Cheap Monsieur Ibrahim (DVD) (Omar Sharif, Pierre Boulanger) (François Dupeyron) Price

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Customer Reviews of Monsieur Ibrahim

This is a coming-of-age movie set in 1960s Paris about a young Jewish boy, Moses (Momo), with a rapidly-dwindling immediate family and his burgeoning friendship with local Sufi Muslim corner shop keeper, the titular Monsieur Ibrahim. The kid is charming but probably won't be changing any of your prejudices about French teenagers when he becomes the local prostitutes' favourite and romances the girl next door.

Sharif shines as Ibrahim, coming on like the friendly uncle you never had, dispensing sage advice to young Momo just when he needs it most. And although there is tragedy lurking behind both protagonists' lives, the film is never maudlin and raises your spirits at the most unlikely times. There are also many gently comic moments such as the menu Momo and Ibrahim put together for Momo's vindictive father or trying to buy a new car with cash. People in the film tend to receive their karmic comeuppance without it seeming too forced or far-fetched.

This is a moving, gentle film about the importance of friendship and spirituality. Although set some forty years ago, the message you get at the end is that these things are just as important today and the cyclic nature of history. I thoroughly recommend this film who feels they've overdosed on Hollywood lately and wants a different kind of escapism and assurance on human nature.

Sweet and engaging, but a bit too short and sketchy...
The coming-of-age movie is a really tricky thing to pull off. Most of them are either raunchy and vapid, and then others are too introspective and just cloying. Well, this lightweight of a French film, which has gotten rave reviews for Sharif's justifiably great performance, is a little bit of both and - in the end - neither. Ibrahim begins with a toe-tapping, swingin' 60's soundtrack as Moses Schmitt (Pierre Boulanger) practices pickup lines for hookers, and for a while it does seem like a New Wave-inspired flick complete with handheld camera angles and a negletive father. Schmitt, a Jew, soon picks up with the local grocer (Sharif, the title character) who happens to be a Muslim, and as their strange friendship develops, director Duperyon's adaptation reaches high for themes of clashing religion and the shared experiences of the young and old. And for the most part, Ibrahim is an enjoyable ride. I enjoyed its light feel, Boulanger's breakout performance, and the fact that the kid is the uptight cynic and Sharif's Ibrahim turns out to be the wide-eyed life-lover.

Unfortunately, though, Ibrahim just can't juggle all of its plot strands and be a truly meaningful film in the end - the neglectful father leaves and Ibrahim adopts, Schmitt's mother drops in, the new father and son take a (lazily edited) road trip...and then the movie ends in a tragedy that you'll see coming a mile away. The movie's short and harmless, by all means, but the movie just doesn't make sense in an emotional way; we never see enough of the developing friendship of Schmitt and Boulanger. And the final tragedy? Well, the dialogue is so ham-handed it seems ripped straight from a novel (which it probably was). As much as I admired and enjoyed the light tone of Ibrahim, intelligently laced with a current of sadness beneath, it never can let the two coexist and just ends up being disappointing. GRADE: B-

Awesome
Monsieur Ibraham is an enjoyable coming of age movie. It's the French version of Cinema Paradiso. The acting is superb, especially Sharif (I didnt know he jnew French) An awesome film that will put a smile on your face.