A Tale of Shadows

Firstly, Don't go into this film if you expect crazy visual effects and fancy camera movements. This is a unique film, one of it's kind. The story sadly does not complete, it leaves us with many questions, some of my friends liked, others hated. for a movie done with around 200,000 dollars, it's something great. Considering the crew within the film was also extremely small, it should've been way worst, but they achieved something here.

The story was decent, it's really hard to grasp what's happening, especially considering the long talks between characters, this, however, goes away halfway through, then things start to get interesting. It's that boring part that contains the details that makes this film have a great story, so it's no surprise many people didn't get the story in the first 40 minutes.

The film however did have flaws, with sound and VFX. The film in itself is unique, and requires a great deal of focus to understand what's happening. what seems to flow as a common comment the character says is actually something big if you pay attention.

Overall, the film is set for certain audiences, a very, very limited one who loves to put mysteries together. For a first time filmmaker, and with such a small budget and small crew, it's an incredible achievement that deserves recognition. looking forward for the second part of the series, hopefully, it will answer our questions. Well done to Alkazim and his team, I hope your hard work is recognized by the UAE.

Iv'e seen people just hate on the movie so much, and it comes due to mainly it's length. So Since no one is speaking for Mr. Alkazim, I'll speak for him on his behalf. This is an Independent film, that was shot with a crew of only 4 people. an average low cost Hollywood movie has At least 20 crew members. it was budgeted at 720,000 dirhams, which Mr. Alkazim had brought out from his own pocket, and in the end, he got 23 cinemas across UAE. people who say this is a terrible movie must understand, that it's not a terrible movie, it's history in the making. A man had just completed a feature film like no other person in this world completed before, with some serious courage, he made a feature film at some impossible circumstances. but, we're here for a proper review, you shall receive:

story: It had many flaws no doubt, but not as bad as it's been said. The story is clear, precise, the only thing is, it had many unsolved answers.

cinematography: As one mentioned here, it looks like it was shot by a phone camera is false, it's actually one of the best things about the film that was done very well.

Acting: Not bad, it may go a bit over the top at some points, but that's about it.

Pace: Very slow in the beginning, I saw people leave, but, then again, they didn't stay to see the nice ending the movie had to offer.

And please, for the love of god, stop being rude to Emirati filmmakers, they have it tough as it is, with limited education and support, it's our support that matters to them, so they have my support. A 10/10 for a tale of shadows, because Emirati cinema must be respected for the tough times they are going through, and this movie was a miracle for those tough times.

Just have to throw it out there. This movie had flaws. I just gave it a 10 because of the plot and the reasonably good points the commentor before me shared. I was literally not expecting anything from this, and just thought "let's make fun of it" at the start, but then I was srsly hooked. Though some parts of the acting broke the mood, overall I applaud this crew and cast for being professional despite this really low budget. No joke. Ngl that actor for Garet was quite fresh

The movie has a very complex story. It's quite difficult to get the moral message behind it if you don't think. but behind it is a very beautiful concept.

The story really goes really deep, there's tons of messages behind every action and reaction of the actors, that if put together, can give us a deeper understanding in life.

To avoid spoilers, I'll keep it brief and simple. The message that's trying to be conveyed here is that there is a higher power in everything, and the strongest amongst them is the younger and inexperienced, and that the higher power will use them to their own good until they've become useless.

Another message is that life isn't fair, but only because of how you think it.

There's tons of messages in this film, and that's the beauty of it. The acting was OK, in one or two scenes it kinda goes over the top, the accents are a bit off, but given that every actor is from a different nationality, the director pulled it off really well. the camera work was also good, given that the director himself was the cinematographer. but it's very, very, very slow! At least in the beginning, I was close to leaving the cinema, but gladly I stayed to see the film's ending, and saw the beauty of it all, Which i guess is why it made it to the cinemas. The sound had several issues towards the end of the film, can't deny that.

Overall, it's a decent film, just don't expect a super effects with crazy visuals in it. Just go watch it for the deep message behind it if you love stories that are deep.

I have seen many movies, and this is the worst movie made in history and is a disgrace to all movies. The filming looks like it was done with a cellphone camera. The audio quality was so bad, and you could tell when the voice layover audio file was playing during dialog between characters. Acting was unbelievably terrible. The script makes no sense. The story is not a story, it is a joke. Mr Tariq Alkazim will do the entire film industry a favor if he is never involved in making another movie.