Discreet (**½)

Directed by: Joshua Rous
Starring: James Alexander, Anel Alexander
Seen: November 26th 2008

**½ Out of ****

At last, a South African movie that does more than just tell a flat and uninteresting story. This little indie gem does more than simply entertaining, it delves that bit deeper and makes you think about judgement and sex and why we think what we think. The film is based on James Alexander and Joshua Rous’ award winning stage play, Discreet Upmarket 24/7, and it still feels slightly like a play more than a movie.

Thomas (James Alexander) is a God-fearing church-going young man who, one day at work, lets his curiosity get the better of him. He arranges an evening with a high-class hooker. After work, when his manager invites him for a few drinks, he almost skips it because the feeling of awkward guilt almost overwhelms him, but he declines the offer for a drink, and sets of.

Upon arriving at Monique’s (Anel Alexander) house, Thomas is uncomfortable when Monique greets him and starts asking about what he wants for the evening. Asking that they talk first, the two start dancing around each other with their diverse moral sets. Thomas wants to know where Monique comes from, what made her choose the life of a hooker, and Monique skilfully avoids answering his question by continually challenging his conservative views on the subject.

The film brings us the clash between the church (or rather one individual’s view of what he believes to be biblically right) and the streets, and the conversation never lets the two waver outside the boundaries of interested and uncomfortable and challenging, Monique hiding her motivations, and Thomas hiding something that’s (at least for him) much darker. Monique has made peace with her sexuality, Thomas is afraid and ashamed of his. Afterwards you’ll keep thinking about your own views of the subject, whether you side with Monique or Thomas, and start understanding why it is never your place to judge anyone.