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ABE
Director: Fernando Grostein Andrade Cast: Noah Schnapp, Seu Jorge, Dagmara Dominczyk, Arian Moayed, Mark Margolis, Salem Murphy, Tom Mardirosian, Daniel Oreskes MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:25 Release Date: 2/17/20 (digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 16, 2020 The main character of Abe is a 12-year-old boy, who's the son of a father whose parents are Palestinian Muslims and a mother whose parents are Israeli Jews. The boy's parents have decided not to raise their son in any religious tradition, and that doesn't sit well with either side of the kid's family. Like their respective families, the parents also disagree about this upbringing: The father would rather his son not align with any religion, and the mother wants her boy to at least take something from religion. It's complicated, to say the least, and Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader's screenplay does delve into the confusion and conflict of the ethnic and religious origins of Abe (Noah Schnapp), the boy who knows he's many things except the person he wants to be. For all of the political arguments and debates about what—if any—religion the boy should choose for himself, Abe does know one thing: He loves food, especially cooking it. The screenplay, admittedly, is more than a bit gimmicky, from Abe's steeped-in-conflict extended family to his adventures becoming a better cook (not to mention the way that the movie incorporates social media and adopts internet lingo—all the times Abe says, "hashtag," something or other—into the story, which mfakes it feel both strained and already outdated). It's also open and honest about the familial disagreements—or at least as forthright as a movie aimed at younger audiences and families can be. Director Fernando Grostein Andrade mostly mirrors his screenwriters' direct approach to the material. It's both a benefit, in the way the characters' conversations and debates feel authentic, and a detriment, in the way the approach makes each and every manipulation feel more overt. The main plot has Abe sneaking away to the kitchen of chef Chico (Seu Jorge), who specializes in fusion dishes—combining and bringing out the tastes of various cuisine traditions without any regard for borders. Abe learns his way around a kitchen and begins experimenting with different foods, before his parents discover his secret and the kid decides that a fusion of Middle Eastern dishes might be able to bring his family together. It's sweet in the way that such innocence doesn't even consider decades of ethnic conflict, yes, but Abe is also a bit too obvious and manipulative on too many levels. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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