A Few Words About A few words about...™ Salmon Fishing in the Yemen -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Having always been an admirer of Lasse Hallstrom's work, I've held his Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which came out in July on the back burner, as I wanted to be able to sit down and view the entire film.

Now that I've seen it, I can say that it isn't quite what I expected. Based upon what Variety calls a "side-splitting political sendup" by author Paul Torday, the film comes off as neither "side-slitting" nor a "political sendup."

Rather, through Mr. Hallstrom's vision, the film seems more of a modern fable about good, evil, and relationships. Apparently, many people who read the book, which had its biggest readership in the UK, were expecting something different, and reviews reacted in that way.

Having not read the book, my reactions were positive, viewing this as a sweet little film, essentially about good people trying to do the near impossible, against huge odds.

I normall don't go into cast, but in this case, I found Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt always key perfect, and Amr Waked, an Egyptian actor, who was likewise superb. In more ways that merely his kafia and robes, he reminded me of all the positive attributes of Omar Sharif's Ali, and Alec Guinness' wise Feisal.

Having now read the reviews... Variety places Kristin Scott Thomas's character in the vein of something out of Dr. Strangelove, I'll have to find the time to read the source.

Photographed in 35mm scope, and finished via a 2k DI, the resultant Blu-ray, should look like the original. It does look and sound (DTS-MA) superb in all respects.

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris /t/323603/a-few-words-about-salmon-fishing-in-the-yemen-in-blu-ray#post_3972373

Now that I've seen it, I can say that it isn't quite what I expected. Based upon what Variety calls a "side-splitting political sendup" by author Paul Torday, the film comes off as neither "side-slitting" nor a "political sendup."

Rather, through Mr. Hallstrom's vision, the film seems more of a modern fable about good, evil, and relationships. Apparently, many people who read the book, which had its biggest readership in the UK, were expecting something different, and reviews reacted in that way.

Having not read the book, my reactions were positive, viewing this as a sweet little film, essentially about good people trying to do the near impossible, against huge odds.

Very encouraging, Robert. I have had great interest in this film...but have been waiting for a price drop--somewhere--before pulling the trigger.

There have been a number of different trailers for this film--for both its theatrical and home video releases--and this has certainly been a film which must have confounded the marketers because the publicity campaign has been rather schizophrenic. At times it seemed like a fascinating film about a rich guy's vision to bring salmon fishing to the Yemen and in others it was played up as a relatively standard romantic comedy (albeit with an odd side story)--and everything in-between (including the "political sendup")!

 

[TonyD]

[/SPOILER]We watched this the other night through Amazon video and it was ok.
Side splitting? What was that reviewer watching?
KST seemd to be the only character who was playing like it was a comedy and everyone else
Played it as drama.
Was really just a nice little story and was good for a rental.
The man who plays the sheik who wants to fish in the Yemen and pays for it all
Looks like he could be a young Ben Kingsley.
I'd give it 3/5 stars.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon /t/323603/a-few-words-about-salmon-fishing-in-the-yemen-in-blu-ray#post_3972380

Very encouraging, Robert. I have had great interest in this film...but have been waiting for a price drop--somewhere--before pulling the trigger.

And my patience has paid off.

Amazon has finally dropped the price on this from $20+ to $15.xx today.