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'A Hologram for the King': Angst of a Salesman
By Michael S. Goldberger, iBerkshires Film Critic
04:31PM / Thursday, April 28, 2016
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Tom Hanks is Alan Clay, a desperate former corporate bigwig, attempting to sell the Arab king a holographic teleconferencing program.

Director Tom Tykwer's "A Hologram for the King," about a down-on-his-luck American businessman seeking to rectify his life through one big deal in Saudi Arabia, is the sort of film you enjoy while you're watching it, think about a little, and dismiss. The fleeting, two-pronged appeal comes thanks to the everyman charm Tom Hanks imbues in his Alan Clay, a desperate former corporate bigwig, and the inscrutable sociology he runs into whilst attempting to sell the Arab king a holographic teleconferencing program.  

We like Alan, especially after learning that his fall from Big Biz was a result of just one unfortunate decision during the Great Recession that he's since played over and over in his mind. It sure seemed like the way to go back then, but nothing's been right since. His wife has divorced him, he's lost his house, and his adoring daughter has had to drop out of college until Daddy can again afford the tuition. In other words, there but for the grace of, well, you know.

Gosh, the man is near 60. He should be preparing to enjoy the fruits of his life's labor, and here he is, washed ashore in gallingly enigmatic territory, getting the runaround from every underling and middle-management wonk he confronts. His demonstration team has been relegated to a tent just outside of where the king plans to build his Metropolis of Economy and Trade. But where is his Wi-Fi, or food for his troops? It's all sand and promises, with no assurance that his mission half way around the world isn't in vain.

Thankfully, some comedy relief is supplied by Alexander Black's Yousef, a self-styled cabbie who soon becomes Alan's confidante and guide to all things Arab. Of course he has his own problems. Aside from a future of little expectations, there's an ever-present fear of reprisal from the wealthy older husband of a "sweetie" with whom he's been secretly exchanging honeyed words. That he regularly checks the car engine for bombs doesn't make his American charge very comfortable.

But off they go anyway, as yet unexploded. Rambling through the desert in Yousef's '87 Chevrolet Caprice, the two exchange histories and philosophy in an often funny and telling, impromptu cultural exchange. But Alan is stalled at every turn and the clock is ticking on our salesman's chance for redemption, his nasty, heartless boss issuing sweat-causing ultimatums from his perch in Boston.

In-between the tedium and the baffling obstructions, he Skypes his daughter Kit (Tracey Fairaway), cautioning her not to become too enamored of the waitressing job she's taken. Well, that's disheartening enough, so it's only par for the course when a sudden growth on Alan's back, right near his spine, puts things in perspective. But not to worry yet, dear reader and potential filmgoer. This movie has a simple script. When our interest is swerved by the possibility of a romance, matters lighten, at least for a while.

There is no strictly determined plot. While there are stops along its pleasantly ambling route which pay contemplative lip service to the ever-increasing impersonalization of business in the global community, this is essentially an etude of emotions with Papa Hanks the grand emoter. Walking life's tightrope late in his career, there is no net to catch him. Only his wits, a strong survival instinct and, we suspect, a belief that the American dream is still attainable, keep him from taking the Willy Loman route.

Providing the human landscape and sounding board to Alan's angst, discoveries and ruminations are some solid characterizations. In addition to Black's aforementioned Man Friday, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Hanne, a seemingly compassionate go-between from the Danish embassy, tenders a note of middle-aged sexiness; Khalid Laith adds both hope and further mystery as Karim Al-Ahmad, an emissary of the king; and Sarita Choudhury as Zahra, the doctor who tends to his boo-boo, is a captivating presence.

Expect no cloudbursts of epiphany or original thought. However, skimming along just this side of political incorrectness, director Tykwer's screenplay, based on the book by David Eggers, does provide a seriocomic appreciation of the West's frustrations with the Middle East. The depiction earns applause for balance when, in a sympathetic juxtaposition, Alan is invited to Yousef's ancestral home and gets an amusing look at the other side of the culture shock.

Personalizing the experience, Tom Hanks as our man in Saudi Arabia pens yet another page in his esteemed career's perpetual study of the American persona. Critical but generously open-minded, it is in the final analysis perhaps not what we are, but rather how we would be ideally perceived. Combining the honest introspection of an Atticus Finch with the self-effacing Yank humor typical of Twain, in "A Hologram for the King" Hanks manages to crown even a failed salesman with a touch of royal bearing.

 "A Hologram for the King," rated R, is a Lionsgate release directed by Tom Tykwer and stars Tom Hanks, Sarita Choudhury and Alexander Black. Running time: 98 minutes

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