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As a perennially popular international filming location — its varied landscapes standing in for everywhere from the Sahara to the French Riviera — South Africa has provided the anonymous backdrop for many a slick big-budget action thriller over the years. Rarer are films from the country’s own industry that aspire to equivalent commercial thrills, which lends Cape Town-based writer-director Travis Taute’s debut feature “Indemnity” a certain bracing novelty that counters its more generic qualities. Joining a Ptsd-afflicted firefighter on the run after being framed for the murder of his wife, Taute’s diverting film punches well above its modestly budgeted weight in terms of propulsive, literally incendiary action scenes — but is on less sure footing with a narrative that lurches from lean fugitive drama to overworked conspiracy nightmare.

A far stricter edit could have solved a number of problems in this unevenly paced and, at 124 minutes, significantly overlong film, which...

Indemnity Review — Indemnity (2021) Film Review from the 25th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Travis Taute, starring Jarrid Geduld, Gail Mabalane, Andre Jacobs, Nicole Fortuin, Louw Venter, Abduragman Adams, Hlomla Dandala, Susan Danford, Qaeed Patel, Toni Jean Erasmus, and Grant Powell. There’s nothing wrong [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Indemnity: A Familiar Action-Thriller That Allows For Fun and Frustration [Fantasia 2021]...

Indemnity Review — Indemnity (2021) Film Review from the 25th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Travis Taute, starring Jarrid Geduld, Gail Mabalane, Andre Jacobs, Nicole Fortuin, Louw Venter, Abduragman Adams, Hlomla Dandala, Susan Danford, Qaeed Patel, Toni Jean Erasmus, and Grant Powell. There’s nothing wrong [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Indemnity: A Familiar Action-Thriller That Allows For Fun and Frustration [Fantasia 2021]...

Theo Abrams (Jarrid Geduld) jumps into action with CPR upon waking to find his wife’s (Nicole Fortuin’s Angela) dead body by his side. He then immediately clams up when a knock at the front door is accompanied by the declaration “Police!” He doesn’t remember hearing anyone enter their room that night nor recalls a violent struggle. Add the fact that he just lost his job due to an inability to overcome the Ptsd he’s been battling since blaming himself for the deaths of two firefighters under his command and he’s forced to wonder if he’s responsible for Angela too. Theo’s temper and anxiety have been in overdrive and his wife felt the brunt of both. If he can’t trust his own innocence, who can?

This is the question we ask ourselves despite having already processed the fifteen or so minutes of exposition...