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At first glance, Zia Mohajerjasbi’s directorial debut Know Your Place feels foreign. It’s about a 15-year-old Eritrean American named Robel (Joseph Smith) growing up in fast-gentrifying Seattle. While Robel’s background makes him unique, elements of his story in Know Your Place are easily relatable to everyone.
Robel is stuck in the liminal space that characterizes adolescence. He’s not only stuck between being a boy and a man, he’s stuck between his Eritrean and American cultures. He’s stuck between the Seattle he’s grown up with and the gentrified version of Seattle that no longer has a place for him. Robel’s mission throughout the film is to escape this impermanence on his terms, to know his place.
Mohajerjasbi does an excellent job of showing us the worlds that Robel is caught in between. We follow Robel from his home, where his mother has Eritrean Christian friends over for a passionate prayer meeting, to the basketball court, where Robel and his friends goad each other and hurl profanities at one other. Both settings look and feel real while contrasting sharply with each other.
Smith wordlessly expresses Robel’s emotions. When Robel doesn’t know what to say to express himself, Smith conveys his sadness, anger, joy, and apathy through his body language. It works because it’s how teenagers really communicate.
But what makes Know Your Place a good story is its simplicity. Robel’s journey to manhood, self-discovery, and a place to call home isn’t an epic battle. It’s a simple task: his mom (Selamawit Gebresus) asks him to transport a suitcase across town to deliver to a family friend.
But the stakes are still high. Early on, Robel’s older sister Fayven (Esther Kibreab) tells him he needs to contribute more to the family. Watching that scene, we’re unsure if Robel is ready. Will he rise to the occasion? Honestly, we don't know.
The film’s standout performances and realistic cinematography are sometimes weighed down by its slow pace. There are also a few instances where side characters come across as cliches rather than well-rounded people. It feels as if the film needed more time to fully convey every character and the nuance of every interaction effectively.
Overall, however, Zia Mohajerjasbi’s debut film is a powerful story of growing up that will resonate with any of us who can remember being a teenager. Robel’s quest to know his place creates easy comparisons for someone in the audience examining their own life.
I also want to keep an eye out for Mohajerjasbi and Smith’s future projects. They both have potential to continue making excellent films with depth and sincerity.
The film is now streaming on digital platforms.