Phantom Thread: I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a conventional artist–muse relationship that slowly turns into a strange psychological duel. Daniel Day Lewis has such screen presence that his performance alone made the movie worth watching.
The Sacrifice: My first encounter with Andrei Tarkovsky’s work was far from easy. The film demands absolute attention and a willingness to engage deeply with its philosophical concerns—nuclear annihilation, existential dread, and the silence of faith.
Angoor: Wrote a bit of this adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Comedy of Errors’ earlier.
Family Man: Manoj Bajpayee was again impressive but the plot of this third season set in the North East was a bit shallow.
Contempt: The adaptation by Jean-Luc Godard of Alberto Moravia’s book by the same name couldn’t do justice to the book. (Some impressions on the book in an earlier post). Brigitte Bardot’s beauty on screen was something to behold. Coincidentally, she also passed away in December.
Kalamkaval: What a delight to watch Mammooty play a negative character. Loosely based on the case of Cyanide Mohan, this one is a celebration of the thespian entering the last decades of his career.
The Great Shamsuddin Family: Despite all the hype surrounding this, I was totally unimpressed. Movies that try hard to make a point often fall flat for me.
The New Yorker at 100: Wrote about this documentary here: ‘An Ode to the New Yorker’.
F1: Since I know nothing about F1, this movie is probably the one that has taught me the most about a topic that I knew next to nothing about. I followed it up by reading up a bit on F1 and am impressed that the movie ticks most of the features of the F1 world – celebrity drivers, team managers, aerodynamic engineers that design the cars, the rules, tyre categories, grid positions, media interactions, fan merchandise and so much more. The movie has nudged me to get educated more about this sport. Watch out for updates in the future. 😊
Knives Out – Wake Up Dead Man: I’ve never been able to appreciate the Knives Out world. And this third instalment, despite appearing in many best of the year lists was not for me.
Raat Akeli Hai – The Bansal Murders: A good primer on how to bludgeon a family to death. Nothing else worth remembering in this movie.
Dhurandhar: The most discussed Bollywood movie in recent times and a cultural artefact the perfect embodiment of Bollywood – masala, slick action and a lip-service to history. I was totally amused to see the ISI depending on the Balochis to supply them with Kalashnikovs for the 26/11 attacks. Way back in 1993, the ISI managed to ship around 70 Kalashnikovs to Bombay when the entire Bombay police force didn’t have even a single one in their armoury.
Sarvam Maya: The movie exceeded my expectations. The key takeaway was the peep into the economics of pujas and pandits (pujaris) in modern day Kerala where superstition rules.
Avatar – Fire and Ash: Spent three hours in the cinema hall without understanding anything. But I guess I had other stuff on my mind.
Jay Kelly: A done-to-death plot of an ageing superstar reflecting back on his career, mistakes, broken family and trying to redeem himself. What a bore this was
2025: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November
Discover more from Manish Mohandas
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
2 thoughts on “What I Watched – December 2025”