NUMBER 37, The Neo-Black Crime Thriller Raises Stakes

Many films, openly or secretly, pay homage to other films. And it certainly takes a lot of courage to make a film that is an open tribute to a movie as iconic as Rear Window . But then, the South African director Nosipho Dumisa is not an ordinary filmmaker, and his first feature film Number 37 is not an ordinary film. The adaptation of her own short thriller is not small, and she gave us a tense and exciting story, with a typically South African tendency and an adaptation of the story to her own culture and understanding, in what is one of the most exciting beginnings. Randal (Irshaad Ally) is now a parapalegic, confined to a wheelchair in the second floor apartment that he shares with his love, but a long time -suffering girlfriend Pam (Monique Rockman). Now he owes money to the local gangster, and Pam 's work keeps them barely at home and at home. With the pivot blowing in his neck, and in both fear and boredom, Randal takes to watching his neighbors with newly acquired binoculars. What Randal sees, and what he plans to revive, could save him, but could also go bad in the most lethal way.

After Randal witnesses the murder of a crooked cop and knowing that there is a hidden hiding place Randal is putting together an action plan with Pam and his best friend Warren (Ephram Gordon ) who will pay off his debt and will probably put the Emmy gangster in jail for good. But, of course, nothing goes well, and as each domino falls in the wrong direction, Randal fights to survive him and Pam.

Located in the dangerous Cape Flats neighborhood in Cape Town, Dumisa takes full advantage of the use of both internal and external spaces to express danger, poverty, and the particular culture that comes from. an environment where any attempt to improve your life comes up against derision and violence. The square on which Randal looks is both hostile to his dreams, and now inaccessible because of his injury.

This is a world of endemic crime, where nothing comes without price, and far from being comfortable and safe in his apartment, Randal is constantly plagued by problems he can not escape metaphorically and physically. He can not hold wolves at bay, and Emmie and his thugs know it only too well, invading the space, as if to reinforce that, like his body, Randal's personal space is almost entirely to thank you to others. With every mistake or mishap in the execution of his plan, things go beyond all control, and Randal, who previously relied on his physical behavior to get his way, must resort to more cunning and words, a skill that he must learn quickly

The director of photography Zenn van Zyl and the sound designer James Matthes create this world of violence and tension, working with the scenario of Dumisa, for the present as the cruel and cruel place, which is rarely calm, where unnecessary danger, and nothing can hide the desperation felt by all. Dumisa never leaves the audience room, combining these elements with a story that goes from one crisis to another, mimicking Randal's life that becomes uncontrollable.

Neo-Black takes a new meaning in this movie, while Dumisa changes the game on the way we see crime both in the shadow and in the light of a cruel day. There is a new big wave of genre film emerging from South Africa, and Dumisa should be counted on the avant-garde. Number 37 is a racing thriller, tense, and dramatically dramatic, with surprises around every dark corner