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'Identity' Movie Review: Tovino Thomas And Trisha's Overstuffed Thriller Has Identity Issues
In its excitement for having landed on a series of excellent concepts — and all the research that went in — we end up with a confused film that shares the same identity issues with its protagonists.
Directors: Akhil Paul, Anas Khan
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Trisha, Shammi Thilakan, Mandira Bedi, Archana Kavi, Vinay Rai
Writers: Akhil Paul, Anas Khan
Language: Malayalam
There is a 10-minute-long sequence in Identity, in which an important character explains a medical condition called prosopagnosia—a rare cognitive disorder where damage to a particular part of the brain affects the patient’s ability to identify faces.
The scene itself is loaded with exposition, almost like a TED Talk, but it is effective in explaining the condition of the film’s most important character. As a detail, it sounds just about right to make the character appear mysterious, vague and, of course, human. But on a screenplay level, it forms a solid base to explore the unreliable narrator trope—where the only person whose observations matter, is the one who cannot be relied on at all.
This information opens the film to a hundred possibilities, as our mind begins wondering how far the film will push this concept. But Identity always wants to do more. This is not a film that is just about Alisha’s (Trisha) struggle with this condition and her inability to identify people. It’s also about the many identities of its protagonist Haran (Tovino)—a man who grew up with obsessive personality disorder, evolves into a mysterious bad guy, and then keeps changing his identity as we go along.
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All of this compels you to think just how amazing the narration of the film must have been—crafting a sense that these characters are truly unknowable. The result, it appears, is a film that’s impossible to predict. Yet, despite this crackling setup, why does the final product leave us feeling dissatisfied?
For one, you get the feeling that the film tries to do too much with its concepts. Look at how Identity uses Alisha’s prosopagnosia in important junctures: not only do we get a case towards the beginning to help us understand the condition, but we also keep getting timely reminders of how it must be to be Alisha.
But with the storyline handling too many threads and characters, there could only be one plausible outcome with how Alisha ‘misidentifies’ suspects at crucial points.
The same is true for other characters as well. The film sets them up to be able to take the narrative anywhere. But when it constantly doubles down on these possibilities, it also straightjackets itself into a straightforward second-half, where the surprises feel inorganic and lofty. This is also where the film breaks into pieces and starts to behave like a series of longer action blocks.
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If one were to take these action blocks out of Identity, they would work like a dream. A chase through tunnels and a mid-air fight sequence are sure to get a second-life as viral clips on Instagram Reels, even though it adds nothing to the film’s narrative. One feels the same sentiment with a character like Tovino’s Haran, on whom the film spends too much time building a mystery around. Yet, there’s no way it can do justice to all the information we have of him. Despite everything we know, he ultimately turns into just another action hero, in another generic action movie.
And that’s ultimately what lets Identity down. A film that starts off so well, with Akhil George’s moody visuals and Jakes Bejoy’s solid score, deserved to be a more complete outing. In its excitement for having landed on a series of excellent concepts — and all the research that went in — we end up with a confused film that shares the same identity issues with its protagonists.