SYNOPSIS: The story of “Please, After You,” a new Canadian comedy now playing in theatres, begins with Iranian immigrant Ali (Sammy Azero) searching for a better life in Canada. Having earned an engineering degree, he spends his time interviewing for a job in his field. That is, when he’s not working as a security guard at the downtown parking lot that allows him to eke out a meager living. His life is on track until his cousin Omid (Neema Nazeri) shows up, seeking political asylum to stay in Canada after getting caught up in an anti-government demonstration in Iran. “If I go back I will face jail,” he says. “Or even worse.”
CAST: Sammy Azero, Neema Nazeri, Juno Rinaldi, Kris Skiddiqi, Julie Nolke. Directed by Rob Michaels.
REVIEW: These days stories of potential deportations are no laughing matter but “Please, After You” is a surprisingly lighthearted movie. An odd couple story of an ambitious guy with his eye firmly on the future and his well-meaning but bumbling cousin, it is about starting life in a new country, resilience and finding community and a logical family wherever you may be.
Sammy Azerohas the less showy role. His job is to react to his hopelessly naïve cousin’s frequent inconveniences. Stand-up comedian and actor Neema Nazeri is all enthusiasm as Omid, a character who means well, but can’t get out of his own way, or Ali’s way for that matter, in his attempts at assimilation.
They make an engaging pair, even if some of their misadventures—like going for lunch and discovering the buffet is inside a strip club—feel a bit contrived. Still, there is a playfulness to the filmmaking by “Playback’s” 2021 10 to Watch director Rob Michaels, and in the performances.
“Please, After You,” with its story of finding a place in a new place, is meant to uplift and it does. It may err on the side of sentimentality from time to time, but unlike its main character, it never gets derailed by Omid’s antics.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Invisibles,” a new fantasy family drama starring Tim Blake Nelson and Gretchen Mol, and now playing in theatres, Charlie is feeling invisible. Ignored at work and having trouble at home, he leads a life of quiet desperation. As his troubles mount, he slowly disappears; literally unseen by everyone except those in a parallel universe who have also vanished from real life.
CAST: Tim Blake Nelson, Gretchen Mol, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Webster, Rachel Wilson, Tennille Read, Laura de Carteret, Juno Rinaldi, Courtenay J. Stevens, Rob Ramsay, Vinson Tran, Golden Madison, Jean-Michel Le Gal, Tal Gottfried, Elina Miyake Jackson, Nathan Alexis, Philip Van Martin, Grace Loewen. Written and directed by Andrew Currie.
REVIEW: Charlie’s (Nelson) trip into a new dimension isn’t so much an exploration of the hereafter as it is a journey of self-discovery. Charlie isn’t dead, he is simply absent from his life, watching his old reality from another point of view. It’s a little bit “It’s a Wonderful Life,” (with a charming Nathan Alexis subbing in for Clarence), and part low-key “Interstellar” rumination on human agency and what it means to be alive.
At the heart of it all is Nelson who gives Charlie a world weariness born of trauma, disappointment and apathy. He’s a “don’t know what you have till it’s gone guy,” forced to fight for his place in the world, and to accept that disappointment, frustration and loss are equal threads in the great human tapestry alongside love and joy.
The secret to the performance is in his eyes, as we see him processing whether to return to the unpredictable real world or stay in the relative emotional stasis of the invisible world. It’s lovely work, vulnerable but determined, imbued with both bliss and the blues.
As otherworld bartender Carl, Bruce Greenwood makes a convincing argument for sidestepping the pains of real life, but writer/director Andrew Currie chooses to dive deep, examining how and why emotional tumult shapes us.
“The Invisibles” is thoughtful, provocative filmmaking that asks fundamental questions about life, love and trauma is an entertaining, and often funny, way.
SYNOPSIS: The story of “Please, After You,” a new Canadian comedy now playing in theatres, begins with Iranian immigrant Ali (Sammy Azero) searching for a better life in Canada. Having earned an engineering degree, he spends his time interviewing for a job in his field. That is, when he’s not working as a security guard at the downtown parking lot that allows him to eke out a meager living. His life is on track until his cousin Omid (Neema Nazeri) shows up, seeking political asylum to stay in Canada after getting caught up in an anti-government demonstration in Iran. “If I go back I will face jail,” he says. “Or even worse.”
