A Hologram for the King (2016)

The recently divorced Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) is a man in mid-life and mid-career crises when he takes a job pitching a holographic teleconferencing system to the King of Saudi Arabia. From its basic contours this kind of 'middle-aged man in a funk movie' doesn't seem like it will be much, and you might wonder why Tom Hanks would chose to make it. If seeing something one hasn't seen before can be considered one of the chief joys of the movie watching experience (and I think it is) this movie delivers. Depictions of Arabia in film tend toward the 'terrorism' and 'sword and sandal' camps, while A Hologram for a King gives you a sense of the domestic scene, in business, in the city and in the country, among ex-patriots and natives. Yousef, Alan's driver turned friend (Alexander Black) is the first principle native lens, an enthusiastic and wry personality and one of the most amusing character performances I've seen in a while. Sarita Choudhury is the second, a rare female doctor in a country where (at the time) women could not drive, who Alan meets after discovering a concerning growth on his back.

The film consists of much travelogue and culture shock, as well as waiting and hotel time, so it couldn't help but reminded me of Lost in Translation. You get to where you feel you have a pretty good grasp on what this movie is, but slowly and subtlety it becomes something different, something I hadn't expected. Towards the end the film started to feel increasingly like it must be based on a novel, and it is, one by McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers, this is a very literary work. I haven't had my expectations so enjoyably surprised in a movie since The Accountant, and been so surprised by a late shift in story since Into the Woods. This is kind of a stealth masterpiece, and one that flew so under the radar that it was Tom Hanks lowest grossing starrer since Every Time We Say Goodbye in 1986, which was also set in the middle east so that's kind of strange. There is some surprise nudity near the end, but if that's not a deal breaker I would heartily recommend this. ****