Cast: Prabhudeva, Indhuja, Sananth, Deepak Paramesh, Shashank Purushotham, Anish Padmanabhan, Gajaraj
Cameo: Remya Nambeesan
Direction: Karthik Subbaraj
Production: Stone Bench Films, Pen India Limited and Trident Arts (Distribution)
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
Genre: Horror Thriller
Language: Tamil (Silent Film)
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Censor Certificate: U
Plot - A group of friends, who are deaf and dumb due to mercury poisoning goes for a night ride. How that night ride leads to a biggest trouble in their life forms the crux of the story.
'Mercury' is a no-language silent thriller, which was released in all languages except Tamil on 13th April. Because of 'Tamil Film Producers Council' Strike, the entire team of 'Mercury' was unable to release in TN on that date. Now, the strike gets over. So, the film's Tamil version released in TN today (20th April).
Performance of the Star Cast - As there is no dialogue in the film, every actor in the film emotes through their face expressions. Prabhudeva comes in the first half, but his character gets a form only at the interval point. At that point, he strikes well with his strange characterisation and his transformation for this film is really stunning. Among the friends characters, Sananth and Indhuja grabs some attention through their convincing performance. The other three actors have done their part well. Remya Nambeesan plays a small cameo role and she gives her best to that role.
Technical Works - Tirru's cinematography is really an amazing one. His visuals and some different angle shots looks neat. The colour toning is also good. Vivek Harshan's editing looks too good with sharp and crisp cuts, without any disturbance to the flow. Santhosh Narayanan gives his usual background score, wherever the film needs. It also gels well with the situation in few parts. Like the recent Hollywood flick 'A Quiet Place', the detailing given for the sounds is really superb.
Director's Involvement with the Script - Director Karthik Subbaraj has to be appreciated for handling this silent film with a neat direction and making style. He gives his maximum effort to make the audience, a thrilling experience thorough the silence. He adds Tamil subtitles in some scenes for the easy understanding of the situation. He deals with 'mercury-poisoning' issue along with the plot and he adds a small message in the end credits. His presentation looks very excellent, but he slows down our interest in few parts. He doesn't focus on gore violence in the film, which is also an appreciable one.
Screenplay Execution - The film takes some few minutes to get into the main conflict. From there, he slowly creates curiosity among the audience. Then the film gets into the engaging factor completely. The interval point with the unexpected screen presence of Prabhudeva takes off to a peak level. In the second half, the film has some issues in balancing our interest towards the film. This gets corrected towards the pre-climax block. The climax of the film has some strong emotions, with a neat performance. But the ending will make few audience unconvinced.
Main Negatives of the Film - In some parts, the screenplay looks too slow. This is the major issue, in which it slows down our interest towards the film in two or three scenes. Few logical questioning arises in between. We are able to relate two or three scenes with some Hollywood films. Some negligible flaws are also there, which could have been avoided.
Verdict
'Mercury' is a sincere different attempt by Karthik Subbaraj, where he justifies the silence in a very good manner. In few parts, the interest gets slowed down because of the slow screenplay. The ending of the film will have mixed response among the audience. If you see overall, the film gives a different thrilling experience to the audience. So, the film deserves 'worth-watchable once' for the different attempt through silence and for the convincing performance of the star cast.
Note - The audience must have some patience to get involved with the mood of the film. The film should not be watched with the mindset of commercial entertainment. Tamil subtitles are also added in this silent film for the easy understanding of the situation.
Cut Short Rating - 8.2/10
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