In Camera (2023)

In Camera (2023). 1h 35m

“The camera clearly loves Nabhaan Rizwan in this quirky tale of would-be actor u0026quot;Adenu0026quot; who spends most of his life travelling from audition to photo-shoot then back to an audition without ever getting a call back. Itu0026#39;s clear that heu0026#39;s swimming against a tide of hundreds of like-minded aspirants and itu0026#39;s hard to see how heu0026#39;s going to break his duck. He shares a flat with the permanently over-tired doctor u0026quot;Bou0026quot; (Rory Fleck Byrne) but maybe things could pick up with their debonaire new sharer u0026quot;Conradu0026quot; (Amir El-Masry) shows up. Might his luck be about to improve? Or – might our friend have taken a bit of a leap into an alternate reality where his sub-conscious has started to change the repetitive dynamic of his life from one of repeated rejection to one of potential. By mid-way through, itu0026#39;s not at all clear to us just what is real and what might not be – and itu0026#39;s quite a bamboozling feeling to have! Rizwan brings some charisma to his frustrated role, certainly, and thereu0026#39;s some genuinely funny moments to be taken from his increasing despondency, but somehow I found the whole thing just a bit too disjointed and the characterisations undercooked. He is obviously a British-Asian, but are his experiences seeking success with his chosen career likely to be any less disappointing that anyone from a different background/ethnicity? Iu0026#39;m assuming 99% of people who embark on this sort of path end up working on tables and only ever see the bright lights of their shaving mirror? If itu0026#39;s trying to illustrate a complex sense of anxiety and itu0026#39;s consequences, then it misses completely, Iu0026#39;m afraid. Why should we care about the self-inflicted misery of a great looking man who could just easily go and do something else? Though I did like the exploratory premiss that director Naqqash Khalid is trying to take, I just felt too much was left undeveloped. Itu0026#39;s worth a watch, and Iu0026#39;m sure we will see more from both the leading creatives here – but this one, Iu0026#39;m not sure I will remember for long.”