Taxi Driver meets Nightcrawler on the incessantly rainy streets of Riyadh?!....who would've thought!
A novel glimpse into the gig-economy and colliding worlds of a modern-day Saudi Arabia, told through the eyes of an unhinged delivery driver, selling bootlegged alcohol to fulfil his patriarchal duties as family caretaker.
Lead actor delivers a compelling performance and cinematographer does very well to capture the tension and frenzy of most scenes; a respectable effort from a nascent Saudi movie industry waking up from a 35 year slumber.
That said, director was seemingly overcome by the duration of a feature film, and many peripheral scenes or moments were overly drawn out. The script too was heavily lacking in depth, character development and authenticity. This exacerbated an erratic and seemingly random build-up and dissipation of tension throughout the movie, culminating in a disappointing ending. To make things worse, the subtitling felt like the work of an impubescent first-timer who cared more about flaunting his familiarity with American pie-esque profanity and bro culture, than delfty translating the original Arabic script - apparently an 82 year old History Professor jokes with his son and asks "do you even lift bro?" or in another scene, a cousin tells the lead actor to "calm his tits" when the original script had virtually nothing to do with that in meaning or context. Hard to see this beyond what it is: a publicity stunt showcasing a more "western" Saudi grappling with its "modernity".
