Review: Cairo Time

Review: Cairo Time

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 80%

Rotten Tomatoes Public: 58%

Cairo Time is a good movie. Not a great one. It misses the mark, seems a bit less than, but Patricia Clarkson's performance kept pulling me back into the film. As always, she is fascinating, delivering a subtle, complex performance.

Taking a cue from the film's title, I believe that Ruba Nadda, the director and writer, wanted to jolt our western sensibilities a bit, that she wanted to recreate the experience of suddenly being alone in a culture very different from our own. Clarkson's character, Juliette, has traveled to Cairo expecting to meet her husband, Mark, a U.N. official who works in refugee camps in Gaza. Developments in the camps prevent him from joining her for three weeks. Indeed, we come to understand that Mark's missing their rendezvous is typical of their relationship. The demands of his job are intense.

Nadda is successful at making us understand the experience of Juliette's anomie; it's somewhat frightening, but Juliette is more just a fish out of water than she is in any real danger. Her husband has asked his friend and former security officer, Tareq (Alexander Siddig), to keep an eye on Juliette. Their relationship unfolds ever so slowly. Too slowly. And that's the major problem with the movie. Nadda wants us to understand that time in Cairo is not western time, but, unfortunately, that translates into a slow-moving story.

Alexander Siddig could also have been better used. He's a fine

actor (Syriana and Deep Space Nine). His passivity and his

reticence are probably true to his character, but they don't

move the plot along very well.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it