The Wedding Guest

The Wedding Guest (2019) is Michael Winterbottom's lean thriller, ready to watch online on iFILM. A tight-lipped Briton travels from London to Pakistan for a wedding, carrying duct tape, a shotgun and a plan to abduct the bride.

Jay passes as an ordinary guest, but his real job is to snatch a young woman being married off against her will. The scheme unravels almost at once, blood is spilled, and a long flight begins — across the border into India, through railway platforms, back alleys and the black markets of New Delhi. The longer Jay and his hostage stay on the move, the harder it gets to tell who is leading whom.

Winterbottom shoots it spare and jittery, with almost no score and few words, closer to reportage than genre fare. Dev Patel plays sharply against his usual charm — withdrawn, hard, tough to read — while Radhika Apte turns the captive into a full partner in the danger. A restrained, grown-up thriller that never chases a set piece for its own sake. Stream The Wedding Guest (2019) online on iFILM.