Amira & Sam Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Amira & Sam Blu-ray Movie Review

Star-Crossed Lovers

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 17, 2015

The Iraqi immigrant and the Army veteran whose names form the title of the superb independent film Amira & Sam are an improbable couple, but writer/director Sean Mullin is an improbable filmmaker. A West Point graduate, he served as an Army officer in Germany, then as a Captain in the National Guard, where he commanded troops stationed at Ground Zero after 9/11. Then he earned a masters in film at Columbia, made several short films, produced the military thriller Allegiance and has now made his feature debut, which has been acquired by Drafthouse Films.

Mullin is self-deprecating about his script in the disc commentary, but it's an ingenious creation. At first glance, Amira & Sam is the simple love story that the title suggests. Then again, one could say the same thing about Woody Allen's Manhattan , from which Mullin has consciously borrowed a signature shot (see screenshot 5). But Manhattan was anything but simple, and Amira & Sam's surface is similarly deceptive, gradually revealing a multifaceted portrait of 21st Century America that is made all the more compelling by the fact that Mullin is not promoting any agenda. As one of the film's characters says, in an utterance far more profound than he intends, "This is the real world, and everyone, all of us, is a prisoner." Mullin has constructed a scenario in which a confluence of significant forces converges on the lives of two people who are just trying to get by. His film reaffirms that momentous events occur all around us every day. We just have to pay attention.

An opening title card informs us that Amira & Sam is set in July 2008, and the date is significant. Key characters in the film's plot work in the financial community, and the film takes place just a few months before the world financial collapse that will consume their attention and possibly decimate their fortunes. Future generations may need to be reminded of this context, but I suspect current viewers still remember that year's upheaval. It's like a bomb ticking in the background of the film, but the explosion doesn't happen until after the credits. (As a reminder, Mullin includes a few references to SEC investigations and "overvaluing" of assets.)

Sam Seneca (Martin Starr, who played Stu Cobbler in the Veronica Mars movie) is an Army veteran newly returned from Iraq, who is navigating civilian life. Sam suffers from none of the afflictions that typically affect Iraq veterans in movies: no injuries, no PTSD, no flashbacks and no nightmares. His biggest problem, which probably predates his service, is an intolerance for shallowness. In the opening scene, that quality results in a conflict between Sam, in his current job as a security guard at a Wall Street office tower, and several drunk occupants who arrive after hours with their dates. It will eventually create friction between Sam and his cousin, Charlie (Paul Wesley, The Vampire Diaries), a hedge fund manager, after Charlie discovers how quickly prospective clients with military backgrounds warm to a fellow veteran. One such client, Jack Leroy (David Rasche), has resisted Charlie's pitches for years, but perks up immediately after Charlie tells him that Sam will handle Jack's account. Charlie quickly offers his cousin a lucrative position, but Sam senses (and rightly so) that he's being used.

Sam's closest friend is Bassam (Laith Nakli), a former translator with Sam's unit, who has now emigrated to the U.S. for his own safety and is working as a trucker. While Bassam is here legally, his niece, Amira (Dina Shihabi), is not, but she could not remain in Iraq, because her brother was also a translator for the U.S. military, and the families of translators are also at risk. Amira's attitude toward America is conflicted. She loves the energy of the New York City streets, where she earns money hawking pirated DVDs of Hollywood romantic comedies, of which she has seen every one. But she distrusts Americans, especially soldiers, because her brother was killed in action with a U.S. Army unit. When Sam comes to visit Bassam, Amira wants nothing to do with him.

Amira and Sam would never get to know each other at all, if circumstances did not force them together. A cop busts Amira for illegal sales, and she flees. Bassam, who is on the road, begs Sam to hide her until he returns. Over several days, the two outsiders discover how much they have in common, but it is typical of director Mullin's unconventional approach that their crucial breakthrough occurs not in some grandly stylized setup, but in a simple dialogue scene that includes a six-minute take without a cut or camera move. (The scene plays so realistically that it sounds improvised, but in fact it was scripted, then shot repeatedly.) But the private bubble in which all relationships begin is an especially fragile one for Amira and Sam with so many larger forces in motion around them. When Sam makes the ill-considered choice of bringing Amira as his date to his cousin's engagement party, those forces erupt, and the newly minted couple must quickly face "the real world". As Amira tells Sam, it's nothing like her treasured romantic comedies. She says more, but I won't spoil it.

Mullin isn't a purveyor of fairy tales, but neither is he a cynic. He's a good enough dramatist to keep any obvious message out of his story, but he includes a short, provocative scene near the end where Jack, the Vietnam vet and now money manager, explains to Sam why he's had to let go of his idealism. America, says Jack, has become "this cesspool of self-interest" so that "the only way to survive is to fend for yourself". Every so often, though, one encounters a kindred spirit to whom one is inspired to reach out, as Jack has reached out to Sam. The unspoken hint is that those are rare opportunities, and they should be seized.

Amira & Sam Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Amira & Sam was shot on the Arri Alexa by Daniel Vecchione, who also shot Allegiance, which Mullin produced. Drafthouse's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which was presumably sourced from digital files, sports the typically fine image for which the Alexa is well-known, with excellent detail and sharpness, no noise or interference and a smooth and often film-like texture without any hard edges or digital harshness. Interior scenes, especially at night, are lit realistically, so that attention is focused on the people, not their surroundings. Daytime outdoor scenes are lit by the sun, and the Alexa can't help but capture copious detail of the Manhattan and Staten Island streets, as well as the Coney Island attractions when Amira and Sam spend an afternoon visiting the amusement park. The colors are often striking. The intense red of Amira's dress and hijab when Sam takes her to his cousin's engagement party stand out vividly, both an outward indication of her emotional state and a provocation (though unintended) to certain guests at the party who resent the presence of a Muslim guest. The blue sky against the gray-blue water of Long Island Sound, where Sam takes Amira sailing on the boat he inherited from his grandfather, creates a sense of adventure. The rainbow of people, outfits and merchandise on Canal Street, where Amira sells DVDs, looks far more inviting than the real thing. (Trust me; I've been there.) So much about Vecchione's lighting makes the world of Amira & Sam look rich and inviting that it's almost a shock when he switches to a more typical "independent" look, as in the long, static shot that frames the couple's first serious conversation, or the cooler palette and handheld style when Amira is arrested.

Although it's a common practice to compress digitally originated films as much as possible, Drafthouse has followed their usual approach of not aiming for the smallest potential file size. Amira & Sam has been placed on a BD-50 with an average bitrate of 29.99 Mbps. No artifacts were in sight.

Amira & Sam Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Because Amira & Sam is a character-driven story, dialogue is the most important element in its sound mix, encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1. However, the film's writer and director has been careful to create the environmental presence of the busy city in which the film takes place, so that the viewer is routinely reminded that the couple of the title is never really alone. When Amira is selling pirated DVDs on Canal Street, we hear the traffic and the passers-by. When Sam is standing with Jack on his balcony, we hear the ever-present roar and hum of street noise below them. At the comedy club where Sam tries to perform, we hear the audience (or, worse, the silence when Sam bombs). At Charlie's engagement party, we hear guests chattering. At strategic moments, when characters are absorbed in their thoughts (or in each other), all of the sound drops out, leaving only the moody and understated score by Heather McIntosh (Compliance and Honeymoon) to suggest their inner thoughts and feelings.

Amira & Sam Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director Sean Mullin and Stars Martin Starr and Dina Shihabi: This commentary would have been better under different circumstances. Only Mullin was watching the film, while Starr was plugged in from Australia, where he was shooting a film, and Shihabi was connected (late at night) from New Haven, where she was performing in a play. With Mullin required to interrupt periodically to describe where they are in the film, the commentary never achieves the uninhibited back-and-forth of the best group commentaries, or at least not about the film. The director and his two stars still share their camaraderie from making Amira & Sam, but it reveals itself in unrelated jokes and horseplay (much of it about who is and isn't falling asleep). Still, there are interesting revelations, e.g., the fact that the scene between Sam and Jack sharing drinks and war stories was written at Starr's suggestion, because he felt the two military characters needed to show their direct connection. Mullin also describes the valuable feedback he received from other directors who viewed early cuts.



• The Making of Amira & Sam (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:26): Starr, Shihabi, Wesley and Rasche discuss their characters.



• Stand-Up Comedy Outtakes (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:42): These outtakes are from Sam's unfortunate session at the comedy club.



• Crew Jokes (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:04): To warm up the crowd of extras for the comedy club scene, each crew member had to tell a joke. Some were clearly unenthused by the experience.



• Director Stand-Up (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:20): As a former stand-up comic, the director demonstrates for actor Martin Starr (sitting at a table with other cast members) how to perform comedy live onstage. Some of this material was used in the film in an alternate version.



• Table Read (1080p; 1.78:1; 2:45): Excerpts.



• Trailers
• Amira & Sam
• 20,000 Days on Earth
• A Band Called Death
• The Congress
• Mood Indigo
• Wrong



• Booklet: Drafthouse's enclosed booklet includes an interview with writer/director Mullin, plus production stills and film and disc credits.

Amira & Sam Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the surprising qualities of Amira & Sam, given the gravity of the issues, is how funny it is. Sam spends hours writing material in a notebook, but it's with Amira that he discovers his comic spontaneity. A running joke involves her mangling of English cursing, which Sam corrects but then repeats, because he finds it entertaining. Thus begins the private language that inevitably develops between couples and close friends. People who can make each other laugh already have an advantage in avoiding being made "prisoners" of the real world. Highly recommended.