#1236 The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir

[Kasi Mir]

Ken Scott, the director of the sneak film which I will reference only as "The Fakir", is to date more well-known for his writing skills; the French-Canadian has written screenplays for almost two decades in both English and French. One of his scripts, "La Grande Séduction", was remade in 2013 as sneak movie #1014 "The Grand Seduction". His own english-language directorial efforts consisted of two comedies starring Vince Vaughn ("Unfinished Business" and "Delivery Man"), one of which again was a remake of one of hist a french-language films. For "The Fakir" he adapted the novel "L'extraordinaire voyage du fakir qui était resté coincé dans une armoire Ikea" which French author Romain Puértolas released in 2013. So, the film title is actually an abbeviation of the original name - both title and film don't mention IKEA even once, though no one can have any doubts which furniture story Aja is visiting.

Here's the trailer for "The Fakir":



How did you enjoy this extraordinary journey? How did you like the performances, first and foremost of course by famous Bollywood actor Dhanush as traveling "Fakir" Aja, but also Erin Moriarty as his love interest Marie, Bérenice Bejo as famous actress Nelly, Ben Miller as singing immigration cop Smith, and Barkhad Abdi as Somali refugee Wiraj? What about the story which crosses countries and continents, and includes both fairytale-like scenes and real-life current topics? You don't have to write your thoughts about "The Fakir" onto your last shirt - just type them into a reply to this post.

[Roughale]

Ich könnte lange über diesen wunderbaren Film erzählen, wenn ich die Zeit hätte...

Für mich war das wunderbarstes Erzählkino, mit einer mehrschichtigen Erzählstruktur, einfach gesagt, der Film erzählt von einem Mann, der seine Geschichte erzählt. Das mag vielleicht nicht so wirklich besonders klingen, aber für mich war es das und hat mich ständig an Baron Münchhausen erinnert (was mit dem Abschlussdialog in Stein gemeisselt wurde, aus meiner Erinnerung: "was it a true story?" "the important parts were" - das ist für mich ein "based on true events - BUT..." und ich fand das einfach klasse!). Erfrischend fand ich auch, dass man sich nicht um bekannte Gesichter kümmern musste und ganz unabgelenkt sich dem Geschehen hingeben konnte. Charmat gespielt, teilweise fast krank komisch (der UK Einwanderungscop mit Gesangseinlage, die Bollywood Szene beim Partyeinlass, etc.). Der Film hat mir einfach verdammt viel Spass gemacht, da kann ich nur die 1 zücken!

That's what sneaks are for!