We enter that time where the festival has officially ended but, because I’ve watched so many films, you’ll still be getting festival updates for the next few weeks. Strap in (or snooze and come back in November when it’s far less festival-y. But probably still film-y).
Unsurprisingly this year, given the focus that Black Lives Matter has rightly received, a number of the films focus on questions of identity and race. Here’s one of them.
Mogul Mowgli
Dir. Bassam Tariq / Dur. 89 mins
Strand:- Dare
In A Nutshell:- British-Pakistani rapper Zed returns home where he struggles with connecting with his family while coping with a debilitating illness.
The Good:- Given that it’s co-written by and stars Riz Ahmed who has himself been rapping since he was a teenager, this very much feels like a passion project. The film examines what it means to be both British and Pakistani and the competing pull of family, tradition and religion alongside that of modern Western culture (US as much as British given that hip hop originated there). Ahmed is great in this - he’s in virtually every shot and the film is very much about placing us as much as possible in Zed/Zaheer’s head; an effect enhanced by being shot in tight 4:3 rather than widescreen* and also by the use of a lot of hallucinatory visions that bleed in and out of Zed’s day to day life. The mixture of memory and symbolism, particularly with the masked figure that haunts Zed throughout the film, give an interesting visual texture to the film and help to highlight the split that Zed feels. There are some moments of comedy as well in the form of rival rapper RPG’s truly atrocious music video, highlighting all the dreadful misogynist stereotypes that can still be found in certain examples of the genre.
The Bad:- Some of the dream sequence usage feels a little over the top at times and it gives the film a bit more of a rough and ready feel. Also, it focuses so strongly on Zed that a couple of the other characters feel a little thinly drawn.
The Verdict:- Ahmed is great and the film wisely leans into his ability to sell this throughout. An interesting and visually different take on British race identity.
*There seems to be a bit of a resurgence of shooting in 4:3; last year’s Bait shot on 16mm film to great effect and A Common Crime, reviewed last time, also used that aspect ratio.
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