“Samba” begins with Samba (Omar Sy of “Jurassic World”) being detained in France, even though the Senegalese man has spent 10 years there, has a steady job and never received the rejection for his residence permit. At no point as this was happening did I say to myself, “This will probably turn into a romantic comedy.”
Shockingly, I would have been right. A weird mix of a formulaic story of slow-blooming love and a sometimes-piercing view of being forced to live off the grid, “Samba” almost certainly will start a trend of immigration-related rom-coms (no, it won’t). At times the film, adapted by co-writers/co-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano (“The Intouchables,” which also starred Sy) from Delphine Coulin’s novel, observes the way in which Samba’s need to stay unnoticed and his revolving door of fake IDs lead to a life that barely feels real. Sy’s got an incredible knack for showcasing goodness amid adversity; the way he listens is a pleasure to watch. And Samba’s not a saint, though the way he immediately betrays a pal screams, like several moments in “Samba,” of a story that isn’t sure how to play out credibly.
So it’s rather absurd as Samba and Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who during a sabbatical from work helps with cases of undocumented people like Samba, go through the typical awkwardness and miscommunication and almost-kisses of countless other movies that, you know, don’t also hinge on fearing deportation. There’s nothing wrong, of course, with showing that people in these circumstances want love. A scene in which Samba, working as a very un-Paul Blart-like mall cop, must run from cops when all he did was his job shows the immense lack of security this temporary security guard feels as a non-citizen. Nakache and Toledano also find some funny observations, such as Samba, who’s received an OLFT (obligation to leave French territory), being told that he’s free to go on his way but must leave France soon. As if anyone is just going to escort themselves out of the country without someone actually forcing them to go.
But it’s hard to settle into Samba’s attempt at assimilation with scenes like his pal Wilson (Tahar Rahim of “A Prophet”) re-enacting a Coke commercial for enthralled women in an office building while Wilson and Samba wash the windows from the outside. And, not a complaint but just a note, as Alice jokes that when she lets herself go during sex it’s a massacre, it’s impossible not to mentally jump to her roles in “Nymphomaniac” and “Antichrist.” Which are only rom-coms to Lars von Trier.
2 stars (out of four)
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