Naga review: A Hollywood-style comedy-thriller, but a distinctly Saudi story

The Meshal Al Jaser-directed movie is out on Netflix this week

Adwa Bader plays Sarah in Naga. Photo: Netflix

Naga is a proudly chaotic comedy-thriller that tells a distinctly Saudi story in a stylish manner akin to a Hollywood film.

Adwa Bader plays Sarah, a young Saudi woman who is given a strict curfew by her incredibly conservative father after she asks him if she can go shopping. But the shopping spree is a bluff and Sarah has different plans. Instead of perusing the stores around Riyadh, Sarah meets up for a secret rendezvous with her potential suitor Saad (Yazeed Almajyul).

Saad tells Sarah he has an invitation to an underground party way out in the desert. Sarah can’t resist the allure and quickly agrees to go. But only if Saad promises to have her back by 10pm, which is when her father has insisted he’ll be outside the store to pick her up.

This plan almost immediately starts to go awry, though. When Saad and Sarah are on their way out into the desert, they’re accosted by a gun-wielding man driving a Jeep and then come into contact with a rabid camel, who isn’t only thirsty for blood, but is also intent on revenge – all of which they have to deal with while being intoxicated.

Over the course of the day, the pair have to contend with various members of Saudi society, including a devious poet. All while Sarah keeps an eye on the ticking clock. The chances of her getting back to her father in time become increasingly remote, particularly because there’s a popular football match taking place in the city, which has reduced traffic to a standstill.

Written and directed by Meshal Al Jaser, there’s a turbulence to Naga that makes the film feel as though it could easily careen out of control and become tedious. But it’s to Al Jaser’s credit that he is always in full control of the story and even manages to take it in a variety of surprising directions, while also making sure each challenge that Sarah is confronted by is told in either a funny, suspenseful or creative fashion.

Al Jaser is aided in this pursuit by a star-turning performance from Bader, who is utterly mesmerising as the rebellious Sarah. While she repeatedly can’t help but have in her own way, starting fights and going into restricted areas without a moment’s thought, Bader still brings a resoluteness and vulnerability to the character that makes you fully invested in her plight.

Without a performance as strong as Bader’s there’s every chance that Naga would run out of stream. Especially because, as Sarah’s night gets increasingly perilous, Naga threatens to feel more like a series of vignettes rather than a seamless narrative. This tumultuous approach only enhances the film’s anarchistic energy, though, and helps to make it feel more distinctive and unique.

Clearly inspired by the likes of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, the Safdie brothers’ Good Time and the works of Quentin Tarantino, Al Jaser is always looking to find an arresting angle or move the camera quickly in an attempt to make viewers feel as though they’re lost in the desert with Sarah. At the same time, he has the confidence to slow the story down, suddenly take a non-linear approach, dive into different genres, and even inject a surreal feel to set pieces, all without going too far.

Not all of Naga works. There are scenes that feel unnecessary, while Al Jaser’s direction feels occasionally indulgent, and it could probably be more tightly told and shorter.

But even these slight blemishes don’t stop Naga from being thoroughly entertaining throughout. It’s always fun, and more often than not very funny. Even more importantly than that, the film establishes Al Jaser and Bader as two inventive and exhilarating creatives that the world of cinema should be very excited by and watch out for.

Naga is out on Netflix on Thursday