SIFF #9 - Cairo Time
(or, I get a round of applause at SIFF).
Cairo. Largest city in Africa. Largest city in the Arab world. Capitol of the most populous Arab nation. By any measure, a world class city. Yet it gets no respect in the movies. London, Paris, Tokyo, certainly New York, Moscow, even Beijing get to play themselves far, far more often than Cairo does (Curiously, the only time I can recall Cairo playing itself is in one of those social retrogressive Roger Moore James Bond films. And then of course it was still ridiculous).
Until today.
For some of this festival I've nodded off a few times (I admit it!); my sleep's not been the best lately. But not this time. I was wide awake and with a huge smile the whole time - well, certainly with the shots of Cairo.
The story of Cairo Time is somewhat familiar, even a bit old-fashioned in these days of blue aliens, sparkly vampires and transforming cars, but it's the story of a woman stuck in a place waiting for her husband and meeting a man who wasn't what she'd expected; in short, a story about the potential for infidelity. But it's handled in such a grown-up and intelligent way that it's not in the least bit boring (plus there's lots of Cairo to look at!). And there are no real good guys or bad guys. Patricia Clarkson does her usual throaty-voiced great job with Juliet, the American wife stuck in Cairo, and Alexander Siddig, looking regal, gentlemanly, as well as a little gaunt and regretful, is the husband's old friend Tariq. Of course they're both very good (and in fact were the writer-director's first choices).
In fact the film is much better than the limited buzz I'd heard about it. It was very warmly received by the audience (who admittedly were a bit older than the average mall rat), and Siddig in particular seems to have struck a cord with the ladies. I heard more than one of them remark on the way out "Oh, wasn't he gorgeous!?!" While stuck waiting for my aisle to clear, I heard a woman two rows up remark to her teenage daughters "but he looks so familiar, what have I seen him in?" and couldn't help but jump in and say "well, for 5 years or so he was the doctor on Deep Space Nine" and this being geeky Seattle, she said "That's right, he was the doctor!". (I also mentioned he was in Syriana and 24, though neither of us watch 24).
But the good story was just icing on the cake. For me it was all the wonderful shots of Cairo (though the director did use a couple of mosques for one). During the Q & A afterwards with the director, a woman I think's probably younger than me who's a Canadian-born Syrian and Palestinian Arab (try fitting that on your census form!), I stood up and rather than ask a question, said "I live in Cairo in 1986, and since I've seen Cairo played by Madrid, Tunis, and Morocco. Thank you, thank you for finally, finally putting Cairo up on the big screen!" And the house applauded my comment. Go me.
(The director said the film has been picked for worldwide distribution (it got a standing ovation at the Cairo film festival), and will be coming to the US this summer)
Afterwards went over the Mecca bar and grille (where else?) across the street for a nice lunch and wandered around in the nice weather (sorry, vylotte, that your BBQ weather arrived a day late) to three used DVD places right there in the lower Queen Anne area. The bus trip back was a pain, but otherwise it was a beautiful day; only one thing could have improved it.
Cairo. Largest city in Africa. Largest city in the Arab world. Capitol of the most populous Arab nation. By any measure, a world class city. Yet it gets no respect in the movies. London, Paris, Tokyo, certainly New York, Moscow, even Beijing get to play themselves far, far more often than Cairo does (Curiously, the only time I can recall Cairo playing itself is in one of those social retrogressive Roger Moore James Bond films. And then of course it was still ridiculous).
Until today.
For some of this festival I've nodded off a few times (I admit it!); my sleep's not been the best lately. But not this time. I was wide awake and with a huge smile the whole time - well, certainly with the shots of Cairo.
The story of Cairo Time is somewhat familiar, even a bit old-fashioned in these days of blue aliens, sparkly vampires and transforming cars, but it's the story of a woman stuck in a place waiting for her husband and meeting a man who wasn't what she'd expected; in short, a story about the potential for infidelity. But it's handled in such a grown-up and intelligent way that it's not in the least bit boring (plus there's lots of Cairo to look at!). And there are no real good guys or bad guys. Patricia Clarkson does her usual throaty-voiced great job with Juliet, the American wife stuck in Cairo, and Alexander Siddig, looking regal, gentlemanly, as well as a little gaunt and regretful, is the husband's old friend Tariq. Of course they're both very good (and in fact were the writer-director's first choices).
In fact the film is much better than the limited buzz I'd heard about it. It was very warmly received by the audience (who admittedly were a bit older than the average mall rat), and Siddig in particular seems to have struck a cord with the ladies. I heard more than one of them remark on the way out "Oh, wasn't he gorgeous!?!" While stuck waiting for my aisle to clear, I heard a woman two rows up remark to her teenage daughters "but he looks so familiar, what have I seen him in?" and couldn't help but jump in and say "well, for 5 years or so he was the doctor on Deep Space Nine" and this being geeky Seattle, she said "That's right, he was the doctor!". (I also mentioned he was in Syriana and 24, though neither of us watch 24).
But the good story was just icing on the cake. For me it was all the wonderful shots of Cairo (though the director did use a couple of mosques for one). During the Q & A afterwards with the director, a woman I think's probably younger than me who's a Canadian-born Syrian and Palestinian Arab (try fitting that on your census form!), I stood up and rather than ask a question, said "I live in Cairo in 1986, and since I've seen Cairo played by Madrid, Tunis, and Morocco. Thank you, thank you for finally, finally putting Cairo up on the big screen!" And the house applauded my comment. Go me.
(The director said the film has been picked for worldwide distribution (it got a standing ovation at the Cairo film festival), and will be coming to the US this summer)
Afterwards went over the Mecca bar and grille (where else?) across the street for a nice lunch and wandered around in the nice weather (sorry, vylotte, that your BBQ weather arrived a day late) to three used DVD places right there in the lower Queen Anne area. The bus trip back was a pain, but otherwise it was a beautiful day; only one thing could have improved it.