Beneath a Sea of Lights

A breath of fresh air. A new and fresh movie with great actors. A fair portrayal of expats living in the Middle East countries. Yearning for a social status which is rarely achieved. Great story Jim Sarbh was brilliant in his role.

90 minute slow rollercoaster, with a touch of humanity at the end of the ride. Believably acted, with a director that let the actors be what is really happening all us. No filter, there is right and wrong.

I have yet to watch a film with Barkhad Abdi I didn't like. With all the recent terrible movies, this was a breath of fresh air. It was a simple, uncomplicated film with a decent storyline and good acting. Glad I stumbled onto it. 6 stars.

People who work outside their countries, i.e., expats are at an alarming level in the middle east. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia being the highest ratio in the WORLD. Having said that, the aspirations and emotional prerogatives are incomparable with the expat situation in the rest of the world. This is a region where an expat's life is 100% rented out; emotionally and physically. The only region in the world where there is no entrance into a citizenship - once an expat, always an expat.

The film portrays "this" unique situation, being an expat, with aspirations that can never be explained, except on film.

A fair and accurate representation, well done; Abdi is believable, and the rest I guess are just there; and the pace of the screenplay is a direct portrayal of what really goes on "Beneath a sea of lights".

Another reviewer wrote this was a low budget movie with bad actors. It's a thing I didn't get. I didn't see any bad acting at all. On the contrary I thought Barkhad Abdi and Jim Sarbh, the two main characters, did a good job. The only thing that didn't look real was a fight between them, but all the rest was more than decent. The movie isn't fast paced but it isn't really necessary to tell this story. It's a recognizable story about people trying to get by, both in their own way, in a country where luxuary is omnipresent. I thought it was worth a watch. I've seen thousands of worse movies so I'm not going to complain about this one at all.