Monica o my darling – movie review

There are some movies that grab your attention from scene 1 and very rarely do we get movies that sustain that attention till the end rolls. This movie is right up there.

When I saw in the reviews that it is an adaptation of a Keigo Higashino novel, I wanted to watch the movie as soon as possible. And even before that I wanted to get that book all the more eagerly. I still haven’t managed to get that book but landed with 2 other works of the master (yay!!). But with, the movie adaptation being quite decent, the expectation on the book has grown manifold. The story starts with a guy telling his friend about his successful wedding proposal to his girlfriend. That friend of him, immediately kills him, for he had his eyes on her. Right after that the movie takes off on a different direction with the hero being introduced as a board member cum fiancé of the CEO’s daughter, of the very same company where the murder in the first scene happens. From then onwards, it’s all rumble and tumble of adultery leading to blackmail leading to murder planning leading to the planners getting murdered one by one, with finally the intended target of the original plan, getting murdered, leaving behind a clueless hero and a gob smacked audience. By the time the climax reveal happens it makes one wonder how many villains are there in the movie (!!) and only to realize that every single character, murdered or alive are equally bad and nasty!! The final twist on the final scene being the ultimate of them all!! The best part of the movie being the vintage song interludes as BGM’s and possibly some new songs as well composed on similar tunes from the late 60’s and disco 70’s. They add to the thrill element and ensure a feel of intrigue and mystery all throughout. There is not a moment of slack or breathing space throughout the running time and kudos to the screenplay writer for making it such a tight presentation, as mentioned by one of the characters in the movie as well. Radhika apte as the inspector, is possibly all laugh and weird smile because she might’ve been told the ending prior, I guess. Other than that, there is no reason for that character to be such caricatural weird. Hima Querishi felt bit out of place for she towers physically over everyone else on the screen and performance wise as well. Rest of the cast are adequately decent. Bucks, the guy from Vijay sethupathi movies, seems to have been included only to represent the southern population and God knows when the hindi guys are going to realise that tamil brahmins are not the only inhabitants of south india!! This stereotype is long out of stereo or type!! Overall a really nice movie that would’ve set the BO rolling had it been released on theaters. Big win for Netflix and for thriller movie fans!!