Author: BRWC

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.

Eenie Meenie Miney Moe, or #EM3, follows a group of Miami natives as they struggle through their day to day lives. The main focus is Raul (Andres Dominguez), a tow truck driver who falls for Nikki (Belkys Galvez). As these peoples lives intertwine, how long will it be before something goes wrong?

Firstly, this film is absolutely gorgeous. The visual style for a film of it’s type is outstanding, and you can tell that director Jokes Yanes (credited simply as Jokes) knows exactly what he’s doing with the camera (a real high point being the “Strip The Whip” sequence). The sound design also deserves recognition, helping capture, and sometimes create, the tone of scenes perfectly. Also, there isn’t a bad performance to be seen, but co-writer J. Bishop is a real stand-out as Russian tough-guy wannabe Vlad.

Other reviewers have commented that #EM3 is a “true” depiction of Miami, which is some thing I can’t really talk about here but I’ll take their word for it. This may well be the Mean Streets of 21^st century Miami, but as most people don’t live there we are reliant on character and plot to maintain our interest. Here is where the problems start, and it’s a big one.

There are some real character problems. It’s not that they are wicked or cruel, but they are underdeveloped and hardly introduced. It was hard to tell peoples relationships to one another and especially the motivations for their actions,

It isn’t that it’s glamorising the lifestyle, or encouraging the character’s behaviour, it is just not a very well put together story. In terms of it’s sound, visuals, editing etc, everything is amazing. In terms of thematic content and thought behind the characters, it is utterly terrible, which leads to one of two conclusions about the film. 1) An amazingly sophisticated satire on the banality of amorality, or 2) Someone with a great sense of how to put a film together but not how to find the parts in the first place. I’m siding with the latter.

This is glitter passing itself off as gold. It is beautiful to look at for a while, but if you look closer it is banal. It’s like rap music videos; 10 minutes and I’m fine, an hour and I’m bored and annoyed. This is the biggest shame, as what could have been a gut punch ending is spoiled by the first hour and a quarter losing me.

All this film needed was a little bit less thought put into what it was going to look like when things happened and more into why it was going to happen and what that would mean for the film’s overall meaning. I really wish it had because this feels like a wasted opportunity to make a really interesting film. Instead, it’s all flash and no bang.

I could be completely wrong. This could be a Paul Verhoeven-esque, ultra sly satire passing itself of as the very thing it is satirising, but even if it is that, it’s Showgirls, not Starship Troopers.

Almost Married follows Kyle (Philip McGinley) who contracts an STI on his stag do. To get the all clear, he must wait 90 days to be tested and so, with the help of best friend Jarvis (Mark Stobbart), he must avoid sex with his wife-to-be Lydia (Emily Atack), but how long can he keep it up before there is no wedding?

This works as an (and I cannot emphasise this next word enough) unintentional comment on the rise in awareness of STI’s in the popular consciousness in the last few decades. We’re finally at the point where a comedy about this can be made instead of just being something disgusting or funny that happens to a character.

While on the topic, when it’s funny, it is really funny. It is very upfront about it’s lewd humour, which works. It has the ring of truth to it of mates-down-the-pub comic sensibility, delivering knee-jerk belly laughs over trying to be satirical. However, the structure really lets down the fun to be had.

It is clumsily plotted, with a big dip in the middle where it becomes quite dramatic (out of the blue) and feels aimless, then it finds a plot that would have been better had it started earlier. The main plot, which does have a ton of comic potential, should have been a minor point, having Kyle avoiding sex while doing something with more of a linear focus. As it is, the last 30 minutes or so of proper plotting leaves a bitter taste, showing us a decent film that could, and to be honest should, have been.

In a similar vein, the drama falls as the film sets up the relationship between Kyle and Jarvis, and then it enters serious mode and Jarvis disappears. While there isn’t a bad performance to be seen, Stobbart is absolutely hilarious, and his absence is obvious making it feel like it should have been more focused on Jarvis and Kyle doing…whatever.

It would be unfair of me to not mention that this isn’t a slap-dash film in it’s visual presentation. There are some great shots and editing here and it comes across professionally, hoping meaning more work for writer/director Ben Cookson who is obviously a very capable film maker. Unfortunately this isn’t enough to wash away the issues, but hopefully we’ll be seeing another British comedy with a bit more plot polish from this new, rough talent.

While it never regains the momentum it loses for it’s stifling middle and the fact it shows us what might have been in the last 30 minutes is salt in the wounds, Almost Married is a decent comedy and it’s well worth a watch for a few good laughs.