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The L Magazine
Sept 19 2012
My Uncle Rafael: An Armenian Take on the Magical Negro
by Elise Nakhnikian
My Uncle Rafael
Directed by Marc Fusco
L.A. is home to more Armenians than almost anyplace else in the
diaspora, so it was inevitable that we'd get a movie about Armenians
in Glendale. Too bad it had to be this aggressively bland bit of
pablum, which plays like a faux-funny sitcom. Slathered in clumsy
layers of makeup, cowriter/coproducer Vahik Pirhamzei plays the title
character, an Armenian variation on the Magical Negro. With his
perpetually downturned mouth, jutting jaw, and dense salt-and-pepper
eyebrows - not to mention his addiction to offering pithy advice and
drinking Turkish (sorry, Grandma; I should have said Armenian)
coffee - Rafael Sarkissian is a caricature in the Tyler Perry mode. Like
the movie itself, he's an expression of clumsily exaggerated ethnic
pride drawn broadly enough to appeal to anyone who likes didactic,
`heartwarming' comedy.
A desperate reality show producer, Michele (Rachel Blanchard,
unconvincing), falls in love with Uncle Rafael's earthy wisdom - or wise
earthiness, or whatever - when she sees him helping out at a café owned
by his slick son Hamo (also played by Pirhamzei). After a little
pleading and prodding, Rafael agrees to move in with the dysfunctional
all-American family Michele is filming - though he swears he'll stay
just long enough to solve all their problems. That takes about a week,
at the rate of approximately one sullen family member per day, after
which Rafael hugs everyone and lumbers off to watch a thank-you video
from the family in which one of them says: `You're taught us how to
appreciate the important things: each other.'
The closest thing to style or wit are the wordless little scenes that
occasionally play out beneath the periodic voiceover, offering an
unexpected, if not quite funny, take on the story we are being told.
Otherwise, like a pet bunny that got out of its cage, the script
leaves little turds of ethnic stereotyping everywhere, like the tough
Latino dude who drives up to Hamo's café and proves how much everybody
loves Uncle Rafael by greeting him with `Que paso, homes? What up,
ese?' Lupe Ontiveros manages to maintain her dignity in a thankless
(and unlisted on IMDB - could she have had her name taken off the
credits?) role as Uncle Rafael's ESL teacher, but the rest of the
performances are either instantly forgettable or so over-the-top you
wish you could forget them instantly.
http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/my-uncle-rafael-an-armenian-take-on-the-magical-negro/Content?oid=2262979
Sept 19 2012
My Uncle Rafael: An Armenian Take on the Magical Negro
by Elise Nakhnikian
My Uncle Rafael
Directed by Marc Fusco
L.A. is home to more Armenians than almost anyplace else in the
diaspora, so it was inevitable that we'd get a movie about Armenians
in Glendale. Too bad it had to be this aggressively bland bit of
pablum, which plays like a faux-funny sitcom. Slathered in clumsy
layers of makeup, cowriter/coproducer Vahik Pirhamzei plays the title
character, an Armenian variation on the Magical Negro. With his
perpetually downturned mouth, jutting jaw, and dense salt-and-pepper
eyebrows - not to mention his addiction to offering pithy advice and
drinking Turkish (sorry, Grandma; I should have said Armenian)
coffee - Rafael Sarkissian is a caricature in the Tyler Perry mode. Like
the movie itself, he's an expression of clumsily exaggerated ethnic
pride drawn broadly enough to appeal to anyone who likes didactic,
`heartwarming' comedy.
A desperate reality show producer, Michele (Rachel Blanchard,
unconvincing), falls in love with Uncle Rafael's earthy wisdom - or wise
earthiness, or whatever - when she sees him helping out at a café owned
by his slick son Hamo (also played by Pirhamzei). After a little
pleading and prodding, Rafael agrees to move in with the dysfunctional
all-American family Michele is filming - though he swears he'll stay
just long enough to solve all their problems. That takes about a week,
at the rate of approximately one sullen family member per day, after
which Rafael hugs everyone and lumbers off to watch a thank-you video
from the family in which one of them says: `You're taught us how to
appreciate the important things: each other.'
The closest thing to style or wit are the wordless little scenes that
occasionally play out beneath the periodic voiceover, offering an
unexpected, if not quite funny, take on the story we are being told.
Otherwise, like a pet bunny that got out of its cage, the script
leaves little turds of ethnic stereotyping everywhere, like the tough
Latino dude who drives up to Hamo's café and proves how much everybody
loves Uncle Rafael by greeting him with `Que paso, homes? What up,
ese?' Lupe Ontiveros manages to maintain her dignity in a thankless
(and unlisted on IMDB - could she have had her name taken off the
credits?) role as Uncle Rafael's ESL teacher, but the rest of the
performances are either instantly forgettable or so over-the-top you
wish you could forget them instantly.
http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/my-uncle-rafael-an-armenian-take-on-the-magical-negro/Content?oid=2262979