May 03, 2008
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I loved Jean-Dominique Bauby's The Diving Bell and The Butterfly when I read it almost ten years ago, so I was quite reluctant to see the film adaptation, even though I'd heard that it was directed by Julian Schnabel. The movie arrived via Netflix on Friday and...it's incredible. Schnabel does what so few directors are capable of doing when it comes to adaptations of novels, which is to say, translate literary language into visual language. What a beautiful film.
(photo credit)
March 17, 2008
The Band's Visit
So last Saturday, we braved traffic on the 405 to go see The Band's Visit. It's about a small Egyptian orchestra that arrives in Israel for a performance, but instead finds itself stranded in the desert, in the remote town of Beit Hatikva. All right, so you have to suspend disbelief for this one, considering Egyptians and Israelis aren't going to be performing in each other's countries anytime soon. Anyway, the band has no money and no place to stay, and Tewfiq the conductor (Sasson Gabai) is a grouch. One of the film's running gags is that Tewfiq persists in referring to the band as the Alexandria Municipal Classical Orchestra, and no one has any idea what he's saying. Eventually, the band is taken in for the night by a restaurant owner named Dina (played by the lovely Ronit Elkabetz). The Egyptians don't speak Hebrew, the Israelis don't speak Arabic, so everyone speaks broken English. I thought the story was a bit thin and the director, Eran Kolirin, tried to be cute, but for some reason I was charmed by the film. (And I don't do cute. Go figure.) My favorite line in the movie is when Dina asks Tewfiq why he still plays Umm Kulthum, and he answers, "This is like asking a man why he has a soul."
(Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics. You can view the trailer on YouTube.)
March 07, 2008
Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic
Tomorrow is International Women's Day, so here's a little poem for you by the lovely and amazing Suheir Hammad: "Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic."
February 12, 2008
Levantine Center Pledge Drive
The Levantine Center is a Los Angeles-based organization that brings the arts, literatures, and films of the Middle East and North Africa to American audiences. It regularly puts together wonderful events (some of which I've written about in this space) and now they are in need of your support. This month, a generous donor has offered to match every pledge up to $10,000, so every penny you give the Levantine Center will be doubled. Please: Reach out for that checkbook or credit card and go here.
January 29, 2008
Atonement in Film
When the Oscar nominations were announced last week, I was a bit surprised to hear that the film adaptation of Atonement had earned a nod for Best Picture. In some ways, the beauty of the novel rests on its use of language, its psychological depth, and a rather odd structure, which Ian McEwan somehow manages to pull off. The first third of the book takes places over the course of one day and is told from the points of view of several characters: the young, impressionable Briony Tallis, who wants to be a writer; her older sister Cecilia, who just returned from Cambridge; their inept mother, Emily; the teenage Lola, a house guest who is raped that evening; and Robbie Turner, the son of the Tallises' charlady, who also just returned from Cambridge with a 'first-class degree,' and stands accused of the crime. The second part of the book is set during the Second World War, in which Robbie serves. Through flashbacks, we find out what happened to him, and learn more about his romantic relationship with Cecilia, and his fight to clear his name. The third part of the book is told through Briony's point of view. She is now training to be a nurse, and works at a London hospital where a huge number of wounded soldiers are sent. There is also an epilogue, written in 1999 by a now elderly Briony.
In Joe Wright's adaptation, the first third of the book is rendered beautifully and the shifting points of view work well on screen, but the entire project falls apart as soon as Robbie is whisked off to jail. The war scenes inevitably recall in the spectator's mind the work of Steven Spielberg--and the comparison is not to Wright's advantage. Where the book is subtle (in France, Robbie sees a single human leg hanging from a tree), the adaptation hits you over the head (a whole group of Catholic school girls dead under a tree.) The parts that are set in the hospital feel bogged down and irrelevant. Saoirse Ronan (who plays Briony as a child) and Vanessa Redgrave (who plays an old Briony) manage to rescue the scenes in which they appear, and the cinematography is certainly breathtaking, but I thought Atonement just didn't hold together as a film. (In sharp contrast to, say, the Coen brothers' adaptation of No Country for Old Men.)
Photo: Atonement film still (link.)
January 15, 2008
Emory Douglas @ MOCA
I had been meaning to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art's exhibit on The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas for quite a while, and I finally, finally got a chance to do so this past weekend. Douglas, for those of you who are curious, was minister of culture in the Black Panther Party and designed all their posters--rally announcements, commemorations, calls to action--as well as their official newspaper. I was fascinated by the pieces on show, by how they ranged in tone from pure propaganda to deeply felt testaments of a cultural revolution. The exhibit included articles showing the connection with Algeria (the influence of Fanon's theories, Eldridge Cleaver's flight to Algiers, the support for the Panthers in post-colonial North Africa) and with other countries of the non-aligned movement. It was interesting, too, to see how Emory Douglas contributed to the branding of the Black Panther image with the consistent use of black berets, army jackets, and rifles in representing party members. (This reminded me of a show I saw a couple of years ago at the V&A museum in London, about Alberto Korda's iconic photo of Che Guevara. The revolution will be branded!) The exhibit was curated by Sam Durant, and it's only open for another week, so if you're in the L.A. area, hurry up and see it before it closes.
Photo: "Power to the People" poster, by Emory Douglas
November 15, 2007
The Coens' No Country for Old Men
I finished work early yesterday and went to the Laemmle in Santa Monica to catch a matinee of the Coen brothers’ new film, No Country For Old Men, their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel by the same title. The story is about a welder named Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) who stumbles on a handful of dead men in the Rio Grande, along with a bag full of cash--about 2 million dollars. He takes the cash, setting off a chain of events, which, although easily guessed at, are nevertheless completely suspenseful. On Moss's trail are a psychopathic killer (Javier Bardem), a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones), an assassin (Woody Harrelson), and a handful of unnamed Mexican drug dealers. (Unnamed, and undeveloped as characters, something that is true also of two of the three females in the book.)
In some ways, the Coen brothers’ adaptation remedied a couple of the problems in McCarthy's otherwise excellent novel. One is that a crucial scene that resolves what happens to Moss is missing from the book, but not from the film. The other is that, in the book, it's easy to miss the fact that the story is set in 1980 (the date is hinted at the beginning, but not mentioned again until about halfway through the novel.) Obviously, in the movie, the sense of time was immediately clear. The film also gives us the pleasure of hearing McCarthy’s pitch-perfect dialogue spoken by talented actors. (You know how, after watching Fargo, you left the theater and tried to speak like Frances McDormand? You’ll be doing the same with Tommy Lee Jones in No Country.) But there are also ways in which the Coen brothers' movie doesn't quite compare with the novel. The one female character, for instance, that did something other than plead with a man or serve him food or coffee ended up being cut entirely from the film. Still, the level of craft that went into making this adaptation is really, really remarkable. Not to be missed.
October 23, 2007
Arab Film Festival in L.A.
The 11th annual Arab Film Festival is coming to Los Angeles in just a few days. You can see a line-up here. There are two movies about Morocco or by Moroccans: The documentary I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco, which follows H-Kayne, Fatima and Brown Fingaz as they set up a music festival, and the short film The Deceased. Be there!
August 13, 2007
Kahlo Letters
Fifty years after her death, Frida Kahlo's letters to one of her best friends, Dr. Leo Eloesser, have been released, and are now published in Mexico, under the title My Beloved Doctor.The letters had been kept sealed on Diego Rivera's orders for all this time, but now visitors to the Kahlo family home in Mexico City can see the letters, and other artifacts, displayed for the first time. I am a huge fan of Frida Kahlo's--maybe someday I can finally, finally, visit her house.
Photo: Las Dos Fridas. Via.
July 07, 2006
'Hasta La Victoria, Siempre'
The V&A is not my favorite London museum (that would be the Tate) but I was there today because they're having a special exhibit on Alberto Korda's iconic image of Che Guevara. A thoroughly enjoyable and informative history of how two photographs, snapped quickly when Che appeared on the balcony during a speech by Castro, have become such emblems of revolution, social change, and guerilla chic, reproduced on everything from T-shirts to Russian dolls. Some of the pieces in the exhibit are well-known, like Patrick Thomas's "American Investment in Cuba," which uses U.S. brand names to create the image of Che. But others were new and unfamiliar (to me, anyway), and I do wish there had been more effort to document those. (I wanted to know, for instance, what the poster "Bangla Che" said, but no translation was provided.)
Photo: 'Guerrillero Heroico,' Alberto Korda.
May 30, 2006
Indigènes Win
I mentioned last week Rachid Bouchareb's new film, Indigènes, which is about a little known chapter of history: That (Muslim) soldiers from the French colonies were sent to fight the Nazis. It's a subject that's near to my heart, because my grandfather was part of the Tirailleurs Marocains, so I am dying to see the movie. I just heard that the ensemble cast (Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, and Samy Naceri) has won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film doesn't have a U.S. distributor yet, but one hopes that the attention at Cannes will help get it to theatres here.
I'd like to read Elaine Sciolino's interview with Jamel Debbouze in the NYT, but it's hidden behind a subscription wall. Can someone send it to me? Thanks, A. Here's a snippet:
He achieved international recognition with the 2001 film "Amélie," in which he played Lucien, a stammering grocer's assistant. In "Astérix and Obélix: Mission Cleopatra" the next year, Mr. Debbouze played an incompetent Egyptian architect who never made his deadlines and put doors near ceilings, justifying them by saying, "In case you ever want to build a second floor." That role earned him $2.7 million,I'm not sure why we needed to hear about his mother's headscarf, but oh wait, it is the NYT, after all.
making him one of France's top-grossing actors. Now only Gérard Depardieu commands a higher salary per film.He credits his mother, who rose every morning at 4 and held down back-to-back jobs to help support him and his five siblings, for his success.
"In everything that's black, she sees rose, yellow, green," he said. His mother, a Muslim, wears a headscarf in public.
When he told his father, now a retired sweeper in the Métro, that he wanted to be a comedian, he said his father replied, "That's for drug addicts and homosexuals." After a pause, Mr. Debbouze smiled and added, "But he calmed down when I gave him his first Mercedes."
Mr. Debbouze resents that he is given such labels as "the prince of the housing projects" or the "Arab with attitude."
"They categorize us always as 'actors of Moroccan origin,'" he said. "I am not an 'actor of Moroccan origin.' I am an actor."
May 17, 2006
Cannes 2006
At Cannes this week, all eyes are on the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, but I'm really intrigued by the new film from Rachid Bouchareb, called Indigènes, which will also premiere at the festival. It's set in 1944, and it's about four young soldiers from France's colonies in Algeria and Morocco, who are sent to the mainland to fight the Nazis. It stars Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, and Sami Bouajila. You can view a trailer here. The official site also has photos and information about this forgotten moment of history. Notice, by the way, that there was no hand-wringing about "integration" and "assimilation" of North Africans when they were being sent to the front lines to fight for the freedom of their oppressor.
April 25, 2006
New Pearl Jam
Lorraine Ali meets profile of Eddie Vedder and his bandmates for Newsweek:
After the success of their 1991 debut, "Ten," which sold nearly 10 million copies, the Seattle group stopped making videos, shunned endorsements and shied away from almost all self-promotion. And each subsequent album proved less accessible than its predecessor. (Can you name the last two Pearl Jam records?)Actually, no, I can't, and I live with a card-carrying Ten Club member. But I am indeed looking forward to the new CD. I hope it's good.
April 13, 2006
Palestinian Cinema
The Guardian's Xan Brooks (What kind of a name is Xan? A cool name, that's what) interviews several Palestinian filmmakers about their work, and their challenges.
Feted by the critics and public alike, Palestinian cinema remains a culture in exile, an industry without a home. "Let me tell you about the Palestinian film industry," says actor-director Mohammed Bakri, who made the documentary Jenin, Jenin after the demolition of the refugee camp. "Very simply, we do not have one. We have some very talented film-makers, but that's about it. We have no film schools and we have no studios. We have no infrastructure because we have no country."And yet, Palestinians directors still manage to release films, somehow. Read the full article here.From the sound of it, they have no distribution network either. "There is one cinema in Ramallah, and nothing anywhere else," Bakri says. "And this is probably the biggest problem. We are not reaching the people we are talking about. For me it's very painful, because obviously I want my people to see my films." The irony is clear: visitors to the Palestine film festival in London will have had greater access to Palestinian films than the vast majority of Palestinians.
Thanks to David for the link.
April 07, 2006
'Out of Sight'
Another day, another case of foolish racial profiling. This time, it's John Sinno, the director of Seattle's Arab and Iranian Film Festival, who was stopped and questioned for nine hours in Vancouver because he had a box of DVDs in the trunk of his car.
"I felt like I was in a military zone," Sinno says. "They followed me to the bathroom and stood right behind me when I was at the urinal. It was unbelievably harsh for having a small box of DVDs." That the box included titles such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm was the least of his problems, says Sinno, who was travelling with a white American colleague. The colleague was waved on his way, while Sinno was held for nine hours. "They asked me where I got the DVDs from, and when I told them they didn't believe me," he says. "It was pretty scary. I said to them, look, I'm being racially profiled. Let's admit it and move on." He hesitates. "I don't know if it's a good idea to talk about it. We live in touchy times."More at the Guardian.
March 31, 2006
Arab & Iranian Film Festival
The Seattle Arab and Iranian Film Festival opens this weekend. It will shows feature films and documentaries from and about Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen, with co-productions from Canada, France, Mexico, and the U.S. Yousry Nasrallah's film adaptation of Elias Khoury's novel Gate of the Sun will be shown, as well as the critically acclaimed Moroccan film The Grand Voyage. Check out the rest of the schedule.
March 30, 2006
Boundaries Pushed
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the 'Without Boundary' show currently on view at MoMA. Now in a New York Observer piece, Tyler Green reports that some of the artists connected with the show are unhappy about it, including Shirin Neshat, who says:
"My immediate reaction was, how could anyone today discuss art made by contemporary Muslim artists and not speak about the role the subjects of religion and contemporary politics play in the artists' minds?" Ms. Neshat said. "For some of us, our art is interconnected to the development of our personal lives, which have been controlled and defined by politics and governments. Some artists, including Marjane Satrapi and myself, are 'exiled' from our country because of the problematic and controversial nature of our work."Green points out that it's "highly unusual" for artists included in a MoMA show to criticize "the most powerful art museum in the world." You can read more about the artists' frustrations and MoMA's stance on the merging of art and politics here.
March 17, 2006
Snap Judgments
Over at the New York Times, Holland Cotter reviews "Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography," which is currently showing at the International Center of Photography. Of the curator, the Nigerian Okwui Enwezor, Cotter writes:
If Martians tuned in to our television news broadcasts, they'd have a miserable impression of life on Earth. War, disease, poverty, heartbreak and nothing else. That's exactly how most of the world sees Africa: filtered through images of calamity. "Afro-pessimism" is the diagnostic term that Okwui Enwezor, the Nigerian-born art historian and curator, uses for the syndrome. And he has offered bracing antidotes to it in two major photography exhibitions.You can read the rest of the rave review here.The first, "In/Sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present," appeared at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1996. It was fantastic, a revelation. Now, a decade later, the second one has arrived, "Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography" at the International Center of Photography. It, too, is fantastic — stimulating, astringent, brimming with life — and different from its predecessor.
The online gallery for "Snap Judgments" is worth a visit. I was happy to see a strong showing by Moroccan artists in this exhibit, with artwork by Yto Berrada, Ali Chraibi, and Lamia Naji.
March 13, 2006
'Without Boundary' @ MoMa
The Museum of Modern Art is currently running an exhibition called "Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking." Curated by Fereshteh Daftari, the pieces in the collection explore the false notion of "Islamic art," which is generally taken to mean any art produced in Muslim lands, regardless of ethnicity or culture.
The artists come from various countries (with a strong showing by Iranian artists, including photographer Sherin Neshat and comic artist Marjane Satrapi) and various religious backgrounds, showcasing the diversity of thinking about art from (or about) "over there." Michael Wise, writing in the Los Angeles Times, finds the exhibit "subversive." I think we can all use a bit of subversion. You can view the online page for Without Boundary here. (Click on "Full Program" for a guided tour.)
February 23, 2006
Kelani on the BBC
A reader sends words that London-based Palestinian singer Reem Kelani, whose songs speak of the plight of refugees, was recently interviewed on the BBC's Everywoman and Radio 4's Woman's Hour. There also a print interview here.
February 20, 2006
Bosnian Film Wins Golden Bear
Jasmila Zbanic's Grbavica, a film that deals with the aftermath of the mass rape of Muslim women during the Bosnian genocide, has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The movie's website has stills and other information.
February 16, 2006
Admirable Olympian
American speed skater Joey Cheek has donated his Olympics gold medal award ($25,000) to Darfur refugees.
February 13, 2006
Dept. of WTF
Reuters reports that Israel and some U.S. Jewish groups have lobbied organizers of the Academy Awards to change the name of the nominating country for Hany Abu-Asad's Paradise Now. They want it to change from 'Palestine' to 'Palestinian Authority.'
Many Israelis were irked when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in publishing the nomination, said "Paradise Now" came from "Palestine."What the hell?While the tag remains on the academy's Web site, an Israeli diplomat said he expected the film to be described as coming from the "Palestinian Authority" during the awards ceremony.
February 02, 2006
Independents Get Their Day
Over at the L.A. Times, Kenneth Turan looks at this year's Oscar nominees, and is thrilled to find so many independent features, like Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, and Capote. In addition, notes Turan, the Academy seemed to embrace rather than shun controversy, picking Steven Spielberg's Munich for one of the Best Picture slots. And, he adds:
As to the commentators who hyperventilated over "Munich," they are likely to have full-blown coronary attacks once they get a look at "Paradise Now," the exceptional Palestinian film that is one of five nominees for best foreign-language film.Seriously, go see Paradise Now.Though the category is a real tossup (all five Oscar nominees are strong enough to have U.S. distribution deals already in place), this powerful and provocative drama about the nightmare of terrorism is as involving and relevant a film as the year has produced.
January 31, 2006
NYC Event: Another Road Home
Reader David S. sends word that Danae Elon's Another Road Home will be screened tonight at 6 pm at Symphony Space in New York.
Symphony SpaceThe screening will be followed by a panel discussion led by Adam Shatz with Elias Khoury, Dahna Abourahme, Bashir Abu-Manneh, Danae Elon, Stuart Klawans, David Ofek, Richard Pena, Ella Shohat and Debra Zimmerman. Signed copies of Khoury's Gate of the Sun will also be available.
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
212-864-5400
Reserve tickets here.
January 18, 2006
Paradise Now: Globed
I finally watched the Golden Globes yesterday. (I usually tape award shows and then fast forward through all the boring stuff, all the better to savor idiotic moments--like when Dennis Quaid said that "Brokeback Mountain" was the kind of movie that rhymed with "chick flick," or when Harrison Ford handed his vodka to Virginia Madsen, as if she were his cocktail waitress.)
There were few surprises, of course, except for this: The Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film went to Hany Abu-Assad for Paradise Now. I've written about this great film before, and if you haven't seen it yet, look for it on DVD starting March 21st.
Those of you in L.A. may be interested in a panel discussion with the director that will take place tonight at the University of Judaism on Mulholland Drive, in Bel-Air. Details here.
January 09, 2006
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, one of the most talked about movies of the year, fortunately also happens to be one of its best. Like Annie Proulx's short story by the same title, the movie resists the temptation to plead or lecture, opting instead to tell a love story the way its characters live it.
This is no small feat. The vast majority of film representations of gay characters tend to suffer from what director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) once called the "Sidney Poitier Syndrome," meaning that gays are either perfect individuals who suffer from society's persecution, or else its weak, yet noble victims who are saved by the straight man. What Brokeback Mountain achieves is nothing short of miraculous: showing us gay characters as complex human beings.
Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhall) and Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) are cowboys who meet in the summer of 1963 when they take up jobs as herder and camp tender in rural Wyoming. The man who hires them, Aguirre (Randy Quaid) wants the herder to sleep right where the sheep pasture, in violation of rules set up by Forest Service, which has designated camp sites. Jack and Ennis pack up the mules and leave for Brokeback Mountain, where they follow Aguire's rules.
Within a few days of their arrival, though, Jack gets tired of commuting four hours to camp for his meals. Ennis offers to replace him for a while, and they take to staying up late at night, drinking whiskey and telling stories. The two cowboys have much in common: They were both raised on small, poor ranches, they both dream of having a small spread someday, they both enjoy horses and dogs and the country life. But while Jack is eager to try new things, confident in his choices, and quick to lose his temper, Ennis is more measured, more careful of the rules, the sort of man who thinks that "if you can’t fix it, you’ve got to stand it."
One night, as the temperature drops, they share a tent. Unexpectedly, and yet inevitably, they become lovers. Despite their feelings for one another, though, the two men are quick to say that they're "not no queer," that theirs is a "one-shot thing" and "nobody's business but ours." When the summer is over, they return to their former lives, get married and have children. Four years later, they see each other again and quickly realize that theirs wasn't a "one-shot thing."
Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain is one of those rarest of treats--a film adaptation that manages to successfully translate literary narrative into visual language. When, after a night of bad weather, the sheep get mixed in with another herd, Proulx writes:
Even when the numbers were right Ennis knew the sheep were mixed. In a disquieting way everything seemed mixed.And the first time that Ennis and Jack see each other after their four years apart, Proulx describes their reunion thus:
They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying son of a bitch, son of a bitch; then, and as easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together...Lee's talent lies in being able to make sentences such as these resonate visually on screen. In this endeavor, he is aided by his two leading actors, who deliver outstanding performances. Ledger, in particular, makes you feel you're watching Ennis del Mar, rather than an actor playing him. Michelle Williams holds her own as Ennis's distraught wife. I didn't, however, care much for Anne Hathaway as Lureen (Jack's wife), perhaps because the part of the story involving her didn't feel as dramatic (Lureen made only a brief appearance in the Proulx piece, in fact.) But even that misstep doesn't detract from what is an otherwise wonderful film adaptation.
Beside his obvious talent as director, Lee brings immense sensitivity to this love story. "Brokeback Mountain" is one of the finest movies I've seen this year--engaging, honest, and, above all, very moving.
December 13, 2005
Lost in Translation
The Los Angeles Times' Ashraf Khalil and Jailan Zayan explain why Al-Shamshoon, the Arabic-language version of The Simpsons, may not be the big hit its producers hoped it to be:
Omar doesn't drink beer. That is not a misprint.Needless to say, Simpsons fans in the Middle-East are none too pleased:Instead, he spends time with his buddies at a local coffee shop. At home, he pops open frosty cans of Duff brand juice.
"They managed to make one of the funniest shows ever into something that is terribly unfunny, and one of the smartest shows around into something incredibly dumb," ranted an Egyptian blogger who goes by the name Sandmonkey and who wants the show canceled. "Us Simpson lovers can't take this abomination any longer." (..) "What's Homer without beer?" Sandmonkey told The Times, preferring to be identified by his blogger name. "This is a fundamental issue!"A couple quoted in the article have found a way to enjoy the show, however. They "dissect the translations, recall the originals and debate what jokes do or do not work in Arabic." D'oh!
December 12, 2005
Syriana
Few movies have the power to engage me beyond the two hours I spend in the theater, but Syriana was one of those. Stephen Gaghan managed to create a fictional world whose complexity, for once, comes somewhat close to the complexity of real life. It's hard to describe the plot of Syriana, perhaps because the movie doesn't have one, in the traditional sense of the term. Rather, it gives us several storylines that interweave together to create a story.
Here's the best I can do: An oil-rich Gulf state decides to sell its oil to the highest bidder, which in this case happens to be China. The deal is signed by the heir to the throne, Prince Nasir (played by Alexander Siddig). A Geneva-based analyst (Matt Damon) believes that the prince is right to apply principles of a free market economy and offers his services. But the American oil company who had hoped to land that deal isn't too pleased; its CEO (Chris Cooper) wants to complete a merger with another oil company, and having the prince around isn't so good for their business. The merger, however, is sure to ignite a Justice Department investigation, so a lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) is hired to do due diligence (the kind of diligence where you work out who's going to take the fall to preserve the merger.) The young men who work in some of those oil rigs are fired at the whim of the deals being made or unmade, and two of them, hoping for three square meals a day, join a madrasa led by a blue-eyed cleric (Amr Waked). The government, of course, has stakes in the lost deal as well, and needs to make sure that oil is cheap and abundant for American consumers, so a veteran CIA man (George Clooney) is sent to Beirut to take care of things. An informant changes sides and turns against one of his contacts. And on and on.
The characters in Syriana are neither good nor bad; they do things out of greed or idealism, out of fear or desperation, each of them only aware of the particulars of their own situation. But in fact everything is connected, everything has consequences beyond those they see. And so the result is the continuing chaos we find ourselves in. The movie is not without fault (in particular, I think it could have given even more depth to some of the storylines) but I really liked it.
BTW, I should say how amused I was to spot Morocco everywhere in this movie: There's Casablanca, substituting for Beirut; and, look, there it is, substituting for Teheran; and, oh, there's the refinery port substituting for a Gulf port. I also drove Alex crazy pointing out all the veteran Moroccan actors playing bit parts. You just can't take me to the movies.
November 17, 2005
For Love of Coffee
My love for coffee is pretty well documented around these parts. I have a particular weakness for Cuban coffee, but was intrigued to learn about Canned Coffee. Check it out. Several writers have written reviews for them of various Japanese coffees (!).
November 14, 2005
Paradise Now, In Theaters
Hany Abu-Asad's Paradise Now opened in select theaters this past weekend. The film is about two young Palestinians, Said (Kais Nashef) and Khalid (Ali Suliman), who are called upon by an unidentified terrorist group to become suicide bombers. They are given very short notice, and are quickly taken in and outfitted with bomb belts. Will they go through with the plan? Or will they listen to the entreaties of Suha (Lubna Azabal), a young woman both men have a crush on? It's a story of love and loss, loyalty and violence, sacrifice and redemption. It also happens to be a very good thriller.
While we're busy following Said and Khaled, we get a glimpse of life in the West Bank, with its trash-filled streets, dilapidated houses, and omnipresent road blocks. Several characters spend time worrying about water filters. People look up when an ambulance speeds by, and then return to their teas. A video store carries tapes of suicide bombers' parting words and collaborator executions. A couple of kids try to fly a kite with a Palestinian flag on the back.
Paradise Now is powerful, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and beautifully directed. The occasional didactic moments are there, to be sure, but overall this was still a wonderful movie, one I can't recommend enough.
I highly recommend Lorraine Ali's report in Newsweek of her visit with filmmaker Hany Abu-Asad for the movie's Tel Aviv premiere. Ha'aretz has a long, thoughtful piece about the movie and its director. Even the New York Times delivered words of praise. So do yourself a favor and go see it.
We're Arabs and We're Funny...Ha Ha Funny
The Associated Press has a piece about the third annual Arab Comedy Festival, which will take place November 13th to the 17th in New York. Details here. (Tickets sold out for the first four nights, so hurry and get yours.)
October 04, 2005
Ramadan 1426
Ramadan karim to all my Muslim readers, and best wishes for a happy and healthy month. Despite the fact that my observance of some Muslim rituals has faltered in recent years, I still keep up with the fast. I find abstinence from food and drink to be the easy part, in fact. The hard part, I think, is staying away from all the other stuff.
Rosh Hashanah 5766
Happy Rosh Hashanah to my Jewish readers. Put some North African flavor in your celebrations by reading this interview of Sherwin Nuland, where he talks about his new biography of Maimonides; and by listening to this cool podcast where Jewlia Eisenberg talks about Algerian divas like Reinette L'Oranaise and Alice Fitoussi.
September 27, 2005
Levantine Center Needs Your Help
The Levantine Cultural Center, a Los Angeles-based organization that brings together people of American, Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean heritage to explore the arts, has a history of putting together amazing events. This year alone, they've staged a major rai concert, showings of films like Lila Says, poetry readings by Nathalie Handal and Sholeh Wolpe, plays like Nine Parts of Desire, and much else.
But the center has run into some financial trouble. The staff is made up exclusively of volunteers, but they still need to be able to cover rent and program costs. If you are able to contribute, consider making a donation.
September 08, 2005
The Mid-East Mystique
The L.A. Times has a profile of UCLA professor Jonathan Friedlander, who is using his collection of 'orientalist paraphernalia' for an exhibit at the Powell Library. The items were collected over the years, bought at antique shops or even at the local Sav-On.
Several hundred items will be on view until Dec. 16. The complete collection, by contrast, comprises more than 1,500 pieces: 1930s comics and pulp fiction such as "Spicy Adventures" and "Desert Madness"; ads for Ben Hur Flour; bottles of Pyramid Beer; video games such as "The Prince of Persia"; sheet music for songs including "The Sheik of Araby" and "Persian Moon." Exotic topless women undulate on the covers of Arabic music CDs. Fierce warriors scowl from the covers of DVDs. (Most of the collection is available for view on a database at the exhibition, which includes listening stations and film clips.)What's even more twisted is how Camel cigarettes are exported and sold to the Arab world. I've always been fascinated by the idea that one can sell the Orientalist mystique even to the Arabs. How's that for a research topic?Despite his attraction to these artifacts, Friedlander maintains there's something pernicious at work in them. The images, which seem increasingly cartoonish the more you look, portray the Middle East as an irrational, oversexed, violent land given to despotism and mysticism. The women tend to move in harems and wear very little; the men seem not to go very far without their scimitars.
"It becomes ahistorical — anything goes," Friedlander says of the mishmash of myth, reality and disparate historical periods portrayed. "And you erase people's cultures this way: It all becomes 'the East,' 'the Orient.' "
September 06, 2005
Facing The Music
Mariam Said, Edward Said's widow, takes issue with Maureen Clare Murphy's report about the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra's performance in Ramallah last Friday.
Murphy criticized the poor organization of the event, the fact that it was invitation-only, and even the cooperative aspect between Israelis and Palestinians. Mariam Said, for her part, emphasized the history of the project, the desire to bring together musicians of different nationalities together, and the amount of good will that it took to found the orchestra and keep it performing.
In other news, the orchestra's conductor, Daniel Barenboim, is being called an "anti-Semite" because he refused an interview to an Israeli Army radio.
July 18, 2005
Botero's Cri de Coeur
An exhibit of Botero's paintings, inspired by the torture of Iraqi prisoner by U.S. troops at the Abu-Ghraib prison, opened in Rome last month. Another show of the artist's works opened in Barranquilla, this time displaying pieces inspired by car bombings and kidnappings in Colombia. The L.A. Times has a review of the shows, and of what drew Botero to the events.
These aren't the sorts of scenes most people associate with Fernando Botero. For decades, the 73-year-old Colombian painter and sculptor has been best known for his seemingly innocuous images of plump priests, chunky children and still lifes of gargantuan fruits and flowers.Read more here.But this perception of Botero's work was always overly simplistic and incomplete. Encoded, or perhaps hidden in plain sight, in many of his paintings are multilayered cultural symbols, covert allusions to current events and winking art-historical references to works by Velázquez, Vermeer and other Old Masters. Some of his most enigmatic images — birds perched in lollipop trees, faces anxiously peering out of windows, a pile of dead bishops resting peacefully — hint at darker forces roiling beneath the colorful, pleasing surfaces.
June 14, 2005
Kassir Remembrance
The Nation's Adam Shatz remembers Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, who was killed in a bomb attack on June 3rd. Kassir wrote for Al-Nahar, and was a staunch member of the anti-Syrian opposition.
In Lebanon he has ascended, if that is the word, to the status of "the martyr Kassir." Yet Kassir was an unusual kind of martyr in today's Middle East, a staunch secularist who wanted to live in a free country, not to die for one. In a region driven increasingly by a politics of death and sacrifice, he stood for a vision of peaceful reform, progressive social change and democratic secularism--the values of any left worthy of the name. The day after Kassir's murder, hundreds of journalists poured into Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut to observe an hour of silence. Many raised black pens to the sky, visually evoking the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword. It is not. But to wield the pen rather than the sword in the face of mortal threats requires uncommon courage. This Samir Kassir had in abundance. His death is a terrible blow not only to his family and friends but to Lebanon, Syria and the cause of Arab freedom.You can see some of the pictures Shatz refers to here. You can also read Randa's brief post from last Friday.
Latest Doueiri Film Screen in L.A.
Acclaimed director Ziad Doueiri's new film, Lila Says, sounds like something I'd line up to see. Here's the summary:
In a Marseilles ghetto, Lila, a gorgeous sixteen-year-old Catholic girl (Vahina Giocante), stops to talk to Chimo, a nineteen-year-old Arab boy (Mohammed Khouas). Lila asks Chimo to look up her skirt -- if he can handle it, and puts into motion a sequence of events that is shockingly raw, sensual, and devastating. Lila's angelic demeanor barely contains the vitality and powerful eroticism that she shares with him and with which she transports the shy and sensitive Chimo from the bleakness of his life. "Lila" is a coming-of-age tale that focuses on Chimo, a sensitive young man emerging from adolescence in a working class, largely immigrant quarter of Marseilles. Like many sensitive young men, he doesn't spend his whole day sitting around reading poetry - he knocks around town getting into mischief with three pals.Unfortunately, the movie is out only in limited release and I won't get to see it in Portland for a long while. But you lucky bastards in L.A. get a preview and a panel, courtesy of The Levantine Center.Since all four are Franco-Arabs in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, universe, being hassled by the cops is part of the process as much as getting drunk. So is sticking their noses into the local mosque to check out what the sheikh has to say. None of this business is pursued in any detail. Though they evidently have pious friends, none of Chimo's pals seems to be serious-minded enough to either engage with Islam or reject it.
Lila SaysGo. Just go. And then tell me how it was.
Exclusive Preview Screening/Panel
Thurs, Jun 23, 7:30 pm
Westside Pavilion Cinemas
10800 Pico Blvd.
310.281.8223
May 18, 2005
30 Days In My Shoes? Dude, I Want To Try 30 Days In Yours
Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame) is producing a new TV show for the FX network. The reality series, called 30 Days, places people "in unfamiliar social circumstances" for a month and documents their reactions. One of the shows is about a "fundamentalist Christian" who is taken to Dearborn, Michigan for a month. Says Spurlock:
"We took a fundamentalist Christian from my home state of West Virginia, somebody who is very pro-war, pro-'us versus them', that when you hear Muslim the only thing he thinks of is a guy standing on a mountain with an AK-47," Spurlock said.Another show has Spurlock and his fiancee trying to survive on minimum wage for a month. Now that I'll watch. Maybe I'll set my TiVo.The man leaves his wife and children at home and goes to live with a Muslim family in Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States.
"He dresses as a Muslim, eats as a Muslim, he prays five times a day, he studies the Koran daily, he learns to speak Arabic, he works with an imam, a Muslim cleric, to learn the history of Islam, what are the five pillars, why are they important."
"And the transformation this guy goes through in 30 days is miraculous, it's incredible," Spurlock said.
The documentary maker, who has visited more than 100 schools as part of his campaign to improve school food programs, says the television show is driven by the desire to make people think about societal problems.
May 16, 2005
Sembene Profile
The Guardian has a fascinating profile by Maya Jaggi of the legendary Senegalese novelist/screenwriter/director Ousmane Sembene. (His latest film, Moolade, was released in the U.S. late last year, and is opening in Britain this week.) Sembene started his career as a novelist, but turned to film in order to reach a wider audience in Africa. I was particularly interested in this tidbit about African cinema and how it is regressing due to many factors, including the obvious one: economics.
Sembène has always been uncomfortable with French sponsorship and patronage, though what is known as African cinema, Shiri points out, "was born out of France's desire to retain cultural influence in the continent", through subsidies to officially approved films. Sembène increasingly taps EU coffers. "I go everywhere, knock on all doors," he says.Read the rest here.According to Talbot, he has "always been in total financial control of his work; he has all his negatives." For Sembène, "Africa is my audience; the west and the rest are markets." But he feels the chronic distribution problem in Africa (where many commercial cinemas offer a diet of Bollywood and kung fu) has "gone backwards not forwards, especially in francophone countries". Outside festivals, Gadjigo says, "it is hard to see African films in Africa. African leaderships don't see the role cinema can play in development," and 90% of Senegalese cinemas have closed in the past 10 years. Shiri notes that under IMF belt-tightening in the 1980s and 90s, "governments weren't given any leeway to support culture".
Botero Paints Abu-Ghraib
Colombian painter Botero will soon be showing a series of paintings inspired by the treatment of Iraqi detainees by U.S. troops in the Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq. (Caution: Graphic material.) You can view a selection here, where you can also read an interview with the artist. And here's an interesting snippet, where Botero discusses what Abu-Ghraib meant to him and whether politically-inspired art is valid.
¿En el momento de la gestación o creación de estas nuevas obras sintió que existía alguna similitud entre estos dos hechos de horror?The paintings are not for sale, and will remain part of Botero's private collection.
-No. La situación es distinta. La violencia en Colombia casi siempre es producto de la ignorancia, la falta de educación y la injusticia social. Lo de Abu Ghraib es un crimen cometido por la más grande Armada del mundo olvidando la Convención de Ginebra sobre el trato a los prisioneros.¿Espera que esta serie, que seguramente será polémica, tenga efecto político en el mundo?
-No. El arte nunca tuvo ese poder. El artista deja un testimonio que adquiere importancia a lo largo del tiempo si la obra es artísticamente válida.
Link via Daily Kos, via Maud Newton.
Art Co-Op
Am I an eternal optimist or does it seem as though stories like this one, of artistic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, are becoming more common these days? A welcome trend, for sure:
The Palestinians and the Israelis get about equal stage time in Ms. Muskal's version of "The Yellow Wind." The piece features the vocalists Keren Hadar and Mira Awad singing in Hebrew and Arabic, and work by the Israeli poets Shaul Tchernichovsky, Natan Alterman and Natan Yonatan. The Arab poet Mahmoud Darwish's "I Am From There," featured in the composition, says: "I have learned and dismantled all the words in order to draw from them a single word: home."On a related note, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which emerged out of a cooperation between Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim, is still active and will tour again this summer.Brian Lehrer, the WNYC radio moderator and talk show host, will be the narrator.
Ms. Muskal took lessons in Arabic music and learned enough Arabic to set the words to music fluently.
Bassam Saba, a Long Island-based musician who plays the nay, an Arab flute, is onstage the whole time. He helped familiarize Ms. Muskal with Arabic music. "I saw how she thinks to force these two cultures together, composition-wise," he said.
"It follows all the discovery and connections between people on earth now," Mr. Saba continued. "People are looking for each other more. It represents this kind of cultural communication. For me, it was important to look for this marriage, coming from the Middle East."