DesertTalkies Film Reviews!

 It seems as if all I'm doing recently on this blog is apologizing. But I swear I have a valid reason! I have just finished with my mock examinations, and now I have the time to review some of the movies I have been watching. I have watched six in the past weekend, and I'm going to try to publish them all in the next few days. Rest assured, you will be getting plenty of content from me soon.  Rehla 404 [2024] Starring: Mona Zaki, Mohamed Farag, Khaled El Sawi, Mohamed Mamdouh Direction by Hani Khalifa Language: Arabic  I would like to dedicate this review to my friend Gigi: had she not been late to our meeting at the mall, I would not have looked through the synopses of all the movies screening in the theatre. If I had not done that, I would not have found this movie. Given the fact that it is in Arabic, this movie would have totally slipped under my radar if I hadn't off-handedly read that plot. I am not usually one for thrillers, but after this movie, I may consider see...

  The Color Purple [2023] Direction by Blitz Balawule Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo Language: English It was surprising to see that a movie like this was coming to commercial theatres in my area: given the very intense themes I heard it contained. When I saw an advertisement for this before seeing Argylle (not a movie worthy of review), I knew it was next on my watchlist. And I wasn't sad to see it. I have seen a lot of hate for this movie online: how it is not true to the original production, and how it deviates from the original novel. However, I do think that this was worth watching: every movie deserves a breath of fresh air after a few decades: if West Side Story is not proof of that, then what is? I had a friend message me after I had the chance to review this movie, and she said this movie unfairly played into black trauma as opposed to black liberation. However, I would have to disagree. with this. By including so much music, ...

  Maestro (2023) Starring: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer Direction by Bradley Cooper  Language: English  Tár and now Maestro? The Academy definitely has an obsession with composers. But hey, I’m not complaining - Tár was pretty good (if not at least a little difficult to understand). I’ve said it before, but one of my favourite movies to date has been West Side Story, and who else was behind the movie’s success but Leonard Bernstein? Maestro was not what I was expecting at all, and it surprised me in a very positive way.  Let’s start with Bradley Cooper. I am embarrassed to say that I don’t think I have seen a single movie where he stars. Not even Shallow! Anyways, after his performance in this movie I think his movies will be on my watchlist - wow! He was incredible. It’s difficult to explain, but he put his entire body into the character - and it came off in an incredibly poignant way. I often have a hard time trying to review acting - I feel like it’s...

  Ici Et Ailleurs - Here And Elsewhere [1976] Direction by Anne Marie Miéville, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Kean-Luc Godard Language: French & Arabic I'm not going to lie to you: this movie was difficult to watch at 10pm on a Friday night. It was intensely philosophical, and there were points were I was losing my train of thought. However, I will say this much: when I realized what this movie was really trying to say, I was very impressed. This documentary was actually a perfect complement to the book I have most recently read: Orientalism, a book about how Occidental, colonial views continue to distort how the Near East, or the Orient, is seen globally. The first thing that was interesting about this movie was the parallelism: it documented the intertwined stories of a domesticated French family and a group of members from a Palestinian tribe fighting for independence. It was through this plot where this idea of 'Here and Elsewhere' came in: the movie's point, which I do un...

 Well, Oscar nomination day has come and gone, and I have realized that I am woefully behind in watching the movies that were nominated. I am now on a quest to amend that, starting with the short films and working my way up.  Island in Between [2023] Directed by & Featuring S. Leo Chiang  Language: English and Mandarin Chinese  In my Human Geography class, we have been looking at at border disputes, and how states will often contest borders due to political, social, and economic differences. One example we have studied in particular is China and Taiwan, and how years of conflict have separated people who are ethnically and culturally similar yet different only in political ideology. And this movie explored exactly that: detailing not only the narrator's journey between finding 'home' between Taipei in Taiwan and Beijing in China, but looking at how the focal point for tension can be seen most clearly in Kinmeng, a Taiwanese island off the coast of Mainland China....

  Saltburn (2023) Starring: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike Direction by Emerald Fennell Language: English I can credit Jacob Elordi’s sultry good looks to me finding out about this movie. I saw interviews of him talking about this movie on TikTok, and it came onto my radar. Then, a few of my friends talked to me about the movie, and his, as one of my friends put it, ‘delicious face and body’. Then I started hearing odd words being put together: bath tubs, graves, and murders. And then I realized that it was high time to watch this.  Where do I start? This movie DEFINITELY challenged all my preconceptions. I figured that any Elordi movie would inevitably end up being some sort of rom-com. I was MORE than wrong.  Firstly, the movie was shot beautifully. I do wish I was able to watch this in my country’s theaters, but they don’t publicly show movies with suggestive plots. The use of angles was incredible, and as such I found the movie incredibly intimate and enga...

  Goodbye Julia [2023] Starring Siran Riak, Eiman Yousif, Ger Duany Direction Mohamed Kordofani Language: Arabic It's very rarely that I get to see Arabic movies in the cinema: most of the ones that come to my area are mainstream and not really worth a lot of significant attention. Luckily, Goodbye Julia came to my local cinema, and it piqued my interest. When I found out that it was in the 'Un Certain Regard' section of the Cannes Film Festival, I made my mind. I had to see it. This was the first Sudanese movie I have seen - and I'm going to make sure that this is not the last.  One thing I loved about this movie was the intensity: the intensity of the racial and ethnic divides between the Northern Arabs and the 'Southerners' was conveyed so perfectly. Unlike 'Alam', the desperation for a new state, the desperation of the struggle for a new nation, was done in a way that was strong and powerful. The violence of racism, the police force, and people was d...