The storyline on this wonderful small film shot in Lebanon and other locations, is that the women of this part of the middle east are just fed up with the senseless death of their sons, brothers and fathers, due to religious sectarianism. The steps they go to, to end this insanity are wonderfully funny, and very much to the point of what is needed to break the cycle of violence.
The script is a gem. The team of writers, including director and co-star Nadine Labaki, is just great. It pulls us from comedy through tenderness and tragedy. The acting troupe is very good, very believable. It seems to be shot on location, sets are real enough to make you believe you are there.
The cinematography is great, really showing the town as it is, and placing you very much in the middle of the scenes. Nice lighting, color balance is warm and soft, giving a very homey look to the locations.
It's all too seldom that we who are not in the middle of a internal civil war such as this get to see a window into the world that is trying to hang on to it's sanity, not yet having fallen over the precipice into full scale chaos.
This is a very wonderful, funny, and poignant window into that world, told by people who are very close to the real situation. It could not have been invented by a California filmmaker.
It falls into the classes of films like "The Debt" and "of Gods and Men", stories of middle eastern conflict that are not set pieces, or play to western stereotypes of what is happening there, though it is much 'lighter' and less of a drama than those. This has much more light hearted nature than those films.
9 stars out of ten, for wonderful original storyline, wonderful unknown cast, good acting, great cinematography, nice weaving of humour and pathos, contemporary story, without being trite, solid editing. Also just a good movie, beyond all the technical nonsense.
So if you have read this far, saw those other films, and liked them, you likely will like this better. Again, hard to imagine you will be disappointed in this gem.
The script is a gem. The team of writers, including director and co-star Nadine Labaki, is just great. It pulls us from comedy through tenderness and tragedy. The acting troupe is very good, very believable. It seems to be shot on location, sets are real enough to make you believe you are there.
The cinematography is great, really showing the town as it is, and placing you very much in the middle of the scenes. Nice lighting, color balance is warm and soft, giving a very homey look to the locations.
It's all too seldom that we who are not in the middle of a internal civil war such as this get to see a window into the world that is trying to hang on to it's sanity, not yet having fallen over the precipice into full scale chaos.
This is a very wonderful, funny, and poignant window into that world, told by people who are very close to the real situation. It could not have been invented by a California filmmaker.
It falls into the classes of films like "The Debt" and "of Gods and Men", stories of middle eastern conflict that are not set pieces, or play to western stereotypes of what is happening there, though it is much 'lighter' and less of a drama than those. This has much more light hearted nature than those films.
9 stars out of ten, for wonderful original storyline, wonderful unknown cast, good acting, great cinematography, nice weaving of humour and pathos, contemporary story, without being trite, solid editing. Also just a good movie, beyond all the technical nonsense.
So if you have read this far, saw those other films, and liked them, you likely will like this better. Again, hard to imagine you will be disappointed in this gem.