Simon Abkarian made a huge impression in "Ararat," Atom Egoyan's 2002 film about the Armenian genocide. Abkarian played Armenian painter Arshile Gorky. Gorky had lived an incredibly hard life; he was a survivor of the Armenian genocide. His mother was not. She starved to death. Simon Abkarian's performance as Gorky was supernatural. He channeled Gorky. His scenes felt as if conveyed from a miracle camera dispatched, across restrictions of time and space, to Gorky's studio. The power and impact of Abkarian's performance was all the more amazing because, iirc, he never spoke. I resolved to see Abkarian in any other movies I could find. I was eager to see "Yes." Alas, "Yes" just doesn't work. The iambic pentameter and rhyming doesn't sound like Shakespeare; when it sounds like any other literature, it sounds like Dr. Seuss. Sometimes it just sounds like an incomprehensible series of syllables that, the listener expects, are condemning the West and encouraging us all to just get along. In addition to the stilted and unnatural dialogue, the film includes many Dutch angles, and characters address the camera. In short, this film really doesn't want you to experience any willing suspension of disbelief. It wants you to sit, spine straight, on needles and pins, aware at every moment that you are having an important, experimental, cultural experience, and that Sally Potter is behind that camera.
The two main characters never named never take on any life. This is remarkable given the fine talents Sally Potter has lured into this science experiment. Joan Allen is always sincere and lovable. Abkarian comes off less well, perhaps because he is given the goofier role. Given how utterly stereotypical and lifeless the main characters are, it's hard to know how seriously Potter wants them to be taken. Joan Allen plays a beautiful, icy, blonde, super wealthy woman who lives a loveless marriage in a monochrome apartment. Abkarian is a passionate Ethnic Other, dark, hairy, "a doctor in my own country, a waiter in yours" and always ready for luuuuv. He dances and recites poetry. At least Potter doesn't have him say, "Come with me to the Casbah," or sing "Sheikh of Araby." The film can't tell the small story of two people who may or may not be in love; it doesn't get anywhere near saying anything deep or new or heartfelt or important or even vaguely true about the bigger issues it wants to address: terrorism, East-West relations, Rich-Poor relations, or stem cell research.
The two main characters never named never take on any life. This is remarkable given the fine talents Sally Potter has lured into this science experiment. Joan Allen is always sincere and lovable. Abkarian comes off less well, perhaps because he is given the goofier role. Given how utterly stereotypical and lifeless the main characters are, it's hard to know how seriously Potter wants them to be taken. Joan Allen plays a beautiful, icy, blonde, super wealthy woman who lives a loveless marriage in a monochrome apartment. Abkarian is a passionate Ethnic Other, dark, hairy, "a doctor in my own country, a waiter in yours" and always ready for luuuuv. He dances and recites poetry. At least Potter doesn't have him say, "Come with me to the Casbah," or sing "Sheikh of Araby." The film can't tell the small story of two people who may or may not be in love; it doesn't get anywhere near saying anything deep or new or heartfelt or important or even vaguely true about the bigger issues it wants to address: terrorism, East-West relations, Rich-Poor relations, or stem cell research.