TIFF 2012

The Attack by Ziad Doueiri

TIFF selection this year will include some very interesting entries from Lebanese and Arab Filmmakers. Among the notable titles, we may mention the third movie by the prominent director Ziad Doueiri (check the trailer above), and the documentary by the couple Jreige and Hadjithomas about the scientific ambitions of Lebanese researchers in pre-war era. Other interesting Arabic films to be screened during the festival are "When I Saw You" the second feature by Anne-Marie Jacir (director of "Salt of this sea") and "Zabana" by Saïd Ould-Khelifa. We hope one of these movies will enjoy the same glory as "Where do we go now?".

The Lebanese Rocket Society by Jreige and HadjiThomas

Update: The distributors decided to take down "the attack" trailer preventing curious viewers to enjoy few scenes from the upcoming movie. The provided rationale is that "[the trailer] says too much about the story and shouldn't be revealed to the public". Instead of suggesting an accompanying 'spoiler alert' tag to the video, thus, they ended up penalizing fans by removing the video.

I want to see - بدّي شوف

"I want to see" Trailer

It's not clear in what category to put this movie, It's not a short since its duration passed an hour, not a fiction neither since what we see is a real story, and not a documentary (is it?) where every thing is programmed. You might think it's a media report about a journey visit of the French actress Catherine Deneuve to a disaster zone (few months after the disaster). The camera was almost exclusively pointed at Mrs Deneuve, and sometimes at Rabih Mroueh. During this one day journey, Catherine visited the southern suburbs for a short period of time, then continues to Bent Jbeil, the hometown of Rabih. He showed deep emotions in his quest to find his grand mother house with all the destruction around, Catherine was only trying to find out where Rabih have gone, showing little interest of her surrounding. During the rest of the movie, Catherine appeared tired of the trip, maybe because she could not support what she wanted to see? In all the movie, she gives the impression of being passive, unless for one scene where we see her reacting when Rabih was talking about her movies! The last scene where she was showing respect and appreciation for Rabih, was a beautiful moment to see.
The movie included beautiful scenes from the south, with the plain of dancing wheat expressing high aesthetic taste, the other which focused on machines and ruins is well moving.
In short, I see this movie as an experimental piece - the directors called it a cinematographic adventure - which is not (AFAIK) aiming to reach general public, but tells a real story free from faking emotions, or alien scenes. It simply shows a beautiful work depicting reality behind stars we used to see them acting.

Interview with Rabih Mroueh

"I want to see" presentation at Cannes

A perfect day - يوم اخر

Trailer for "A perfect day"

The story of A perfect day, like its name indicates, happens only in one day. It starts with a mother speaking to her sleeping son, trying to communicate messages during his sleep with a hope to get its effect during the awakening. It's about ghosts that are haunting the city and/or the country. They are the men that have been disappeared during the civil war, and their families still living with their ghosts ... It's mainly the idea of the film, the role of the mother and son will consist on how they are living in denial and trying to accept that fact (you'll find that both are living the two situation, but in a different way). Discussion are rare in this movie. In fact, during the last half-hour there are some five words that have been exchanged, but this doesn't stop communication by breathing, sleeping, touch, ... Julia Kassar's acting was enchanting, it almost eclipses the roles of other actors, but we should not forget that she's an experienced talented lady after all.
While watching, you see everything done right, but yet feeling that it doesn't reflect real Lebanese life. I'm not aware of the background of the directors/writers, but in the situation that the main characters were playing, you can notice that religion was forced out of the scene. You might understand that for the youth in the film, but with the mother, and her neighborhood, you feel it somewhat wrong.
Overall, I found the pictures in the film ran smoothly ... I was a bit disappointed though that I've seen A lost man before I saw this one, since this one looked for me as a prequel of the latest Arbid movie. I found both discussing the same issue but from different point of view. In this one, Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige centered their story around the family of a disappeared man, while Danielle Arbid approach followed the path of what've been thought as a man who disappeared during the civil war. Both approach where great, and I found that when you watch both, you cannot ignore the links between both movies.
You should not miss a nice meaningful movie.