City of God is an ensemble crime drama set in the underbelly of Kochi, where the city's booming real-estate trade runs on muscle and money. Prithviraj plays Jyothilal, an enforcer for a land dealer; Indrajith, Rima Kallingal, Parvathy and Swetha Menon play people from very different classes whose paths keep crossing his. The story is told out of order, returning to the same incidents from different points of view, so that each new strand changes what the viewer thinks happened before. Migrant labourers from Tamil Nadu, who rarely got screen time in Malayalam films of the period, are central to the story. It was only the third film of Lijo Jose Pellissery, who later made Angamaly Diaries and Jallikattu, and its fractured, gritty style already shows the director's appetite for formal experiment. It was not a commercial success but has since been rediscovered by fans of his work.
Add a review
Sign in to comment.