Cairo Time

One reviewer's reference to "Brief Encounter" is apt: So much hinges on what may be left unsaid and undone. Enjoyable as long as you're not expecting much drama. The atmospherics of Cairo were quite entrancing -- though they seemed sanitized compared to what's gone on there recently and the revelations of how threatened women are, even walking down the street fully covered. I'm a big fan of Patricia Clarkson, in everything from "The Station Agent" to old "Frasier" reruns; she wraps up warmth, humor, strength and loneliness in one delicate package. In this, she's looking a bit wan and wizened . . . but does a good job keeping you wondering whether she will break from her usual moral code or not.

Si no fuera por la gran Patricia Clarkson y por la fascinante -por lo menos en el filme- ciudad del Cairo, el más reciente largometraje de la cineasta canadiense Ruba Nadda no pasarÃa de ser un mero telefilme romántico. Pero con esos escenarios y con esta actriz, nada de eso. Además, hay que admitir que la señora Nadda dirige con solvencia esta sobria historia de amor nunca consumada.

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Did I enjoy it. Yeah i did. Sortof. Would i watch it again. Nope. Its a nice scenic tour around Cairo and is certainly a nice relaxing movie to watch. But , one of its failings is the lead female character. She appears mute and unsuitable to the role. There is no chemistry at all emancipating from her. If the movie had concentrated as much on the script and on the chosen female lead as they did with the scenery then it could have been good. Remnds me of an alright black and white movie.

The movie is quite nice to watch, except for, and am I the only one to notice, I wonder, the main female character. She is nauseatingly ugly, and her looks make it hard to believe that any sort of chemistry could possibly exist between her and...a man. Why spend all that money on making a movie, and then cast someone with the looks of a witch from the woods ? I don't get it...