Cut is a movie that takes the director’s love for cinema as a jumping point (the protagonist is a struggling film-maker) and eventually leads to a countdown of his favorite 100 movies. Now while this may be exciting for cinephiles (those last 15 minutes are not about the movie, it is simply that list of 100 movies) and will act as a good discussion point during and after the movie, the movie itself does little once the second act starts. The plot is simple enough: Shiju is an aspiring film-maker. After his brother is killed for not paying his debts, the mob boss sets him a deadline to pay back, or lose his life. He chooses to become a human punching bag for the gang members in exchange for money, but he will have to take a lot of punches to repay the debt. The scenario is set up within the first hour of the movie, and then stretches it with repetitious scenes of Shiju being punched day after day. The director ensures the movie has the audience’s full attention due to all the references to classic and great cinema, but that does not make Cut a good movie. In fact, it draws attention to the fact that within the movie’s parameters (taking out the reference to real-world cinema greats), Cut has precious little to offer.
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