Bouma Movie Review:
In Rejin S Babu's Bouma, a cursed heritage estate in a misty setting becomes the bridge between a mystery that links a family tragedy in the late 1990s with a string of disappearances in the present day. It's an ambitious film that blends occult thriller with investigative drama, but it relies a little too heavily on atmospheric mood-building, sometimes at the expense of the central mystery.
Director: Rejin S Babu
Cast: Revathy Sharma, Sagar Surya, Dileesh Pothan, Vineeth, Madhupal, Lena, Aditi Balan
At its centre is Celine (Revathy Sharma), a struggling singer who discovers that she is the sole surviving heir to Rose Villa. In this estate, an entire family died under mysterious circumstances decades ago. She's just turned 25 and is now entitled to the property. A wealthy couple is keen to buy it. Jacob (Sagar Surya), who is her live-in partner, sees it as a chance to get ahead in life. Celine, on the other hand, is very much interested in the family that she knows so little about and the tragedy that resulted in her being the only survivor. Running alongside this is the investigation of a missing woman led by police officer Eesho Mathew (Dileesh Pothan), which eventually leads him to the estate.
The film has a very dramatic feel to it, particularly in the flashback sequences, which take a roundabout way to establish the tragedy of the Rose Villa situation. It does take a while to get into it, really, as Rejin is focused on establishing the people associated with the property. Unlike his reasonably impressive debut Pendulum, which ventured into relatively unexplored territory, Bouma isn't exactly breaking new ground with its central premise of occultism. To the more seasoned viewer in the genre, a number of the revelations will be pretty obvious, some of them actually quite apparent from a distance.
Despite that, Rejin manages to keep it quite engaging, largely due to how he unfolds the story. A straightforward narrative could have easily made this very dull. Instead, he chooses to go with a non-linear approach, only dropping the relevant information when it's needed. At various points, what we think is the present isn't quite the present, and it's only as the film progresses do we begin to understand the nature of the shifts. It keeps the curiosity alive, though the eventual destination isn't particularly surprising. Rejin also steers clear of the usual jump scares, favouring atmosphere and occasional bursts of violence. He does know how to create an eerie mood, even if the dialogue often feels thin and the writing struggles to give the central mystery the depth it needs.
The biggest strength of Bouma lies in its technical execution. Sharan Velayudhan's cinematography makes excellent use of light and space to really convey the sense of isolation, and to effectively differentiate between the two timelines. Christo Xavier's eclectic score and Jayadevan Chakkadath's atmospheric sound design, too, go a long way to establishing the mood, and the final mix by MR Rajakrishnan brings it all together. ES Sooraj's editing is equally deserving of praise for managing the multiple timelines and narrative strands without ever making it too confusing.
For all its technical accomplishments, Bouma begins to lose its grip towards the final stretch. By the time its various puzzles fall into place, it heads exactly where one might expect a conventional occult thriller to go. Worse, the resolution leaves behind several questions that feel less like deliberate ambiguity and more like loose ends the narrative hasn't quite bothered to address.
The performances are all over the place, though the main cast mostly manages to get by. Revathy Sharma is effective as Celine, bringing a sense of vulnerability and assertiveness to the role. Vineeth is serviceable as Samuel, working aptly in the film's creepy atmosphere, while Dileesh Pothan is convincing as Eesho Mathew, and Aditi Balan brings the necessary authority and restraint to her role as a police officer in the earlier timeline.
Overall, there is no denying that Rejin has assembled the ingredients for a potent theatrical experience. The film looks and sounds terrific, and genre enthusiasts will find enough to stay engaged. But beyond the technical wizardry and atmospheric flourishes, the film feels rather thin in substance. Malayalam films that touch upon occult practices have rarely gone beyond the surface, and Bouma unfortunately follows suit.
