This is one of those films for which the viewer has to be in the right frame of mind. It is not exciting, suspenseful or thrilling. In fact it seems rather aimless, but in that it mirrors the life and attitude of its central character.
Jana (Manal Issa), a young student, returns from Paris to her family home in Beirut. Her parents have not been expecting her and struggle to get any information from her about the sudden abandonment of her studies (personally I think that, confronted with the other students, she realised she was not quite as good as she thought she was). Eventually her former boyfriend Adam (Roger Azar) makes contact and the pair spend some time together, before Jana realises she must make a decision about her future.
A weakness of the film is that Jana is not very likeable. Although she is not totally antagonistic - for instance, she attends a wedding in order to please her parents - her general sullenness comes across as self-indulgence and makes it difficult for the viewer to feel sympathy for her. On the other hand, the acting is believable (particularly on the part of Jana's parents); there are some splendid, slightly threatening shots of Beirut's towering new skyscrapers; and the film's content - youngsters taking drugs, an unmarried couple sleeping together and even a glimpse of Azar's naked backside - certainly make this a more contemporary film that I was expecting from Arabic cinema.
Jana (Manal Issa), a young student, returns from Paris to her family home in Beirut. Her parents have not been expecting her and struggle to get any information from her about the sudden abandonment of her studies (personally I think that, confronted with the other students, she realised she was not quite as good as she thought she was). Eventually her former boyfriend Adam (Roger Azar) makes contact and the pair spend some time together, before Jana realises she must make a decision about her future.
A weakness of the film is that Jana is not very likeable. Although she is not totally antagonistic - for instance, she attends a wedding in order to please her parents - her general sullenness comes across as self-indulgence and makes it difficult for the viewer to feel sympathy for her. On the other hand, the acting is believable (particularly on the part of Jana's parents); there are some splendid, slightly threatening shots of Beirut's towering new skyscrapers; and the film's content - youngsters taking drugs, an unmarried couple sleeping together and even a glimpse of Azar's naked backside - certainly make this a more contemporary film that I was expecting from Arabic cinema.
