'A Hologram for the King' meanders but succeeds
"A Hologram for the King,鈥� based on the sparsely plotted 2012 Dave Eggers novel, stars Tom Hanks as Alan Clay, a middle-aged, divorced, and near-broke American businessman who travels to Saudi Arabia hoping to sell King Abdullah a holographic telecommunications system. Nothing much happens in this film, which has its links, as did Eggers鈥檚 novel, to Samuel Beckett鈥檚 鈥淲aiting for Godot.鈥� The Godot figure, in this case, is the king, and Hanks, perfectly cast, is the Everyman trying to make sense not only of the alien culture but also his own increasingly alien life.
It鈥檚 a sweet, deliberately meandering movie, and it took me a while to connect with it. But it won me over because ultimately it conveys so well that feeling of estrangement that is both terrifying and comic for any farflung traveler. (In this, it resembles the Sofia Coppola-Bill Murray 鈥淟ost in Translation.鈥�) Director Tom Tykwer is best known for 鈥淩un Lola Run.鈥� This slowed-down film could be called 鈥淪tumble Alan Stumble.鈥� In supporting roles, Alexander Black as a talkative cabbie and Sarita Choudhury as a Saudi doctor both excel.
(B+)
