Review of Roll’em (2019)
Seen in 2022.
Omar, a man who’s lived and worked in the USA for a while, is directing TV commercials back in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country where it’s hard to get a license for anything to do with cinema. After his relationship goes on hiatus, Omar quits his job and starts thinking of making a movie about the city with the help of an older man who used to shoot pictures too, but now sells curios.
The two major flaws of this film are the music—too loud and clumsily edited into a narrative that is otherwise elegantly understated—and the strong tendency the scruffy male lead has to encounter friendly and attractive women in a world that is otherwise believable. Predictably, since Omar dreams of becoming the next Youssef Chahine and chafes at theocratic bureaucracy, the medium of film is central, which is pleasant enough but ends in an unlikely sentimental smoke show. Watch it for the atmosphere, the funny dialogue and Saleem Homsi as Omar’s loveable Bohemian buddy who uses the English word “dude” in his Arabic.