Change Your Image
suzie-toumeh
I realized I have a knack for forgetting why I rated a movie or show a certain way, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and start scribbling down my thoughts.
So, if you're looking for brutally honest reviews peppered with a dash of humor and a sprinkle of cultural insights, you've come to the right place. 🎬🍿
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Five-Star Family: Haz Athir (Bad Luck) (1994)
Syrian Slice-of-Life
The plot itself isn't groundbreaking. It's all about comedic accidents, but what really keeps you hooked are the characters!
The charachters are spot-on for a working-class Syrian family living in the city. They are relatable, especially Umm Ahmad, who embodies the hard-working, stressed-out mom trying to keep everything together. She is overworked and anxious, always on the verge of snapping. She's obviously the only adult figure in this fictional world, trying to manage everything after her husband's death.
Samar is this dreamy girl, full of emotions, she sings girly pop songs and is always seen smiling and laughing. However, she also takes care of many responsibilities around the house and she has a job that helps with the bills. Ahmad, her older brother, is a slacker, more interested in having fun than growing up. This is immediately funny because if you know anything about the Syrian Bacalaureat -or took it yourself-, you will probably know an Ahmad.
The last in the bunch is Farhan, Samar's possible suitor. He seems to embody a rural sense of simplicity. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to navigating social interactions or resolving conflicts, but his sincerity and good-naturedness shine through. He adds an interesting touch to the show by speaking in the Homsi accent. Umm Ahmad says he is a "Dandabori" (worthless) but Samar is obviously head over heels.
There are some interesting cultural touches too like the clothes and the many familiar items of a Syrian houshold. However, some things are out of place. For instance, there's no little black stripe (symbol of the person passing away) on the deceased father's picture. And there are no religious symbols in the house... no cross or quran corner or aya on the wall, which feels a bit unusual. But overall, the general setting and the dialouge balances things out and adds that needed authenticity.
This episode excels in character building and cultural authenticity. Despite the plot being somewhat conventional, the relatable characters make it engaging. Given these strengths, I would rate the episode a solid 7 out of 10.
Five-Star Family: Tijara Hurra (Free Trade) (1994)
Scams, Shakespeare, and Syrian Society
This episode was really interesting because by now we know the characters pretty well and we've seen them go through a lot, so the episode structure isn't designed to pull us in anymore, but rather build up for what's gonna happen in the rest of the series.
Coolest part? Ahmad, who started off as this total slacker, has grown so much. Remember how every episode they kept reminding us that he is re-doing his baccalaureate exams for four years straight? Everyone, even his own mom, thought he was a loser. But a few episodes back, he finally passed! His grades weren't great, but he didn't care about that. Now, he's all set on becoming an actor, which is a big deal for him. He's super determined, despite everyone thinking he'll fail at that too.
This episode had a lot of random stuff going on. There's a moment where Ahmad's mom, Umm Ahmad, is listening to the radio, and they mention the Bosnian War. It's kind of random and doesn't really tie into the main story, but it's a cool reminder that there's a bigger world out there beyond their little apartment. It makes the show feel more real, especially since I'm watching it in 2024 and it's interesting to see these historical touches.
Speaking of Umm Ahmad, she's always been the business-minded one, always trying to save money and come up with new ways to make more. In this episode, we are reminded that she's invested all her money with some business guy, but by the end, we find out some cliffhanger information about her money and her friends' money too. You can feel the tension building because we don't know what's going to happen next with their financial situation.
Anyway the most interesting part for me in this episode was when Ahmad, Samar, and their little brother Muhammad decide to act out Hamlet. Samar's really into books and movies, so she helps Ahmad prep for his theater school audition. They do this whole scene from Hamlet (they also tweak it a bit to make Polonius the lover of Gertrude), and it's hilarious. Samar starts critiquing it, saying Hamlet should be re-named Ahmed Al-Layl and that the play needs more romance. Ahmad tries to defend the play, but she's not having it. It's funny but also shows how the writer/director are bringing pop Syrian culture into discussion with these classic Western stories.
Compared to earlier episodes, this one is different. Usually, there's a clear storyline that starts and ends in the same episode. Like, in episode 2, Umm Ahmad was investigating Farhan, thinking he might be a criminal, but by the end, she finds out he's not. This episode, though, is more about ongoing storylines. Nothing gets fully resolved by the end; instead, it leaves us hanging, especially with Umm Ahmad's investment. It's less comedic and more about building tension and uncertainty.
This episode might not stand alone as well as some others, but it's a crucial part of the series, showing the characters' growth and setting up future storylines. However, I am rating it a bit lower because I didn't find it as iconic or enjoyable as previous episodes.
Framing Agnes (2022)
had to watch for a class
So, I was assigned this documentary for a class. The documentary is a dive into a part of American transgender history. It focused on six individuals from the 1950s, whose stories were buried within the UCLA Gender Clinic archives.
Now, the movie has a unique approach where actors reenact moments from the archives, and they've got real trans actors playing these characters, which is pretty cool. The actors would then get to talk about their own lives and experinces. But here's the thing - while we get these fascinating glimpses into the archive, it remains only that... just glimpses. The documentary focuses on the actors and the scholar commenting on the archive A LOT instead of the 6 figures from 1950s. Take Agnes, for example. She's interviewed for a whopping two years, yet we only hear a fraction of what she said. And that's where the documentary falls a bit short.
Don't get me wrong, the documentary does touch on a lot of crucial issues from the era. For instance, Georgia's story sheds light on the harsh realities faced by black trans women, who struggle with systematic harrasment on the streets and have a hard time finding employment. But also how people like her can be turned into icons and how that can be problomatic.
The best part of the documentary is the ability to hear how people from the 1950s could talk back to the dominant narrative. Barbra talked of a network of trans women and Jimmy came into the clinic as only a teen (his humor was just something else) These were great examples of what we don't understand about the 1950s. That there were trans networks back then and that trans kids existed.
There were however some missed opportunities to explore certain themes further. Religion, for example, is briefly mentioned through Georgia's evangelical background and her comment that she reads the bibile but was again completely unexplored.
Anyway, throughout the documentary, The main thing that struck me was how it handled the validity of these archival interviews. What about the discussion of the limitations of the archive?! The scholar commenting in this documentary barely scratches the surface, hinting at the amount of lies in the recorded trascript without fully delving into it. Since we know that these charachters needed to package themselves for the intreviews in a way that pass into the white heteronormative scholarly discourse, and in the case of Agnes, lie your way to get surgery. I would have enjoyed more critical analysis on this point.
Overall, the documentary is not all action-packed. Some parts drag a bit, and it's not the kind of thing I'd watch for fun. And let's talk about the pacing. There were moments where the scholarly commentary felt disconnected. The constant abstract musings on visibility versus invisibility started to feel repetitive, and I found myself longing for more focus on the archival interviews.