A Monkey Movie Review

There is sooooooo much to love about this film that I hardly know where to begin.

The basic plot is that a divorced woman living in Occupied Palestine gets to bring her teenage son to the USA to live. They move to Illinois to her sister's house and there as the second Gulf war unfolds they encounter some of the best and worst that America has to offer an immigrant who wants nothing more than to earn a decent living and to be part of the American dream.

I loved the positive portrayals of Arab Americans in this film. They're not wild eyed Jihadis bent on destroying the USA, nor are they goody goody too good to be true hapless pawns in some geo political struggle. They are just ordinary people dealing with what life throws at them and they make mistakes at times but at all times they are human and likable.

I loved the positive body image message this film has in it. The female lead, played superbly by Nisreen Faour, is a a normal sized woman, which means everyone thinks she's fat and even she thinks so too until she finally decides that it's okay if she doesn't look like a twig. She's actually quite attractive and she becomes more so when she finally accepts the fact that she's never gong to look like what western civilization thinks she should.

I loved that this film is primarily about the older people in the story. Yes, the teenagers and kids are important to the plot but it's the adults who move the story forward and it's the adults who are the most interesting characters.

In addition to Ms. Faour, I also loved the performances of Hiam Abbass (hubba hubba!), Alia Shawkat (who some of you will remember was in Arrested Development), and Joseph Ziegler.

This sweet little film is well worth checking out if only to show you that there are positive Arab role models in films today.

A Monkey Movie Review

You may remember that Richard Jenkins, the male lead in this film, got nominated for an Oscar for his performance in this fine movie. The truth is, now that after I've seen it, I think he should have won it instead of Sean Penn. His performance is nothing short of miraculous. After years of playing supporting roles, and doing a damn fine job in them, this is his first major studio starring role and he nails it.

The Visitor tells the story of a college professor who has pretty much given up on life. He just does the bare minimum professionally and socially to get by and he's pretty much shut himself off from the rest of the world. That is until he meets a young Muslim couple who are illegally subletting his New York city apartment. The prof sees that if he tosses them out that they will have no place to go so he lets them stay and because he lets them stay they befriend him, the boyfriend first, played winningly by Haaz Sleiman, and then his girlfriend, played by Danai Gurira. As their friendship blossoms Jenkins character becomes alive again and he begins to care about the world around him. The changes in him that Jenkins shows on film are something to behold, in fact what Jenkins does in this role is give a master class in film acting and he proves the old adages that when it comes to acting, 99% of it is reacting, and that less is more.

When his young friend gets picked up by the police for an infraction he did not commit we find out that the young couple both are in this country illegally. When he gets put in an immigration detention center his mother shows up and she and Jenkins strike up an unlikely friendship. In her role as the mother Hiam Abbass nearly steals the movie from Jenkins. Her performance oozes truth and tenderness at every turn. And when she and Jenkins get close, you feel like cheering out loud for them because for once in a grown up movie the good guy almost gets the great gal.

The film ends on a bittersweet note and it ended far too soon for my taste. I was so wrapped up in these honestly portrayed characters that I could have watched them for another two of three hours. I really can't recommend this movie highly enough. However, if you're into films where lots of shit gets blown up and people fire guns at each other in between bouts of 'witty' dialogue, then you'll hate this grown up thoughtful, thought provoking film.