What a year is 2019 for Malayalam cinema. So many movies that takes this industry to further heights. Helen is the recent wonder and a film Mollywood can be proud of in survival thriller genre. Helen starts as a family movie and slowly turns into a survival thriller. The movie keeps us engaged all the time. Anna Ben's electrifying performance as Helen Paul deserves a standing ovation and was simply one of the best performances of the year. She has improved much better from her previous role and debut movie in Kumbalangi Nights. She was very good in that movie too. Lal and Aju Varghese has also done an excellent job in supporting roles. Mathukuttu Xavier never compromises the quality of the movie and has done everything he could've done to make the best out of this thrilling story. Anend C Chandran's cinematography and the makeup artists also deserves applause. Overall, Helen is a movie that Mallu's can ve proud of and it is a must watch in theatre experience.
69 Reviews
Survival drama
parrotreddygreeny16 November 2019
When little Anna stood tall..
ahmedrockinblues20 November 2019
The movie is definitely inspired by Andres Bais directed 2011 thriller La Cara Oculta or The Hidden Face.Apart from the basic premise Helen manages to hold on with superlative performances from the lead cast.
The movie starts with establishing Helens character, a nursing graduate with aspirations to go abroad, earn and help her father played to perfaction by Anna Ben and Lal.Helen works part time in a restaurant and is seeing a muslim boy.unexpected turn of events brings in ruthless cop Aju Verghese into the frames, which leads to a night of desperate hunt for Helen who goes missing.
Power packed performances and fuss free direction from debutant director Mathukkutty Xavier makes the movie a convincing and compelling watch
Must watch survival thriller from malayalam as first time
anascmr17 November 2019
Don't Watch if you don't want to Cry
bshanley-614617 February 2020
I'm a 70 year old white American with some but limited knowledge of India. What a tear jerker about real people. Some are humble, some are jerks. Must see. And furthermore, who new rats and ants could be supporting actors?
Capsule Review: Helen (7 Stars)
nairtejas25 November 2019
Helen (given name) made me tear up not because of the survival element - which is a rarity in Malayalam cinema, I should add - but because of standout performances by Lal and Anna Ben who play a father-daughter duo with so much delicacy and warmth it drives the thriller forward without being hammy. It is when Ben's character gets stuck in a cold storage unit one day that things take a turn in the plot as the director uses the event to highlight a series of issues currently plaguing the country: police apathy and their morality lens, caste discrimination, and work stress. It is rather delicious to find these topics scattered as garnishing in a film that is by and large about survival. How Ben manages to enact her challenging role is definitely an attracting element here but what I would like to move your attention to is the range of Lal and how effortlessly he plays the role of a father figure with ultimate finesse it reminded me of my own. Helen has been made well with slight issues in screenplay in the first half and a little bit of convenience storytelling but overall it comes around and will make you feel emotional towards the end. There's no way you'll feel disappointed. TN.
True incident in exact way
VishnuprasadKmenon29 November 2019
Actually it's not at all a thriller, but it's moves like a thriller movie.A simple movie which showed the true incident in a perfect way with simply unique. This is a new stepover for Malayalam movie. All actors and the actress who made a great work for this movie.Overall it's one of the best movie in mollywood industry.
Over dramaticized real story!
SatiagoManez25 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The true story tag really appeals for a watch, but the movie is over dramaticized in too many places to keep up the audience in the edge of the seat. But honestly beyond a point one could easily predict the course of scenes and it's easy just think of the worst thing that could go wrong (Phone battery dies when it's too urgent, hero will meet with accident when he wants to go to save the girl......). A true story deserves a more authenic screenplay and characterization !
Best Malayalam movie of 2019
mokanraj1524 December 2019
A well-written survival drama backed by compelling performances! [+72%]
arungeorge1325 December 2019
Helen is a great example of how performances and writing go hand-in-hand, a feat Malayalam cinema has shown great consistency in, ever since its new-gen resurrection. The film goes on to prove that Anna Ben as an actor, is here to stay. That infectious grin is slowly and steadily winning the hearts of every Malayali and in Helen, it's even plugged in as a key (and extremely heartwarming) plot-point towards the end.
It's an interesting screenplay that writers Alfred Kurian Joseph, Noble Babu Thomas (who also plays the character of Azhar, Helen's boyfriend), and (director) Mathukutty Xavier come up with. For a good part, the film is a survival thriller. But before the thriller elements get going, the screenplay strikes gold in weaving up a realistic father-daughter dynamic and a rather cute girlfriend-boyfriend situation. Lal and Anna Ben are terrific, and their dialogues never come close to being melodramatic or over-the-top.
Even the scenes involving Helen and Azhar have been written compellingly. There's a good flow to the proceedings. In the hands of a less capable director, the initial police station episode (featuring Aju Varghese as a baleful cop) could have ended up hammy, but here the emotions are underplayed and all actors on screen display wonderful restraint. The film does kick into high gear once the survival thriller bit gets going and it does manage to keep you on the edge of your seat for the most part.
Many would want to question why Helen takes certain decisions slower when she's in that 'tight spot' in the second half but that's where the weight of the preceding drama comes well into play. She hasn't had a great day both at home or at work, and an emotionally weakened person, when put in an unexpected predicament, is bound to think and act slower than usual. Yet, the one attribute that stays unequivocally vivid about Helen's nature - her kindness - right from the opening scene where she adores a garbage collector's earrings to smiling at the mall's security guard every morning to trying to help a dying animal (which was the actual cause of her day at work turning messy), is integrated into the screenplay so well.
The survival bits are staged decently and Anna Ben almost makes us feel her plight with every passing second (that's a mean feat for someone who's in just her second film!). Though for me, it's the drama surrounding those characters inquiring into Helen's sudden disappearance that appealed more (in the second half). At the very end, it's easy to spot certain clichéd elements from the Vineeth Sreenivasan school of film-making but they're forgivable considering Helen, both as a character and an entire movie, is memorable overall.
It's an interesting screenplay that writers Alfred Kurian Joseph, Noble Babu Thomas (who also plays the character of Azhar, Helen's boyfriend), and (director) Mathukutty Xavier come up with. For a good part, the film is a survival thriller. But before the thriller elements get going, the screenplay strikes gold in weaving up a realistic father-daughter dynamic and a rather cute girlfriend-boyfriend situation. Lal and Anna Ben are terrific, and their dialogues never come close to being melodramatic or over-the-top.
Even the scenes involving Helen and Azhar have been written compellingly. There's a good flow to the proceedings. In the hands of a less capable director, the initial police station episode (featuring Aju Varghese as a baleful cop) could have ended up hammy, but here the emotions are underplayed and all actors on screen display wonderful restraint. The film does kick into high gear once the survival thriller bit gets going and it does manage to keep you on the edge of your seat for the most part.
Many would want to question why Helen takes certain decisions slower when she's in that 'tight spot' in the second half but that's where the weight of the preceding drama comes well into play. She hasn't had a great day both at home or at work, and an emotionally weakened person, when put in an unexpected predicament, is bound to think and act slower than usual. Yet, the one attribute that stays unequivocally vivid about Helen's nature - her kindness - right from the opening scene where she adores a garbage collector's earrings to smiling at the mall's security guard every morning to trying to help a dying animal (which was the actual cause of her day at work turning messy), is integrated into the screenplay so well.
The survival bits are staged decently and Anna Ben almost makes us feel her plight with every passing second (that's a mean feat for someone who's in just her second film!). Though for me, it's the drama surrounding those characters inquiring into Helen's sudden disappearance that appealed more (in the second half). At the very end, it's easy to spot certain clichéd elements from the Vineeth Sreenivasan school of film-making but they're forgivable considering Helen, both as a character and an entire movie, is memorable overall.
Helen Review
Kiranps1017 December 2019
Helen, A Survival Drama
aji4u4ever30 November 2019
Helen, a different genre in Malayalam Cinema (i remember Maalootty was the first in this genre) is a well executed survivor thriller directed by Mathukkutty Xavior. Featuring Anna Ben in the lead, delivered a brilliant performance whole throughout indeed it was a wonderful performance. Mathukkutty as a director and scriptwriter along with Noble & Alfred, did all the homework for a survivor movie about a girl trapped in a freezer (from my point of view) but it had several weak links as well as some setbacks in the movie. Anend C Chandran's cinematography deserves applause. Noble, Lal, Aju Varghese, Rony David and the others performances contributed well to the movie. The major drawback of the movie i felt it was Shaan Rahman's score. He did well in the beginning and when towards the second half he lost his control and the score he made and the inclusion of Vineeth's song was inappropriate.
All in whole Helen is worth watch (but didnt felt it as a nail biting phenomenon)
All in whole Helen is worth watch (but didnt felt it as a nail biting phenomenon)
Helen - A thriller struggles to survive due to a very thin plotline
surajpnair2 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
There are films that are strictly meant for short narrative, and Helen as a film, unfortunately, falls into that category. Supposedly a survival thriller, the plotline is very thin, and when such a thin plotline is stretched on to a bigger canvas, the writing gets convenient, characters get created with no motives, they are just to keep the plot alive for its running time.
There are 2 threads running in parallel post first half, one is a survival story of missing Helen, and the other is a thriller surrounding the loved ones of Helen trying to find her with the help of police officials & locals.
The survival plot works pretty well, the attempts, the struggles that Helen makes to come out of the conflict is justifiable. A nurse by profession, the compassion for a helpless rodent in that life and death situation really goes well with the character.
The problem for me with Helen lies with the thriller part, for any thriller film if the viewer is ahead of the narrative, then it brings on the irritation for the viewer waiting for the filmmaker to catch up with the audience. This is the same feeling, I was going throughout while watching this film.
Especially, the investigation was delayed indefinitely to an extent that the loved ones of the missing girl had to wait to get the location details from the cyber cell. To achieve this, we are introduced forcefully to a bad cop, just to delay arranging the details of the location, there's no further depth to this character and that's for me very convenient.
From a relativity perspective, there were many opportunities for the filmmaker to tap on the emotional aspect of the father-daughter relationship. Unfortunately, it remains at a superficial level, probably this leads again to the thin plotline the film stretches on, characters lack detailing.
Performance-wise, every other performed aptly, surprisingly I was amused by Aju Varghese's performance, though the character was flawed.
Helen, a film strictly one-time watch for the genre it deals, and for not digressing from the core conflict.
There are 2 threads running in parallel post first half, one is a survival story of missing Helen, and the other is a thriller surrounding the loved ones of Helen trying to find her with the help of police officials & locals.
The survival plot works pretty well, the attempts, the struggles that Helen makes to come out of the conflict is justifiable. A nurse by profession, the compassion for a helpless rodent in that life and death situation really goes well with the character.
The problem for me with Helen lies with the thriller part, for any thriller film if the viewer is ahead of the narrative, then it brings on the irritation for the viewer waiting for the filmmaker to catch up with the audience. This is the same feeling, I was going throughout while watching this film.
Especially, the investigation was delayed indefinitely to an extent that the loved ones of the missing girl had to wait to get the location details from the cyber cell. To achieve this, we are introduced forcefully to a bad cop, just to delay arranging the details of the location, there's no further depth to this character and that's for me very convenient.
From a relativity perspective, there were many opportunities for the filmmaker to tap on the emotional aspect of the father-daughter relationship. Unfortunately, it remains at a superficial level, probably this leads again to the thin plotline the film stretches on, characters lack detailing.
Performance-wise, every other performed aptly, surprisingly I was amused by Aju Varghese's performance, though the character was flawed.
Helen, a film strictly one-time watch for the genre it deals, and for not digressing from the core conflict.
Frozen thriller
shyammukundan20 November 2019
" Helen " Malayalam movie.
Widower father and her ambitious daughter-nurse.... their relationship, their daily interactions...all started a simple family drama... unfolding into an unexpected thriller- a survival thriller.
Anna Ben on her second outing as the movie star, has definitely outlived her 'Babymol' shades from 'Kumbalangi nights'. She handled Helen Paul, in a very matured manner. Lal, as her father, Paul supported Helen well and scored very well, in the emotional scenes.
Director with his team of script and screenplay writers, are bold enough to introduce the Mallu audience to a rare thriller. Camera work and art direction is creditable. Makeup' of the heroine during the climax scenes are excellent.
8 on 10 for this 'freezing thriller'.
Even though the story line and some of the scenes had similarly with the Hollywood movie 'Freezer', this presentation gives a distinct, different feeling.
Screenplay drags at places, still the anxious moments keep the audience on the edge of their seats..... Thrilled... Frozen thrilled... Extra frozen thrilled.
Widower father and her ambitious daughter-nurse.... their relationship, their daily interactions...all started a simple family drama... unfolding into an unexpected thriller- a survival thriller.
Anna Ben on her second outing as the movie star, has definitely outlived her 'Babymol' shades from 'Kumbalangi nights'. She handled Helen Paul, in a very matured manner. Lal, as her father, Paul supported Helen well and scored very well, in the emotional scenes.
Director with his team of script and screenplay writers, are bold enough to introduce the Mallu audience to a rare thriller. Camera work and art direction is creditable. Makeup' of the heroine during the climax scenes are excellent.
8 on 10 for this 'freezing thriller'.
Even though the story line and some of the scenes had similarly with the Hollywood movie 'Freezer', this presentation gives a distinct, different feeling.
Screenplay drags at places, still the anxious moments keep the audience on the edge of their seats..... Thrilled... Frozen thrilled... Extra frozen thrilled.
Anna Ben show stealer
niyantha24 December 2019
" Smile "
She wears her smile like a armaments
I forgot to ask you
What's your daughter name ?
Film : Helen Director : @mathukuttyxavier Dop : Amend C. Chandran Cast : @benanna_love @lal_director
Another feel good and Survival thriller from #malayalam industry.
And this girl #annaben was surprising Every time she appears on screen ! The grace in her act The beauty in her eyes She will do some magic with her smile !
If they managed with the second bit descent it's gonna be a milestone for the maker's.
However it carries smile on your Face at the end !
Film : Helen Director : @mathukuttyxavier Dop : Amend C. Chandran Cast : @benanna_love @lal_director
Another feel good and Survival thriller from #malayalam industry.
And this girl #annaben was surprising Every time she appears on screen ! The grace in her act The beauty in her eyes She will do some magic with her smile !
If they managed with the second bit descent it's gonna be a milestone for the maker's.
However it carries smile on your Face at the end !
Brilliant execution
drshakeerae25 December 2019
Clean movie
iamdk3691 February 2020
Survival thriller in Malayalam cinema after over quarter of a century
naveenjbl17 December 2019
Watched Helen after 20 days of its release and by then I already had been through tons of reviews about the movie and all of them were positive. Personally, such movies fail to meet my expectations and it was true over these years. But this is the first time it went wrong. Helen kept up to my expectation and sailed me through the emotions of not just Helen, but all characters in the movie. Outstanding performance from Lal sir and Anna Ben is the key. Must watch in theatres only. Awesome work from Mathukutty Xavier, Alfred Kurian and Noble Thomas in scripting the movie. Aju Varghese was remarkable with his never seen before performance. You'll leave the movie house with heartful joy.
A good thriller movie
adithyadevp25 December 2019
This was a nice drama/thriller movie .A incident is portrayed very well and it is also a good entertainer movie it shows the love between father and daughter and the survival scenes in this movie is also good
It's worth watching
CLASSY ONE.....
alansenmon30 November 2019
Nice thriller movie
adithyadevp3 January 2020
Anna Ben is a big star
PimpinAinttEasy19 November 2019
A sincere performance by Anna Ben. In a mediocre survival thriller. This film has outdone all the recent releases at the box office. The credit goes to the charming Anna Ben. She carries the weakly scripted and routinely directed film on her shoulders. I recommend it to fans of Anna Ben. I do not recommend it to fans of cinema, despite the novel plot.
Super survival thriller..
skiran-2661822 December 2019
Amazing movie but same thing happens with all animals in slaughter house
madhur00899 April 2021
It's a beautiful movie about relationship, compassion and faith. But people should think the chicken hub where the girl was working. Animals suffer a lot more and live in even more horrifying conditions because of such places. Don't they survival Instincts? Million of animals suffer just because of meat,eggs and dairy consumption. World should really go vegan and stop this hypocrisy of just having compassion for their own types.
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