Donkeyhead

When looking for a movie to watch, I'm often attracted to films that have unusual titles. Then, if they have a decent rating on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, I give them a shot. Nine times out of ten I'm in luck. That's certainly the case with "Donkeyhead". It's a little gem featured on Netflix. If you enjoy indie films with a lot of heart, give this one a shot.

The story revolves around a second generation Pakistani family who live in Regina Canada. Agam Darshi, wrote, directed, and stars in the film. Mona is a writer who's put her career on hold to care for her dying father. When he takes a turn for the worse and goes into a coma, her three siblings return home. This is were family dynamics come into play,. There's a great deal of finger pointing, accusations, and old resentments bubble to the surface. While they get along at first, they soon begin bickering.

It doesn't help when a group of people from their dad's temple camp out in their living room and start round the clock praying for his health. When they meet with their attorney and discover their father's estate all goes to her twin brother, things come to a head. And it doesn't help that Mona is having an affair with the married attorney.

"Donkeyhead" is a well written and acted family drama that I found very rewarding. It's one of those films that make you reflect on your own family and your relationship with your siblings.

Donkeyhead is one of those 'estranged siblings come together to be with their terminally ill father' movies. However, it adds nothing new to the conversation. It is heavily targeted towards a South Asian audience in terms of culture, references, and what the characters considers "taboo," but falls flat for the general audience. At the same time the characters try really hard to prove to us that they're assimilated (there is a very pointless scene where they insist on singing O Canada in a bar). The conversations and relationships feel very contrived. And Kim Coates existence in this film feels like a called in favour to add a recognizable name to the cast.

The main character, Mona, spends a lot of the time brooding like an angsty teenager in a 30 something body and doesnt grow much as a character throughout the film. The writer & director stars as the main character so I assume that is how she wanted the character to come off. The end of the movie also drags on forever, at several points I thought the credits were going to roll only to be met with more and more ineffective scenes.

Great job in terms of representation, and the production quality was decent. But in terms of story, I question why this was a story they felt like they needed to tell... or maybe it was great and timely, but just not geared towards a broad audience.

Anyone with an extended family can relate to this story presented so well by the author. It transcends the particular ethnic culture and captures the complexity of life for all families regardless of race, gender, age, achievement or loss. One cannot help but be reminded of similar experiences both good and bad in our own lives. So many faces, places and events flashed back repeatedly during the film I could not help but relate. Congratulations on a such an excellent well crafted story.

All in all we need more stories like this out there. We need the perspectives of immigrant Canadian families. We need stories with diversity.

The story overall was beautiful. It was heartfelt. The relationship between the siblings was beautiful and fun! For me, despite not understanding a lot about the culture, it was so awesome experiencing these new ideas and traditions.

There were parts that were lacking. Parts where the overall idea was received but the execution was not well done. This was unfortunate as the overall idea was a home run.

The acting overall was good! The acting from the brothers was especially very natural and easy to watch. There were unfortunately some camera angles that were uncomfortable to watch and took me out of the story. That was unfortunate but it was worth getting through.

As "Donkeyhead" (2022 release from Canada; 106 min.) opens, we get to known Mona, a thirty-something woman in Regina, Saskatchewan who is taking care of her ailing dad, and has been for the last 7 years while she is also working on her debut book. When her ailing dad takes a turn for the worst, she calls her 3 other siblings (a sister and two brothers), who soon all are in the family home in Regina...

Couple of comments: this film is nothing short of a labor of love by Agam Darshi, best known for her many roles in a slew of TV shows. Here she not only makes her directing debut, for she also writes, produces and stars as Mona. The movie navigates the tensions that exist between the siblings as well as the fact that they are Sihks from Indian descent. Last but certainly not least, the movie shows a woman who some might describe as a rebel and a free spirt, while others might look at the same person and find her messed up or a failure. It is hard to believe that this is Darshi's directing debut as this film is amazingly pointed, complex and moving on many levels. As an aside, I admit I've never been to Regina but from watching this film, it looks beautiful and depressing at the same time. Last but not least, the production budget for this film was just $2 million, less than a pittance by today's Hollywood standard, but look at the end result and then ask yourself, who delivers more?

"Donkeyhead" premiered this past weekend on Netflix, and after seeing a positive writeup of the film in the New York Times, I couldn't wait to see it. So glad I did. If you are in the mood for a complex, nuanced and moving siblings relationship drama, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.