Sky Peals
Writer-director Moin Hussain sets his extraordinarily original first feature in a motorway service station – and in his protagonist’s head.
Image courtesy of BFI
Few first features are as individual and as mysterious as Sky Peals which has been both written and directed by Moin Hussain. In one sense it can be said to have a clear setting since it was shot in Wakefield in West Yorkshire and shows us the daily routine of a nightshift worker named Adam Muhamed (Faraz Ayub). His job is in a burger kitchen located within a modernistic motorway service station and Adam is the son of an English mother – Donna played by Claire Rushbrook – and a Pakistani father who walked out on his family twenty years earlier. But if that sounds straightforward it can also be said that the film takes place within Adam’s head. It is all told from his viewpoint and, while he appears to be a shy loner who lives alone and is hardly at ease with a workmate, Tara (Natalie Gavin), who is ready to be friendly, there is also a sense that his state of mind cannot be fully pinned down.
Early in the film we hear a voice: it appears to be an unexpected call from Adam’s father suggesting a meeting for the first time in years. The recorded message left could be the real thing but there is enough stylisation in the film’s opening for it to be possible to think of this as an imagined event and the words will be heard again repeated in Adam’s mind. The one thing that is clear-cut is the fact that shortly thereafter Adam’s uncle, Hamid (Simon Nagra,) telephones to say that Adam's father has just died. Dutifully Adam attends the funeral and, as he deals with his father's old car and belongings and mixes with his relatives, we gradually learn more about the dead man including the fact that he had been obsessed by the belief that he was an alien – not merely somebody from another country but a being from another planet.
Adam is soon back in his workplace but his manager (Steve Oram) unwisely assigns him a new job welcoming customers (it’s a role in which he quickly proves to be inept). As for Donna she is engaged in moving down south to the house of her new partner, Raymond (Adrian Hood). But, whatever the precise context at any given moment, Sky Peals is a film which incorporates abstract images. Initially they may come across simply as an example of extreme filmic stylisation, but then we learn from Adam that on occasion he has no memory of what he has been doing until he again becomes aware of himself a little later. We could now consider the abstractions to represent those times when Adam is suffering temporary blackouts. But two things are apparent beyond question: one is that Adam has become obsessed by images of his father caught on CCTV and the other is that he is starting to question whether or not he is indeed a human being (if his father believed he came from another planet what might that make his son?).
The music score by Sarah Davachi plays a strong role along with Nick Cooke’s photography in establishing an unsettled mood. Sky Peals may be a remarkably original work but watching it does evoke thoughts of the bizarre world explored in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin (2013). Another comparison comes to mine too. The references to the possibility that father and son are alien beings brings a suggestion of sci-fi into play while the service station itself takes on a role that starts to feel symbolic, be that as a place that represents travel and change or even as a locale that could like some river of death take one into another world. Simultaneously there is an alternative way of looking at all this. That is to read the film as one showing how Adam is in fact being traumatised by his fears, concerns which build up as he obsesses on his father's failings and oddities and comes to believe that he is destined to be a son who duplicates his dad. If 2019’s Ad Astra offered a story of astronauts in space but had at its heart a portrait of a man overawed by the need to measure up to the reputation of his father, Sky Peals offers a blend not totally dissimilar but with the sci-fi trimmings far less prominent and the crucial father/son element offering the reverse theme: a son who fears becoming like his father.
As this description of the film makes clear, Sky Peals is a very odd piece but what might have been merely offbeat and perplexing is anchored twice over. The first anchor is to be found in the quality of Moin Hussain’s direction which both visually and in its use of sound displays the skill of a real filmmaker. The second lies in the superb performance of Faraz Ayub who, never once overplaying, manages to suggest throughout Adam’s inner perturbation in a way that invites empathy. Ultimately the film seems to come down to the need for everyone to face the importance of becoming themselves and recognising their full individuality. That's a valid theme, but for all the talent involved here I can't quite escape the feeling that the construction of the film is overelaborate. Furthermore, given that I could easily have misread it, it is clear that Sky Peals belongs to that category of movies which will satisfy those who like to ponder and discuss what a film is saying while disappointing those who want something more clear-cut. This is certainly not a film for everyone, but it is a memorable feature debut for Moin Hussain and a high spot for Faraz Ayub.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Faraz Ayub, Natalie Gavin, Claire Rushbrook, Simon Nagra, Steve Oram, Jeff Mirza, Bill Fellows, Adrian Hood, Maizie Wickson, Alan Cammish, Teresa Mondol, Junaid Arshad, Vicki Hackett, Bhasker Patel.
Dir Moin Hussain, Pro Michelle Stein, Screenplay Moin Hussain, Ph Nick Cooke, Pro Des Elena Muntoni, Ed Nse Asuquo, Music Sarah Davachi, Costumes Sophie O’Neill.
Escape Films/Film4/BFI/Screen Yorkshire/Bankside Films-BFI.
91 mins. UK. 2023. UK Rel: 9 August 2024. Cert. 12A.
