Weekend Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen & Radiohead

Dear friends,


This past weekend I saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt.  I'm a fan of Ewan McGregor and the quirky title appealed to me, so I decided to check this one out (besides, what else is playing?).  It's essentially a conventional romantic comedy-drama with a slightly more interesting premise: a British scientist, under the directive of his government and with the the backing of a wealthy Yemeni Sheikh, attempts to introduce salmon fishing to the Yemen.  The British get a good news story out of the Arab world, and the people of Yemen gain access to the water created by a dam, as well as the salmon fishing.  Weird right? Ha!  Well, the movie is a cliched affair, but the interplay between Ewan McGregor and the cute Emily Blunt was nice.  I've always been a fan of British television and movies, and the production here was on par with what I expected.


I have to say, though, that I wasn't completely satisfied with how relationships were treated in the film.  Both leads end up leaving their significant others (who are portrayed as being shrewish and overly career-focused, or attractive but completely dull, so we're made to think that this is fine).  At one point in the film McGregor's character sends a text message to his wife that confirms the finality of their separation.  Yikes.  There is an interesting moment, though, at the end of the film, where it appears that things might not work out as expected for both McGregor's new love and his dam project, both of which he's come to embrace as his raison d'être.  This unresolved moment in the film reminded me of a couple of lines from on my favorite Radiohead songs, "Nude" (I know, the film has no place being compared to a great Radiohead song, but I like unusual comparions ha!):

Now that you've found it, it's gone

Now that you feel it, you don't 

Sometimes it's only through gaining and losing something that we realize what we were looking for, and there's no guarantee we'll ever find that thing again.  Of course, the film gives us the happy ending that many secretly crave. I guess that's why some people like romantic comedies so much!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the Radiohead song!


--Pianoesque