Alex (Jaho Guma) is a young architect who is dating Nayade (Julinda Emiri) after meeting her at a bar. They seem to be made for each other, and Nayade decides to introduce Alex to her brother Noel (Klevis Bega) a live-wire of a man with an intense personality that tags along with the couple wherever they go. As time passes, Noel and Alex begin to become closer as friends, but there's something about Noel that is not quite right. Meanwhile, a mysterious lunatic is on the prowl.
This is a film that has to be seen more than once to truly begin to discover its secrets. There's a lot of sleight of hand going on here, a lot hints as to what's really going on. Because once the first reveals begin to shed light on what we saw during the running-time of the film, the final sequence comes to once again change everything we knew about the film. BLACK MAN is directed with by Gentian Selo, and his film is powerfully enigmatic. This film reminds us of works like Denis Villeneuve's ENEMY, David Fincher's FIGHT CLUB and even Richard Kelly's DONNIE DARKO. We would need two reviews to truly tap into the amount of themes and subjects this film explores. There's duality aspect going on here as Noel and Alex represent polar extremes, their personalities and body appearances are opposites and yet they become a duo that makes logical sense. There's a study in masculinity, in how Noel is an example of an "Alpha Male" as he's an overconfident womanizer and Alex is more of a "Beta Male" who follows Noel's lead. And then there's a metaphysical aspect to the film, where it appears as if time itself was fragmented, the editing here works to displace time and makes us focus on scenes as at first we perceive these time jumps and cuts in a disorienting way, but then we begin to realize that time is not flowing naturally, it's playing tricks on us and our attention must be on the film at all times. And then, there's the ending, which we won't spoil, but even when it appears to come out of nowhere, it has always been hinted that is was going to happen. Watching the film again, the clues are there in Noel's existential musings. The secret weapon behind this film is its flawless casting. Jaho Guma is spot-on as Alex, he possesses an Elijah Wood quality to him that makes him the "good guy" who eventually reveals his flaws, a good natured personality who serves as a contrast, he's not passive but he's simply witnessing a whirlwind before him. Julinda Emiri as Nayade is a strong female character that knows her brother well, and knows at least one part of his secret. And finally, the tactical nuclear weapon that is Klevis Bega as Noel. Bega is an absolute force of nature here, looking like a cross between 90's Michael Wincott and James Franco, his smile and energy are overpowering and his charm only serves to hide his darkest secrets, secrets unknown even to him. Good guy or bad guy, we think we know and then maybe we know, but he delivers a knock-out performance as he's also charges with delivering lengthy existential monologues that don't seem rehearsed, but as if his mind were generating on the spot.
