FILM REVIEW: Cairo Time
© A.J. Malouin 2010
(Rating: 6 by A.J. Malouin, and “sorry” by his companion.) (See our side-bar page “How We Rate Movies”)
(2009/Canada/Ireland/Egypt. Directed [and written by Ruba Nadda.)
One of the great hallmarks of a great film is that it makes you want to go where the action is. All during our viewing of “Cairo Time” I wanted to do was leave the theatre and go directly to Cairo.
Even if Patricia Clarkson was not still there.
These are the two stars of this film: Clarkson and Cairo.
Clarkson plays a middle-age journalist landing in Cairo to meet up with her husband Mark, a U.N. worker who is delayed for several weeks, while Clarkson’s character malingers, hotel-bound.
She is rescued from her malaise by Tareq Khalifa, a handsome Muslim who is a friend of her husband’s.
The inevitable happens…although we do not see exactly why this should be. Clarkson’s character, it seems, is seduced by the city of Cairo more so than by Tareq, the fellow who displays it all for her.
There are a few stops and starts in “Cairo Time,” and overall the film feels a couple of hairs to long. Looking back on it, however, it’s hard to see wherein a more brutal editing would have enhanced the film.
The bottom line is that the languid pacing of the film is probably an accurate reflection of what Cairo Time really is. The city, the desert, the pyramids, and the social and culture themes of an ancient yet modernized society spill all over us in an orchestration of noise, music, alleys, cafes, luxury hotel lobbies, and private parties.
“Cairo Time’ is a feast for the eyes and the heart. It takes us places we love to go, in a manner we love to enjoy. Clarkson says everything, with a pause or a sigh. The camera shows everything, with a silence or a kaleidoscope. The results are magical, exotic, and heart-warming.
(1 hr 30. Rated PG in the USA for mild thematic elements, and smoking. In English and Arabic, with some few subtitles. With Patricia Clarkson as Juliette Grant, Alexander Siddig as Tareq Khalifa, Elena Anaya as Kathryn, Tom McCamus as Mark, Amina Annabi as Yasmeen, Cynthia Amsden as Woman at the Embassy Party, Andrew Cullen as Jim, Mona Hala as Jameelah, and Fadia Nadda as Hanan.)