In Camera - Film Review

Released on 13th September by Conic Films, highly intriguing British film by Naqqash Khalid starring Nabhaan Rizwan

In Camera follows the path of a young actor, Aden, portrayed by Nabhaan Rizwan caught in a cycle of nightmarish auditions and rejections across the industry. Directed by Naqqash Khalid, the film has won awards at Dinard and Thessaloniki film festivals and was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards.

Aden shares a flat with his long-time flatmate Bo, a junior doctor and a new roommate, Conrad (Amir El-Masry), who is a fashion influencer.

The film is attempting to make a statement on actors especially minority actors and the difficulties they have in breaking through to be taken seriously as actors in general and not on the periphery of situations and productions.

At times, Kafkaesque in the sense that our lead actor is lost in the vacuum of endless repeatable auditions and the notion that his ambition is being lost amidst the surreal nature of this all - this is a film full of ideas that is attempting to make semblance of it.

Over time as Aden struggles to gain work in the creative industry, he takes on a freelance role portraying the son of a grieving set of parents, taking on the guise of a white son for a middle-class family. Following this incident, when he feels more real and human, Aden slowly becomes jealous of Conrad's ability to gain what he wants by manipulating people and moments to his advantage and by being perhaps a more acceptable brown face - clean shaven, smartly dressed, clear English diction.

Taking inspiration from Conrad's Instagram feed, Aden morphs into the roommate, almost fooling Bo that he is him, adopting his mannerisms and image to play a new role in a single white female homage per se. Aden gains greater work by becoming less a deliberate actor and more an accidental person in the acting world. 

There is an interesting sub-plot involving Aiden's room-mate Bo, portrayed by Rory Fleck-Byrne, a junior doctor who is constantly hounded/harassed by a vending machine and the grind of his work load is taking over him. One set piece shows him being dunked by the blood on him by lives lost supposedly, he cannot stop the blood flowing and feels useless. He admits to drowning in the blood and this statement on the pressures junior doctors feel relevant and real. His story is a political statement, whereas the minority actor looking for recognition is the plot A strand. Roles are reversed seemingly for these protagonists. 

A revealing portrait of the male psyche struggling to adapt to the social media landscape, the pressures males find themselves under in this society - to look good, and be better than they are - in contrast to others who have it easy in comparison. Image is everything but what to do when your face just does not fit. 

For this reviewer though, In Camera is a film with a lot of ideas  and succeeds in wanting to say everything on its mind. It also cements the promise of Nabhaan Rizwan; a chameleon type actor who himself is doing away with pigeon-holing and type casting in his own career having recently starred as Dionydus in the recent Netflix series, Kaos opposite Jeff Goldblum and Janet McTeer. Rizwan is a highly talented actor who will grow into greater and bigger things.

Released by Conic Films.