Parking Review (2023)

Spoilers

I’m assuming that when the guys at the Cahier du Cinema, praised and revered Hitchcock, they probably saw films which were like Parking. I don’t know if I’m equating director-writer Ramkumar Balakrishnan with Hitchcock, noting that I wasn’t that impressed with the 3 Hitchcock films that I have seen. (Iam also talking about Hitchock here, based on his moniker of "Master Of Suspense").

But having said that, Ramkumar is a realllllly good writer/director. The film in theory is just a drama. The summary of the film will tell you that. What it hides from you, is that before each dramatic confrontation scene, there is a “heart-attack” level inducing anxiety filled scene.

As a result, I will focus on three key sequences, which perfectly uses the bomb-under-the-table technique of Hitchcock and creates maximum tension.

Sequence 1: லஞ்சம் ழஞ்சம்?

We see that Ilamparuthi is in his office and the assistant tells him that the power will be back only by 4pm. At the same time, we see that Eshwar has come to meet him. As they talk personally (closing the door n all), both again threaten each other. We think something is about to happen, but nothing does, and Eshwar simply walks away. We and Ilamparuthi are confused as to what has happened. Then we realise, just before the police come in, that Eshwar has placed bribery money in Ilamparuthi’s office, and has tipped off the government officials. Ilamparuthi, just before the police come in, places the money on the fan, which isn’t running due to power outage. The time is 3.40pm……….

Sequence 2: Nut கிழண்ட ஆம்பளைகள்

After Ilamparuthi is disgraced for being caught in a bribery case (fake, orchestrated by Eshwar), Ilamparuthi decides to screw the nuts of his (Eshwar’s) car wheels loose. As he is in the process of doing so, he trips the car alarm and has to hide from Eshwar. Finally, 1 or 2 bolts/nuts have been removed.

The next day, we see Eshwar get in his car, but also see that, his wife is also getting in the car, the woman who calls Ilamparuthi Appa. Seeing this Ilamparuthi gets supremely tensed. Oh, and Eshwar’s wife is pregnant too. So Eshwar drives the car and as he keeps going, the car gains speed. As it keeps gaining speed, the drama between the couple gets exaggerated and as that happens, the nuts of the wheels begin to unscrew and the car begins to wobble….

Sequence 3: மூன்று முக வேட்டை

As the film inches to the final moments of the runtime, we see that it is heavily raining and that Ilamparuthi’s family has left him, unable to bear his disgusting nature. Eshwar is present elsewhere, in a bar, having looked at prospective houses to move into. Eshwar’s pregnant wife is alone in their house.

It is raining heavily and Eshwar comes home. Just before that, we see the pregnant woman slip and fall down, and manipulatively, her water also breaks. Just as Eshwar is coming in, he decides to go to Ilamparuthi’s house, to inform him regarding the house change, where after some heated words, Eshwar is rendered unconscious by an attack caused by Ilamparuthi………………

MS Bhaskar as Ilamparuthi, is a fucking legend. What an actor. What an expressive actor. The man conveys his change of thought by the lowering of his cheeks. Just, such a small sign, conveys an entire change in thought process. Take the scene where he has to recognise a person in a police station, on whom he has given fake complaint. He never sees the guy’s face and keeps his head low and just moves it. I don’t know if this particular bit was by the director or actor, but it elevated the scene to a higher degree.

The problem with the film stems from, mainly the climax. The way the situation escalates to straight up murder, seemed unbelievable. It felt too random and sudden. The portion also goes for a quite a dark ending before reverting to a positive climax and the protagonists delivering the “realised my mistakes” speech, seemed to be too positive and forced. It would have felt natural had the film ended on a negative point, which would have itself been a more stronger delivering of the message, rather than having to spell the message itself.

The main high point about the writing is that, we never know at which point and which person is the one who actually started the issue with each other. We see that Ilamparuthi is somewhat jealous about Eshwar and their family’s family financial wellbeing, and also the fact that Eshwar has a life, that is strictly opposite to his. As a result, his Ego comes from the authority he has and the respect he governs in his locality, and sees Eshwar’s car (the cars are probably a stand in for the massive ego that these 2 have, which gets damaged as the film keeps going on, just like the car) as a threat to his ego.

Even Eshwar is no less. As the film keeps going, we see that even he is ok with shutting up his wife and he uses her primarily as a way to justify some of his actions. The class difference is also shown quite matter of fatly.

The comparisons to Ayyapanum Koshiyum may doubt arise, though I think both take a very different approach. AK was a drama film, through and through, whereas Parking uses the drama as a relief to the mounting stress and tension that each preceding scene to the drama has. Since Ramkumar Balakrishnan, uses the ego as a base to explore the tension and anxiety that such a thing can cause in their respective homes (especially the wives), the film isn’t lingering on why they are doing whatever they are doing.

It simplifies the why (that they are doing it for ego), with some good characterisation and then uses that to create maximum tension and fear in us as to what crazy thing that 2 such men could do.