iNumber Number (2013)

There are movies on which I can say "this will be good" after three minutes. Well ... in some cases it happens that I'm wrong. Not with "iNumber Number".

Simple story. In the corrupt world of South Africa's law enforcement, two cops try to make a difference. Until the day one of them gets tired risking his life for rewards stolen by superiors, and decides to push a bit further his undercover work = to move forward with a robbery planned by a gang, get them caught only after the hit, and "lose" some cash evidence in the process. Hardly, he manages to convince his partner to back him up eventually. But, of course, things go wrong ...

What we have here is a South African indie budget movie, that I had the opportunity to catch at a local film festival. I really hope this gets a wider release, since it's way better than many action movies made in Hollywood. Top notch directing and casting (despite the fact I don't know any actor). But what makes this movie really shine is the camera work and the editing ... I think is the only movie I've seen by now where I really liked the use of kinetic camera for the action sequences. It happened before in some rare cases to be neutral/ok, bun generally I hate this ... Because usually is exaggerated, chaotic, and gives headaches. What I've watched here can get in a cinematography course on how to dose "the shakiness" both as time and as movement direction. Besides this, the cinematography it's overall simply superb. There's much to say .. I'll resume only on how the English subtitle track is integrated, which I think comes along the original movie reel (= was the same on yt trailers & in cinema). The text is not placed in the classic bottom/center, but occupies the most appropriate space on the running scene. At some point it gave me the (positive) impression, I have a rolling comic book in front of my eyes.

Although as I said the story is simple, the movie is action packed + even if you probably expect the classic happy-end, there are many some small details that complicate the situation and keep you focused. I've already gave a (predictable) light spoiler on the movie ending, and that's probably the weakest point in the whole film. Too idealistic :) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5