Indians in Cowtown

Agam Darshi steals the show along with Stephen Lobo, Donkey Head captures the nuances of complicated relationships between 2nd gen south Asian families. A needed insight to the culture displaying imperfection, while interweaving hidden societal expectations usually only reserved to those who are... Indian. I'm addition to a wrenching story, it's a film is not just for white audiences but also shares something familiar and unseen for Indian people. It's a realistic view that doesn't display our people as Bollywood tree going performers and cheesy lovers.

This was a pretty good story about siblings going through the inevitable death of a cancerous father. The judgemental attitudes of relatives who are in or have never been in a position to judge anything or anyone is absurd at best. An accurate deduction of gaslighting nobody relatives.

This is a low budget film that is just a mass of confusion. The acting is at the level of a high school drama club or maybe community theater. The story drags on at a slow pace that causes a loss on interest. It seems to be targeted towards a Desi audience and will probably have most of its appeal among that group.

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.

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.