Review: 'The Matchmaker' – a Psychological Thriller movie – Arab News

It isn’t day by day that an Arabic psychological thriller tempts the play button on Netflix, particularly one from Saudi Arabia.

Nevertheless, Telfaz11’s newest manufacturing, “The Matchmaker,” has definitely piqued curiosity.

The intriguing side of the function movie is its plotline, crammed with ambiguities, premonitions, and complicated relationships.

Launched on April 27, the film begins with Aliaa’s backstory, a woman who falls in love and marries a person who ultimately inflicts emotional and bodily ache upon her.

In her sorrows, just one ear hears her cries — Siba, the hidden one, who helps Aliaa cleanse her husband’s soul. Viewers are left to marvel how this narrative connects to the principle plotline and what mysterious magical forces lie forward after they meet the principle character.

Tarek, a bored, married IT employee, finds fascination in misogynistic podcasts and dealing late. His infatuation grows for a colleague who resigns, forsaking a field with a pill meant for her and Tarek’s boss, Abu Mouath.

Curiosity will get the higher of Tarek, and he opens the field, revealing an advert for a wedding matchmaker promising to fulfil their best needs with utmost confidentiality.

Regardless of being already married with a daughter, Tarek embarks on a journey to a desert resort (set within the valleys of AlUla) to discover a wedding alternative with the assistance of the matchmaker.

On this secluded place, with ominous workers, nameless visitors, and distant sounds, he rapidly realizes that the expertise is way from what he had anticipated.

The movie involves life by the performances of Saudi actors Hussam Al-Harthy as Tarek, Nour Al-Khadra as Salma, and a very fascinating portrayal by Reem Al-Habib because the matchmaker.

The story serves as a social commentary on the idea of misyar, a wedding custom that lacks dedication or attachment, as revealed by the director in an interview.

Nevertheless, the premise permits for a number of interpretations — a mirrored image on the determined measures taken on account of loneliness, a cautionary story on the implications of infidelity, a matchmaking scheme gone mistaken, or maybe all of the above.

It additionally gives an fascinating cultural assertion on karma, questioning what if males have been constructed to obey girls as an alternative.

“The Matchmaker” showcases an elevation within the high quality of filmmaking in Saudi Arabia because the business progresses. It locations full belief within the viewer to navigate the puzzling message and follows the suspenseful type of thriller motion pictures with its dialogue, delicate bounce scares, and eerie dreamlike sequences.

Whereas the movie’s 82 minutes present an intriguing show of the highly effective pull of on-screen storytelling, because the credit roll, the viewers is left with extra questions than solutions, sparking curiosity and reflection.