Film Review: NAZA: A Film That Maintains a Chilling Tone That Will Stun Viewers [NYFF 2026]

Naza Review

Naza (2026) Film Review from the 64th Annual New York Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and starring Yuval Abraham.

Filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have crafted Naza, one of the most difficult to watch films of the year. It doesn’t feature a lot of imagery that will be disturbing to look at if the sound was muted until the very end, but the movie sets a tone which makes it feel like something of a dark dream that can’t be really happening. Set at nighttime, for the most part, conversations ensue that steer into accounts of how artificial intelligence is being used in ways that could make one wish there were limitations to how it could actually be utilized.

This movie becomes a chilling, affecting look at possible realities that can be challenging to hear, but should be heard. Watching the dark imagery of the Tel Aviv rooftops provides viewers with facts that can either change or solidify one’s perspective about everything. A film that features conversations regarding the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli military, nothing in it is going to be easy to sit through. Viewing and listening to this important picture will be quite an unforgettable experience.

Abraham and Szor have made sure that their film is very distinct in terms of what it is discussing. Bombings, air strikes and the loss of life are topics that are interwoven into the picture in a definitive way. Naza has been crafted very carefully as a work of great significance. It questions how human life could be regarded in ways that will haunt the viewer.

Technically, Naza is quite proficient. It is created with careful attention to details that will make the viewer sit up and listen. This movie has been made with the thoughts of the complexity of human existence kept in mind. When taking into account all the intensity of this film, it’s important to credit the filmmakers for their cinematic vision of a clear subject matter that will get under one’s skin and stay there for days.

You can’t watch a movie like this and not think and take into consideration everything that has been taught to people from age 1 to age 101 and everything that has evolved through society’s technological and political developments throughout the years. Naza doesn’t allow the viewer to be unprovoked for any of its 80-minute running time. In fact, this movie will probably resonate more with viewers after viewing it than while watching it.

Naza could find itself deserving of awards for its technical precision, but it’s also possible that a movie like this doesn’t need to earn any awards to justify its existence. This movie is actually quite a moving picture that takes the time to let audience members consider everything that was thought to be possible regarding the loss of human life. In the end, Naza ends up leaving the viewer to reflect on those chilling ideas it presents very carefully.

Naza will be screening at the New York Film Festival this last weekend of September, 2026. Being a work of great depth, it is the type of movie that one could find becoming so immersed in that the vivid details of it will lead one to being shaken and stirred up emotionally. There are consequences to watching the picture that will be worth it to some, but keep in mind that it’s hard to erase what one will see or hear as the movie plays out.

Filmmakers Abraham and Szor haven’t taken cinematic risks without genuine purpose to them. A film like Naza can linger in one’s memory long after it ends, but one will question everything it presents in at least one way. Wait a minute, that statement can’t be true because there is not any other film that has ever been made which is quite like Naza. That fact alone speaks enough of the impact that this movie will make on the viewer.

Rating: 8/10

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