Christy Movie Review: I didn’t check the trailer beforehand so I had the impression that Christy is the name of Mathew Thomas’s character in the film. Turns out I was wrong. His name was Roy, and Christy was Malavika Mohanan’s character. But then once I was done with the film, I wish that Christy should have been Mathew’s name since the movie is all about him. It is not just that the film is shown through his POV; despite the film named after its female protagonist, Christy turns out to be a one-sided conversation from the male side. Alvin Henry’s Christy isn’t Malena, and that’s a big problem when it comes to being a film about showing a female character through a male gaze. Malavika Mohanan Responds After Nayanthara Fans Slam Her For Saying Not to Use ‘Lady Superstar’, Says Her Comment Was Not Specific to Anyone.
Set in the late part of ‘2000s decade, the movie revolves around Roy, who is in his junior college, and is living with his paternal aunt in Poovar so that he can go to college from there. Roy has not interest in studies, and would rather spend time with his friends, which also includes the local priest, played by Rajesh Madhavan. The latter would have been a truly interesting character had he be given some sort of scope or room. Sadly that’s not the case, which extends to the film’s other supporting characters.
Anyway, returning to the plot, seeing his faltering marks, Roy’s folks ask the daughter of their family friend to tutor him. That girl turns out to be Christy (Malavika Mohanan). Christy is a divorcee who is looking for the opportunity to escape from the suffocating atmosphere in her house.
The first three times that Roy meets her at her house, she is in a distressed situation. Soon enough Roy and Christy’s equation becomes friendly, but it takes a teasing session from Roy’s friends for that friendship for his tutor to turn into infatuation. The wheels of his love towards her is (literally) set in motion the next time he see her at her house as she walks in while he repairs her bicycle. But does Christy harbour the same feelings for him? That’s the question the movie keeps hanging on to, and yet frustratingly refuses to answer.
Watch the Trailer of Christy:
Christy, directed by feels like a sanitised take of Bharathan’s erotic and bolder Malayalam classic Rathinirvedam, that is scrubbed so hard of its sexuality that only thing that remains is a meek kiss and none of the sexual tension (but enough chechi vili). The first half of the film is fairly engaging as it atleast bothers to show some insight into Christy’s life and and her living with the repercussions of being a divorcee. Roy’s teenage purview is also relatable enough, and the subtle way in which their friendship transcends to something else for Roy is beautified by Govind Vasanta’s score and lovely visuals. The thing that bugged me, for the fact, is that I am not sure why Christy feels that she needs to be friends with her student. Romancham Movie Review: Soubin Shahir’s Spooky Buddy-Comedy is an Absolute Laugh-Riot!
You see the problem here? Okay, let me go back to the scene when Roy first encounters Christy at her home. He walks into her room and finds things and her books in disarray, with her sitting on the floor with her hair dishevelled and cutting up photos and paper. Why was she behaving that way and why was he invited in to be tutored at the time, is never explained. And the lack of explanation becomes a bigger problem when Roy’s feelings for her become stronger. It is difficult to decipher what she is feeling there, when he proposes love for her, or kisses her without her consent. Is she looking for some sort of validation in the attention he is giving to her? Is she using him for her errand boy needs? Or does she genuinely have feelings for him?
I don’t mind the idea that the makers want to keep that mystery alive and keep us guessing, but the film is in no mood to answer even in the end. Since that was needed for us to read and understand the titular character, the lack of exploration ultimately turns her into this confused girl with shady motives.
It’s not that Roy fares better. The second half of Christy turns him into a lesser likable version of who we saw in the first half, and into a dumber person. He simply doesn’t know when to stay behind the line, when to quit, and do more and more idiotic stuff that can’t be put down just on his raging hormones. And what’s worse, none of his friends even bother to dissuade him when he plans something big in the third act. It is very difficult to connect with both the main leads in the film, and that’s ultimately the film’s biggest letdown.
Which leads to Christy’s most embarrassing and uncomfortable stretch – an elongated climax that is set across two airports and find Christy in a very awkward situation. The idea for the whole situation is to show him in a sympathetic light, and the girl as a theppukaari but I can’t help but be annoyed with him for his toxic stupidity. The sympathy is forcibly manufactured when others hail him for doing the unthinkable for ‘love’, but I know better. This is a youngster so driven by all mental images he made for himself, that he never bothered to check with the other person for her thoughts on the matter. Christopher Movie Review: Mammootty’s Cop Saga Does an ‘Encounter Killing’ to Progressiveness of Malayalam Cinema.
The end-credits for the film claims it is based on true events, but I felt the movie adopted a wrong tone to the whole story. Can’t feel bad for someone who is entirely to be blamed for whatever mess he drives himself into. Well, atleast Govind Vasantha tries hard to invoke some emotional investment, pumping in lovely music wherever he can. Loved the musical cue that plays when Roy meets Christy, which reminded me of the score that AR Rahman played when Mohan meets Geeta in Swades. Also the songs are pleasant. Anend C Chandran’s frames brings a dreamlike quality to the coastal environs of Poovar. Both the music and the cinematography make Christy more beautiful that it deserves to be, they give it a deceiving appeal that there is something deeper to this ‘romance’ or whatever you want to call it. There ain’t.
Mathew Thomas, playing the kind of role we have seen him in far more enjoyable films, does well with a character that gets bamboozled in the script’s problematic structuring. Malavika Mohanan is fine when she underplays herself, but when she yearns the need to go a bit louder, the performance jars and so does her accent that gets a more urbane touch and conflicts with how the others around her are speaking.
Final Thoughts
Even though the potential of its oft-told story still has limitless and exciting possibilities, Christy fails to make much use of it. Instead it turns itself into half-baked love story around two characters, none of whom takes the efforts to make you relate to them, and thereby makes you distance from their emotional dilemmas. Christy is pretty-looking and beautifully scored, but that’s enough to make you fall in love with the movie.
(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on Feb 18, 2023 12:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).