‘Ish’ – Alien-nation and unhealthy fractures (review) London Film Festival 2025

Full review of British film that enjoyed it homecoming screening this week at London Film Festival 2025…

AWARD-WINNING visual artist and art filmmaker Imran Perretta’s move towards long form filmmaking is something to cherish and savour.

The 2020 Turner Art Prize* winner proves an adept director and his debut feature ‘Ish’ is full of depth, nuance and mostly subtle observations.

His film covers a lot of ground and does so with a certain lightness of touch and poise.

Two debutant actors play boys on the cusp on young adulthood and who bond away from the classroom.

Ish – the Ishmail of the title – played by Farhan Hasnat and Maram (Yahya Kitana) are best friends: they have a secret hideout in the woods, play video games together and Maram is well known to Ish’s family – his Dad Naeem (Avin Shah) and big sister Samira (played by pop star singer Joy Crookes) and Ish’s grandmother Nanu (Sudha Bhuchar).

The opening scene has the four of them mourning in the cemetery – Ish has no mum and is well looked after by his grandmother, sister and Dad, who are both working. It’s a tight but friendly household – they like Maram and he is respectful and considerate. Ish’s gran (Sudha Bhuchar) is another interesting character and something of a rebel too.

It’s a kind of happy go life existence for Ish and Maram – and one that many young people have in school before any big exams – obviously, Ish’s family are still grieving and that has its own challenges but generally Ish and Maram seem pretty well adjusted, innocent and this is the long summer holiday where they can do as they want pretty much, so long as they don’t stay out too late.

Perretta locates the boys as working class and living in Luton – though ‘Ish’ isn’t specific in its geography – this could be anywhere where there is sizeable British Muslim community. The boys share the same faith but it is on the periphery of their lives, for the most part.

They are just getting on with the things they like to do, hang out, ride their bikes, explore the mini forest, create a rest place of sorts there and meet others of a similar age and background.

All seems fine and Perretta keeps you engaged as you learn more about Ish and Maram and the others they hang out with during the early part of the film.

It is only when the police and their surveillance van comes into the picture (literally) that everything begins to turn – Maram has already taken to having a knife on him, worried as he is about his own personal safety, riding around on his bike.

Ish appears less bothered, is physically smaller but the relatively comfortable and loving environment he has at home, probably insulates him from some of the concerns Maram appears to have.

Authority begins to upset whatever equilibrium the boys have established with the outside world – the police are the disruptive element and that is made clear when they train their attentions on the boys one afternoon.

Without wishing to spoil your viewing, let’s say one gets off relatively lightly – the other doesn’t. Perretta doesn’t make any of this particularly explicit and that is part of the strength of ‘Ish’ – there is a gentle unfolding.

What’s clear is that the boys see each other differently as a result – one draws into his family and other more towards friends both were initially both hesitant about and another scene suggests what path this group might come to take.

Again, let’s not be too explicit but the focus is Ish and what those around him do once they appreciate what has happened.

The final scene is brilliantly drawn and we don’t want to spoil anything but you can see how Perretta has guided you along and brought you to the core issue – such as there is about friendship – limits and boundaries, as two boys cross from there to very early manhood and how society too has pulled them together and has now unwittingly (???) set them apart.

Perretta’s film is complex in that it has no clear message or didactic purpose – it is arty – and has many interesting and varied narrative strands within it – and these are universal and not tied to any particular group or community.

It’s a fine absorbing watch with the black and white giving it an authentic, almost documentary feel. He’s a fine director and we hope this will be the first in a long and varied output and this stamps his credentials as a filmmaker of huge promise.

AVC rating: **** (out of five)

Congratulations to the ‘boys’ of the film – Farhan Hasnat and Yahya Kitana for their longlist nominations in the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) Breakthrough Performance – announced yesterday (October 16).

There are no further screenings of ‘Ish’ at LFF.

London Film Festival 2025 until Sunday, October 19 – ticket availability link