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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. 🎬🍿
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Reviews
Five-Star Family: Haz Athir (Bad Luck) (1994)
Mom's Pick: '94 Syrian Flick
I'm watching this show for the first time in 2024, even though it came out before I was born. I decided to try it after hearing it mentioned in recent interviews as a key moment in Syrian domestic comedy. My mom loved it when she was younger, and talking about it with her made her smile and laugh, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
The first episode's plot is pretty basic-just some funny accidents. But what really hooks you are the characters!
They perfectly capture a working-class Syrian family (pre-2011). Umm Ahmad is the stressed-out mom holding everything together, and you can feel her anxiety. Samar is the dreamy, cheerful girl, always singing and laughing. Her brother Ahmad is a classic slacker, more into having fun than growing up. Farhan, Samar's suitor, has a rural simplicity and sincerity that make him lovable, despite his social awkwardness.
There are also cultural touches, like the clothes and familiar household items. Some details are off, like the missing black stripe on the deceased father's picture and the absence of religious symbols, but overall, the setting feels authentic.
The plot may be conventional, but the relatable characters make it engaging. If you haven't seen this series, I recommend giving it a try-I was really entertained.
Five-Star Family: Tijara Hurra (Free Trade) (1994)
Scams, Shakespeare, and Syrian Society
This episode was super interesting. By now, we know the characters well, and instead of trying to pull us in, it builds up for the rest of the series.
Coolest part? Ahmad, who used to be a total slacker and kept failing his baccalaureate exams, has finally passed and is now determined to become an actor. Everyone thinks he'll fail, but he's super determined.
There's a random moment where Umm Ahmad hears about the Bosnian War on the radio. It doesn't tie into the main story but makes the show feel more real with historical touches. Umm Ahmad, the business-minded one, has invested all her money, and we get some cliffhanger info about this at the end, adding tension.
Samar, helps Ahmad prep for his theater audition, so Ahmad, Samar, and their brother Muhammad decide to act out Hamlet. They tweak the play to make Polonius the lover of Gertrude, leading to hilarious critiques of the play from Samar.
This episode is different from earlier ones. Instead of a clear start and end, it focuses on ongoing storylines, especially with Umm Ahmad's investment. It's less comedic and more about building tension. While it's crucial for character growth and future plots, I didn't find it as iconic or enjoyable as previous episodes.
Framing Agnes (2022)
Resurrected Stories: Trans Lives buried in the UCLA Archives
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.