“The Buckingham Murders” does not take place in a town called “Buckingham” but actually a town called “Buckinghamshire” which, in my American opinion, is quite misleading, and should lead to a lawsuit Movie Review

This review can be done in a nutshell.

It’s six hundred forty-six words long.

The British and the Indians

To clarify, this is an Indian film with British English and Hindi, and a slew of south asian and non-south asian actors. That The Buckingham Murders that takes place in the UK is pretty dope because there is a significant Indian population in the UK that’s typically not represented very well in Indian cinema. 

As an aside, when I say “Indian”, I’m simplifying for people who think that asking “what does the red dot mean?” will be offensive. The film actually features tensions between the Sikh and Muslim populations in the town of Buckinghamshire, with really minimal interest paid to the actual religions, and more interest paid to the interpersonal tensions between communities- and the ironic ties between these communities.

The film touches on the degradation of culture and youth, along with typical household conflicts, relationships between people who are family by name, and family by blood. There’s many types of conflicts at play here, and it’s honestly really, really good writing that it balances so much interpersonal friction and delivers such a compelling and interesting story. Ironically, this latter point, in my opinion, is the only weak point of this film. The story itself is fine. Not bad. Just fine. Pales in comparison to the rest of the film.

The protagonist, played by Kareena Kapoor, is, in a sense, the weakest characterization of all the prominent individuals in this film. Every single character carries so much nuance that each character holds our attention, and in a murder mystery film, that’s kind of important. We want to root for someone. We want to guess who killed who. It’s quite boring if the main character is the murder, and far more interesting to keep guessing. It’s why some of the recent murder-mystery successes in western media have done so well. Both Knives Out films feature a large cast of well-rounded, fun, and interesting characters. The Hercule Peirot casts are equally entertaining and comical. This film goes in the other direction. The main character doesn’t even matter except to help unravel the story. So in a way, it’s ok that Kapoor was really boring and trope-ified.

The Brave and the Bold

Each character (except for Kapoor) harbors a touch of evil, a touch of “damn, what the fuck bro?” Every new character revelation grows this emotion, and by the time the film concludes no one (except for Kapoor) is left untouched by the sense of “yo, you are fucked up.” It’s one of those movies where everyone (except for Kapoor) is a little gross in their own way. Everyone (except for Kapoor) has real moral failings that all definitively affect the greater plot. It’s just such great writing (except for Kapoor).

The writing isn’t just good, it’s also daring and provocative. Brave and thoughtful. I can’t spoil this next bit, but halfway after the intermission, there’s a character revelation that perhaps only south asian people would understand, and only young south asians would sympathize with. It’s a bold decision to have included it, and thankfully this revelation is tastefully depicted.

Oh yeah, also, there’s an intermission.

Intermission

Unfortunately, I felt that the ending was a little flat. Too often, when Kapoor solves a major mystery, the solving occurs off-screen, and she ambushes her targets with a group of cops. The unraveling occurs during a later exposition dump. This is just a stylistic thing, I think. Is it better to solve a mystery when there’s an explanation at the end, as with most other classic murder-mysteries? Or is it more interesting watching the detective solve everything in real time, with the final arrest left for a voice-over or something?

Again, this film is solid, and the writing is fantastic. The cinematography is surprisingly good when it’s allowed a moment to turn things up, and the soundtrack was fucking fantastic. The only detraction was Kapoor and her character- which was honestly a bit distracting- especially when her story is given an unnecessary, dedicated, minutes-long music montage. I thought this movie was 

GOOD

I saw The Buckingham Murders in a theater, but I’m sure it can be tracked down on JustWatch.

Wondering how my rating system works? Let me explain!