★★
Directed by: Prashast Singh
Written by: Prashast Singh
Starring: Prashast Singh
A look into the life of a professional hitman and his adventures.
This Indian short thriller's subject is a contract killer named Neeras (Singh) and he talks to the audience about his profession, some assignments he has completed and the type of guns that he uses to carry out executions, including the difference between utilizing a modified firearm or a standard one. Then things get complicated with one of his clients and a policeman who is out to get him and Neeras ends up in danger of being exposed.
The thing that stands out the most here is that there is no movement. The entire film consists of still images, edited together. There is no actual footage containing motion at all. The images show the protagonist as he walks, runs, interacts with his phone or brandishes his weapons. There are many pictures that show the killer's gloved hands holding a variety of firearms, ranging from handguns, automatic rifles and submachine guns. Several images are in black-and-white. Neeras is the only person who is seen and for the majority of the film his face is hidden.
Since the whole film is like a slideshow, the viewer depends on Singh's voice-over in order to understand what is going on. His narration does not accompany the images well. Sometimes his words do not seem to have anything to do with what is seen on screen and the experience can be confusing. For instance, the film will cut from the killer to a picture of a river and it is not clear how the two are connected.
Along with the narrator's spoken words, there is music that consists of drums and piano, which might not be to everyone's liking and their sounds do not create a particular kind of atmosphere.
During the first half or so, the film operates like a documentary as Neeras explains who he is and how he carries out his work as an assassin. A narrative is added when he becomes aware that someone is attempting to bring him down.
Neeras is basically like reading a book with pictures, only (as mentioned above) the words do not go with the images very effectively. The fact that this project is about an assassin is cool and the highlights occur with the closeups of the various guns. However, apart from that, there isn't much there.
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