Sean Parker
Two junior police officers, their electrically charged boss, a goat, a cricket player, his elderly neighbor, and his communist butler, convene at a murder scene. While it may sound like it’s the start of an off-color joke, those are just the idiosyncratic suspects in Indian director Pratul Gaikwad’s screwball, surrealist comedy Dead Dead Full Dead that turns the processing of a murder scene into an outlandish romp of existentialism and introspection, that puts every character on the suspect list. Dead Dead Full Dead is Knives Out without Benoit Blanc, a veritable Clue-inspired piece of cinematic silliness that’s as charmingly full of heart as it is irrefutably funny.
The story begins with a baby goat purchased as a gift by Mr. Patil (Abhijeet Chavan) for his wife. He’s left his two officers, Balram (Yug Italiya) and Zubi (Monica Chaudhary), goat-sitting at a traffic stop while getting checked out at a nearby clinic for a strange ailment that has left him with a shocking ability that could also potentially hurt or kill him. The officers, who are secretly seeing each other, debate the minutia of Zubi’s inappropriate emoji use at the traffic stop, providing the kind of irreverent caustic fight of a new relationship that will determine its tenure.
From the onset of the film, Gaikwad is cloaking peculiarities in the monotony of the every day, but this particular evening is guaranteed to be weirder than usual, with a lunar eclipse mere hours away. Still, it becomes entertaining to watch this group of characters roll with the frequent eccentricities. A transfiguration in the middle of Balram and Zubi’s argument should be confounding, yet their greatest concern is ensuring no one ever finds out. Luckily, a dispatch to a nearby apartment building will give them the time they need to consider a new plan.
Remaining in a state of personal contempt, Balram balks at Zubi’s concerns about processing a murder, something they’ve never done before. Balram insists he’s going to crack this case. His confidence is almost immediately shaken when he accidentally lets the victim’s husband, Rahul (Ashwin Mushran), leave for a cricket match, frantically running after him after he’s identified as the killer by their neighbor (Flora Jacob), who insists she saw the whole thing. Meanwhile, Zubi is convinced she’s solved the murder after seconds in the room. Seeing a newly bandaged cut on the servant Chotu’s (Sachin Vidrohi) arm, she recuses herself to the victim’s closet and jewelry chest. The satirical inference that it’s always either the butler or the husband helps the film build levity, as the policewoman begins stealing from a murder scene where the victim’s body is still warm.
The bulk of the film plays out in the minds of others as the officers are each told stories from the people who were present with the victim, Era (Swastika Mukherjee), at her time of death. Imaginatively, each enters the story their suspect is telling and finds their own reasons for wishing the victim was dead and, because of either the looming eclipse or the power of their imagination, each surreally starts to believe they may have been the one to do it. It all adds up to the hilarity of watching each officer try to cover their ass and gets even weirder when Era herself returns from the beyond.
In the establishing scene at the traffic stop, where the two junior officers are bored and fighting, a monotonous feeling dispenses onto Dead Dead Full Dead’s audience as if they’re doomed to remain in this lifeless place. The scene is juxtaposed with Era sitting in a visually stunning Limbo, existing in this universe on Saturn’s rings. That feeling is a part of the film, as boredom correlates with Era’s musings on life. However, for a movie that is generally a bottle experience, the initial perception that the traffic stop will also be the murder location becomes daunting. While suitable for character building, the inference that limbo might be more exciting than this location is triumphantly correct. It is one of the minute details Gaikwad injects into his film to insist that even the boring moments should be considered precious.
Dead Dead Full Dead is an unexpected surprise from Fantasia. Knowing nothing about the film, it was a pleasure to leave grinning ear to ear over the cosmic parallels of life and death. There were also occasional moments that brought full howls of laughter thanks to the actors’ fantastic timing. The film is mostly quirky and deadpan. It will have you smiling and giggling throughout. The movie is chaotic and silly, eliciting themes of not getting wrapped up in the little details, which is funny considering it’s a whodunit. It’s also ironic considering the exceptional production values and set dressing value that someone likely poured their soul into making look that good. There are a lot of intricacies in Era and Rahul’s apartment, speaking to who these people are, particularly in contrast to their servant’s quarters, adding another layer to ponder.
Dead Dead Full Dead held its World Premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 28. For additional information, see the film’s page on the Fantasia website.
Dead Dead Full Dead – trailer
Les jeunes policiers Balraam et Zubeida forment un joli couple, mais ils sont à la fois écervelés et incompétents, ce qui ne fait pas d’eux les meilleurs détectives. Ils sont pourtant envoyés dans une tour de logements cossue afin d’enquêter sur un meurtre, mais cette affaire apparemment simple devient vite un casse-tête qui subjuguerait Sherlock Holmes lui-même.
