Just saw this sweet little film, which will undoubtedly be lost in the hoopla surrounding the massive opening and hype of "The Hunger Games" and "Titanic 3D" (You know, cuz seeing the drowning, frozen babies and $750 million global gross wasn't good enough the first time around... this time we see the frozen babies in 3D!) . This ("Yemen", NOT "Titanic") is my kind of movie - well written, interesting/unusual subject matter and great acting by Hollywood pros who take on movies like this for everything but money.
"Yemen" features previously Oscar-nominated Ewan McGregor (excellent in everything he appears in, "Star Wars Episodes I/II/III" and "Moulin Rouge") as Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries and wildlife expert in the UK... straight-laced, rigid and well... British. As well as Emily Blunt (excellent in everything she appears in, "Devil Wears Prada", "Sunshine Cleaning" and "Charlie Wilson's War") as Harriet, a personal attache of sorts for a wealthy sheik.
This in an uncommonly funny and gentle comedy about a wealthy sheik's fanatical love for his country... and salmon fishing. With his unlimited financial resources, he sets his mind to creating a fishing lake replete with salmon for his arid, dry homeland's residents to enjoy fishing. An impossible task made possible only by Harriet's sunny enthusiasm.
Dr. Jones abhors the idea but is forced to placate the sheik, so as to provide a "cheerful" counterpoint to the British public's generally gloomy view of the Arab world when a British Press Secratary Patricia Maxwell (Former Oscar-Nominee Kristen Scott Thomas, "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "The English Patient" and "The Horse Whisperer" ) sees Public Relations gold in the goodwill story of the "crazy sheik who wants to fish in the dessert". Vulgar, manipulative and vain, Thomas turns in an Oscar-worthy supporting role, bringing the best evil/beauracratic witch to the screen since Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada".
I understand this film doesn't sound funny (but it is!) or interesting, but that's the point of my blog... directing people to well-made, well-directed, excellent "small" films that rarely last more than a month or two in theaters.
Directed with a deft, soft touch by Lasse Hallstrom (one of my favorite foreign/indie/small film directors... "My Life as a Dog", " 'Gilbert Grape", and "Chocolat") and marred only by a bit of a formulaic ending, I give "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" 4 Stars out of 5.
Directed with a deft, soft touch by Lasse Hallstrom (one of my favorite foreign/indie/small film directors... "My Life as a Dog", " 'Gilbert Grape", and "Chocolat") and marred only by a bit of a formulaic ending, I give "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" 4 Stars out of 5.
