LEO Review (2023)

Spoilers

Disclaimer: According to my close circle, they feel that I'm being an "அணில்" (I'm not) due to my positive reviews for Varisu and Beast, so I would like to clarify that Beast, Varisu and Leo, all had been de-hyped for me, so my responses will be fascinating (I'm proud of it)

Leo is an absolute change of mood, style and approach for Lokesh who returns to "Master" territory, not just because he has Vijay in the lead, but also because the திரைக்கதை structure of the film, is somewhat akin to Master in how this is a film that focuses on the character’s inner turmoil. Seen btter as a character film than an action film, by far the most fascinating segment in LEO is the portion where Parthiban, after the café segment, has a sort of pseudo PTSD and fears everything and anything that he hears. Once in the night, he even goes and sleeps on his daughter’s (Pre 5th std kid) laps, which established his fear and his state of mind greatly. But then, very easily, on the word of Joshy’s (Gautham Menon’s) wife (Priya Anand) who tells him about how his family is getting affected by his re, he quickly gets back and has an outing with his family members where he is once again attacked.

This would seem contradictory and surface level, but then this is resolved in the climax where Leo states that he is Parthiban (or Vice Versa) and he states that his family is his cover for his second chance (i.e. Life As Parthiban) and he would protect them whatsoever, so it makes sense he rebounds so quickly for fear of his family, but then it doesn’t make sense why would he be so afraid of everything during that segment that I talked about above, as he speaks with the typical Vijay swaggery in the climax. This I think is the major undoing of the film, which had the traces of a major changeover of writing and technique that Lokesh Kanagaraj had followed in his previous films, but even then it doesn’t prevent the film from becoming boring.

A part of the LCU, Lokesh writes Leo (the character and film) in broad strokes as a split of a whole: two distinct halves. This is most explicitly seen in the lighting (the warm and cool tones, reminiscent of KuruthiPunal), the film itself wherein he loses his family as Parthiban but gains his family as “Leo”, the twin portion where Vijay explicitly states how Elisa is his “other half” etc. We also see flashes as in Fight Club of split screen sections in different moments. Like when Parthi and Sathya cut their wedding cake, we get a momentary split screen of them cutting from 2 different angles. Similarly, there are times where we see momentary split screen shots whose relevance it is tough to determine. The interesting portions is the portion where we see the impact on Parthi and his family. His wife suspects him, his son estranges from him, even Joshy suspects him after Anthony Das and Co come and reveal about Parthi being Leo. Probably the best scene of the film in the scene is when Parthi confronts Sathya (Trisha) about her conducting her own investigations of him behind his back and it gives us this poignant moment between which is ended by an even beautiful moment between the two which is subsequently cut off by Antony Das. The shift from their romance to Antony’s threats, though clunky, is a perfect example of how the situation in the café has completely changed his life and how he, as Sathya mentioned, has to keep running for their lives and always live under constant fear.

Vijay’s performance in the above scene is definitely his crowning moment in his career, broken as a man and human as calls himself as a “loser”. The problem is that as much as his acting convinces about his situation, the writing definitely doesn’t do that much. For ex. Parthiban, except for in appearance and behaviour, doesn’t seem that different than Leo, as both fight except that Parthiban has a screaming match each time after a fight. Also, the fact that his family nor his friend, never really question the violence he exhibits as he definitely was characterised and is also shown in many stretches as a simple family man. The lack of difference between both Leo and Parthiban in writing makes the 2nd half after a certain point, dragged as it comes back to focus on whether he is Leo or not, rather than the family dynamics.

The much talked about flashback portion though short, has some over the top masala-ness that doesn’t make sense in terms of action choreography considering what Lokesh has said, and has the usual Vijay “mass hero” characterisation, except again in the family portions, during his confrontation with Antony during Elisa’s death. Sanjay Dutt single handedly makes an underwritten character fantastic with his acting and dubbing (he dubbed for himself in Tamil). He is a superstitious drug lord who always sacrifices someone before the start of a new venture. And when the time comes to sacrifice one of his own kids, he has this beautiful emotional burst out moment, which is beautiful to watch. What is troublesome is the lack of establishment of the family dynamics between them (even though this is the flashback of a single day), which brings in many shortcomings: The fact that Leo hasn’t talked with Antony regarding his blind belief, the underwritten “twin” element etc. The flashback though has the best directed set piece which is a drone level single take of the inside of the factory wherein a fight occurs. Even the usage of Naa Ready, intercut with the revelation that Leo or Elisa has to be sacrificed, is fascinating though somewhat clunky, in the way it is able to simultaneously showcase the fractured dynamic of their family.

Both Harold and Antony are, terrifically performed (Look at Arjun’s eyes when he sees Parthi’s face), poorly written characters, who have two poorly written climatic portions and fight sequences. Antony gets a poor sendoff fight (where the only interesting thing is that Parthi is fighting for his son whereas Antony is for his son). With Harold, we get an extension of the “100 pera adikara” fight scene, which ethically shouldn’t even be in a Lokesh movie. The final scene with Harold where Leo reveals his identity is so stupidly done (along with the final Voiceover of Vijay), that it seems to mess up the interesting character drama set up in the first half.

Lokesh’s influences really are seen here in the way Leo shoots (taken from Django Unchained), to the single take sequence of Parthi entering his café from the backdoor, reminiscent of the Copacabana shot from Goodfellas, but what is most fascinating here is the way this film itself, an upgrade from the shallow Vikram, is at least nearing to the exploration of human, an important trademark of Scorsese’s films. The complaints regarding the lack of character writing makes sense only in the context of Antony, Harold, Elisa and Sathya. While there is the accusation of this being a Vijay only led film, it makes sense considering Leo’s intro of Parthiban is through a first person POV shot.

Leo also represents Lokesh’s advancement as a writer/director or clearly, an auteur, in the fact that Leo is probably the first grey shaded, wherein Gray isn’t just alcoholic issues, but grey meaning blood on hands, character in the LCU. He isn’t a Nermayana Komban like Vikram nor is he into drug business like Rolex. Maybe Dilli could be an example of grey shadedness but even Dilli’s story is still somewhat unexplored. With Leo, Lokesh has made a truly messed up character with Parthiban/Leo and even though I’m not interested in the LCU as a concept, I’ll be interested in seeing how Leo is bought in with Vikram, Dilli, Amar and Rolex.