a Man of Honor - إنسان شريف

  Trailer of a Man of Honor

The second feature by Jean-Claude Codsi which was screened during Doha Tribeca Film Festival has gained finally some narrow theater screenings in Lebanon (only 2 currently). Even though most cast and artists are Lebanese, the story, who excogitates the honor killing practice, takes place in Jordan where this practice is relatively vivid. This feature might bring some notable similarities with a Lost Man who takes part in Jordan as well, but with a somewhat reverse circumstances, in Codsi's movie, the Jordanian man flees to Lebanon, while in Arbid's one, the Lebanese man flees to Jordan. Bernadette Hodeib participation is of no doubt distinguished regardless of its duration. Note that the Lebanese actors manages to (effortfully?) speaking the Jordanian dialect, this didn't had much influence on the narrative and the mostly refined built plot. Personally, I found one particular scene incorporating some unnecessary exaggeration; the director purposely mutates traditional practices into some primitive foreign ritual that mimic those of isolated tribes (in Amazon or maybe tribal Africa?). This might be a bottleneck for the storytelling to assert the fustiness of such crimes, but of course exaggerated to amplify the effect. The spotlight covered in this film is an interesting perspective, worth seeing and will be much appreciated by the viewer, along with the pleasant music of Toufic Farroukh.

Edit: It should be noted, that this movie, like other recent Lebanese releases is including French and English subtitles. This increasing trend is getting ridiculous. Should Lebanese be bound by subtitles on all movies, even those narrated in their own Language?

When Maryam spoke out - لمّا حكيت مريم

"When Maryam spoke out" DVD poster

The most dramatic Lebanese film I've seen yet. So the movie, which is based on a real story, is about a woman called Maryam who lives with her husband happily until they decide, after some pressure from their community, to try to get pregnant. And the rest of the film shows the ways that Maryam takes in order to keep her husband.

Assad Fouladkar, the director, was the among first (to my knowledge) to have enough courage to attack such issues in the Lebanese society. He was able to collect some awards with his feature, and the Lebanese public as well; the film was a success in Lebanon despite the fact that it was screened in one to two theaters.
The drama was too strong, I was amazed with the acting role of Talal El-Jordi, and especially the performance of Bernadet Hodeib, she's one of the most talented youth Lebanese actresses.
I Hope we see other similar movies in the near future, although Fouladkar is now directing Egyptian series, I'm sure he'll gain success, but I personally prefer see his name on movies like this one. So, as you might already guessed, this movie strongly worth being watched.

P.S. I wasn't able to find the trailer of this movie, so I'm giving another call for anyone who have this trailer to send it to me.