London Film Festival - Ajami

The final film of the festival for me was the one I was looking forward to the most. An interesting sounding thriller set in the slums of the Jaffa neighbourhood, where Jews and Palestinians uneasily live side by side. It's a dangerous place where violence can and does happen, often suddenly and unexpectedly. The film opens with one of these acts of violence, where a young boy washing the family car is gunned down by youths on a moped. It's revealed that this is a gang killing, and also that the murderers have gunned down the wrong youth, mistaking him for their intended target. What follows is a tense, thoughtful pot-boiler as we find out how this shocking act of violence affects different characters in the neighbourhood.

Despite the fast paced and violent opening, the rest of the film is more deliberately paced, with the focus more on talking than on action. That's not to say it's boring – the script and direction by first time filmmakers Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani is engaging and thoughtful. The film is split into five chapters, which do not play in chronological order. Unfortunately playing the story out of order doesn't really add anything and I think it would have worked better as just a linear story. However it doesn't detract to much from the enjoyment of the film.

Despite the undeniably gritty setting and sometimes grim events Ajami is a characteristic and entertaining film. The characters are well drawn out, and their stories and actions are sometimes witty, sometimes tragic and often raise difficult questions. There's a sweet romantic subplot which helps soften some parts of the film, although it seems be forgotten about towards the end. The finale is also a bit too melodramatic, and doesn't have quite the dramatic punch it's aiming for.

Ajami was well worth watching and I'm not surprised to see it won the London Film Festival's Sutherland Trophy. What could have ended up being an Israeli version of City of God actually ends up having its very own strong identity and style.

I was lucky enough to see Ajami at the Phoenix cinema, a lovely single screen cinema in East Finchley which is currently going through a long renovation. The last film I saw there was Rushmore back in 1998 and the cinema had come along a long way since then, with a great looking foyer and refurbished art deco panels in the auditorium. There's still work to do though. Do make a visit there if you can, they usually have special screenings as well as the latest releases. Take a look at their website: http://www.phoenixcinema.co.uk.