Namour follows the protagonist, an Egyptian-American Los Angeles valet stuck on the crossroads of life uncertain of the next step as everyone else around him is on the way to a better future. It is Heidi Saman’s first feature film, and I have no idea how or when I heard about the film, but it sounds like my kind of movie. A woman (of color?) directed it. It centers the experiences of a first generation American who is not killing it on any tangible level, which carries an unspoken burden of family disappointment if that family consists of immigrants, a familiar feeling. I watched a documentary about parking lot attendants and loved it. I am the ideal viewer for this film.
I struggled to stay awake. While my viewing experience was far from ideal because of exigent circumstances—literally, it was one of the first few days of realization and panic during the global pandemic—I can tell the difference between exhaustion and a soporific. This film has a sumptuous distinct vision and is gorgeous to watch. Saman’s Namour reflects the eye of an auteur, a slick, sophisticated and appealing visual style reminiscent of early Michael Mann, but as a writer, she leans towards the mumblecore genre without the spontaneity or momentum.
There should be movies with protagonists that do not discover their purpose in life by the end of the film. I love to delve into the uncomfortable end of the human experience where it is bleak, hopeless or just numb. I want movies that reflect reality, and in reality, people live and die as valets, dependent on their parents or with families struggling to make ends meet. It could just be life, a tragedy or a triumph, but I should feel something, positive or negative, about the protagonist, and I felt nothing for this protagonist, which could be the point since he does not seem to make an impact in his life either. To be fair, I have noticed that lately it is harder for me to relate to a male protagonist, but it is not impossible, and I approached this film fully expecting to embrace his story.
If I was an armchair psychologist, he is a guy who expects a lot without doing much. Namour’s opening scene is enough to nail his inner life or to reveal the ambiguities of working in certain atmospheres. Is a woman actually looking at him seductively to get better and quicker service or is she interested? More likely, he is as delusional, but less psychotic as the imaginative killer in Manhunter who conforms reality to the inevitable gravitational pull of his internal narrative. These valets are still men immersed in a glamorous world albeit living on the fringes. They understandably feel attraction, but are treated like furniture. At night, it is possible to forget that he is a servant in this world. The film had potential if it had solely focused on the dynamics of working in such a job, and it would have diverted the genre into something more comedic than what Saman seemed to want so I understand why she did not exclusively focus on it.
Namour depicts a man dissatisfied with interacting with the real world preferring to interact with others through his smart phone. He never really lives in the moment, but when he does, he is more like a mean teenager, an immature saboteur. He is generally the least interesting person on screen, especially when he is around his family. The titular character is his grandmother. Everyone in the family is at a turning point. I was really hoping that the film would devote more time to capturing the family dynamic, but instead we are treated to what feels like endless scenes of watching him with his friends hang around or him trying to connect with his girlfriend. These scenes were not memorable to me and felt like the essence of the film, when he could truly be himself or at least the self that he saw himself as being.
There was a point when I kind of began rooting against the protagonist as a way to get invested in Namour’s meandering life, especially since all his machinations generally left him more at sea than when he was doing nothing. I enjoy an unlikeable character, but he was the human equivalent of a foiled Looney Toons cartoon constantly thwarted and increasingly frustrated by his futile efforts. It became unintentionally hilarious how clearly awful everyone else registered him as being, but he was inept at it. Even though this film was a drama, it felt as if Saman was fighting the natural gravitational pull of comedy by embracing the protagonist’s sullen, sulky attitude, which never needed to be ameliorated, but needed slightly more focus and direction.
Maybe I am the problem. Namour was supposed to be a period film, and I did not notice it until after I finished watching the film. It takes place just before the foreclosure crisis so if the protagonist thought that his life was bad before, he must be rocking himself in a corner in the fetus position by now. You can be affable. You can be unlikeable, but don’t be forgettable, and the protagonist gets lost in the crowd even as the star of the movie. In contrast, The Souvenir has a protagonist who deliberately makes herself smaller, slightly ashamed of her privilege, but still retains focus. The protagonist is desperate to be the special, clearly sees himself as deserving, but just is not. He even lacks the sincerity of a true narcissist. He is just flat, stale, but at least he is attractive.
Maybe Saman likes her protagonist, but just fails to convey why she finds him engaging. She certainly likes him since she resists from fully embracing him as an awful human being, which would make him a more engrossing character, especially since a magnificent bastard has never prevented people from rooting for someone. He is a lukewarm blank leaning towards going grey. Movies about paralyzed characters at a crossroads should not be equated with a lack of personality, and he failed to make any impression.
Maybe Namour’s point is that some people are just not special and are incapable of rising above it or realizing it. They do not stand out and want to be special, but they are not even special in their little worlds. They are small fish in a small pond, but I do not believe it is true. I have found that small ponds have the most colorful fish, and it is rare not to find something emblematic about each person even if it is a negative trait.
Namour was just not for me. It was disappointing and lulling. I am completely open to being proven wrong because it was a gorgeous film. Saman has directed an episode of Queen Sugar, which is in my queue. Ava DuVernay definitely knows more than I do about film, and she must have loved this movie if she hired Saman to work on her series. Someone teach me.