‘Footage’ (2024) Movie Review - A Creepy Manju Warrier in an Interesting Experiment

Writers Shabna Muhammed and Saiju Sreedharan cover so many issues with Footage that it's a miracle they never stumble. One can spend an entire evening discussing the film's subtext and various layers, but that doesn't mean Footage is a mental exercise that devalues aesthetics and atmosphere. Sreedharan, as a director, commits to the found footage genre with a handheld, shaky camera, which the characters seemingly carry in their hand to record objects or people of interest. Known as the Boy (Vishak Nair) and the Girl (Gayathri Ashok), the couple are YouTubers who investigate creepy places. They visit a house where you can apparently hear a baby crying at night. But while they lie on the bed and talk about postpartum depression, you hear a baby's cry in the background, which the characters curiously don't hear or acknowledge. This might be the weirdest thing about this film. What's more, some shots disconnected me from the screen. The way the Boy prioritized his framing even during moments of urgency (for instance, before untying a victim or blocking a door with a table or something) was quite weird and funny. However, Footage also plants this obsession with shot-taking firmly, and consistently. The Girl records a plate before allowing the Boy to eat from it, and the Boy captures the Girl with a cycle "aesthetically." The couple loves crime and paranormal mysteries, so much so that they break personal boundaries to get "meat" for their online stories. But the extent of their obsession is truly revealed once we see the movie from a different camera, a different perspective, and realize that someone actually left someone behind both out of concern for somebody and to chase a story (I am trying to avoid spoilers, though if you want to be completely surprised, read the review after watching the film).

Footage begins with the Boy's camera, and later, it shows us the events through the Girl's device (feel free to read this as a "gender POV"). This is not a lame gimmick. The style carries a subtle - if also broad - statement. The Boy's gadget is too engaged in recording sexual activities. It spies on a couple that's busy bonking and initially gives us plenty of scenes of the Boy and the Girl making whoopee. The Boy's camera can be interpreted as the male gaze. It's not just about the Kama Sutra sex. There is also the fact that Vishak Nair's character comes across as a strong, daring, fearless man. He doesn't hesitate before following a stranger in the middle of the night and, like a hero, tries to rescue a woman from death. Before this male perspective is concluded, we see him as a "fallen savior" who gave his best. Through the Girl's camera, however, we see him as a helpless, unconscious victim. Her gaze strips away all the machismo and highlights the method and plans the YouTubers employ for their content. We watch Nair's character do video editing while Gayathri Ashok fishes for a story from her maid. Even the sex becomes less explicit and more...plain. It also comes only once during the "female's perspective," which just accentuates that, unlike boys, women are not overly occupied with carnal matters. Another crucial subject that comes up through the Girl's lens is the discussion regarding household chores and the kitchen, which is never even mentioned during the man's viewpoint (we only hear a brief phone conversation when the Girl talks to the maid, but this is treated as a disposable moment). Even when Ashok's character goes to a gym, we see a woman bound to domestic affairs on the phone, which interrupts her exercise.

Footage is a message movie; the message can sometimes be too direct, too obvious, and thus, too off-putting. There is a conversation about live-in relationships. The Girl talks about a rapist who gets bail and then goes into hiding. A man wonders why India doesn't make a Mission: Impossible-type action movie. And someone says that pregnancy requires physical and mental preparation - don't buy the cutesy propaganda of films. But Muhammed and Sreedharan also nicely tie the message-y aspect of their story to that final reveal. What's so impressive about that climax is that it manages to strike a perfect balance between horror and moral speech. Again, without giving away major spoilers, let's just say that Footage criticizes vigilantes. It paints their actions with the dark colors of a horror film (the movie also mocks those "influencers" and "journalists" who grab views by meddling in somebody's personal business). Muhammed and Sreedharan are ambitious, all right. But the ambition shines more through the text than through the visual style. The images have vigor but not originality. They are palpable but also recycle scenes from other similar films. When the Boy and the Girl enter Manju Warrier's character's apartment, you immediately predict that they will come close to being caught red-handed by the creepy, silent woman. When the couple decides to separate from each other in the forest, they behave like dumb horror movie stereotypes. And when false jump scares are produced through the Girl's attempt at scaring the Boy and through graffiti, we feel as if Muhammed and Sreedharan are fulfilling the expectations of the audience who go to these movies for cheap thrills. They should have embraced inventiveness; they should have taken more risks.

The movie was released on August 23, 2024, in theaters in Malayalam, and since it didn't do well at the box office, it has now been theatrically released in Hindi so that it can grab the attention of a wider audience. I was afraid of the dubbing, but it's handled competently. Things aren't Kalki 2898 AD-level ropey. The voices match the facial expressions, and Ashok and Nair are fine. But I wasn't expecting Warrier to be this terrifying. There are moments when she manages to send a chill down your spine. Ashok and Nair never stood a chance. Warrier, as soon as she appears on the screen, convinces you that she is physically intimidating and totally unhinged. She gives Footage a mean spirit that's equally spine-chilling and satisfying.

Final Score- [6/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times