Narai Ezhuthum Suyasaritham - A Friend Indeed

 

 Narai Ezhuthum Suyasaritham

Tamil, 2022

 

Director - Manikandan

 

Stars - Delhi Ganesh, Manikandan

 

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐

 

Made in 2015 Narai Ezhuthum Suyasaritham has circled through international film circles before finally making it to OTT.  It is an art film, a vignette about a man forced to retire from a job he loves.  Struggling to understand his place, a one night drunken stupor makes him run into - literally - a young man who desperately needs mentoring to find himself.

 

The bond formed is touching, but is never quite detailed.  There is a lot of happy facial expressions and laughter, but the true depth of what these men bring to each other's lives is passed off as exchange of money and the latest techy buzzwords.

 

The words exchanged with the old man's own family seems force fit into the story.  Perhaps this is to indicate how little the gentleman is understood; but you would think there would be some comedy in this, rather than sadness.  You would also think there would be room for healing

 

Instead the film comes across morose, depressing, and ends with a desperate solution that never resolves.

 

While audiences have called this a feel-good film, this critic doesn't feel so good after watching it.