Cairo Time
Cinema Nova, 06/09/2010
Status: Behind by 5 films
I adore PATRICIA CLARKSON (Whatever Works, The Station Agent) and ALEXANDER SIDDIG (“Deep Space Nine”, Syriana) is getting foxier and foxier in his advancing years, so I was very, very prepared to swoon over this romantic drama. But writer/director RUBA NADDA has constructed a story where very little happens and it takes it’s time doing so, so the swooning never really eventuated.
The performances are fine and the setting is beautiful, but it all rang a little too hollow. It felt a little bit like the story (from an original screenplay) was a poor adaptation of a good novel - lots of things bubbling away and an entire story contained under the surface, but not well adapted to the screen. Sometimes it felt like Clarkson and Siddig had read the full story and knew far more about the characters than we did but, bizarrely, the direction shies away from any real insight. There were two-too-many snail-paced walks through the Cairo streets and three-too-few conversations between the would-be lovers.
I think I’m being kind with my star rating, but I’m nothing if not a big old softy and I can’t bear to give this gentle, hollow-feeling would-be romance anything less.
