Spoiler alert: Some references in the review may spoil the fun. As a reviewer I am helpless.
It’s a film that will get all sorts of reaction from the audience. 1 by two written by Jeyamohan and directed by the talented Arun Kumar Aravind is a film that has this intriguing content which has the potential to keep its viewers tensed, excited and curious for the majority of the run time. But a shift in the second half which kind of takes the movie away from the psychological thriller to a ghost movie level really shakes the movie’s loyalty and loosens the grip.
The story focuses on the mysterious death of Doctor Hari Narayanan. His relatives tries to erase the death by clearing it from the legal formalities. A police officer Yusuf Marikkar accidentally gets involved in the plot and the suspicious behaviour of the family along with the surprising behaviour of Hari’s twin brother Ravi makes Yusuf go in deep about the mystery behind this. The film is a journey to find the truth behind all the fuzz.
By revealing the surprise story element in the first sequence itself, Jeyamohan builds the story in a really intriguing way. By going in to the psychological side of twins, he establishes the sensibility of the super natural (sort of) acts in the storyline. The second half also creates a fair enough level of anxiety in the viewer’s mind. But as it approached that point where we get to see the truth behind this character transformation, things goes out of control. The nirnayam style backstory powered by the ghost factor just can’t justify the kind of excitement they created at various levels of the first half. A lot of the build-ups surrounding Dr Hari and Ravi seems to be left unexplained towards the end. Yusuf Marikkar’s interest in the case was revealed during the interval but some lack of connection was there after that.
The freshness we get to see in Arun Aravind’s direction was there for sure. Scenes never goes to an over sentimental level and much like his previous films we get to see that mix of aggressive slicing of frames with some pumping background scores. Jeyamohan’s script succeeds in creating the environment filled with tension and anxiety. But as I already said the second half which explains all these got an underwhelming treatment. Cinematography was nice. Editing suited the feel and the background score was also nice. Visual effects showed a good quality.
On screen, Murali Gopy was excellent in his character. Even when I felt disappointment seeing that transformation of Ravi, his acting kind of saved the movie from getting howled. Fahadh Faasil was good. Honey Rose was okay. Aswin was good as Dr Balakrishnan. Shyamaprasad was also quiet nice as the psychiatrist. Don’t know the names of the rest of the supporting cast, but they were all good.
Even after thinking again and again about the storyline, I couldn’t figure out an answer for some whys and hows that got created in my mind. The rating is 2.5/5 for 1 By Two. I liked that climax dialogue which talks about living in the virtual world if reality can’t give you the happiness.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
Still not sure how Ravi performed that operation :-/