Review of Ajami (2009) by Criss T — 12 Jan 2012
Okay, I think I'm in the twilight zone but, then again, I'm pretty sure I'm not. It's not just that this is an interesting movie with some agile narrative manipulation along the lines of Pulp Fiction and Rashomon.
That's a definite plus. You know you're watching a decent movie when time flies and you don't even bother to check the counter on your DVD player. What is truly mind-blowing about this movie, however, is something I did not know going in nor did I even discover it, quite by accident, until I watched the extras and learned the "actors" are not professional actors.
That's right, even though I kept telling myself, "Wow, this is a great group of really fine actors," I was mightily surprised to find out in the extras that not a single one of the people in this movie is an actor.
They're all plain old folks brought in from the community, who were led through a few acting workshops, and then turned loose in front of the camera. And if that isn't mind-blowing enough, none of them saw the script or knew the story throughout the filming of the movie.
They were simply put into scenes, told what was basically going on in those scenes, and then they ad-libbed all the dialog. All the dialog. Every single word! You have to see this not just because it's a decent story and well made, but especially because these are just average Joes and Janes from the neighborhood improvising a two-hour movie.
I repeat: mind-blowing! And I hardly ever view the extras, as I've said in the past. A quick survey of "the critics" leads me to believe that not a whole lot of folks know -- or maybe even care -- about this phenomenon.
And it is phenomenal, don't you think?
This review of Ajami (2009) was written by Criss T on 12 Jan 2012.
Ajami has generally received very positive reviews.
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