The only few minutes Maria smiles inside the car is when she gets a phone call and does an interview of a filmmaker. An entertainment reporter, Maria’s face softens, her tone turns polite, as she answers the call, as if she has just met the director in person. One wishes she gets more calls in that car ride, one long enough to fill the entire stretch of a film, a neatly crafted one directed by Don Palathara. Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam or Joyful Mystery had its premiere at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
Don has set the entire film inside a car to remove the risks of shooting during a pandemic. His script, filled with dialogues exchanged between a couple, justifies the setting. He has picked a perfect situation for the dynamics of the relationship to come out clearly in the 85-minute film - the threat of an unplanned pregnancy. Rima Kallingal as Maria is tense throughout the journey and her partner Jithin aka Jithu (played by Jithin Puthenchery) is trying to pacify her, but nothing he says soothes her. They are driving to the hospital to take a second test.
Maria is upset and frustrated. She keeps asking Jithu for a solution. He tries to come up with many – he will get a job, they will get married, he will look after the child. But every response he gives is met with sarcasm. As the conversation proceeds, a lot of mud gets slung at each other, but however impartially you try to look at it, Maria’s character comes off as the more annoying one.
Jithu is a small-time actor trying his luck in the movies. Maria, who has been supportive before, now chides him for not having a job. She appears more insecure, easily piqued, prying and suspects him of cheating. She tends to overreact, but this could be put down as the anxiety she is going through.
The lines are carefully written to slip from one topic to another. In the process all of their history come out in bits and pieces.
The entire film is of a single-shot, the camera kept in front of the car so all the focus is on the two characters. They make up for the lack of a change of scene by letting the viewer catch glimpses of the buildings and routes the car passes through. Clearly, Don wants all the focus on the relationship drama. Even the side-track conversations happening via phone calls and a third character who briefly enters the car touch on relationships. Jithu’s jealous friend speaks of an ex girlfriend getting married, Maria’s sister complains of a relationship issue and the third character – a middle-aged nosy woman played too convincingly by Neeraja Rajendran – speaks of marriage.
To sustain an entire movie only by means of conversations and the expressions of the two main actors, without the aide of a change of scene or even background music is some wonderful filmmaking. Jithin the new actor has performed exceptionally well, emoting when he has to, putting a straight face otherwise. Even when they take a break from the conversation for long minutes, it does not take a viewer's attention away from their story. Perhaps it shows proof of your voyeuristic interest in the goings-on of another’s relationship. But it is also because the expressions - still, changing, flickering -- of the two are that enticing.
Don does not include any topics outside of the relationship – nothing about the current affairs, the politics or even the price rise. The only outside mention is the coronavirus. Otherwise the script carefully and most naturally sticks to the relationship topic, taking the curious viewer along through the rickety rackety ride.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film's producers or any other members of its cast and crew.