Stephen - Puppy's Pa

Stephen

Tamil, 2025

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Director: Mithun Balaji

Stars:   Gomathi Shankar, Michael Thangadurai, Smruthi Venkat, Kuberan, Erumasaani Harija

Mohan's Measure: 0

St. Stephen is listed as the patron saint of headaches. This would most certainly explain mine. This low budget attempt at mimicking Malayalam film noir is little more than a series of plot devices badly sewn together to rehash an old story.

The tale is set around a forensic psychologist interviewing a confessed serial killer .  She is assisted by a lone cop and possible love interest, who sometimes drops names of other cops for good measure.  The inevitable blood, guts, and gore is offered in flashbacks, as the killer unravels his killings and our need to feel sorry for him for doing so.  Attempts to borrow from Malayalam cinema are flooded in to make this movie appear more than it is.  Indeed, from Catholic names to the painting of the Last Supper, the Catholic symbolism is to the point that even the Pope would roll his eyes at them.  But, they never reference anything nor are they used as telltale signs of Poetic Justice.

One wonders even at the question of justice as the only other two characters worth mentioning are moping about trying to figure out the motives for this man's murderous spree.  Couldn't his being a nutjob be enough?  Apparently not, for even their outside conversations and personal moments are spent in analysis.

And only a psychoanalyst can explain the writing.  It plays out like a high school drama that has been written by an IB middle schooler.  Philosophical musings are suddenly said at moments where they not needed, and tense moments are interrupted with trite conversation.  Like when the woman turns around dramatically to hear great wisdom only to hear the cop say, "be careful."  

Heed my warning, and don't see this movie

.