Film Review – Fremont (2023)

Danya, the main face of ‘Fremont’, is a humble, yet assertive Afghan young lady who works for a fortune cookie factory, writing enigmatic messages during the day, and staying awake during the night.

Obviously, the film is set in Fremont, California. This city appoints the perspective of the story, and it is seminally important for understanding the underlines within. Fremont is known for holding (probably) the largest cluster of Afghan immigrants in the West. Statistically, they are the least assimilated population into America; a fact that emanates from the broader profile of the refugee (as most of the Afghans will identify themselves)—fleeing out of the need for peace, and not necessarily a new home. As such, Fremont is the ideal context for this story. A single woman left past her family, work, and cultural heritage, to seek for redemption and, in fact, a life. The film holds on to these points, without sinking into drama. Neither into superfluous humor. The mood is proper comedy.

Danya is haunted by her involvement as a translator for the United States Army, followed by her migration to America as a single woman. Applied guilt, and the desire to move out of it, is the explorative pillar of ‘Fremont’. All the characters of the film are presented as if they have one singular preoccupation (note that at least they do); they seek something. Danya is perhaps tired, but she is definitely strong, in her own silent way (it is oh, so nice to get the sensation of knowing a character over 91’.) She dances her dull days around them, while everyone seems to be there with their whole monotonic presence to guide her out of her spiritual block. Everyone is still and calm and dry, and reveals their thoughts or feelings only through carefully crafted verbal exchanges. Daniel (played by Jeremy Allen White, the fiery star of Hulu’s TV series ‘The Bear’) is the last character we meet. He brings a heart-warming (thus dreamy-but we can let this one go) layer to the course of resolution. A course that is so elegantly dressed by the emotionally loaded scores of Mahmood Schricker (for which the trailer is not giving justice).

The comedy here is settled in a signature, ‘dramedy’ way. Although comparison with the greatest of the kind is unavoidable (aka Aki Kaurismaki and Jim Jarmusch in his early days), writers Babak Jalali and Carolina Cavalli are very kind in pacing the film and dosing wittiness. You could call it stoicism. Which, I reckon, boils up to the perfect black-and-white texture that cuts down the differences between the multinational ing characters, and plays along with thoughts of histories of displacement and emotional burdens from the past.

‘Fremont’ is a modest, reflective, and satisfying watch, that will gently let you wander around the repercussions of having and holding roots and taking (private) decisions. It is by far a pleasant surprise, may be veiled by cryptic questions, but as soon as you decide to let go of searching for the backstories, you will simply enjoy it. And maybe have a laugh.