Labor and reward: Tamer El Said's IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE CITY and Lucrecia Martel's ZAMA

Two very demanding movies are currently opening in our cultural capitals: Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel's new work, ZAMA, which hit New York City a couple of weeks ago and opens in Los Angeles this week, and Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El Said's debut feature, IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE CITY, which opens in NYC this Friday and then hits L.A. on May 11.

Audiences for art films -- foreign, independent and documentaries in particular -- generally expect demands that are simply not present in

almost any mainstream movie. These two films, however, go far beyond the usual demands.

For starters, it might be a good idea for viewers expecting to see these films to brush up on their history: of Spain and its colonization of South America in the late 1700s (for Zama) and of Egypt and the middle east during the couple of years preceding what is now called Arab Spring and the ongoing Egyptian Crisis (for Last Days...).

Both films simply begin in media res and expect you to quickly center your self and catch up. Lots of movies do this, it's true -- but few give you as little orientation as here. And then there is the problem of each movie's protagonist -- the titular Diego de Zama (played by that fine Spanish actor Daniel Giménez Cacho, above) and Khalid, played by Scotland-born actor Khalid Abdalla, below -- men so oddly passive that the word "off-putting" does not begin to describe their character.

In the Last Days of the City looks like a documentary, but it's fiction, though its characters tend to all have names the same as their actors' given name. Our "hero," Khalid, is a filmmaker slowly working on a movie, and most of his friends seem to be filmmakers, too. We meet them early on, during a movie Q&A. "This is a panel of cinema," one of them notes, "but so far we are only talking politics." As these film-making friends josh and spar, their various homelands, current  residences and political views all surface, and we can't help but wonder, How safe are any of these people?

News flashes from TV referring to Marbarek dot the movie, as do the various women in Khalid's life: his ailing mother, maybe an aunt, and an ex-girlfriend -- with whom he is as passive as with all else. He is currently looking for a new apartment, yet we never get a clue from where his income arrives. Is he independently wealthy? "Watching is not living," our hero is told at one point, and when he notices below his apartment building a man attacking a woman and then films this, you'll want to jam his camera between his teeth.

Who is this guy?:  Does he represent a passive Egyptian populace? No wonder his girlfriend (Laila Samy, above) bails on him. He is a handsome devil, however, and you may notice that, though he never seems to shave, the degree of stubble on his face remain exactly the same throughout the entire movie. Among the other visual delights is maybe the sexiest set of mannequins ever captured on film. First we see them nude, then behind windows covered with newspaper to obscure their naughty parts, and then finally completely hidden via burkas. 

Initially the movie is visually riveting -- so interestingly composed and edited that I was hooked. Along the way, we get some family, some history, some tradition, some religion, some politics, and even an ancient calligrapher.  Slowly, though, In the Last Days of the City (which times out at just over two hours) loses all power and finally most of its interest. When, toward the end, Khalid's very annoyed editor says to him, "I'm fed up. I feel I'm wasting my time!" you may second those sentiments completely. It's one thing to demand a lot of your viewers; it's quite another to finally give them so little in return.

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Ms Martel's Zama, while also demanding, at least pays off some dividends, though not, TrustMovies thinks, as many as have been found in her earlier films. Visually, the movie is often stunning, filled as it is with gorgeous, if often strange landscapes and vistas (there's one shot of soldiers asleep on an either sleeping or dead horse, the likes of which I've never seen). Sometimes phantasmagorical, more often simply strange but real, Martel's movie gives us an inside view of colonialism in which our "hero" -- a medium-level functionary of Spanish power in South America (Paraguay, I think) -- is both a purveyor of colonialism and its victim.

Directed and adapted by Martel (from the novel by Antonio Di Benedetto), the movie is rich in metaphor and symbolism, never more so than in its handling of a near-mythic character named Vicuña Porto, a rebel leader whom we keep hearing is dead or beheaded or "Here are his ears" but instead keeps re-surfacing, alive after all. When we finally meet him, via the very energetic and interesting performance by Matheus Nachtergaele, we begin to understand what all the fuss is about. Even if, as ever, our poor "hero" Zama has no clue.

A coward and a passive weakling, this guy is such a loser. Everyone uses him, and always to Zama's disadvantage -- from the "royal" lady for whom he lusts and pines, to the governor of the province, to the very natives whom he supposedly lords it over. This fellow is the proverbial schmuck. Even if his most appalling line of dialog -- "This noble family has suffered enough" -- will make you want to upchuck, still, what happens to the poor guy is awful indeed. By the finale of this near-two-hour movie, you'll have experienced wonderful visuals, reacted to some awful carnage, and perhaps had your brain and pre-conceptions jogged a little. It was enough for me, but despite the film's subject and wonderfully strange time and location, I would not place this among Martel's best work.

Zama, from Strand Releasing, opens in Los Angeles  this Friday, April 27, at Laemmle's Royal and Playhouse 7. Click here then scroll down to click on Screenings to view all upcoming playdates, cities and theaters.

In the Last Days of the City, from Big World Pictures, opens this Friday, April 27, in New York City at the Museum of Modern Art and on May 4 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Monica Film Center, and then elsewhere, too. Click here then scroll down to see all upcoming playdates, cities and theaters. The filmmaker, Tamer El Said, will appears in Los Angeles and New York at certain screenings. Consult the individual theaters for date and time.

Forget Islamic terrorism: Egyptian life is plenty awful in Tarik Saleh's NILE HILTON INCIDENT

Corruption is endemic and epidemic, top tier to bottom, in THE NILE HILTON INCIDENT, and if what we see in this dismaying, depressing movie is even halfway true, that corruption is destroying whatever is left of the country of Egypt. All this begins, movie-wise, with the police and a particular cop named Noredin (played by that excellent twin-titled Lebanese-born/Swedish-raised actor, Fares Fares), who not only takes bribes as a matter of course but actually steals a wad of money from the wallet of a recently murdered chanteuse about as easily as you or I would drink our morning coffee.

As written and directed by Tarik Saleh, shown at left, the film is set back a few years, just after a certain student was beaten to death by police, thus giving rise to what was soon to become Egypt's version of Arab Spring and those amazing street protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. As this incident-filled film proceeds, we meet everyone from high-level police officers and their underlings to some classy prostitutes and their pimps, Sudanese hotel workers, a mammothly wealthy real estate mogul and a very funny taxi driver able to turn his beliefs and allegiances 180 degrees -- at a moment's notice. Trust is nowhere to be found, and when it appears, it's good for maybe five minutes max.

Yes, this film is depressing and distressing, offering not a chance in hell for any kind of justice for just about anyone we meet. Most don't deserve it, this is true, and the few who do are the ones with the least chance of every seeing it in action.

Yet The Nile Hotel Incident moves fast enough to keep us alert and trying to puzzle it all out. And while there is a tad too much coincidence, there is also such a firm capture of time, place and character that it is not difficult to stick with the movie.

In fact, its string of killings, with the murderer's connections kept secret until nearly the finale, is so brutal and unnerving (never shown in close-up, however, so we're spared being voyeurs at a slaughter) that the revelation of the killer's place in the scheme of things so thoroughly implicates the highest levels of power that all hope is immediately abandoned.

The movie's close takes place as the Tahrir Square demonstrations reach their zenith, even as our anti-hero Noredin is beaten to a pulp in the middle of it all. Finally, The Nile Hilton Incident delivers a good, solid peek into why that particular Arab Spring never would or could lead to anything real. After all, when everyone and everything is corrupt, to whom is one supposed to turn for help?

Is the movie simply dealing in cheap cynicism? I suspect not. This is what a country becomes when it has endured decades and decades of dictatorship and corruption. Look at Russia for another example. And Israel as a more recent newcomer to the group. My spouse asked me, as the end credits rolled, "Now, doesn't this make you more grateful for America?" Only marginally. And at the rate we're going, under the sleazy leaders (and their underlings) we keep choosing, it's just a matter of time.

From Strand Releasing and running 107 minutes, the movie opens in New York City tomorrow, August 11, at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and Quad Cinema, and in the Los Angeles area on Friday, September 1, at Laemmle's Monica Film Center and Playhouse 7. Another 20 or so cities/theaters are in the offing. Click here and scroll down to see them all.

Jehane Noujaim's Oscar-shortlisted The SQUARE: the need for conscience-- & leadership --in Eqypt

While it's hard to fault the Academy's choices for Best Documentary film this year (well, how Cutie and the Boxer beat out Stories We Tell is a bit of an embarrass-ment), I am sorry to see THE SQUARE -- from Jehane Noujaim, the filmmaker who earlier gave us Startup.com and Control Room --left out of the final five. Although we've already seen two excellent documentaries that dealt with the so-called Arab spring in Egypt (which we dearly hope does not end up more like a nuclear winter) -- Uprising and Tahrir: Liberation Square, not to mention the so-so-to-crappy and generally uninformed media coverage that occurred at the time and after --- The Square proves to be the best and most inclusive of the lot.

This is because Ms. Noujaim, shown at left, manages to let us in to the real conflict that's going on here -- the dismal choice between, as one person puts it, the "killer" (a continuation of the Mubarek regime) and the "traitor" to the revolution (The Muslim Brotherhood). The film-maker does this by concen-trating mainly on three men and a few more peripheral women (well, this is Islamic territory, right) heavily involved in helping this revolution onwards. In one of the film's most shocking moments, the wife of one of these men (he's a member of The Muslim Brotherhood whose "faith" has begun to waver) says that she would not care if a Jew was running this country, so long as justice is finally provided.

The need for "justice" -- for Egypt to finally understand and accept that all its citizens are worthy of this gift -- comes up time and again during the documentary's 104-minute length. This is not sledge-hammered home by any means; it simply arises over and over via both the stupidity and horror of the Mubarek regime, the military who enabled this (along with the United States and other western powers), and the thuggish and fundamentalist-fueled Brotherhood who betrayed the revolutionary cause in order to be able to take power -- and then just as stupidly refused to share that power with the people.

The three important men we get to know here are Ahmed (above, center: a young fellow mostly seen organizing and then fighting on the front lines), Khalil (below: an actor born of Egyptian parents and rasied in England, it seems, who has now come back to Egypt to see this revolution through) and Magdy (two photos below: the married man with family who is best friends with Ahmed, even though the two disagree about the benefits of the Brotherhood).

Ms Noujaim begins with the first major uprising when the populace took to Tahrir Square (of the title) and then shows us the various points along the way, as time and again the people had to go back to that Square -- often at the cost of their health or life -- to make first the Mubarek regime, later the military and finally the Muslim Brotherhood understand that what was happening was NOT  the hoped-for revolution. As one woman points out: While plenty of the revolutionaries have gone on trial, none of the corrupt and terrorizing regime has yet been tried.

We also hear arguments that get to the core of the difference between a religious and a secular state -- and not the kind of secular rule that countenances constant surveillance and torture. As Ahmed tries to point out to Brotherhood members, "You don't need your religion to be written into the Constitution. Don't you know in your heart that you're Muslim?"

Like our own "Occupy" movements, these revolutionaries literally have no person to get behind, no leader to follow or help elect. (This may be wise in one regard, for that leader would probably soon find himself "disappeared.") Instead, they pride themselves on following a kind of "collective" conscience. Only trouble is -- this is why I do not foresee the Arab spring leading to Arab summer -- when you step up to that ballot box, just how do you vote for a "conscience"?

The Square -- a gift from the Netflix organization -- opened this past Friday around the country in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC (click here for theaters) and can concurrently be seen via Netflix streaming.

Fredrik Stanton's UPRISING: Egypt's Arab Spring in a way we've not been privy to--until now; a short Q&A with the filmmaker

Can it really have been almost two years since the world watched its television set, enrapt, as Egypt's citizens, in what we were told at the time was a peaceful demonstration, brought about the downfall and abdication of their highly unpopular President/Dictator Hosni Mubarek? Next month marks the two-year anniversary of that storied event, time enough for the world to have realized -- yet again, if anyone's sense of history remains intact -- that Democracy doesn't simply appear in a country, once the current set of bad guys bites the dust.

The occasion for my musing is the theatrical opening today of a new documentary called UPRISING, from first-time filmmaker Fredrik Stanton (shown at right) that gives us the aforemen-tioned event in a manner that seems to me more compelling and complete than anything I've yet seen -- certainly more so than the sound-bite TV coverage we received, and even more than the interesting, on-the-ground-amongst-the-people documentary Tahrir: Liberation Square, that opened at the Mayles Cinema this past June.

For those particularly concerned with what has happened to Egypt since those heady days, I urge you to read the excellent article in this week's The New Yorker magazine by Peter Hessler, explaining quite a bit about The Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that rose to power shortly after the overthrow of Mubarek. Mr. Stanton's film, by necessity, deals only with the period of the initial protest leading up regime change, but the view it allows us to see and the voices we hear are interesting & pointed.

Mr. Stanton also provides us the clearest, most focused assessment of the reasons for the protest -- repression, youth activism & social media, the murder of Khaled Said, and the Tunisian revolution -- and then shows us why all this helped turn a protest into the amazing event that it became. (You may find the story of Khaled and the powerful photo shown of his mutilated body enough, all on their own, to foment a revolution.)

To mange this point-by-point, step-by-step recap, the filmmaker interviews a fairly wide range of Egyptians who protested, from students to one rather famous actor, and then intercuts after the fact a lot of on-the-street action with intelligent, thoughtful ruminations from his talking heads.

The movie helps us understand the incomprehension and stupidity of the Mubarek regime in the manner in which it tried to contain the revolution. As one speaker explains, the decision to shut down internet access was pivotal -- not in clamping down on things, but in forcing citizens back out into the streets which was by then the best means of communication and exactly what the regime did not want to happen.

We also learn, Khaled Said aside, that this was anything but a peaceful, non-violent revolution. While the protesters were initially non-violent, things changed. Notes one speaker, "If you beat us, we will beat you; touch us and we will touch you." At another point, men kneel down in prayer in Tahrir Square, and the regime attacks. "Kill us whilst we pray," a demonstrator urges. "Show us how ugly you can be." While, for the demonstrators, it was mostly merely pushing, the police, we learn, would sometimes shoot protesters in the face. In the end, the body count was 840 killed and more than 6,000 injured. So much for the non-violence theory.

This is a powerful movie, and though we know how it turns out, Mr. Stanton has made the event seem exciting, suspenseful -- and most especially vivid, vital and important -- all over again. Uprising opens today, Friday, Jan. 11, in Manhattan at the Quad Cinema.

 Meet the filmmaker in person, as Fredrick Stanton 

shows up for a Q&A with his audience 

following the 7:15 show tonight, Friday, January 11.

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TrustMovies has his own short Q&A with this filmmaker, too. The following questions were emailed to him, post-viewing. Below, TM appears in boldface, Fredrik Stanton in standard type:

As middle east dictatorships fall, whether the Shaw in Iran, Sadaam in Iraq and now Mubarak in Egypt, all they ever seem to be replaced with is horrific religious fundamentalism. Any hope here for democracy resting side by side with Islam?

The important thing is protection of basic rights, minority rights, separation of powers, freedom of the press, and a functioning independent judiciary. If these are put in place, there are fewer opportunities for abuse. The Middle East would benefit from more examples of countries where piety does not have to result in control and despotism.

Amen to that.  So what is your gut feeling, and that of those Egyptians you are closest to, regarding what is going to happen? Will the military allow any sort of democracy? And worse, is the Muslim Brotherhood set to destroy the budding of democracy?

The young activists I interviewed are keenly aware that removing Mubarak is only the first step to achieving a functioning democracy in Egypt. It is very encouraging that they have continued to push back against both the Egyptian military and the Muslim brotherhood's encroaching on their rights. This is a process that will take time to play out, and there may be a period of continued instability. The opposition is learning from its mistakes, and over time I have confidence in those Egyptians who desire freedom and don't want to live under an authoritarian theocracy.

I am hoping that this will not be the final choice Egypt faces, but if so, which is better for the country -- a secular dictatorship or a fundamentalist religion leading it?

I think the distinction between a secular dictatorship or a fundamentalist religion leading the country means little to those who can be arrested without cause, taken away in the middle of the night and tortured, or to to the people whose government is unaccountable to their basic needs. Lack of freedom in any form is unacceptable, and the Egyptian people deserve better than either type of tyranny.

Finally: my favorite part of the film -- and one of its most ironic, hilarious sections (I thought, at least) was your interview with ex Ambassador Frank G. Wisner, who tells us something to the effect that seeing an orderly transition simply had to be the U.S. ambition because, "We are a responsible nation." Did you have to keep from giggling at this point? Hasn't the U.S. supported Mubarak for decades? 

I think Ambassador Wisner represents a major school of thought in American foreign policy that believes the US needs to deal with governments in power, even if we find their behavior offensive, especially when vital strategic interests are at stake. This is why the US supported Mubarak for decades, and continues to support similar regimes around the world. I recognize that this is a prevailing view, and I strongly disagree with it. Of course the US must look after its strategic interests, but in the long run our interests are better served by supporting peoples' desire for freedom, which is more consistent with our principles. And, as we have found, dictatorships are fragile, and when they fall, this leaves us in a very awkward position.

I agree, and I wish our political leaders could find a way to implement this idea. Anyway, thank you so much for this film, and I'll look forward to whatever you're doing next. What might that be -- if you even know at this point? 

I'm hoping it'll be a vacation. Thank you for taking the time to write about the film and share it with your audience.

Clarkson, Siddig and Egypt share the screen in Ruba Nadda's lovely CAIRO TIME

How unusual to see a love story for adults, one that takes its sweet time (yes, the CAIRO TIME of the title) while it alternately surprises, soothes and shakes you up.  But quietly.  Young people will need to be awfully mature to appreciate this film, though it was made by one of them: Ruba Nadda, shown below, a Canadian writer/director with middle-eastern roots who is still in her 30s. To reap the full benefits of the film, you must be willing to enter the soul of the protagonist, a happily-married, middle-aged woman (Patricia Clarkson) arriving in Egypt for a vacation with her husband (employed by the United Nations and posted in Cairo).

Ms Clarkson is as ravishing and as reserved as I have ever seen her (and I try to see her in everything she does).  She also radiates intelligence and humor. Interestingly enough, her co-star, Alexander Siddig (from Syriana, The Nativity Story and The Last Legion) possesses all these qualities, too.  He's a gorgeous man: beautiful, bright, reticent and witty. What a pair they make, and their story, as it flows quietly along with an occasional up or down, entrances.  Mr. Siddig plays the recently-retired assistant of Clarkson's husband, the latter suddenly stuck in Palestine due to an "incident."  Siddig (shown two photos below) has been asked to squire Clarkson (shown just below) around the city and cater to her needs until hubby returns.

This set-up is certainly real enough, and the pair relate to each other in a halting but friendly manner that grows only slowly into something more.  A Hollywood version, made by folks a decade or so younger, would probably have the two people begin their relationship at odds with one another, fighting and then inevitably loving.  Get over that scenario; these are mature adults, and Cairo Time is the kind of adult movie experience you'll want to share with every smart, mature moviegoer you know.

The relationship grows in very quiet increments, and the performances could hardly be more finely calibrated.  Yet, thanks to Ms Nadda's skill and that of her actors, there's nary a moment here that seems rehearsed or overly "planned."  Sometimes, in fact, we're on tenterhooks as to what is going to happen;  in terms of this relationship and its outcome, the movie is often as suspenseful as any thriller.

The film should have you making plans to visit Egypt; it is doubtful that a better commercial for the country's travel industry has yet been made. Cairo really is a third character here, from the Nile that flows alongside Clarkson's hotel to the pyramids seen somehow differently here than I have experience them so far on film.  The marketplaces, the coffee houses, the streets (and the crossing of them!), and most especially how the men of the city react to this strawberry-blond visitor: Cairo Time is a kind of non-stop, quiet revelation.

Custom clashes, the roles of men and women, the weaving looms (above), chess (below), and more; we experience all these through the eyes of both Clarkson's character and that of Siddig's.  This makes the film richer and more complicated than a single view would have provided. In the supporting cast, only the lovely Elena Anaya (last seen here in Hierro, part of the 2009 FSLC's Spanish Cinema Now series) stands out.  But the movie belongs to Clarkson and Siddig (and to Ms Nadda).

I suspect the ending is what will separate the women from the girls (and the men from the boys -- if many males will even take a chance on this one).  I found the finale very close to perfect -- though I admit, had this tale gone another way, I would have embraced that, too.  So real and so full have these two characters become, that I think most of us would follow them anywhere.

Cairo Time opens this Friday in New York City at the IFC Center, and will be simultaneously available, as well, via IFC On-Demand.  (Though if you do not have a large, wide-screen TV, the movie theater is the way to see this one.)  Click here to determine of your area of the country has access to IFC On Demand.

TrustMovies sat in on a Roundtable with Nadda, Siddig and Clarkson, which he hopes to transcribe and have posted soon. For now, he'll just say that the three were as cultivated, quick-witted and seemingly genuine as any movie people he's so far encountered.  It was especially pleasing to find the principals of a film one has loved to be as delightful as the movie itself.