TEENZ MOVIE REVIEW
Cast: Prashitha, Rishie, Frankinsten, Deepesshwaran, Asmitha, Deepan, Udaipriyan, Vishrutha, D John, Sylvensten, Amruutha, Kritika, Roshan, Radhakrishnan Parthiban
Director: R. Parthiban
In the grand tradition of teen escapades gone awry, R. Parthiban’s Teenz aspires to be a coming-of-age odyssey but instead delivers a bewildering journey through adolescent limbo. Like a fever dream induced by too many late-night study sessions, the film meanders from everyday truancy to unexpected philosophical territory, its narrative stumbling along with the awkward determination of a teenager at their first school dance.
Our intrepid band of 13 teenagers, each as distinct as the next acne outbreak, decide to throw caution (and apparently common sense) to the wind by embarking on an ill-conceived field trip. Their destination? Grandma’s house, because nothing screams rebellion quite like visiting grandma. But faster than you can say “are we there yet?”, their plans derail spectacularly, spiraling into a series of improbable misadventures.
Parthiban, never one to shy away from narrative whiplash, introduces ghostly encounters and sci-fi elements in the most unsubtle ways. The director himself materializes midway through the film like a deus ex machina in designer glasses, spouting pseudo-scientific gibberish that would make even Neil deGrasse Tyson reach for the aspirin.
The young cast gamely attempts to navigate this tonal rollercoaster, their performances as raw and uneven as their characters’ decision-making skills. They cry, they scream, they run. There’s a bit of Lord of the Flies in how they react to each friend’s disappearance.
D. Imman’s score tries to tie the disparate elements together, but his musical talents can’t bridge the chasm between teen comedy and cosmic conundrum. Meanwhile, Yogi Babu’s cameo makes you question your life decisions.
Teenz is a film that raises more questions than it answers, chief among them being “Why?”. Why did these kids think an impromptu wilderness trek was a good idea? Why does toddy feature so prominently in a teen adventure? And why, oh why, does Parthiban insist on peppering every scene with puns that would make even a dad joke enthusiast groan?
Teenz is less a cohesive film and more a cinematic Rorschach test – a jumble of ideas, genres, and tones that defies logic and occasionally, the laws of physics. It’s a brave experiment, sure, but one that leaves you feeling like you’ve just endured the world’s most confusing science fair project.