‘Max, Min & Meowzaki’ review: A thoughtful journey of self-discovery and healing
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Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy’s quirkily titled Max, Min & Meowzaki weaves together a break-up, a breakdown and a breakthrough. The mostly English-language film follows three generations of the Mahadevan family: the singer Max (Siddharth Menon), his father Ramesh (Adil Hussain) and grandfather Sridhar (Nasser).
Although Max has split up with his live-in girlfriend Min (Medha Shankr), he still has Meowzaki, Min’s black-and-white cat that’s named after the legendary Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki. Narasimhamurthy’s screenplay too tries to mimic the unhurried rhythms, profound wisdom and heavy presence of cats in Miyazaki’s films.
Max’s attempts to move on from Min necessitate the services of the cat-sitter Carol (Vidhatri Bandi). Ramesh is trying to forge ahead too. Ramesh’s emotional distance from Max and Sridhar, and the recent death of Max’s mother Vasudha (Gitanjali Rao), are among the reasons Ramesh is consulting the professional healer Dhaara (Mandira Bedi).
Meanwhile, Sridhar is living it up in the old age home that he purchased from its previous owner.
Money is no obstacle for the characters. They inhabit enviably plush homes and are identifiably from the urbane, deracinated strata of Indian society. Yet, they are adrift, cut off from one another and unable to relate to the erosion in liberal values.
Completed in 2022, Max, Min & Meowzaki has only just managed to...