‘Hindsight ‘ Review: It’s Always More Than Just Your First Car

There is something almost sacred about getting your first car. I remember my first one. It was a 1990 Volkwagon Golf. It had 30K miles on it. It belonged to an old later who barely drove it and had a carburetor engine. That car was in damn good shape and I was proud of myself. That thing took me all over Germany. Granted, if I went above 80K per hour it would shake like crazy, but it did the trick. I missed having to give it up, but sold it to a family that needed it.

Remi R.M. Moses’ Hindsight gave me nostalgic vibes for my first ride. The film made me realize, that when I got my first car suddenly everybody who never had anywhere to be has somewhere to be as long as you’re driving. That’s the joke running underneath this warm, funny short about Jamal (Josh Tedeku) and the car that becomes the unofficial headquarters for his homies.

At first, everyone is excited to drive the streets, and rap the lyrics rap songs. Reality quickly kicks in when Jamal quickly gets slapped with a £65 ticket, gets pulled over by police, and gradually discovers that freedom comes with maintenance, exhaustion, and everybody suddenly having your phone number. Friends need rides. Family needs rides. Random acquaintances apparently need rides. Gas money? Funny how nobody remembers to offer. However, the real subject, isn’t the car. It’s time.

Moses uses the vehicle as a container for a period of life when friendship feels permanent simply because nobody has gone anywhere yet. Eventually people do. Responsibilities change. Friends grow apart. The car deteriorates along with that version of Jamal’s life until even the dealer basically tells him the car is crapola. Selling it to another family feels less like getting rid of a vehicle and more like admitting that the memories attached to it have already happened.

The cast helps give this life. Tedeku has easy chemistry with Denzel Baidoo, Jude Carmichael, Joshua-Alexander Williams, Kola Bodunde and Tomi Egbowon-Ogunjobi. Their dialogue has the loose, stupid-funny rhythm of people who have known each other long enough to annoy one another. That camaraderie gives the eventual distance some weight.

Visually, Hindsight is remarkably polished. Cinematographer Fola Abatan gives the short a professional finish that never screams “small production.” Nothing looks cheap, rushed or carelessly staged. I just wish the narrative had a little more meat on it.

The storymoves from memory to memory efficiently, but almost too efficiently. We understand the point. People grow up, friendships shift, objects lose the emotional value we once assigned them. It sometimes feels like a collection of milestones rather than one fully developed experience. One central incident inside that car, something that could act as the emotional throughline, might have given the story more texture.

Still, Hindsight understands why we get sentimental about beat-up things. Sometimes we aren’t mourning the car. We’re mourning those who sat in it at one point or another.