Ramy – Uncle Naseem

By: Ariba Bhuvad

Unce Naseem (Laith Nakli) is working out at the gym and heads to the steam room. Two other men are in there with him, but after one of them leaves the other one comes and sits next to him and goes down on him. 

The scene switches to Naseem at a dinner with a younger woman named Aisha (Hana Chamoun). She’s interested in jewelry design and is asking about any openings he might have in his store or has any good advice about the jewelry business in general. Naseem considers firing Ramy to clear an opening for her, but at this point Aisha seems turned off by him in general. After diner she tells him that she’s heading home, but before she can reject him Naseem tells her that it’s not going to work anyway and sends her home.

The next time Naseem heads to the steam room at the gym he’s surprised not to see the other gentleman, Paco (Raymond Neil Hernandez), around as he was with last time. He asks around to see if anyone has seen him, but when he has no luck he goes to see Paco at work. Naseem learns that Paco’s brother passed away recently and he’s been trying to process through the grief. But what really has Paco down is the fact that he had just told his brother he was gay and soon after he passed away. Of course, it wasn’t that revelation that killed his brother who passed away because of cancer.

Paco reveals that he was glad to tell his brother the truth because admitting it out loud was like admitting the truth to himself. He says this to Naseem in the hopes that he can confront the truth about his life too, but instead Naseem rejects the notion and says they are just workout partners–nothing else. In his feelings about everything, Naseem calls someone named Yassir (Waleed Zuaiter) but he doesn’t pick up. So, instead, he goes home and eats everything in sight and then goes to a gay club where he gets flustered and runs out. 

While eating dinner with Maysa (Hiam Abbass) and Farouk (Amr Waked), they all start talking about the climate. However, Naseem doesn’t really believe in all of that. Maysa considers recycling now since raising kids and recycling was tough for her. Naseem frustratingly responds that recycling is bulls**t and it’s clear that he’s in a bad mood from everything that has been going on recently. He’s rude to Maysa and when Farouk tries to intervene Naseem throws it in his face that not only did he give them money for the house but he pays for some of the bills too. 

Since Yassir did not pick up his phone call, Naseem pays him a visit at home and is greeted by Yassir’s wife, Najla (Mozhan Marnò) who is happy to see him. Yassir, on the other hand, seems a bit surprised to see Naseem which makes it very obvious that there is some sort of history between them. The history doesn’t just involve their friendship, but that they were once very intimate with one another. But during their conversation later Yassir makes it clear that he closed that chapter in his life and decided to settle down with a woman and start a family with her. He hopes Naseem will face the reality of his life as well and decide which way he wants to go–whatever that might be. But he should stop lying to himself and speak to someone about it. 

Naseem finds himself at Paco’s place with a cake that says “Dearest Sympathies” on it. He clearly wants to apologize for his behavior earlier, but when Paco goes in for a kiss Naseem ends up punching him in the face. Naseem helps clean up the wounds that resulted from the punch and then leaves from Paco’s place, unclear of what’s going on with him.

Once again finding himself in his feelings, Naseem finds a bench to sit on outside as he goes to town on the cake. As a disco version of “I Will Survive” plays in the background, Naseem breaks down and cries as he realizes the mess that has become of his life.