A woman battles patriarchy, drugs, creepy camels, fake-ass poets, and more in this super-trippy, fairly engaging Saudi thriller. As a viewer, I think you can better connect with the material if you're aware of the region's geography and living conditions. Having lived in the Middle East for a good amount of time, the environs (especially, how a late-night desert camp looks, sounds, and feels) brought back a lot of memories. NAGA intends to take you on an anxiety-inducing ride with a lot of fast cuts and distorted edits; the frame often goes dangerously close to the characters' faces. The film also probably features the spookiest camel you'll ever see.
Meshal Aljaser's penchant for long & wide shots is evident, and he puts them to stupendous use in certain scenes. While the thrills keep coming, I feel the film is around 15 minutes too long. The entire episode at the quad rental shop (towards the end) didn't add much - even from a psychological perspective, I began to think Sarah (the protagonist) had too much to endure for one single night. Credit to Adwa Bader for her remarkable portrayal of Sarah; the shot of her breaking shackles and fervently consuming camel meat made me feel uncomfortable.
Meshal Aljaser's penchant for long & wide shots is evident, and he puts them to stupendous use in certain scenes. While the thrills keep coming, I feel the film is around 15 minutes too long. The entire episode at the quad rental shop (towards the end) didn't add much - even from a psychological perspective, I began to think Sarah (the protagonist) had too much to endure for one single night. Credit to Adwa Bader for her remarkable portrayal of Sarah; the shot of her breaking shackles and fervently consuming camel meat made me feel uncomfortable.