Well , in comparison to other Egyptian or Arabic movies this one ir really nice when it comes to the topic , the scenario, the reality of the acting, it's definitely a thing
7 Reviews
I liked it !
enas_dawood_413 October 2019
Good.. but !
nadia_abbas1 July 2019
Very Egyptian
drmahmoudellawaty5 March 2022
I loved it. I'm not a cinephile but this movies touches so many parts of being a human in Egypt. People are saying the movie is trying too hard when I see it effortlessly showing different facets of our society.
A burgois privileged self absorbed Aucian man is exploiting working class and looking down on them who decided for a moment to actually experience their lives rather than looking at it.
Off course the movie is directly examining political and social issues with focus on power and authority.
There is some vagueness about the mysterious guy who is escaping egypt in aboat in a seemingly repetitive manner and whom the protagonist sees him as the groom on the wedding.apparently reflecting himself in his maze of psychological nothingness through out the movie.
He fluctuates between his self absorbed burgois part and his more empathic/humane part who is actually living not observing. He only escapes this nothingness when he visits the later part.
A burgois privileged self absorbed Aucian man is exploiting working class and looking down on them who decided for a moment to actually experience their lives rather than looking at it.
Off course the movie is directly examining political and social issues with focus on power and authority.
There is some vagueness about the mysterious guy who is escaping egypt in aboat in a seemingly repetitive manner and whom the protagonist sees him as the groom on the wedding.apparently reflecting himself in his maze of psychological nothingness through out the movie.
He fluctuates between his self absorbed burgois part and his more empathic/humane part who is actually living not observing. He only escapes this nothingness when he visits the later part.
Surprisingly endearing with good twists
irenefanous25 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The movie delicately introduces gritty topics in urban Egypt - in a way that non-Egyptians can watch it and still love the country. For example, normalizing abuse, patriarchal attitudes, the fickleness of the law - all of these things that are abundant in developing countries. The story itself is quite lovely, a sex worker and a film director coming to terms with what's unpleasant in life during a night-long taxi ride. There are a few twists at the end that surprised me. I didn't expect to like all of the characters, but by the end I did care about them quite a bit!
Once upon a time in Egypt...
IbrahimSadoun18 May 2023
I have seen this movie after watching Ahmed Abdalla's "Microphone" and "Decor" and I think I can see the pattern here that makes Abdalla's movies so real focusing on Egypt's cultural and social problems.
To begin with, The movie starts with this young director "Mo" having to deal with directing issues while his friend trying to shoot a video with him talking about their mutual friend who was sentenced for two years in prison because of his novel referring to a true story of Ahmed Naji's book "Using life, 2014" who was actually sentenced with the same punishment in 2016 after a complain to the authorities for harming the Egyptian "public morality" with his writings.
Yes. We are living in a country that can put you in a prison for writing a fictionally explicit stories. This exemplifies how the authorities in this country attempt to restrict people's freedom and violate their rights without any actual crime committed.
As the movie progresses, we follow the journey of the director and now we are moving with our director not only physically but mentally too, we can see what he thinks of, his movie to come, his thoughts of his protagonist who is tring to escape the country illegally leaving his love back in Egypt, and at some point the director and his thoughts of his protagonist emerged showing the uncertainty of reality itself and the director's search for meaning in life.
The journey takes the director to meet different people from a totally different social class, he seems interested in a sex worker "Toto" he met by chance and while he tries to hook up with her, he faces macho competition with the taxi driver that leads to a fight between them and the police gets involved taking them to a police station where the director uses his own privileges to get out by himself, leaving "Toto" and the taxi driver behind. But as he walks away, he realizes that he must also secure their release, so he exercises his privileges to ensure their freedom, which he succeeds to do.
Consequently, social status in Egypt can offer protection based on the authorities' social stereotypes. Thus, people from different social classes are having different rights based on these stereotypes, and by rescuing "Toto" and the driver the director chooses to break these stereotypes.
Finally, the movie ended with a reading from Ahmed Naji's "Using life" -who showed in the movie as the 2nd taxi driver for less than a minute- questioning happiness in our lives as the perfect end for a great movie...
To begin with, The movie starts with this young director "Mo" having to deal with directing issues while his friend trying to shoot a video with him talking about their mutual friend who was sentenced for two years in prison because of his novel referring to a true story of Ahmed Naji's book "Using life, 2014" who was actually sentenced with the same punishment in 2016 after a complain to the authorities for harming the Egyptian "public morality" with his writings.
Yes. We are living in a country that can put you in a prison for writing a fictionally explicit stories. This exemplifies how the authorities in this country attempt to restrict people's freedom and violate their rights without any actual crime committed.
As the movie progresses, we follow the journey of the director and now we are moving with our director not only physically but mentally too, we can see what he thinks of, his movie to come, his thoughts of his protagonist who is tring to escape the country illegally leaving his love back in Egypt, and at some point the director and his thoughts of his protagonist emerged showing the uncertainty of reality itself and the director's search for meaning in life.
The journey takes the director to meet different people from a totally different social class, he seems interested in a sex worker "Toto" he met by chance and while he tries to hook up with her, he faces macho competition with the taxi driver that leads to a fight between them and the police gets involved taking them to a police station where the director uses his own privileges to get out by himself, leaving "Toto" and the taxi driver behind. But as he walks away, he realizes that he must also secure their release, so he exercises his privileges to ensure their freedom, which he succeeds to do.
Consequently, social status in Egypt can offer protection based on the authorities' social stereotypes. Thus, people from different social classes are having different rights based on these stereotypes, and by rescuing "Toto" and the driver the director chooses to break these stereotypes.
Finally, the movie ended with a reading from Ahmed Naji's "Using life" -who showed in the movie as the 2nd taxi driver for less than a minute- questioning happiness in our lives as the perfect end for a great movie...
Forget it!
jayallen-9472011 January 2019
It's trying so hard
mouni_badra10 April 2020
A typical Egyptian movie that's trying too hard to sound sophisticated. It's attempting to touches on so many issues with the society while looking down on it at the same time, and failing to deliver an unbiased picture of on any of them. Let alone the scattered plot, pointless scenes, and over the top themes. I get it... Cairo is disgusting, but the way that such movies address it is even more disgusting.
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