I kept waiting for this movie to get better. I was enjoying the fresh culture explore for Arab Americans, and the tension from gangs in the street outside and the film in perpetual darkness sets a gritty tone.
But in the end, this is a movie about setting up a camcorder to film a guy working a gas station. He makes coffee. He hands out smokes. He falls asleep (multiple times) on the job. He has regulars come in, not so regulars, and strung out crack heads. As we'd expect. The quick attraction between the two stars is a little forced. We are somehow led to believe that two of the most attractive people in their community do not have a partner, and that they will fall instantly in love. A bit closer to Alladin's Lamp than reality, really.
The movie tension builds around the all-important cultural taboo of Arab women dating men (before when, they are spinsters???) and the near desperate measures their male family members will go through to stop it (and yes, it's heavily sexist).
The two beyond-attractive lover-slash-supermodels have their secret 'love affair', which mainly involves sleeping and hanging out on the shelves below the cash register. Yes.. And Thats It. That's the movie. The brother catches them, nothing happens, and the two lovers drive off into the sunset, to apparently make their fortune on their extremely meagre wages.
Got to the end and realized... I'd just wasted my life watching video of a guy running a gas station. And then nothing.
But in the end, this is a movie about setting up a camcorder to film a guy working a gas station. He makes coffee. He hands out smokes. He falls asleep (multiple times) on the job. He has regulars come in, not so regulars, and strung out crack heads. As we'd expect. The quick attraction between the two stars is a little forced. We are somehow led to believe that two of the most attractive people in their community do not have a partner, and that they will fall instantly in love. A bit closer to Alladin's Lamp than reality, really.
The movie tension builds around the all-important cultural taboo of Arab women dating men (before when, they are spinsters???) and the near desperate measures their male family members will go through to stop it (and yes, it's heavily sexist).
The two beyond-attractive lover-slash-supermodels have their secret 'love affair', which mainly involves sleeping and hanging out on the shelves below the cash register. Yes.. And Thats It. That's the movie. The brother catches them, nothing happens, and the two lovers drive off into the sunset, to apparently make their fortune on their extremely meagre wages.
Got to the end and realized... I'd just wasted my life watching video of a guy running a gas station. And then nothing.