Aswathy Gopalakrishnan
Kiss Wagon, directed by Midhun Murali, premiered at IFFR, winning the FIPRESCI award and the Special Jury Award, though receiving little local media attention due to its avant-garde nature.
Emerging from digital culture, Kiss Wagon defies traditional definitions, offering a vibrant world of faceless figures and surreal landscapes, reflecting the filmmaker's disregard for mainstream conventions.
Kiss Wagon follows Isla, a transwoman, navigating an authoritarian state, subverting traditional narrative structures to critique societal institutions like the state, family, and church.
With meticulous control over every aspect, Midhun crafts a playful yet consistent narrative, referencing mythology and pop culture, while exploring themes of love, violence, and the power of cinema.
Reflecting a shift in Malayalam cinema, Kiss Wagon embraces new digital aesthetics, diverging from traditional space and time markers to create an abstract narrative space.
Delving into the subjectivity of reality, Kiss Wagon intertwines Isla's thoughts with her physical world, offering fluid transitions and leaving room for audience interpretation, showcasing guerrilla filmmaking in a challenging cultural landscape.