Vembu Movie Review: The flawed drama has very little going for it except interesting visuals

Cinema’s purpose isn't always about entertainment, it can also serve as a mirror to our society. Tamil cinema strives to stand by this statement week after week. Vembu is the latest addition to this list, and sets itself to empower women, but ends up delivering flawed messages instead. In the film, Vetri (Harikrishnan), a photographer, and Vembu (Sheela), a Silambam exponent, marry each other against their wishes, only to find themselves fighting a fight that changes their lives for good.

Director: V Justin Prabhu
Cast: Harikrishnan, Sheela Rajkumar

One of the standout aspects of the film is its cinematography by A Kumaran. While telling the story featuring a photographer, the film ticks the integral box of having interesting visuals. It takes full advantage of being a film set in the villages of Tamil Nadu, and effectively shows the people, their homes, and their environment in its natural beauty. Taking something that has been portrayed in Tamil cinema since forever runs the risk of becoming a derivative piece, but it never ceases to be interesting. The rigid monotony that exists in cooking, the expressive faces of two lovers gushing over each other, and the lush environment in itself make for an interesting picture. It uses natural lighting during the day to increase the optimism within the film characters and reduces the lighting to show the passage of time in an organic manner. The usage of fundamental ideas to make the visuals interesting is where the film shines the brightest.

But this interest doesn't translate into an engaging watch, especially since the film is let down by its editing. Several scenes with important dialogue are edited in a way that distracts our focus. With this, we fail to register the shots and the dialogues and are left confused. In another instance, we see the leads travelling through a rocky terrain and conversing about a topic that is important to the plot. But as we try to focus on the dialogue, the same establishing shot is played again and again to the point of exhaustion. The distractions don’t end there. We also have to look past the half-done sound design, which almost mutes every character out of the frame. Alongside some pre-existing distractions, we also have to try to keep up with dialogues that we can barely hear.

Trying to make sense of the film's theme only adds to the confusion. In a film titled after the female protagonist, the film revolves mainly around the male character. She is portrayed as a person who is trying to be independent and get to a position in which she can take care of her family. She is trying to use her Silambam skills to get a government job. But we see none of them happening on the screen. For example, we see Vembu’s father’s opinion on marriage change because a road in the village is suddenly unsafe, completely glossing over the fact that Vembu is an expert Silambam exponent, who is very well capable of defending herself. Due to this, Vembu’s father decides that Vembu needs a man in her life to defend her because she won’t be able to defend herself. In this instance the film contradicts its goal of women empowerment and becomes one with flawed messages. We are shown a world of clichéd tropes, where parents turn liberal and conservative as the plot demands, token politicians and goons fleet in and out of the screen, and all of it just limits the film’s ambition. We get some passing montages that portray their struggles in the vein of an infomercial, and there is a rushed climax to boot. The film tries to justify these decisions by using passing lines and simplified writing, which pushes it further away from its ambition.

Vembu wants to empower women; it wishes for a better world for them, but in the end, it shows the struggle of a woman’s family life rather than her career. It wants to be technically strong, but is flawed to a fault. It tries to be a film with a message for the audience but is let down by its story. With so many letdowns, the ambitions of the Vembu are pushed back by its flawed tropes.