Director: Naqqash Khalid

Stars: Nabhaan Rizwan, Amir El-Masry, Rory Fleck-Burn

British writer-director Rizwan’s feature debut is both a reality bending psychological thriller and showbiz satire. Rizwan is Aden, a struggling young British-Asian actor whose life is a round of dehumanising thankless auditions relieved by the occasional bit part. We first encounter him playing one such part as a corpse on a TV police drama. As the work options seem to narrow even further Aden takes drastic eccentric choices blurring the boundaries between real life and fiction in the process. Meanwhile his overworked Irish junior doctor flatmate (Bo) find that his tough schedule is causing him to hallucinate. The set design and mise en scene effectively illustrate the dehumanising process as Aden is greeted by curt assistants and shoved in a crowded room with other POC actors, who grumble, amusingly, about that one guy who does get all the parts. The satire on racism feels a little blunt, particularly a sequence where Aden auditions for a part as a frothing at the mouth Islamic terrorist in a project that seems more 80s Hollywood thriller than contemporary homegrown production. Rizwan is impressive but his dour, sulky character renders this a bit of a slog, and Bo’s subplot feels surplus to requirements. Amir El-Masry livens matters up considerably as Aden and Bo’s new flatmate, British Asian Conrad, a brash geezer fashion consultant, more than willing to play the game.

David Willoughby

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