Bluff (2022) Film Review
An impressive debut in feature film territory, Bluff is Sheikh Shahnawaz’s outstanding version of a conflict that’s been depicted several times in Hollywood. However, only in a handful of those films you can actually grab ahold of whatever moral dispute characters get themselves into and comment on something of an inherently grounded nature.
In Bluff, a rocky start may actually cause you to frown and doubt whatever the director is trying to do with a shallow and swift introduction. But the path he decides to walk is quite different. With apparent confidence, and the help of one good lead and an impressive secondary character, Shahnawaz tells a story that’s set on staying real towards the end. There’s no fancy shots, or loud action montages. Bluff is more a tense exercise depicting the inner conversations of a questionable, yet necessary act. Needless to say, this is also a clever decision by the director who understands his framework of indie cinema and makes the best use out of it.
Detective Sergeant Daniel Miller has been suspended for something that’s shady. However, it’s all an apparent scheme for him going undercover on a mission to explore drug rings in the city. He’s almost forced to accept. There’s something in his past that disturbs him at the sight of the substances.
Danny has a new identity now and comes upon a street junkie who connects him with a drug dealer. Cooks is the junkie’s name and becomes Danny’s best ally when dealing with Inram, the violent drug lord who doesn’t hesitate to install order whenever his dealers go out of line and even consume the product. Danny has to be careful to stay within the boundaries of his mission as control is difficult.
Sheikh Shahnawaz could have made everything easier. He could have made an average action thriller garnished with a few well-shot scenes and a third act exuberant with climax and long conversations by villains. Instead, he goes for something more dramatic, almost personal. Bluff isn’t the action thriller you’d expect it to be. It’s more of a drama with unnecessary hints of a thriller.
And then there’s your third act.
Led by Danny’s personal conflict, tragedy seems to run in the bloodline of the film. Just when you think it’s poised to be fast-paced, Shahnawaz insists on lowering the lights and staying in passive territory. One where guilt demands Danny to get out of his comfort zone and show the true status of a damaged spirit that was never looking for redemption. At this point, we come to understand what his intentions were by going deep. In the last scene, the director almost forces the viewer to look away from a blunt statement of reality that a character like Danny is forced to deal with. Just in its last seconds, we think compassion is a product of a director’s manipulation. But no. This isn’t that kind of movie.
This is one that’s more interesting than the average indie film that’s set to comply with the rules of the genre and characters behave like they have to in order to go with the viewer’s unhindered demands. Bluff is a good film, but it’s also more than that. It’s a compelling crime story that allows for some conversation to take place. A conversation about human nature in the face of chaos, brought by a dark reality you’ve decided to live, or a past that holds the secrets you don’t always want to face.
