A Hologram for the King (2015)

"It was a difficult decision." -Allen Clay in reference to the Schwinn bicycle case

Hologram for the King was a well conceived, well-executed,  and timely movie. It is worth seeing. I expect college classes in 20 years might include it in a syllabus, and that's exactly why it is a financial flop. The entire premise lacked anything that the average audience member could latch onto. I like to think of myself as average, and I do my best to empathize with everyone, but the movies I see and even want to see are a product of years of schooling, training, and my attempts to seem/act/behave smrt. If I lacked the privileges of my circumstance, my guess is that I would have found Hologram for the King, slow, unfunny, boring, and confusing.

But, I want to use HftK as a springboard for something we all want to talk about when it comes to movies: NUDITY!!!!!

Yes, HftK has nudity.

For myself, I think our culture, sensors, and artists, should prioritize violence as a "problem" on screen far far above nudity. I'm even in favor a strict 50/50 policy when it comes to female vs. male nudity.  And no, Tom Hanks does not get naked for this role. HftK only has female nudity.

But what made the nudity of HftK notable is that it wasn't outrageously young pretty people wearing make-up, but rather an attractive woman in her early 50s in the ocean, where light is irregular and no make-up stays put. No pretenses, no camera tricks, no voyeur camera positions, just a character getting naked for the right reasons, in a delightfully understated and tasteful snorkeling sequence. Equality in attractiveness, age, body-type, and gender in cinematic nudity please.

I also found myself comparing the unbuilt tech city and Saudia Arabia itself to Japan in the 1980's into 90s. Wealthy and prosperous in vision for the future; unable to see the emptiness of their affluence in the present.

On a scale of emulated flattery to inimitability, I give Hologram for the King 3.43 out of 5 stars.