Friday, December 17, 2010

Stray Bullet - رصاصة طايشة

Trailer of "Stray Bullet"

This new movie is enjoying very nice critics while showing in festivals worldwide. We hope for a soon release in Lebanon, to be able to watch and comment. Georges Hachem gathered all aesthetic elements in one beautiful piece to recreate a beautiful atmosphere of a once war-torn Lebanon in the 70's. You may notice among the cast Labaki playing as the main character "Noha".

Update: After watching the movie,  the viewer will be charged with emotion.  It's an excellent movie from almost all artistic apects. Labaki's role in Stray Bullet dwarfs her leading role in her own movie Caramel. The music is very well composed for the scenes. The viewer will be feeling the war in the background since the start, even before the violent  related scenes. Despite the successful attempt to bring the 70's era, some details from the post-war Lebanon escaped to the foreground, more notably the street lights that accompany us until the ending scene. Hachem has shown great talent in his first long feature in this universal story. We should note that some messages reverberate from other Lebanese movies like In the Battlefields: The war begun from inside Lebanese homes before to evolving into clashes between rival groups.

Below a short commentary from Hachem
on his reel during London Film Festival.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Where do we go now? - وهلّأ لوين؟

A still from the film
Apparently, Nadine Labaki is going to treat the inter-religous tensions in her new film, along with some focus on the interaction of the women inside the society. The film is set to be released in May (probably during the next Cannes film festival). The main crew seems to be unchanged from her Caramel: the producer, her husband, and herself. The shooting is set to last for 2 months (projected deadline: 18 December).
Labaki's husband will enjoy a bigger role in the movie through his music. We can expect a movie with the taste of a musical.
Nadine is an acknowledged movie maker, we wish her the best luck with this new reel (not that she needs it!). Hopefully, we will get more details about the movie while in-production.

Update: As expected, Labaki is premiering this feature during 2011 Cannes Film Festival in "Un Certain Regard" section parallel to the official competition. We wish Labaki best luck.
The movie was shot partly in Taybe village near Baalbeck