A familiar fish-out-of-water plot gets a poignant, anti-prejudice treatment by Nebraska-born director/writer Cherien Dabis, who whisks a single mother Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teen son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) from their desolate West Bank home into America’s heartland, Smalltown, Illinois. (OK, it was filmed in Canada, too.)
Muna is qualified to be a banker, but can only get work at a local White Castle. Fadi’s teen rebellion phase kicks in, and Muna has her hands full dealing with him, her lack of money, living with her patient relatives and a group of racist hooligans at Fadi’s school. Rated: PG-13 (language, drug use). 96 minutes. (Read more…)
Now playing at the Century Centre Cinema in Chicago and the Renaissance Place in Highland Park.