Helen (2019) :
Brief Review -
A wanna be realistic thriller with unrealistic flaws! A thriller which lacks essential thrill but fares better on other aspects. Mathukutty Xavier's Helen can be called his attempt to try something different but did he really know it for himself? I doubt that. We'll see how without giving much spoilers. An ordinary suburban girl suddenly disappears, leaving her loved ones in a desperate search as she must face the ultimate battle - the one for her life. As shown in the film, the time was 12 am when she got locked and then without any further delays we start seeing the side-effects. This far, it seemed fair. Now, two hours have passed but we don't see any harsh changes in her. Her nose goes red and starts freezing in first half an hour but in next one hour it just doesn't change at all. She wraps her hands and legs with that sticker-tape but keeps very concerns uncovered. What? I don't how it helped. The same girl tries even harder jobs when she was supposed to lose more power as the time passes by but no physical changes happened during her struggle. Then suddenly at one moment you see her nose is gone blue (extreme freeze). I was like, it happened all of sudden? Just like that? And then you have completely irrelevant and unnecessary cliches of her father, boyfriend and police. When the thriller should have tighten its grip Xavier put a freaking boring song. LoL. That's why I want to ask him if he really knew that he was not making a mainstream thriller? Or was he making the same one by faking it as a different kind of survival thriller? Anyways, the performances and some other good scenes have saved it. I have seen Anna Ben in Kumbalangi Nights and she is a talented girl indeed, but Helen truly shows her dedication and efforts on higher level. That small speech by the watchman at the end was sweet. Overall, Helen lacks what it wants to explore and accidently gains what it didn't look for. A fair one time flick, nothing more nothing less.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A wanna be realistic thriller with unrealistic flaws! A thriller which lacks essential thrill but fares better on other aspects. Mathukutty Xavier's Helen can be called his attempt to try something different but did he really know it for himself? I doubt that. We'll see how without giving much spoilers. An ordinary suburban girl suddenly disappears, leaving her loved ones in a desperate search as she must face the ultimate battle - the one for her life. As shown in the film, the time was 12 am when she got locked and then without any further delays we start seeing the side-effects. This far, it seemed fair. Now, two hours have passed but we don't see any harsh changes in her. Her nose goes red and starts freezing in first half an hour but in next one hour it just doesn't change at all. She wraps her hands and legs with that sticker-tape but keeps very concerns uncovered. What? I don't how it helped. The same girl tries even harder jobs when she was supposed to lose more power as the time passes by but no physical changes happened during her struggle. Then suddenly at one moment you see her nose is gone blue (extreme freeze). I was like, it happened all of sudden? Just like that? And then you have completely irrelevant and unnecessary cliches of her father, boyfriend and police. When the thriller should have tighten its grip Xavier put a freaking boring song. LoL. That's why I want to ask him if he really knew that he was not making a mainstream thriller? Or was he making the same one by faking it as a different kind of survival thriller? Anyways, the performances and some other good scenes have saved it. I have seen Anna Ben in Kumbalangi Nights and she is a talented girl indeed, but Helen truly shows her dedication and efforts on higher level. That small speech by the watchman at the end was sweet. Overall, Helen lacks what it wants to explore and accidently gains what it didn't look for. A fair one time flick, nothing more nothing less.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.