Madras Matinee Movie Review: A clean, good drama that tackles family issues with warmth and humor.

Films on middle class lives have come forward in bigger numbers than before lately, with the big attention grabber being Kudumbasthan. Though it was seen as a huge playground in the 80s and 90s, modern filmmaking had evaded this juncture. However, we have one more new entrant into the space in the form of Madras Matinee starring Kaali Venkat, which comes through as the directorial debut for Karthikeyan MK.

The film is based out of a writer who narrates the story of a middle class family, and how they overcome their difficulties and bring their up their two kids. The film starts off from the POV of the writer, and he starts off by taking us through the storyline of Kaali Venkat and his wife Shelly, and how they go through challenge after challenge from being an auto driver to paying bills to arranging food for the family and more. Though some of the narrative feels overstretched and unrealistic, the film has a nice ring to it and some episodes are sure to connect with the viewers. There is a feeling of something missing at the end, but the team has definitely put up a film that will connect with the viewer in some way or the other.

Kaali Venkat and Roshni stand out as the best performers from the film, with beautiful performance that elude realism at every stage of the film. There’s so much to like in how they carry out their characteristics in the film, and they are ably supported by Shelly.

The film has superb cinematography by Anand GK and the music by KC Balasarangan is also good, keeping in mind the constraints that the makers would have had.

On the whole, Madras Matinee is a neat and clean family film that talks about familial issues in a cheerful and happy-go-lucky way.

Madras Matinee Movie Review: 3/5