Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Movie Review: Cairo Time

Cairo Time is an unusual film. Partricia Clarkson plays Juliette Grant who's husband Mark works for the UN. The films opens with her arrival in Cairo for a planned vacation but he's delayed in Gaza. She has several days on her own waiting for him. Alexander Siddig plays Tareq Khalifa a former co-worker of Mark's who now runs a coffee shop in Cairo and who Mark arranges to look after her. Juliette is very quiet and contemplative. The script has her not sleeping well which might be an excuse but I found her role a little underwritten. Some romantic tension between Juliette and Tareq does develop.

In the end, Juliette is our excuse to observe Cairo. The film gives an amazing sense of place. It's not a travelogue and there are plenty of films in famous cities, but I got the feeling I've seen Cairo and have never seen it before. Lot's of films have shots of famous places, but this felt far more substantial. There are some wonderful pans of the skyline and I'm not sure how they were shot.

I'll probably forget the characters pretty easily but I'm going to remember some of the locations for a long time.




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