Hindsight - Review

Nothing crushes the fun quite like responsibility. When the novelty of picking up and driving around with your friends becomes all they need you for. Hindsight is about this feeling and a lot more, in such a short runtime, it packs in a lot of humour and heart. I also found the single use location of the car really impressively fresh throughout. Even in a short format, without good writing, casting and acting, a single location can be really boring, but it works great here. The tone of the film is also really good, starting off light and funny, and while it keeps the comedy throughout, more of the emotion seeps in as we see the responsibility of owning a car weigh down on Jamal (Josh Tedeku). It impressively keeps the energy and humour while also balancing that all too familiar feeling of the novelty wearing off.

Jamal buys his first car, his excitement at owning a car drowns out the unenthusiastic owner selling it to him. He immediately makes it his own, popping in a CD of music he wants to listen to and sticking up an LED strip around the car to give it some ambience. His friends pile into the car, all sharing his same excitement for the new possibilities. They ride around, revelling in the new freedom. The remnants of their adventures are seen in wrappers left on the dashboard. As quick as the excitement rises for the new car, it falls. Suddenly Jamal is driving his friends and family everywhere, and paying every little expense that comes with owning a car. He’s hit with parking fees, repair costs and unfair fines. The joy of the car dies with the engine, and he is left to continue his friendships while driving them places, dropping them off and sitting alone in the car afterwards. The more time alone in the car he has, the more time he has to reflect on whether the car is actually freedom, or just holding him back.

Director Remi R.M. Moses said that they wanted to make a film about the moments that we rarely think to value while they’re happening. I think that perfectly encapsulates this film for me. It showcases moments that you would never think would become important until you look back on them in hindsight. They also said that it is a film about black boys doing nothing, which I think is another important theme. So often, stories that surround people of colour define them by just that, instead of acknowledging important aspects of their lives, and letting them live them. Hindsight is a universal feeling, told through the lens of the black experience. It doesn’t have to pander to a wider audience in order for them to “get it” because of how well the situations are presented.

I love the single location use in this film. I think the front-on camera angle for the whole thing is great. The illusion is never broken because they do such a great job of making the world around us feel alive. The driving is an aimless part of the journey, it is often hugely involved in the conversations, which I think most road trip or car conversation scenes forget. The sound around us is immersive, setting us in the liveliness of the place the car is moving through or parked in a way that keeps the world active but not distracting.

Hindsight is great. I love the approach to this type of story, where all the elements come together on a simple premise to create something a lot more memorable than just mundane car chats and the burden of responsibility. We have enough humour and heart to elevate these elements into something really special. The setting of the car works extremely well and the world around it is let in just enough to feel uniquely London, without ruling over the story. The team behind this all came together impressively here, and I hope they work together again to create more great films.

Hindsight is having its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival 2026 before continuing an international festival circuit.