Notícias

The urge to dazzle can be its own straitjacket, and it’s one that weighs heavily on Meshal Aljaser’s feature debut “Naga.” He aims for a hurtling virtuosity, à la “Run Lola Run,” in depicting a disobedient young Saudi woman’s extreme travails in trying to get home before her strict curfew. But that quarter-century-old German thriller’s simplicity of plot supported its hyperbolic style, while here the writer-director is so preoccupied with camera and editorial calisthenics, nothing else has a chance to come into focus. The flamboyant but hollow results feel like too conscious a calling card for a talent that next time out should embrace some restraint, not to mention substance.

A 1970 prologue of murky relevance starts things off at peak melodramatic and cinematic hysteria, as a man enters a hospital with an automatic weapon while Dp Ibraheem Alshangeeti does upside-down 360’s for no obvious reason. In the present day,...

Writer/director Meshal Aljaser’s Naga had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, and we’ve learned today that it’s now coming to Netflix.

Naga will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix Thursday, December 7.

In the Saudi genre film, “Stranded amid Riyadh’s desert dunes, Sarah, a local Saudi girl, escapes heartaches and the vengeance of a vigorous camel after discreetly sneaking out of her parent’s home for a romantic date that landed her astray.”

Adwa Bader, Khalid Bin Shaddad, Amal Alharbi and Yazeed Almajyul star.

Joe Lipsett reviewed Naga for Bloody Disgusting out of TIFF, raving: “Between the virtuoso camerawork and the ticking clock, Naga‘s closest spiritual comparison is the adrenaline rush of Run Lola Run.” Joe’s review continues, “Naga is an incredibly exciting, dynamic thriller featuring an assured performance from lead actress Adwa Bader.

“The film never shies away...

“Your Story, Your Festival,” is the theme for this year‘s Red Sea International Film Festival, with organizers promising “a unique and powerful platform for celebrating film, connecting cultures and expanding horizons while welcoming stories from all walks of life.”

The festival’s third edition will take place Nov. 30-Dec. 9 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Alongside an international line-up that includes Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Ava Duvernay’s Origin and Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, the Red Sea festival is a showcase for new Arab cinema.

Here’s The Hollywood Reporter‘s pick of six new titles from across the region that expand the image of Arab movies, ranging from a jinn fantasy romance and a coming-of-age drama to an adventure thriller featuring a vengeance-seeking camel.

Hwjn, opening film

A local Saudi Arabian movie will raise the curtain on the Red Sea Festival for the first time this year,...

Writer/director Meshal Aljaser’s Naga opens with a moment of shocking violence: in 1970, a man with a gun moves through the halls of a hospital, searching for his pregnant wife. When he finds her, he murders her and the male doctor, incensed that his baby boy wasn’t delivered by a female doctor as he prescribed.

The incident hangs heavy over the entire film – in part because of the random nature of the violence, but more specifically because it is so gendered. Saudi Arabia is a deeply patriarchal society where the rules of men are paramount and the penalties for women who “misbehave” are severe.

This is certainly the experience of Sara (Adwa Bader), the daughter of an affluent and intimidatingly strict man (Khalid Bin Shaddad). In the present day, Sara is gently rebelling however she can: she smokes (discreetly) and she has a secret boyfriend, Saad (Yazeed Almajyul...