Quickening
Arooj Azeem gives a breakout performance, but the rest of the film simply does not match her good work. It’s unfortunate that Quickening, which clearly has good intentions, ends up looking and feeling like a commercial. Consumer electronics and media industry decisions have, in recent years, made a lot of independent cinema, especially that which ends up in smaller sections of fests, presents itself like highlight reels for the filmmaker and cinematographer. Slow-motion, steady-cam shots—these have become what many consider a “professional.” But in Quickening, the cinematic grammar is off and the film that results is uninteresting. Quickening is a coming-of-age drama about a Pakistani girl named Sheila (Arooj Azeem) navigating her parents’ strained marriage, her relationship with a boy she meets in a performance arts class, and a surprise pregnancy that collides with her culture’s traditional values on marriage and sex. These stories have been told time and again, and for South Asians (like myself) they are all too relatable. But their impact is not tied to their familiarity, especially when the picture in question doesn’t do the work to make itself stand out. Continue Reading →