Movie Reviews
In Flames review: Complex tale of patriarchal oppression with a horror edge
Selected cinemas; Cert 15A
‘In Flames’ bears all the usual hallmarks of a grounded social drama. Photo: Blue Finch Film Releasing
Sinister men and malevolent spirits play treacherous mind games with a young Pakistani woman in Zarrar Kahn’s unsettling psychological drama, In Flames. Mariam (Ramesha Nawal, brilliant) and her mother Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar, likewise) are in mourning. The latter’s father has died – so, too, has her husband, which means the family is now without a patriarch.
The neighbours won’t like that, and though Fariha wishes her daughter would find a husband, Mariam dreams of becoming a doctor and is dedicated to her studies. That is, until Asad (Omar Javaid), a pushy stranger who showers Mariam with compliments, enters the equation.