‘Mercury’ Background Score Overwhelms, and Not in a Good Way

A still from Mercury. 

(Photo Courtesy: Youtube Screenshot)

Karthik Subbaraj’s silent horror thriller Mercury is trying hard to be a lot of things but it definitely isn’t “silent”. Non-verbal yes but the sensitivity and craft required to pull off a speechless drama is simply missing. Five deaf and mute friends (Sanath Reddy, Deepak paramesh, Shashank Purushotham, Anish Padmanabhan and Indhuja) meet up for a reunion which soon takes a ghastly turn. Their midnight shenanigans trigger one tragedy after another that soon spiral out of control.

Mercury opens with the line: “Silence is the most powerful scream”. The film comes close on the heels of A Quiet Place, which used silence to a stunning effect to tell a tale of people who have been forced to give up speech for their survival. It’s an interesting premise but writer-director Karthik Subbaraj keeps his experimental “silent” film on the surface. The five deaf and mute friends communicate using facial expressions and frantic hand gestures but it never seems organic to the story. Also the proceedings are hijacked by Santosh Naraynan’s background score that is unrelenting and at times even jarring.

It’s only post interval when the “horror” elements are deployed that deliver a slew of shocks and effectively command our attention.

All major characters in the film including the unnamed presence of Prabhu Deva (who wears blue contact lenses and has slime and blood smeared all over his face to exaggerate his cadaver-like presence) have somehow been deeply affected by Mercury poisoning. While we are never told the exact details, the stance seems clear.  The improper disposal of chemical wastes, blatant disregard for human life by corporate houses is at the heart of this story. The caveat at the end of the movie citing the various cases of industrial disasters also point to it.

But as far as the narrative itself is concerned, this “CSR message” seems more gimmicky than anything. The zombie-like spirit that is baying for the blood of five friends has a totally different motivation.

Also the screenplay routinely ventures into the ridiculous, leaving us to our own devices . And while some moments especially the ones shot inside a decaying old factory help build up the tension, Mercury remains ineffective and strictly on the surface.

Actions speak louder than words. For all its posturing as a “silent” film trying to explore the power of the word-less medium, the background score overwhelms to such an extent that everything else just drowns in its wake.