‘Members of the Problematic Family’ introduces new grammar to Tamil film

A new dissenting voice emerges in Tamil cinema. R Gowtham’s debut Tamil feature, Members of the Problematic Family, premiered at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival last week in the Forum section. Everything about this film is distinct yet unfamiliar, beginning with its title. The Tamil title, Sikkalana Kudumbathin Uruppinargal, a literal translation, rolls off the tongue. For decades we’ve had the word kudumbam (family) in Tamil film titles that have often alluded to the spotless, divine status accorded to the unit. But here is a film that makes no such promise. It invites you not to witness a few days in the life of irascible characters but just human beings who, as fate would have it, need to function as a society sanctioned order.

So, what’s new in Gowtham’s film? Members is a raw, unflinching portrait of a family rationing grief and despair in the face of a caveat-ridden loss. The word ‘dysfunctional’ doesn’t do justice, nor is it accurate for a group of people who are simply trying to get by and do the right thing amidst unusual turmoil. The anchor was Prabha (A Ra Ajith Kumar), who has died young overnight. His passing might be mysterious but not shocking; an uncompromising profligate, Prabha squanders time and people as he drinks his life away while also rankling his immediate family members every passing hour. His alcoholism is almost incidental because if that is the ultimate vice then every member is guilty here. But his passing evokes strange feelings in his mother, his cousins, his uncle and aunt, and his grandfather.

Members, which is written by Gowtham, unfolds like a novel with different perspectives. It reveals itself in chapters, from a preface to ‘Funeral, Swing’ (further divided into ‘Old Man’s Tales’, ‘Teary Eyes’ and ‘Mother’s Story’), followed by ‘Feast’ and ‘Final Dream’.

Gowtham’s film deals with a Tamil family, one that is close-knit in outlook but distant in internal dynamics—they would rather spend time apart than with each other—as they grapple with inscrutable feelings about Prabha’s death. The film is a disjointed look at the day of the funeral and the rituals that follow, something we have seen in films like Don Palathara’s Shavam (2015, Malayalam), Raam Reddy’s Thithi (2016, Kannada) or Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Ee.Ma.Yau. (2018, Malayalam), but seldom in Tamil. It takes a while to put together the relationships but that is by design; cousins Dinesh and Mugilan claim Prabha’s body, and we meet his uncle Sellam (Karuththadayan, the lead from PS Vinothraj’s Pebbles) who sports a mysterious fracture. Gowtham and his cinematographer Siddharth Kathir opt for raw guerilla-style camerawork, all natural light and jittery handheld medium shots that track movements and conversation, as if we are witnessing rough footage of a family in flux. It’s the kind of film that feels unedited: we see everything from a dead body being unloaded from the ambulance, placed at the front yard of the house, cleaned and dressed, people congregating all the way till someone urges the women to at least shed a few tears.

These seemingly undramatic shots establish landscape, interpersonal frictions, caste and class positions, and the bizarre mix of shock and relief. A two-sentence exchange tells us something about Dinesh (Saravana Siddharth) and Vellaiyammal’s (Uvesri) troubled relationship. Someone inquiring about a broken leg and the law instills curiosity about Sellam and his erstwhile job. Vellaiyammal removing her earbuds and transforming into chief mourner tells us something about the family’s inability to process. Mother Shanthi’s (Kanchana Senthil) stone faced obdurateness reveals long festered apathy trying to find closure.

Grief takes a backseat in Members of the Problematic Family. Its documentary-like approach frees up the actors, their movements, gestures and reactions come across natural and lifelike. Like a burp from Sellam as he downs another drink or food tumbling down his vest and onto his trousers and the floor. Or a surrealist segue (there are a few!) that gives Dinesh an illusion of guilt. Sellam begins as the elder statesman of the family, the one trying to hold the band together, but he is also at his wits end. At one point he laments that both the old and the young’s refusal to listen is slowly killing the rest. Even within this most naturalist shotmaking, Gowtham’s transitions are exquisite. A match cut goes from him squatting naked near the creek to him asleep in a hammock. As he tests his mother’s patience, she comes to blows and the film quickly jumps to a new chapter about the mother.

Yet, Gowtham’s cuts aren’t frantic or frequent (editing by Ganesh Nandhakumar P). The film is set in Chennai’s Red Hills suburb and scenes unfold long enough for us to take in the surroundings—like Prabha casually living in a makeshift tent-like room within the compound. The film comes alive as the familiarity with the surroundings becomes proportional to the familiarity with the family tree. A lot of Members of the Problematic Family is about setting the stage for the characters to acclimatize to this sudden development, they all look for distraction in ritual and chore, like preparing food for the feast, buying rations, rearranging things around the house, decorating a frame. Or simply sneaking out to drink. This discomfort hangs like a pall over everyone and every place they inhabit. But it’s not all gloom for levity and humor find its way into this atmosphere almost effortlessly (including a song like Petra Thai Thannai—a Shaivite ditty about how a mother might forget her child but never the divinity of God—in this situation requires a twisted, goofy mind)

In the end credits, Gowtham includes a long bibliography of films and literature. It runs the gamut from Kurosawa and Fellini to Spike Lee, Claire Denis, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Pa Ranjith and Vetrimaaran, as well as Tolstoy, D.H. Lawrence and contemporary Tamil writers (Gowtham himself is a published Tamil poet and translator). A glance tells us that a lot of the works deal with death, mortality, coming of age and existential dread. But it is difficult to qualify Members of the Problematic Family in any context because nothing like it exists in Tamil cinema, making it a much-needed intervention. Its disregard for narrative propulsion, neglect of character cohesion and a disdain for structure makes it a unique entry in Indian independent film. A work that is at once experimental and accessible, Members of the Problematic Family introduces new grammar to Tamil film.

Aditya Shrikrishna is a Bhubaneswar-based film critic.