By Bernardo Moreno
The first film by director Aneil Karia is the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2020 Sundance festival. It opens a small window into protagonist Joseph’s experiential situation. He lives in a small apartment and is a lonely security guard in an airport terminal, caught up in the hustle and bustle of work and the daily routine. Joseph is a clear example of an individual swallowed up by a disinterested society, an alien and with no possibility of being anything than one of many. He lives inside a huge system removed from sympathy and lacking in humanity.
With frantic handling of the camera and a delirious performance by Ben Whishaw—whom we might remember from the movie “Perfume,” we observe a defeated protagonist. We can guess the courage and anger through his uncertain and uncomfortable corporeality. He battles for liberation and breaking with the status quo. We are confronted, through the protagonist with a neoliberalist, oppressive system. A system that poisons relationships of all kinds: family, personal, work, and economic. It expects a certain behavior from the individual as if he were a mercenary. If the individual takes a different route he would have to prepare to go step by step to either madness or happiness. The decisions that Joseph makes create discomfort and anxiety in us, but also empathy.
It is amazing how a film can engage, without the need for so many resources, simply with a good story. The dialogue is specific and the scenes connect the dots. The performances are realistic, and the camera with its invasiveness does not allow one to divert attention from the scenes. This great directorial debut of Aneil Karia brings us a film without fluff or clichés. You can watch this movie on Prime Video.
