Everything is wrong in director Vishnu Govindhan's debut feature, History of Joy, which narrates an unapologetic story of a young man who did time for eight years. The non-linear structure of the film is the only novel thing that attracts you as you watch amateur actor Vishnu Vinay fool around like the most idiotic man on Earth. He cannot act, and the little expressions that come out of his face barely support the narrative. Introduction of characters played by better actors like Vinay Forrt and Joju George do nothing but establish cringe in this lukewarm execution of a coming-of-age story. The central character has no remorse but the plot says otherwise, none of the characters are fully baked yet the plot moves ahead like everything's clear. Lack of imagination and proper editing raises one too many questions throughout the 2-hour running time, as the film culminates in a premature ejaculation. Every single frame reinforces director Govindan's rookie methods and that is enough to make you slip into a state of boredom. Random songs stuffed into the storyline like ground coconut in puttu, History of Joy suffers from all the ailments a film can ever suffer from. Everyone associated with the film needs to take a reality check and revisit their intentions because for me, this looks like a B-grade drama under the disguise of new age cinema. TN.
