Devil Movie Review: This devil suffers from an identity crisis

In recent times, it has become a trend in Tamil cinema to give edgy titles to films. It is almost as if the filmmakers, in an attempt to convey the darker themes, go with some variation of Devil or Demon to tell you what the film is all about. However, director Aathityaa's Devil, even with its straightforward title, does not seem to know what it is about, as the film itself suffers from an identity crisis. Throughout the runtime, we are left wondering if it is either an emotional drama, a horror thriller, or both.

Director: Aathityaa

Cast: Vidaarth, Poorna, Thrigun, Mysskin

Devil revolves around Hema (Poorna), whose life changes after she meets Roshan (Thrigun) during an accident. Their growing friendship creates a rift in her marital life with Alex (Vidaarth). The film starts off on a high note, blending elements of a murder mystery and a thrilling horror. However, ten minutes in, the film loses its grip and stops becoming interesting until the climax. The narrative is overly stretched to build the story of Hema and Roshan’s friendship and the writing is muscovite-thin and not enough to convince the audience of the world the film is set in. At one point, Devil takes a detour from the genre it invited us into and comes back after a while, like a child who, having forgotten the time to return home, rushes back with a flurry of excuses.

The film also has characters grappling with an Oedipus complex. Relatives of Hema, who leave her alone for the first time after her marriage, emphasize that she should care for her husband like a mother. Later, when Hema confronts Roshan to discuss a serious issue, she says that he probably saw her as a motherly figure and expressed his love in the same way. She says, “Ponnunga laam kannadi paathiram mari, bathirama odaiyama pathukanum” (Women are like glass vessels and should be carefully protected). Such dialogues make you flinch.

Hema also exhibits a tendency to forgive instantly. When Roshan misbehaves with her, she slaps him and storms off. But within a few days, she forgives him and apologises even when the mistake lies with him. This pattern is repeated in her relationship with her husband as well.

The male characters are confined to narrow roles and appear limited in their abilities, either resorting to cooking Maggi or engaging in extramarital affairs. With Hema running behind either Alex or Roshan, her character is overshadowed by her roles as a caregiver and a do-gooder, which leaves you wondering about her true identity.

Devil has images of Jesus sprinkled across the film, each of them portraying a different stage in his life, to foreshadow what the characters might go through. But what the film doesn’t address is the devil in the room. Rather, devils in the room. These morally grey characters seem like complete red flags upon close inspection, blinded by their rage and lust. 

When Alex gazes sexually at a female colleague during a meeting, the scene is accompanied by a voyeuristic camera movement that unsettlingly focuses on her legs and lips. However, Mysskin, who debuts as a music composer in Devil has proved his mettle by using instruments like piano and violin to fill in dialogues with emotions, delivering a harmonious mix of soothing and shuddering tones at precisely the right moments.

What probably saves this poorly-scripted film is the final act where multiple horror elements are thrown along with a climactic twist to make events turn interesting. And it works…until a certain point after which the credits start rolling, leaving us unsatisfied.