Camouflage

Annette practises concealment. Not just in her own life, but professionally; her work bypasses mere cosmetics to verge on the magic. Riza comes to her, desperate. He has a mark, an arcane-seeming sigil on his temple. He needs it to be "invisible", and it "needs to be perfect". There's a stunning intimacy, the proximity of hands on faces, and as we watch Annette helping Riza hide something, it's obvious that they both have several things to hide.

Riza has been in Sierra Leone some 15 years, but his past now casts a shadow. The man who scarred him is back, we're told - "he knows his mark". While referencing organisations such as the Lord's Resistance Army, the air of menace verges on the supernatural - it's some feat to make a black taxi an object of menace, more so given its ubiquity in London. Yet menacing it is - the ominous driver, the notion that this is death catching up with Riza - less an appointment in Samarra than "not going south of the Styx at this time of night".

The makeup effects are good, but there are other neat touches - as in If We Dead Awaken a prop newspaper has an important role, and fair enough in this age of desktop publishing that might not seem much, but there's a big difference between being able to do something and doing it well.

Sherlock's Lara Pulver and Top Boy's Ashley Walters are Annette and Riza, revealing as much as they conceal in glances, touches, starts and stares. Part of Channel Four's Coming Up scheme, Camouflage puts a credible cast and a full film-making toolkit at the disposal of first-time writers and directors.

Lydia Adetunji's script is neatly structured, not only managing to imply that answers we're given aren't entirely the truth in both directions, but also creating an air of creeping fear. Robert McKillop's direction is good, falling prey to shaky-cam during a chase sequence but giving us some nice moments within the various intimacies. The ending is chilling, invisible barriers restored, things once more hidden. Screening on Channel 4 later this year, and on 4od thereafter, Camouflage should be easy to see, and you should seek it out.