Berlinale 2024, Post #2: PS Vinothraj follows up ‘Pebbles’ with ‘Kottukkaali’, another excellent ‘road movie’ which world-premiered at the Forum section of the Berlinale

The film stars Soori and Anna Ben. Again, the ‘story’ is but an excuse to mount a wonderful set of characters and geographies and troubling traditions.

To the extent that one can determine a “signature shot” from a filmmaker who is just two films old, PS Vinothraj’s second feature, Kottukkaali, opens with his… signature shot. In a 6-minute single take, we see a middle-aged woman walk from her house to a nearby shrine and walk back home, to her zombie-like daughter Meena (Anna Ben). It is daybreak: we see the blush of pink in the skies. It seems to be a village, but some of the fancier homes suggest that it’s a small town, perhaps. The fully clothed woman has poured water on herself, and given the visit to the shrine, it appears to be some kind of sanctification. Cinematographer Sakthivel captures this woman almost entirely as a silhouette – but when the occasional flashes of light fall on her face (and when we hear her feeble whimpers), we realise that she is in some kind of suffering.

You can read the rest of the review here:

https://www.galatta.com/tamil/movie/review/kottukkaali/

You can watch the trailer / video review here:

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