📽 AT THE MOVIES-

Labaki’s dreamy Retour en Alexandrie: Inspired by his personal life, Back to Alexandria is the first long novel adaptation by director Tamer Raggli with Yousry Nasrallah and Marianne Brun on the script as well. The movie revolves around Sue (Nadine Labaki) a psychotherapist in her forties who decides to come back to Egypt and visit her mother Fayrouz (Fanny Ardant) on her deathbed, after being estranged for 20 years due to their unstable relationship.

In her trip from Switzerland to Cairo then to Alexandria, Sue faces the ghosts of her past, both figuratively and literally — memories, people, and feelings. Through these ghosts, she is able to find answers to a lot of questions she had throughout her life.

What we loved: The cast offers an authentic and moving performance. Complemented by nostalgic soundtracks featuring Abdelhalim Hafez, Nagat Al Saghira, and Dalida, the film is a genuinely dramatic experience. Back to Alexandria was able to offer a poetic experience that embodies the complex relationship between a mother and a daughter overwhelmed by anger and repression in a captivating symphony that grasps the audience with empathy, sorrow, and affection.

WHERE TO WATCH- The movie is an Arabic-French production and is available in English subtitles at Zawya, Downtown Cairo. You can check out the showings here, and watch the trailer here (runtime: 1:30).

Two friends from the past rekindle causing their fate to change forever. In the thrilling framework of The Wasp, actors Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer meet in a film centered around anger and revenge.

The plot: The story revolves around Heather (Harris), who is certain that her husband Simon (Dominic Allburn) is being unfaithful. She decides to reconnect with Carla (Dormer), her school friend who she hadn’t spoken to in ages to convince her to conspire for revenge in exchange for a large sum of money. Little did Carla know that this was all a trap that will change her life forever.

All the scenes being filmed in the same location, an example of chamber piece cinema, can be seen as cinematographic artistry for some, but may be dull for others. Even though Harris and Dormer both gave impressive performances, they fell victim to poor writing that followed the “tricking the audience” narrative, according to Variety.

WHERE TO WATCH: You can catch the movie at VOX Cinemas at City Centre Almaza and Mall of Egypt, Zawya, Cairo Festival City cinema, Point 90 cinema, and Cima Arkan. Watch the trailer here (runtime: 2:10).

📚 FROM THE BOOKSTORE-

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