Feature-length films from competent Arab directors are rare. This one is both rare and good. My wife worked hard to persuade me to see the film after having seen it herself the day before. It is at first off-putting watching a film financed by product placement - largely due to my fellow similar goers cackling "ooh, that's Cat Boy and Geordie Bird" and a rather staged scene in a ballet school, but the film quickly reaches its stride.
This film leaves every local watcher of all nationalities nodding and saying 'so true'. Like the film, Dubai isn't perfect by any means, but that doesn't mean both aren't great.
It is a film about dreamers and their dreams, but set in almost real life. The Bollywood wannabe taxi driver Basu (perhaps the best portrayal in the film), the frustratingly wooden Natalia, playboy and eventual arch-villain Guy Berger: all have different dreams. For me, though, the Emirati characters steal the show. Summing up the brash yet uncertain confidence of this country and showing the true heart of the Emirati population. The final scenes involving Faisal, Khalfan and their families bring a tear to my eye every time. Just don't tell the wife.
This film leaves every local watcher of all nationalities nodding and saying 'so true'. Like the film, Dubai isn't perfect by any means, but that doesn't mean both aren't great.
It is a film about dreamers and their dreams, but set in almost real life. The Bollywood wannabe taxi driver Basu (perhaps the best portrayal in the film), the frustratingly wooden Natalia, playboy and eventual arch-villain Guy Berger: all have different dreams. For me, though, the Emirati characters steal the show. Summing up the brash yet uncertain confidence of this country and showing the true heart of the Emirati population. The final scenes involving Faisal, Khalfan and their families bring a tear to my eye every time. Just don't tell the wife.