FFFA: Jallikattu

“As exciting and unusual an experience as you're likely to get this year. Grab it by its horns and don't dare let go.”

‘Jallikattu’ is a ritual or a game that has been played since before the common era in India’s Tamil region. Similar to a rodeo, the person who stays the longest on the back of an ox is considered the winner. The film begins in a quiet village in the countryside, with a buffalo fleeing a slaughterhouse. The village men try to capture the beast, and even the men from neighbouring villages join in, creating chaos intermingled with confusion, violence, and hatred beyond control. But the buffalo proves more elusive than anyone expected, goading its pursuers into frenzies of communal bluster, building towards a fiery climax in which violence breeds its own kind of ecstasy.

Festival Appearances/Awards:

2019 Busan International Film Festival, 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, 2019 Fantastic Fest

Language:

Malayalam (English subtitles)

Content Warnings: 

Graphic violence, coarse language.

Rating

Unclass18+

Cast

Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad

Director

Lijo Jose Pellissery