Fremont

This starts off with what has to be slowest, least efficient, example of the industrialisation process that I've ever seen! Those images rather set the scene for what follows as we meet fortune cookie maker "Donya" (a strong performance from Anaita Wali Zada). She was an interpreter for the US military in her native Afghanistan and has arrived in California on a special visa scheme and is awaiting proper settlement. She can't sleep, so manages to inveigle an appointment with the slightly eccentric psychiatrist "Dr. Anthony" (Gregg Turkington) and his rather unorthodox methods manage to illicit some clues (for us) from this rather reticent woman as to what drove and now drives her. Her love life is pretty much non-existent, but a mysterious text message that sends her on a drive might just sort that out - her savvy best pal "Joanna" (Hilda Schmelling) reckons that it might! It's quite hard to describe this film. Precious little actually happens, and the pace is glacial in the extreme - but it still works well as a characterful study of a woman who is having to come to terms with some profound changes to her circumstances and to deal with the loneliness, guilt and frustrations - as well as the opportunities - of her new life in a city where her situation is nothing particularly unusual. It's not a dreary introspective, though. There are moments of dark humour (usually from Turkington) as he uses "White Fang" to a surprisingly innovative effect. The film is an episode in her life, we have some details from her past and we see a glimmer of what might be on her horizon at the conclusion. It's interesting, oddly engaging and well worth a watch. Television will do fine though.