Movie Review: ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’

Review by James Lindorf

It has been 14 years since intrepid reporter Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) was sent on a mission to make a documentary about the US&A that would benefit the glorious nation of Kazakhstan. After the complete failure of that mission, Borat returned to his homeland, hated and blamed for the country’s political and financial collapse. It was decided that executing him would be generous; instead, he was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor in a gulag. In their darkest hour, the Kazakhstani government will once again turn to Borat. It offered the disgraced “journalist” a pardon if he can deliver a special gift to Mike Pence to elevate Kazakhstan in the minds of US leaders. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” will be available on Amazon Prime on October 23rd in all its cringy, belly laugh-inducing glory.

Sacha Baron Cohen is incredibly talented. The 49-year-old can act, sing, and he even plays the cello. His movie career has topped 4 billion dollars at the box office has. Add to this that he is 6’3 and has distinguishable facial hair when in character; Cohen is decidedly more well known and recognizable than when filming the first Borat moviefilm a decade and a half ago. The actor employs multiple disguises, mostly centered around his facial hair and/or weight, to get around this. Vastly more important than the costumes is the introduction of Tutar Sagdiyev, Borat’s 15-year-old daughter. Tutar is the driving force behind the movie’s plot after she secretly joins her father on his mission, spoiling it before it can even get underway.

Thanks to a childhood spent in a village where women aren’t allowed to read, drive, get an education, or do much of anything else, Tutar has a lot to learn about pretty much everything. Her job in the village was to get married and live in a literal cage, but at the ripe old age of 15, Tutar is already the oldest unattached woman in town. Before her father’s release from prison, there were only two things that gave her comfort. First was a Melania-inspired princess movie, and the other a book of bedtime stories that depict the vagina as a voracious orifice that will swallow a girl whole if she touches it. Now in America, with a new plan to turn her into the kind of “woman,” Pence would like she is introduced to a new world of conservatism and repression but also liberation. As each lie falls and misconceptions are overcome, Tutar begins putting Borat’s plan in jeopardy again.

Cohen seemed to have two goals when he decided to bring his most successful character out of retirement. The first is to expose and make fun of the right and far-right from Qanon and CPAC to pro-lifers and cake decorators; everyone is fair game in his no holds barred fight for democracy. The second goal is to show the importance of self-value and acceptance. The more that Borat and Tutar are exposed to, the more they are changed. While not all change is positive, they are in a better place at the end of the film than at its opening.

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” features many run and gun and improvisational style film making that adds a rawness and authenticity to the film. If the cinematography were too slick, giving it the Hollywoodized look, you would start to question the other film elements. If it looks like this, maybe this isn’t their first take, and if it’s not their first take, then the people are in on it, and the movie loses all its impact and charm. Cohen and the many members of the writing room should be proud of how they can balance the brutality of the jokes and the warmth of the movie’s heart. There will be ire from the right and raucous laughter from the left and center, Borat’s run-in with one political advisor is already making headlines, and I don’t think it will be the last time. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is a smart, funny, and timely bit of filmmaking that surpasses its predecessor, and here’s hoping it won’t take another 14 years to get Borat Obligatory Third Moviefilm.

Rating: R (Graphic Nudity|Strong Crude & Sexual Content|Language)
Directed by Jason Woliner
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern
Produced by Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson and Anthony Hines
Executive Produced by Buddy Enright, Nicholas Hatton, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer and Stuart Miller
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen & Irina Nowak
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 23, 2020
Runtime: 1h 35m