‘Good Night’ movie review: A spectacular Manikandan in a lovely slice-of-life drama
A film that feels like a good joke told on a harsh night, ‘Good Night’ has much that impresses us, like its unimposing peek into the lives of ordinary people, lived-in characterisation, and Manikandan’s brilliant comedic timing
(Originally published in The Hindu on May 11, 2023)
A verse on the innate flaws we all come with, a slice-of-life about common people travelling in local trains and eating buns with butter, a film that feels like a good joke told on a harsh night; Vinayak Chandrasekaran’s Good Night is many such comforting things. What joy it is to watch a film that not only values the mundane pleasures of life but builds a world filled with many such nuggets of everyman’s happiness with such ease.
Be it the unimposing peek into the lives of regular people with lived-in characterisation, the casual dialogues, the witty one-liners from actors Manikandan and Ramesh Thilak, or the everyday problems laced with harmless humour, there are simply too many details that impress even before we get into the story.
The brightest of the attraction is without a doubt Manikandan, whose firecracker timing keeps you smiling throughout. He plays a young IT professional named Mohan, or ‘Motor’ Mohan as his colleagues call him thanks to his unbearably loud snoring. The reason he thinks his mother chose him the name Mohan becomes a joke, and sleep apnea, which takes centre stage in the film, gets introduced to us in an incredibly light-hearted manner. This is, in retrospect, another impressive idea because up until then, the issue of Mohan’s loud snoring is discussed, but not world-ending as it turns out to be. When a girl initially rejects Mohan and he cries to his family, it gets a comical twist. However, the second time he cries, it’s due to another relationship gone sour due to his loud snoring, and this time you feel for him.
Vinayak introduces Anu (Meetha Raghunath, who does a wonderful job) to us parallelly; she’s a young girl working as an…
Read the full review here: