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‘Xoftex’ Review: Noaz Deshe Returns With a Bold, Feverish Vision of Refugee Camp Survival
Noaz Deshe's second feature 'Xoftex' is an audacious, formally restive work that stands out from other recent films on the European migrant crisis.
A multi-hyphenate who also works as an artist, composer and cinematographer — and duly takes writing, lensing, editing and music credits on his sophomore feature — Deshe picks up his filmmaking very much where he left off 11 years ago, again merging hard-edged realism with dreamily stylized mood-building, and addressing a tough, topical subject while avoiding issue-movie messaging. Audiences may be divided by the film’s arrhythmic storytelling and third-act plunge into outright, impressionistic disorder — but adventurous distributors should see its talking-point potential, while a main competition berth at Karlovy Vary will kick off a long festival run. As the talk turns to which countries are susceptible to a surge in far-right, anti-migrant sentiment, young Syrian Nasser (Abdulrahman Diab, superb) points out that they’re vulnerable wherever they end up: “You hear Europe and you think human rights,” he says scornfully — a line that, given some recent political shifts on the Continent, cuts close to the bone.
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