‘A Hologram for a King’, the latest from Tom Hanks, tells the story of a desperate salesman who has nearly lost it all, taking one last big chance on a tech idea to a wealthy king in Saudi Arabia and finding a lot more than he expected in this desert homeland.
If there is anything to be said about Tom Hanks, it’s that he doesn’t have a pattern. There is simply no telling what he’s going to do next, constantly surprising us with roles in movies we’d mostly not think he’d be in. His filmography is a wild mix of a characters that span nearly all genres and he continues to find new ways to break expectations. From breezy comedies to serious award-winning dramas, he makes it all work and has earned his place as one of film’s most trusted and popular actors.
Next up is a film by Tom Tykwer, perhaps best known for 1998’s Run Lola Run and his co-direction on 2012’s Cloud Atlas (also starring Tom Hanks). Actually filmed more than two years ago, this intriguing location film is finally getting released (through Lionsgate) and looks to offer a mix of some typical cross cultural fun, romance and even some drama. Based on a book of the same name by Dave Eggers, Hanks plays Alan Clay, a failing salesman who has an idea he thinks can sell, but needs the right customer.
The clip starts with a sensational sales pitch alongside the classic disenchantment anthem “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads with colorful plumes of purple smoke ‘poofing’ away the material thinks in life. It’s a great kick off to the film’s tone and sees our hero then whisked off to a foreign land where the usual miscommunications brings more laughs, mostly due to Hanks gift for timing. That comedic tone shifts, of course, as Clay suffers an anxiety attack and falls under the care of a specialist played by Sarita Choudhury, a Saudi woman who is tender and affectionate. And here’s where the trailer starts to shine, as it appears that, *gasp* an older man in a movie is going to becoming involved with a woman who is not thirty years younger than he. This dynamic really lights up the second half of the clip and hints that there is a lot more about this ‘comedy’ than we might think.
A Hologram For A King opens April 22, 2016.
Director:
Writers:
Dave Eggers (novel), Tom Tykwer (screenplay)