Nek Alba: A Relic Worth Digging Up?

Is it worth the screen time?

Honestly, you probably already know if you are going to like Nek Alba or not. If you get a kick out of old, slightly clunky dramas that rely heavily on heavy-handed dialogue, you will be fine. If you need a movie to keep you awake with constant motion, skip it. It is a slow burn that doesn't always know where it's going. 🐢

The whole thing feels like a play that just happened to have a camera pointed at it. There is a lot of standing around and talking, which is fine, but sometimes the spacing feels a bit off. Like, people are standing in corners for no reason other than the director forgot to give them somewhere to sit.

The performances

Jamshedji does his best with the script he was given. There is a moment about halfway through where he looks at the wall for a full ten seconds—it’s just him, the wall, and the sound of a cricket outside—and you can tell he is trying to carry the weight of the entire plot on his shoulders. It’s a bit awkward, but I kind of liked it.

Ghulam Mohammed is there too, though he seems to be in a different movie half the time. It is like he is acting in a big, dramatic epic while everyone else is in a quiet living room drama. It is a weird mix, but it adds a strange, off-kilter energy to the scenes they share. 🎭

I couldn't help but think about how much simpler film felt back then, compared to something like Into the Net. There is no flash here, just a lot of earnest faces trying to get the point across. It is not as polished as Harmony at Home, but it has that same feeling of being made by people who really cared about the message.

• The lighting in the second act is surprisingly moody.
• I swear I heard a stagehand cough in the background of that one scene.
• The costumes look like they were pulled directly from someone's actual closet.
• One of the transitions is so jarring it made me jump.

The film doesn't really try to be profound. It just exists. It’s nice, in a way, to watch something that isn't trying to change your life or win a stack of awards. It is just a story about folks dealing with their stuff.

Sometimes, the silence in the movie is just a bit too heavy. You can feel the actors waiting for their cue, and it breaks the illusion of the story. But hey, it is human. Things like that happen when you are not working with a massive budget. 🤷‍♂️

If you have seen The Jucklins, you might find a similar, cozy sort of frustration here. It isn't perfect, it isn't smooth, and the plot gets tangled in its own feet, but it’s real. It feels like someone just turned on a light and started recording. Sometimes, that is enough.