wissam-95364

I watched Mahbas/solitaire, I did laugh, but I am totally ambivalent about the movie... For a Lebanized version of "guess who's coming to dinner", I was expecting more... I mean when you copy a plot, you should have enough time to care for the details... It was said that the movie tries to heal through art that conflict/racism between Lebanese and Syrians, while all it did, was use that Lebanese/Syrian conflict to create a shallow chansonnier-like comedy... It laid cliché jokes from both sides, that reached nowhere... That movie mocked the Lebanese/Syrian conflict, But decided to solve the conflict with a fictitious invisible magical wand instead of trying to find a more realistic way... Some scars need to be bled again to heal... This conflict is one of them, arguments and counter arguments, screams and even fights, real ones needed to happen, to find a way out of this... Not just a kiss and hug without mentioning anything!

One has to give credit to two actors: Julia Kassar and Bassam Koussa... These two seemed like the only credible characters in the movie, and the only ones who did a great job... Kassar's was able to convey all the emotions she felt with a simple facial expression, and Koussa was able to give that comedic atmosphere without turning himself into a hysteric clown... Other than the two mentioned actors, the rest of the actors were either too over-acting with annoying big hand gestures or neophytes trying their best to recite their lines in a school play while praying the teacher doesn't ask them to do something out of the ordinary... The Scenario was seriously naive at times, especially when the lovers are talking to each other...

You'd laugh while watching it, but I'm not sure you'd remember it once the credits start rolling, and I certainly don't think it'll offer anything but a good laugh because of the clichés Lebanese Syrian fights, no healing, no dealing no nothing...

After the new Lebanese movies production rush, And after watching more than four Lebanese movies that were released in the past 12 months, I was starting to lose hope. I went to watch "Ismaii/Listen" with the lowest expectations possible... And I was shocked by it, positively... I can't but start with the sound! For a movie that mostly focuses on sounds, the sound in it does not disappoint... the sheer amalgam of sounds is enough for one to watch the movie for a second time, with one's eyes closed... I say a second time, because the first time, one wouldn't want to miss the breathtaking visuals! Another forte of the movie... The story is not one of those conventional fake love stories that the Lebanese movies often present... And the young characters do resemble the real Lebanese youth one meets in the streets of Lebanon, not the Botox filled, shallow, material social climbers, other movies portray... The scenario was natural, and straight to the point... not filled with nonsense just for the sake of filling the silence... and working amazingly hand in hand with the various sounds! The switches between the present and the flashbacks is appealingly subtle! And the actors were able to convey a lot of emotions with their implicit facial expressions instead of just being too explicitly vocal and recite useless jabbers like other Lebanese movies often do... If you're there for a light comedy movie, this is not what you should watch... But if you want to see a movie that leaves a trace after it's over, then "Ismaii" is surely the Lebanese movie to watch in 2017.