Afghan Reviews Reviews

Film Feview: Fremont (2023) by Babak Jalali

While Hollywood manufactures dreams, San Francisco handwrites fortunes.

As someone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, 's (“Land”, “Frontier blues”) sophomore feature “” piqued my interest. It joins a few other titles at Sundance which explore the intricacies of this ethnically-complex area, like the SF-based 1970s bohemian memoir “Fairyland” and the absolute psychosis of Asian American dating in Berkeley-centric “Shortcomings.” Unlike the previous two titles, however, “Fremont” feels noticeably distant. Jajali's unfamiliarity with the area — and his subject — is palpable. As a result, “Fremont” delivers more lip service than it does actual story, feeling more like a checked box than it does a matter of consequence. 

“Fremont” was nominated for 's NEXT section.

At first glance, the premise of “Fremont” is quirky. The black-and-white narrative feature revolves around Donya (), a Fremont-based Afghan refugee who works at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. At first, she and her coworker Joanna () work the machines, folding cookies while Joanna shares her various dating plights. Donya, on the other hand, shares her quiet worries – a nagging guilt from leaving behind her family in Afghanistan – with her new therapist, Dr. Anthony (). By some stroke of fate, however, she ends up working behind the cookie computer. She is suddenly confronted with the task of writing poetry and pithies for her anonymous audience. She becomes perplexed. How could she possibly think of love and life when she is so burdened by her past? How could she let the world know that she, too, possesses desires of her own? 

To her credit, Anaita Wali Zada – a real-life Afghan refugee herself – performs professionally for her debut feature. Zada's Donya views her own situation with both the good temper of a young twenty-some year-old and the gravitas of a woman from war, balancing the dissonances between her two worlds with a steady poise. This is especially present when she imagines her future romantic dates. Instead of a lovelorn damsel or an unshakeable battle hero, Zadya's Donya brims with unspoken longing – though for what, it is melancholically difficult to tell. 

Jalali, on the other hand, adopts style for style's sake. Stilted conversations, elongated pauses, and repetitive jokes feel like weak attempts at wry humor. Deadpan exchanges – particularly between Donya and Dr. Anthony – elicit a few chuckles at first, but quickly grow old. Medium shots notably isolate Donya from her surroundings and other characters, but this too loses its somewhat experimental charm over the course of the movie. This is not to even mention the black-and-white — which gives the low-budget production the atmosphere of an independent film, sure, but certainly not an avant-garde one. Jalali tries to set a melancholic, almost Jarmusch-ian tone to the film, but for what? Jalali's vision clouds Donya's dilemma instead of accentuating her interior struggle at hand.

In this vein, the very quirk that defines “Fremont” seems distracted by all of the production's other idiosyncrasies. Perhaps, as the title suggests, Donya is not really at the center of the story. Instead, the other details of the production are: the grayscale sheen, the awkward supportive cast, the continued stab at lightheartedness. “Fremont” sidesteps the deep-seated feelings of drama and trauma, presenting – like a nicely-packaged fortune cookie – a quick watch to consume and forget.

About the author

Grace Han

In a wave of movie-like serendipity revolving around movies, I transitioned from studying early Italian Renaissance frescoes to contemporary cinema. I prefer to cover animated film, Korean film, and first features (especially women directors). Hit me up with your best movie recs on Twitter @gracehahahan !

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