Material follows Cassim (Riad Moosa), a young Muslim man living in Johannesburg. While working in his family fabric shop run by his father (Vincent Ebrahim) by day, by night he lives out his dream of being a stand-up comedian. With the help of his best friend Yusuf (Joey Yusuf Rasdien), Cassim gets the chance to rise in the circuit, but how long will he be able to keep both lives separate?

Solidly cast, there is charisma and talent in even the most minor role. Ebrahim is brilliant in a more dramatic role, seeing as I mainly know him as Ashwin from The Kumars at No. 42, and Moosa has a real task to carry the film and manages to pull off both the oppressed son and happy-go-lucky man excellently.

As far as how it’s put together, there are moments of really striking cinematography with rich composition, but the score, which does work for the most part, occasionally feels odd and out of place with what’s come before. The screenplay, as far as dialogue, is spot on, but as with the score, tone is a different story.

In the beginning it’s quite hard to get a grip on the tone. It swings from dramatic comedy to comedic drama to rom-com to goofball comedy and back again. This very broadness, in all its forms, is what allows for such a universal enjoyment of the film. It feels as though there are too many really well made plates being spun. You can see what they were going for and to the film’s credit it doesn’t suffer from this, but it’s a bit too obvious when it slips from one to the other and as a result is at times jarring. When it does get going is when the focus is just on the comedy or, as the focus changes, the family drama.

Once the drama takes over from the comedy, the chasm can be felt and as a result it makes it more powerful. You become used to seeing a silly scene, like Yusuf and Cassim in their rubbish car, affectionately called “the lemon”, followed by a heartfelt, dramatic one with Cassim and his family. Once the silliness is gone, it adds a potency to the drama that would have been lacking otherwise and vice versa.

Clumsy in it’s plot but never losing focus on it’s themes, Material plays with very classical ideas like family and identity superbly. Unfortunately, due to the pillar-to-post tone shifts, it’s hard to get into at first. What is far more important is that there is real heart, in both the story and performances, which meant there was never any point where watching it became a chore. A satisfying film that many people, given the chance to see it, will enjoy, myself included.

Available to rent or buy on iTunes now.

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