A Hologram for the King
Director: Tom Tykwer
Talent: Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury, Sidse Babett Knudsen
Release Date: 20th May
In the midst of an extremely white and middle-class midlife crisis, washed-up salesman Alan (Hanks) takes a last-ditch job hawking a vaguely sci-fi holographic communication system to the king of Saudi Arabia. Lost in a country he doesn’t understand, he must find himself again. Or something. This adaptation of a Dave Eggers novel is a busy introduction of idea after idea, very few of which actually go anywhere.
When Alan falls for a married female doctor (in a country where women are executed for adultery), he somehow manages to conduct a gentle, low-stakes flirtation. But even if the film lacks a strong argument for why the story it has to tell means anything, it does possess a disarming charisma. There are long sections where Hanks is just hanging out with his Saudi driver, chatting pop-culture while getting a tour of the country. A Hologram for the King is a vague portrait, but still manages to find occasional moments of human charm.
Words: Bernard O’Rourke
