While the Oscars controversy dominated the headlines this year, several great actors and directors. As a result, including one from the United Kingdom, Riz Ahmed, received their first Academy Awards. Ahmed has been praised for his emotional rawness, vulnerability, and ability to address the important issue of identity throughout his acting career. Make sure you haven’t missed any of these key performances if you’re a fan of his work.
1. Nightcrawler (2014)
Director- Dan Gilroy
Louis Bloom is a small-time criminal who steals steel, bronze, and copper from the streets of Los Angeles and is looking for work. He decides to buy a camcorder and a police scanner radio from a pawn shop after seeing a freelance filmmaker capturing an accident. He overhears Nina Romina’s name, who is in charge of a television station’s TV news, and sells his first footage. Louis learns how to better his films and enlists the assistance of the homeless Rick. When Louis learns about his competition Joe Loder’s new van and equipment. As a result, he sabotages it, causing a serious disaster. Louis is a sociopath who sees gore as a better way to get pay for his footage. As a result, he quits his job as a crime photographer in order to get involve in crime scenes and advance in his new occupation.
2. Four Lions (2010)
Director- Chris Morris
Four men in a British city have a secret scheme. Omar is disillusion with how Muslims are treated around the world and is determined to join the military. Waj has never heard a more fascinating concept. Even better, it’s a no-brainer because Omar makes the decision for him. Barry, a white Islamic convert, stands in opposition to Omar and everyone else on the planet. If he had half the self-awareness of a duck, he’d recognise he joined the cell to channel his nihilism. Faisal stands out as the odd guy out. He knows how to create a bomb. However, he can’t use it right now since his ailing father has “started eating newspaper”. As a result, he’s instead teaching ravens to throw bombs through windows. This is the situation Omar is in. They must land a crushing blow on their own soil.
3. The Road To Guantanamo (2006)
Director(s)- Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom
In 2001, four Pakistani Britons, Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal, and Shafiq Rasul, as well as a friend, Monir, travel to Pakistan for a wedding. In a fit of idealism, decide to visit war-torn Afghanistan, which is being attack by American forces in punishment for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They get arrest by Northern Alliance warriors as they arrive, having lost Monir in the battle pandemonium. They are subsequently given to American forces, who take them to the Guantanamo Bay jail facilities in Cuba. Following that, they get imprison, interrogate, and torture for three years in order to coerce them into making patently false admissions to being terrorists. The three try to keep their spirits up despite the harassment.
4. The Night Of (TV Mini Series 2016)
Created by- Steven Zaillian, James Marsh
Nasir ‘Naz’ Khan, a college student from Queen, is invited to a party in Manhattan. Naz decides to steal the cab owned by his father and two partners and drive to Manhattan after his ride fails him. He meets Andrea Cornish, a young lady he meets by chance, and they have a one-night stand in her place, playing Knife Game and drinking and using drugs. Naz wakes up in the kitchen and goes to Andrea’s room to say his goodbyes, only to discover her stabbed to death. Naz flees the crime site, panicked and with no remembrance of what happened.
However, he is apprehended following a traffic violation by two police officers and taken to the 21st Precinct. After a few hours, Detective Dennis Box discovers evidence that Naz is the murderer of Andrea and imprisons him. In the beginning of The Night Of, the ambulance chaser John Stone sees Naz in the jail and offers his services.
5. Sound Of Metal (2019)
Director- Darius Marder
Ruben, a metal drummer, has been living for the moment for the past four years, keeping his inner demons at bay by devoting himself to art. He discovers that his hearing is progressively fading while on tour with his lead singer/girlfriend, Lou. Ruben grudgingly decides to join a small deaf community managed by Joe, a kind Vietnam War veteran, as his sudden hearing loss turns his world upside down and numbing fear and indignant denial take over. Ruben must now find some solid foundation, realise that being deaf is not a hindrance, and that deafness is not something that can be fixed.
6. Mogul Mowgli (2020)
Director- Bassam Tariq
Zed, a British Pakistani rapper on the verge of his first international tour, chooses to fly home to the UK to see his family, whom he hasn’t seen in two years. He is abruptly struck down by an autoimmune condition while attempting to reunite with his parents. As his condition worsens and his big breakthrough moment appears to be slipping away. Consequently, Zed experiences a physical and emotional breakdown, which is exacerbated by strange hallucinations.
7. Flee (2021)
Director- Jonas Poher Rasmussen
The turbulent 1980s Kabul. Violent civil war interrupts the joyful boyhood of 11-year-old Amin, who is forced to abandon his home against the backdrop of the catastrophic Afghan War. Amin, on the other hand, manages to seek asylum in Copenhagen as an unaccompanied juvenile. With his family dispersed across Europe, Amin, now 36, reflects on his traumatic past and strives to conceal his emerging sexuality, telling his close companion about well-kept secrets and crucial events that defined him as a person.
8 . Encounter (2021)
Director- Michael Pearce
A metaphorical coming-of-age story about a young woman’s quest for independence and the reclamation of her own voice. Encounter is a mysterious, dreamy other-world created by award-winning director Arctic Qu, in which every part of this surrealistic trip points to, dissects, and deconstructs the worldly reality we live by.
