Ahla El-Awkat
The artistic classic outdoor campaign of the new Egyptian film Ahla El-Awkat featuring three beautiful women - Hanan Turk, Menna Shalaby and Hend Sabry - with a melancholic look caught people's eyes in the latest two weeks.
Marking the directorial debut of Hala Khaleel, a new female filmmaker who also wrote the story, Ahla El-Awkat is supposed to be a film reflecting a feminist point of view.
The film opens one early morning, in a luxurious apartment in Maadi where a woman (Maha Abou-Auf) happily awakens in her bed. We are supposed to understand that she is having a happy marriage with Dr. Rabe'e (Sami El-Adl). While reading the newspaper and listening to the radio the wind suddenly catches her scarf. When she tries to retrieve up from a tree, she falls down and accidentally dies.
In the consolation, we are introduced to her daughter Salma (Hanan Turk) who, devastated by the loss of her mother, wants to leave her stepfather's (Dr. Rabe'e) house.
But another event turns her life upside down. Salma starts to receive anonymous letters encouraging her to look upon the past and seek the "best times" she lived before. One letter has a photo of her with Doha and Yousreya, her childhood friends during their school days. Salma decides to go back to Shoubra, the old neighborhood where she lived before her mother's wealthy marriage.
When reunited with Doha (Menna Shalaby) and Yousreya (Heind Sabry), the trio starts to do some detective work to unveil the mystery behind the letters.
First they suspected it might be their old school's teacher who had a crush on the young Salma. Then their eyes lie on Salma's weird neighbor (Amr Waked) and finally their investigation leads them to Alexandria where Salma's surrogate father (Hassan Hosny) owns "a photography studio called Ahla El-Awkat.
I was lost (and bored) watching Ahla El-Awkat, a movie that was seeking a "genre" identity throughout its two hours playing time. Was it a drama about a woman seeking redemption or a thriller about a mysterious stalker chased by three ladies or a comedy about family ties? Screenwriter Wessam Soliman lost the strings of the entire story making us laugh in all the wrong times.
Even the revelation about the identity of the "secret admirer" was unbelievable and unconvincing.
The three leading actresses added many layers to their underwritten characters specially Hanan Turk. As for Hala Khaleel, she will be a good filmmaker if she gives more time to tighten the shooting script and tone down the crane and the tracking shots.
( ثُمَّ يَتُوبُ اللّهُ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ عَلَى مَن يَشَاء وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ) التوبة .
The artistic classic outdoor campaign of the new Egyptian film Ahla El-Awkat featuring three beautiful women - Hanan Turk, Menna Shalaby and Hend Sabry - with a melancholic look caught people's eyes in the latest two weeks. Marking the directorial debut of Hala Khaleel, a new female filmmaker who also wrote the story, Ahla El-Awkat is supposed to be a film reflecting a feminist point of view.
The film opens one early morning, in a luxurious apartment in Maadi where a woman (Maha Abou-Auf) happily awakens in her bed. We are supposed to understand that she is having a happy marriage with Dr. Rabe'e (Sami El-Adl). While reading the newspaper and listening to the radio the wind suddenly catches her scarf. When she tries to retrieve up from a tree, she falls down and accidentally dies.
In the consolation, we are introduced to her daughter Salma (Hanan Turk) who, devastated by the loss of her mother, wants to leave her stepfather's (Dr. Rabe'e) house. But another event turns her life upside down. Salma starts to receive anonymous letters encouraging her to look upon the past and seek the "best times" she lived before. One letter has a photo of her with Doha and Yousreya, her childhood friends during their school days. Salma decides to go back to Shoubra, the old neighborhood where she lived before her mother's wealthy marriage.
When reunited with Doha (Menna Shalaby) and Yousreya (Heind Sabry), the trio starts to do some detective work to unveil the mystery behind the letters.
First they suspected it might be their old school's teacher who had a crush on the young Salma. Then their eyes lie on Salma's weird neighbor (Amr Waked) and finally their investigation leads them to Alexandria where Salma's surrogate father (Hassan Hosny) owns "a photography studio called Ahla El-Awkat.
I was lost (and bored) watching Ahla El-Awkat, a movie that was seeking a "genre" identity throughout its two hours playing time. Was it a drama about a woman seeking redemption or a thriller about a mysterious stalker chased by three ladies or a comedy about family ties? Screenwriter Wessam Soliman lost the strings of the entire story making us laugh in all the wrong times. Even the revelation about the identity of the "secret admirer" was unbelievable and unconvincing.
The three leading actresses added many layers to their underwritten characters specially Hanan Turk. As for Hala Khaleel, she will be a good filmmaker if she gives more time to tighten the shooting script and tone down the crane and the tracking shots.
( ثُمَّ يَتُوبُ اللّهُ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ عَلَى مَن يَشَاء وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ) التوبة .
