Last year, a week before this film got its limited theatrical release in New York, there was another film that got released that was somewhat similar. It even had a synonymous title.
The Marriage (Martesa) was the official submission from Kosovo for the 91st Academy Awards. It was about a man who was preparing to get married to a beautiful woman. Meanwhile, he has an affair with another man. This film, written and directed by Sam Abbas, is essentially the same thing. Except, the man in question doesn't just have an affair with one man. He has multiple affairs with different men.
The Marriage took place in a foreign country and had a bit more work to do to explain the cultural context, as well as a bit of historical context for what is a story of homophobia. That Kosovo film wasn't great but it attempted to provide that context. It's also easier to accept that context because it's set in a foreign country. It's not so easy to accept that context here because it's set in the United States, New York to be exact.
Sam Abbas himself stars as Rami. He lives in a small apartment. It's not clear what he does for work or to support himself. We see him constantly on his laptop. He could be a web designer or writer. Whatever it is, it doesn't afford him a lot of money as his apartment is sparsely decorated. We hear him speaking in Arabic, so he's perhaps Middle Eastern of some kind and possibly Muslim. There's no other indication of his ethnicity or background, except in real-life Abbas is Egyptian in his heritage, so presumably the character of Rami is of Egyptian descent too.
Nikohl Boosheri (
Farah Goes Bang and
Circumstance) co-stars as Sara, the fiancé of Rami. Her ethnicity and heritage are also unknown. She seemingly works as a waitress at a Greek restaurant, possibly in Lower Manhattan. She's excited about the upcoming nuptials, while Rami doesn't appear to be as excited. She tries to engage with him or even initiate sex, but it's hit or miss. Sometimes, he's engaged. Most times, he seems uninterested or too lackadaisical about his relationship to her.
Harry Aspinwall also co-stars as Lee, a friend of Rami. Lee is an artist, specifically a painter. Rami comes over to Lee's apartment to hang out, drink a beer or have some wine. They talk shop, mainly about art or other random things. Things become weird when Rami then starts kissing Lee. They don't seem to have sex that night, but it's implied that they've had a sexual relationship in the past and possibly will have one again in the future.
Later, we see Rami engaging in other men in what seems like a series of affairs that he has with men. All the while, he comes home to his apartment with Sara, as she talks about plans for their pending wedding and honeymoon. At times, he seems interested. Other times, he seems completely indifferent.
The question becomes why is Rami living this double life. Presumably, he's living in present-day New York City. It's not to say that people can't have double lives in New York or even be closeted, but in order to be believable, there has to be an overriding reason. Abbas never provides an overriding reason. Abbas never provides any context or exposition to anything that's happening here, so it's difficult to know what if any depth there is to this film.
It doesn't help that Abbas shoots this movie in a very distancing way. This movie is nothing but a series of wide-shots. Each scene is just a wide-shot that goes for one-take without any editing. Usually, the take will go on for at least two minutes. There's no coverage and the camera doesn't even move. There's also absolutely no close-ups. Abbas literally keeps the audience at a distance from his characters and the situation. I couldn't even describe what Rami or Sara look like in terms of their facial features. I couldn't tell you what the color of the eyes were or even the shape of their faces at all, which means I could never read their emotions or get inside their heads. It wouldn't have mattered any way, given that many scenes have the characters with their backs literally to the camera for the whole time.
Abbas might have had a purpose as to why he shot the film this way, but it comes across as if he didn't have a crew. All he probably had was just himself to set up the camera someplace unattended, so he set up to get a wide-shot and that's it. It feels almost amateurish rather than an intentional choice to underscore some artistic point.
Not Rated but contains language and sexual situations.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 13 mins.
Available on VOD.
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