A STORY THAT BEGINS AT THE END

Krishnanunni is a descendant of a wealthy upper caste family, whose fortunes have dwindled. However there is enough money to ensure a leisurely life for him, his wife Suma and their seven-year-old son, Unni. Life seems to be treating Krishnanunni well until one morning he wakes to find a black mole has sprung up on his lower lip. Suma initially thinks it is a sign of luck — even deriving pleasure from it — but quickly changes her mind, believing it to be contagious. As the mole continues to grow, Suma urges her husband to have it removed, but he refuses on the grounds that it would be against the wishes of his forefathers. He turns to herbal remedies, but nothing seems to curtail the unstoppable mole from growing bigger and bigger This bizarre, and at times macabre film, from former Camera d'Or winner, Murali Nair (Throne of Death, MIFF 2000) was selected in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year. Based on a short story by O.V Vijayan, from his collection entitled Allegories of Power, A Story that Begins at the End is a blackly funny, metaphorical tale that will draw you in with its oddball nature.