Amorphous violence explodes in a darkly unsettling tale.
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A rampaging buffalo transforms men into beasts in India’s Oscar submission from Lijo Jose Pellissery.
In a small village in tropical Kerala in the south of India, civilized society breaks down after a buffalo gets loose and the villagers mindlessly join in the hunt. Veteran director Lijo Jose Pellissery returns to the theme of mob violence he handled so well in the 2017
Angamaly Diaries, which pitted local gangs against each other with tragi-comic flair. There’s nothing funny about the darkly symbolic tale
Jallikattu, adapted from a short story by S. Hareesh, which builds dangerous primal instincts into a crescendo of violence, in imagery recalling Indian horror films. The symbolism may be a bit heavy-handed for offshore viewers, though in India the film has won multiple prizes and has been picked as India’s Academy Award hopeful in the International Feature category.