream “brava!” kind of wow, it will take a step back leaving you hanging.

I have so many questions about this film & while I can’t really dwell on any without giving spoilers, let me make it clear that these questions are not some fantastic, awe ridden hows & whys like one may expect after watching a whodunit but instead so basic & banal that its just sad because while the story is presented in a manner that makes it seem like there are clues strewn about waiting to be picked up by the audiences, in the end none of them seem to matter.

Its almost like the camera just accidentally paused on a page number, a prior legal case was mentioned just for the heck of it, seemingly revealing dialogues were spoken just as a regular chat — in a nutshell, by the end of the movie I can’t seem to find the intent behind all of these & more.

All in all, one can watch Irul for the fantastic Fahadh Fasil and for how to set up a suspense thriller but not for how to bring it to a culmination.

Direction - Naseef Yusuf Izzudin
Cast - Fahadh Fasil, Soubin Shahir, Darshana Rajendran