Warning: mild spoilers.
Tremendously touching if rough edged documentary of co-director Sami Saif's search for the father who abandoned him years earlier. The quest takes him from Denmark where he lives with co-director (and apparent girlfriend) Ambo to Yemen where he discovers he has an extended family.
The emotion unleashed by Saif meeting his family for the first time, after a bad childhood and years of isolation is deeply moving, especially his intense connection with an older brother he had no idea he had.
Visually it's interesting in that it's a hand-held, low-fi video film, but shot in 2:35, an aspect ratio usually reserved for bigger more visually sophisticated features, but it definitely adds something here.
There are some questionable choices in terms of some moments being cut short, and others lingering a bit too long. And it's one of those rare films I actually wish was a bit longer overall, so we could have gotten even more of the story. But that speaks to how interesting and affecting it is.
Tremendously touching if rough edged documentary of co-director Sami Saif's search for the father who abandoned him years earlier. The quest takes him from Denmark where he lives with co-director (and apparent girlfriend) Ambo to Yemen where he discovers he has an extended family.
The emotion unleashed by Saif meeting his family for the first time, after a bad childhood and years of isolation is deeply moving, especially his intense connection with an older brother he had no idea he had.
Visually it's interesting in that it's a hand-held, low-fi video film, but shot in 2:35, an aspect ratio usually reserved for bigger more visually sophisticated features, but it definitely adds something here.
There are some questionable choices in terms of some moments being cut short, and others lingering a bit too long. And it's one of those rare films I actually wish was a bit longer overall, so we could have gotten even more of the story. But that speaks to how interesting and affecting it is.
