Watching A Hologram for the King

Watching A Hologram for the King May 3, 2016

A_Hologram_for_the_King_poster

I’m still struggling with what to call my comments on the movies that Jan & I go to see. I’m shy of the word “review,” because it implies a level of expertise I do not bring to the table. I’m inclined to the term “appreciations.” But, not completely satisfied with that, and in fact I would be happy for a better term.

I particularly feel the complexity within being someone who likes movies but lacks a professional eye as I write about my experience watching “A Hologram for the King.” Up to now I’ve only written my appreciations/sort of reviews for films I’ve really liked. I figure the crap will reveal itself, and some movies I’ve really disliked have critical appeal that escapes me, and, to the degree anyone is silly enough to rely upon my observations I don’t want to poison the well. People spent a fortune on making these films, and I don’t want to casually take bread out of anyone’s mouth.

All that said, it’s not that I hated “A Hologram for the King.” It’s just that I didn’t particularly like it.

Like two thirds of America and probably half the world, I’m a big fan of Tom Hanks. He delivers on the decent guy in weird situations theme that I find myself a sucker for. And, if you’re in that camp, you can at least guarantee you will get the registered trademark Hanks experience. Which going to this movie made me glad.

Rotten Tomatoes’ plot summary goes, “Cultures collide when an American businessman (Tom Hanks) is sent to Saudi Arabia to close what he hopes will be the deal of a lifetime. Baffled by local customs and stymied by an opaque bureaucracy, he eventually finds his footing with the help of a wise-cracking taxi driver (Alexander Black) and a beautiful Saudi doctor (Sarita Choudhury).” Sixty-five percent of eighty professional reviewers counted at Rotten Tomatoes were positive about the film, while eighty-eight percent of some four thousand viewers liked it.

The screenplay is by Tom Tykwer, based on the novel of the same name. The book by Dave Eggers was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2012. Tykwer also directed.

After a surreal opening scene the film settled into a take on Death of a Salesman, or, more accurately the last try of a salesman who finds himself in Saudi Arabia if he were Tom Hanks rather than Willy Loman. And it must be mentioned: astonishing beautiful scenery, deserves consideration for various film making awards. As images: Delicious. Sad. Evocative.

And, a confession. I’m glad I saw the film just to get to watch Sarita Choudhury, the grown up’s pin up. When she was on screen I could not take my eyes off her. And there were solid supports from Sidse Babett Knudsen and, for me, despite the cardboard quality of the scripted character he portrayed, Alexander Black. (And, at the same time, I’m uncomfortably aware of the problems at this point in our culture having once again someone of European descent playing an Arab.)

I read somewhere that the story gets lost in the desert. A catchy sort of play on the theme, but, sadly, also true of the movie as a whole. Certainly as I followed. A “Hologram for the King” just doesn’t come together, remaining a jumble of scenes that are sometimes delightful, sometimes not so much.

And to my mind the whole thing kind of ends abruptly with one of those put it all together, or, mostly, anyway, with an email.

So. What to say? Hard to go wrong going to see a Tom Hanks movie. Can’t really say this is a good one. Not a bad one, really, either. But, it feels so much a missed opportunity.


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