By Troy Ribeiro
Los Angeles, June 25 (IANS): Film: "Me"; Language: English; Director: Sammeer Satiish; Cast: Gurpreet Kaur, Adil Aman and Sammeer Satiish; Rating: *
When a psychologist, a psychiatrist and an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patient are pitted against one another, you expect some exciting, explosive, mind-wrecking moments. Alas, "Me", a psychological thriller in English that delves into the supernatural world, is ambiguous. It offers nothing but a garbled tale of manipulations, which is poorly executed.
There is no story. It is a slice of life, in a vague cinematic world.
The film begins on a sombre note, where a group of people is indulging in seance. Here, Dr. Daniel Khan (Adil Aman), a psychiatrist, who is a part of the group, is instructed by the spirits to help Sarah. He is intrigued and clueless about any Sarah.
Soon, at an awards function he meets Sarah (Gurpreet Kaur), a psychologist, who is honoured for her thesis on OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). She is in awe of Dr. Khan and during a conversation with him, she tells him that the subject of her thesis is her own husband Aryan (Sammeer Satiish) and seeks his intervention to cure him. The doctor obliges. She manipulates the situations and the doctor.
The film starts off with a promise but gradually dissipates into a complicated study on quirky characters who are not only ridiculous, but also obtuse. Cardboard thin and one dimensional, the characters are superfluous, pretentious and lack depth.
The performance of every member of the caste too is equally shallow. It's more like indulging in an amateur college play.
Scripted by the late Preeti Ganguly, daughter of veteran actor Ashok Kumar, and directed by Sammeer Satiish, the plot is lazily crafted. The narration meanders with unwarranted scenes and allusions that make no sense to the objective of the tale. Case in point is the scene where characters enact the Mahabharat just to insinuate that "if a faithful wife like Draupadi can get carried away, then anyone can."
The exposition is verbose and lot of screen time is spent on frivolous non-specific conversations that do not help the story progress. The dialogues, when not meandering with sweet nothings, try to sound intelligent with spurts of loaded medical terminology. Also, the random jump from English to Hindi is jarring.
Given the resources, the production quality is fairly decent and the camera work basic. The edits with uneven sound levels lacks the finesse of a well-made film. Also, some transitions are jarring.
The two songs, "Hey Don't walk away" and "Sarah" are well-incorporated into the flow.
"Me" is director Sammeer Satiish's maiden venture with a tag line that states, "When your only fear is you". It makes for a perfect viewing only if you want to risk it.