- Starring
- Karan Soni, Geraldine Viswanathan
- Writers
- Roshan Sethi, Karan Soni
- Director
- Roshan Sethi
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 86 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of several reviews from this year’s Tribeca film Festival. To follow our coverage, click here.
Once again, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has greatly influenced and continues to influence how film is made while also taking center stage in countless others thus creating a new subgenre, either facing it head-on or using it to frame its narrative. This prompts a fine line and can strike a chord within certain audiences if not handled the right way. The better pandemic films, for lack of a better word, stories that happen to take place during a pandemic or are directly or indirectly influenced by a pandemic heavily outshine those about pandemics. Maybe this move is a sign of the world improving. 7 Days is a charming dramedy that happens to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic that also puts representation at the forefront in putting a welcome twist on the usual romantic comedy genre. A limited production for obvious reasons, the film rests on the shoulders of stars Karan Soni (also a co-writer) and Geraldine Viswanathan who both deliver.
7 Days is influenced by Indian culture and arranged marriages as it saw Ravi (Soni) and Rita (Viswanathan) whom in the middle of a date pre-arranged by their traditional Indian parents, are interrupted by the still growing COVID-19 pandemic with the latest shelter-in place order forcing them to stay together longer than they might have liked. From there, the story was a showcase of the many contrasts between the two and the circumstances that led them to that point. Ultimately, it was all about the awkward Ravi and his traditional and admittedly old-fashioned views on love and the free-spirited Rita whose views were more rooted in the real world. Suffice it to say that it was an adjustment period for the former on top of being forced to stay with Rita but their arc, albeit a predictable one, over the course of the film was a blast to watch while taking a few turns along the way which brought them even closer together. In the end, it all works because of Soni and Viswanathan and their superb chemistry as Ravi and Rita.
At the end of the day, 7 Days is a pandemic film that transcends the subgenre and further cements the power of Soni and Viswanathan.
still courtesy of Duplass Brothers Productions
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.