In Flames

A mostly ordinary family drama from Pakistan. The horror scenes are somehow superfluous and detract from the story rather than support it. Some of the characters' decisions and their subsequent repercussions are depicted in a strange manner with no apparent point. In Flames is an inoffensive but rather unnecessary affair that overstays its welcome in many scenes. (10/09/2023)

A Muslim woman’s struggle against patriarchal laws and her greedy brother-in-law, who could take her apartment away from her after the death of her father and husband, is coincidentally also the subject of this year’s Jordanian co-production drama Inshallah a Boy, which handled the same theme better. Here the main protagonist is the daughter of the woman in question. She is an adolescent medical-school candidate who is consumed with feelings of guilt over the death of her boyfriend. Thanks to that, this social drama about the shared hardships of a mother and her daughter is unconventionally enhanced with horror-like visions that appear to both women. However, these visions ultimately don’t lead to anything, are not in any way scary and, as a result, come across as rather needless. The film also isn’t helped by its characters’ odd behaviour or the strange climax with a nonsensical outcome that doesn’t make any kind of point. (10/12/2023)

This is how the Pakistanis see the horror genre? Quietly let the grieving characters talk about their feelings and occasionally have one of them hint at something spiritual, which doesn’t tell anyone anything and isn’t scary in any way? Tediously boring, In Flames is the worst possible choice for a mid-morning festival film, unless you go to the cinema to take a nap. [Sitges Film Festival] (10/10/2023)