Los Angeles Times
May 14, 2004 Friday
Home Edition
MOVIE REVIEW;
Deeply personal in Glendale
by Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer
Vahe Babaian’s “After Freedom” (Monday at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 2
p.m.) is a “Mean Streets” set in the prosperous boulevards of
Glendale, which has become home to a large Armenian community.
Michael Abcarian (Mic Tomasi) is the conflicted central figure in
this taut, well-wrought drama set in a tradition-minded ethnic
community in which loyalties can be as negative as they are positive.
At 30ish, he feels increasingly obligated to care for his widowed
father, Leon (Greg Satamian), who years ago gave up a good job with
British Airways in Soviet Armenia so his children could grow up in a
free country.
Unfortunately, Leon has managed only to go from one menial job to
another, and Michael is getting nowhere as an assistant supermarket
manager because one of his pals, Mato (Ioannis Bogris), keeps
pilfering. Worse, Michael and Mato are in the thrall of Avo (Shant
Benjamin), a cynically manipulative older guy whose criminal impulses
are escalating.
Shot in a beautifully modulated black and white by Gary Meek, “After
Freedom” is a deeply personal film that is also a mature, assured
work rich in telling details and shot through with humor to offset
its serious concerns. Tomasi’s Michael is a handsome, personable man
in a longtime relationship with Sophie Chahinian’s lovely, confident
Ana. But his deep bonding with his pals and above all his overweening
sense of responsibility to his uncomplaining and kindly father could
cost him Ana, who recognizes his need to grow up and become
independent.
The give and take between all the people in this film is essentially
well-meaning, and Babaian has clear affection for everyone, even the
hot-headed Avo, who only wants to help his pals get ahead even if it
means increasingly involving them in shady deals. As Avo, a man who
has missed his big chance and knows it, Benjamin energizes the entire
film, which is especially crucial because Michael’s predicament,
although made sympathetic by Tomasi, is his passivity.
Visually, “After Freedom” offers an unexpectedly lyrical view of
Glendale, and Babaian creates a sense of an ethnic community and its
tensions between tradition and change without making it seem exotic.
Indeed, “After Freedom” is an inviting film in which any audience
would be likely to recognize itself.
*
‘After Freedom’
MPAA rating: Unrated
Times guidelines: Adult themes, some violence, language, sensuality
and brief nudity
Mic Tomasi…Michael Abcarian
Sophie Chahinian…Ana
Greg Satamian…Leon Abcarian
Shant Benjamin…Avo
Ioannis Bogris…Mato
A Vitagraph Films release of an After Freedom, L. P. presentation.
Writer-director Vahe Babaian. Producers Eric Sherman, Babaian.
Executive producers Sophie Chahinian, Berj Benjamin, Ken Craig.
Cinematographer Gary Meek. Editors Howard Heard, Tom Ohanian. Music
Alan Derian. Art director Amanda Rounsaville. Costumes Elaine
Montalvo. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.
Exclusively at the Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd,. Beverly Hills,
(310) 274-6869; and the Glendale Cinemas, 501 N. Orange St.,
Glendale, (818) 549-9950.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
