Adapted from Dave Eggers’ 2012 novel, “A Hologram for the
King” stars Tom Hanks as Alan Clay, a sadsack
American business consultant in the midst of an existential crisis. With a
failed marriage and a loving but increasingly distant daughter, Clay is at a
crossroads when he arrives in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to pitch a new
holographic teleconferencing technology to the king.
The company Clay works for is hoping to capitalize on the
king’s long-term plan to turn the country’s barren desert into a thriving
metropolis. But once he’s there, the king’s representatives keep delaying the
meeting, leaving Alan and his team hanging, surrounded by a culture that
remains consistently beyond their comprehension. It’s “Waiting For Godot” in the Middle East as Clay battles with the country’s
inscrutable bureaucracy, represented by the disconcerting visual of a single,
gleaming office building standing oasis-like in the middle of the desert. The
Saudi Arabia depicted in the film is a place of contrasts, with a people
governed by the old ways but preoccupied with the shiny and new.
Director Tom Tykwer (“Perfume: The
Story of a Murderer,” “Run Lola Run”) fills the story with playfully absurdist
touches, like the opening nightmare sequence in which Hanks sing-shouts the
lyrics to “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads. It kicks off the film in
high-energy fashion, even if it doesn’t quite match up with the rather
melancholy story that follows. The entire film is a mishmash of tones that
never fully gels. With its meandering, fish-out-of-water story, the film often
feels like a descendent of Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” which
similarly explored an American’s feelings of dislocation and estrangement in a
strange and foreign land.
Alan gradually develops a friendship with his 70’s
rock-loving driver, Yousef (Alexander Black), as well
as a tentative relationship with Dr. Hakim (SaritaChoudhury), a female Saudi doctor who treats him for a
strange lump that’s mysteriously appeared on his back. As these relationships
build, the story occasionally crosses into Òmiddle-aged white guy gets his groove
back thanks to the exotic Middle Easterners’ territory, but Hanks is such a pro
that his performance allows more honest emotion to shine through than that
description might imply. “Hologram” is a minor oddity, but Hanks’ wearily
endearing performance serves as a reminder that heÕs still one of the best
actors working today.
This article appears in May 11-17, 2016.
