During the quarantines caused by the epidemic, wasn’t it like we were all fish in an aquarium, desperately trying to find some sign of life? Isn’t it this song about the human race that kept us going when we thought we’d lost hope in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic? That history seems like a lifetime ago at this point. But that’s not the end of the story. And with these two sentences, Kadhirmozhi Sudha gives us a glimpse into the film’s heart.
Anna Joseph is the “meen” of Connect (Haniya Nafisa). Trinity College of Music in London provides her with a chance to pursue her musical interests.
Susan, Anna’s mom (played by Nayanthara), is opposed and glares at Arthur Samuel, her grandfather (played by Satyaraj), to get him on her side. Anna’s father, Joseph Benoy, is the one who suggests she develops wings (Vinay Rai).
The medical professional and COVID volunteer, Joseph. His day at the hospital may be stressful, but he always makes time to video chat with Anna and Susan. Early on, Ashwin gets right to the point.
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Joseph is then shown wearing an oxygen mask while resting on the bed. Joseph perishes, as did so many other COVID fighters who paid the ultimate price so that we could continue to breathe.
Anna Joseph, still distraught over the death of her father, uses the ouija board to try to make contact with him, only to have an unexpected visitor crash the party. At the 20-minute mark, the opening credits begin to roll.
The unease and doubt we’ve felt over the previous few years have been captured in only a handful of films set against the backdrop of COVID-19.
Director Ashwin Saravanan and screenwriter Kavya Ramkumar conceived of Connect during the height of the pandemic to transport viewers back to the days when they felt trapped in the tiny frame of their smartphones. Worst of all, the camera in Connect is typically the one found on the front of a smartphone.
That’s not what I’m saying. There are no smartphone shots in this film. It’s only that the attention of the smartphone camera is the primary camera through which we witness the action. What might go wrong in a horror film? Anything.
The filmmaker has just made a wonderful choice. The characters’ use of smartphones for both internal and external communication and for displaying what’s going on in the home gives the impression that Connect is being downloaded live before our eyes. Eliminating the interval is a stroke of genius, too (its runtime is 99 minutes). And that’s why the buffering is so smooth.
There are at least two excellent scares that will make your skin crawl throughout Connect. Nothing is more unsettling than having the screen start to buffer at the most critical moments.
You’re about to yell at the screen because you can’t believe this, when a message appears saying, “You are the host now.” Connect, as a horror film, provides some thrilling moments. But of course, that’s not all of it.
A conversation with Ashwin Saravanan about his latest film “Connect,” Nayanthara, and his success in the horror genre When you realize that Connect is a movie that relies on genre tricks rather than emotional resonance, you may experience a disconnection from the film.
I’ll explain: the loss of a parent is a natural and understandable sadness for a daughter. Great. But that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the devil.
Time and again, filmmakers make the same mistake: failing to evoke strong feelings from the audience because they themselves aren’t impacted by the story’s protagonist’s predicament.
Ammu’s grief over her father’s death is a major plot point in Connect. Moreover, the audience’s interest in the film is focused almost exclusively on the father-daughter dynamic for most of its running time.
In a touching scene, a patient expresses gratitude to Joseph for the care they received while in the hospital.
A plot point involving Joseph the father would have been nice to see conjured up by Ashwin in the same film.
Ammu, for example, is haunted by all the people her father didn’t manage to save. And now the daughter must bear the consequences of her father’s “sins.”
I was expecting something along the lines of The Slaying of the Sacred Goat. Something that has a direct impact on Ammu, as Swapna did in Ashwin’s brilliant Game Over. The law of cause and effect.
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Yet when Satan is introduced, along with Anupam Kher’s cameo as an exorcist, the film devolves into generic horror fare, albeit with a more interesting premise. That’s fine, too. However, Ashwin is not the type to make a simple film.
Ashwin appears to be striving for perfection at a time when other directors are chasing after formulas. He aspires to be recognized as a director in the genre.
His third horror film, Connect, concludes the trilogy. You would think that Ashwin, whose CV includes the brilliant Game Over, would want to expand the boundaries of the genre. Connect represents his acceptance of the mundane.