Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

There was good news and bad news as I headed into my showing of Sirāt today. The good: I’m almost done with my Oscars Death Race, and after Sirāt, there would only be one more loose end for me to find. The bad: I had to drive to north Dallas to see this, meaning I spent just as much time driving to and from the movie as I did seeing the movie. Not ideal, but I was hoping that the movie I spent all this time driving for would be worth it. I think it was, but not for the reasons I was expecting.

For most of the first half of the story, I was less enthralled and more bored, honestly. The journey through the desert might have been more interesting if this road-trip type of movie had really leaned into the conventions of road-trip movies (humor, namely). Fortunately, the midpoint (and its immediately memorable and scarring event) reignited my interest in the movie in the scariest way possible. This movie featured easily two of the most shocking (and four of the more disturbing) deaths that I’ve seen on screen, and the two absolute shockers will be ones I won’t soon forget. While they didn’t make me “like” this movie more, per se, I was fearfully hooked for the rest of the runtime.

The second half of the film was easily its strength, and the story and sound worked expertly in tandem to create a very stressful environment for the viewer. Once I learned that they had no problem pulling punches narratively, I was legitimately breathless as the remaining ravers made their way through the minefield. Sirāt’s moments of peak stress were just as high as both Uncut Gems and Marty Supreme, which is a huge compliment. Again, though, I can’t say that it was something that I enjoyed in the way that I enjoyed those movies. I was gobsmacked, but not delighted.

Sirāt was certainly the most anxiety-inducing movie I’ve seen for this year’s Oscars Death Race (I’d include Marty Supreme, because at least there was some moments of comedic relief and sports fun). It totally earned its Sound nomination—the nearly-empty theater I saw it in felt very claustrophobic—but I would have given its International Feature nomination to No Other Choice. I’m plenty glad to see international films getting so much love—especially those garnering nominations outside of their dedicated category—but I like it more when those films are the ones I like best. Sirāt was memorable, even if I didn’t “like” it, and while I was impressed, I’ll never see it again. RIP Pipa.