Genenet al asmak (2008)

Director:

Yousry Nasrallah

Writers:

Nasser Abdel-Rahmane (writer)
Yousry Nasrallah (writer)

Release Date:

26 March 2008 (Egypt)

Plot:

A 48-hour journey into Modern Cairo following the parallel lives of Youssef and Leila. |

Plot Keywords:

Kefaya | Egypt | Aquarium | Nasrallah | Fish

Cast

Hend Sabry	...	Laila
Amr Waked	...	Youssef
Gamil Ratib	...	Youssef's Father
Samah Anwar	...	Marguerite
Bassem Samra	...	Zakki
Ahmed El Feshawy	...	Amr (as Ahmed El Fichawy)
Menha Batraoui	...	Laila's Mother (as Menha El Batraoui)
Tamim Abdou	...	Samir
Dorra Zarrouk	...	Marwa
Hamada Kouta	...	Salwa Mohamed Ali
Tarek Mandour	...	Asser Yassine
Laila Sami
Marwa El Sawi	...	Dounya Massoud
Ezzat Ibrahim	...	Mohamed Farouk
Nael Ali	...	Amr Fikry
Ahmed Tewfik	...	Hany Salem
Yara Goubran	...	Nihad Aboul Enein
Shirin Mohsen	...	Riham Ayman
Moony Gala	...	Hyam El Chorbagui
Habiba El Chaer	...	Oussama Darwich
Mahmoud El Chaer	...	Mohamed El Hawwan

Directed by
Yousry Nasrallah

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nasser Abdel-Rahmane		writer
Yousry Nasrallah		writer

Produced by
Ihab Ayoub	....	line producer
Denis Freyd	....	producer
Gabriel Khoury	....	producer

Original Music by
Tamer Karawan

Cinematography by
Samir Bahzan		(as Samir Bahsan)

Film Editing by
Mona Rabei

Costume Design by
Nahed Nasrallah

Production Management
Thomas Alfandari	....	post-production manager: France
Mohamed Saad	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mona Asaad	....	assistant director
Rasha El Kordi	....	first assistant director
Ahmed El Lozy	....	second assistant director
Mohamed Karim	....	trainee assistant director
Nadine Khan	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Boris Chapelle	....	sound editor
Ibrahim Desouki	....	sound recordist
Cyrille Richard	....	sound editor
Christophe Vingtrinier	....	sound re-recording mixer

Other crew
Rami Gheit	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Archipel 33
• MISR International Films
• Pandora Filmproduktion

Also Known As:

The Aquarium (Europe: English title) (festival title) (International: English title)
Das Aquarium (Germany)
L'Aquarium (France) (TV title)

Runtime:

90 min (TV version) | USA:111 min

Country:

Egypt | France | Germany

Language:

Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Filming Locations:

Aquarium Grotto, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt

Company:

Archipel 33

A Failed Experimentation With Realism

I was one of the "fortunate" people that got the chance to watch this movie on its premier last night...

The main reason why I checked this movie out, despite my lack of fondness towards most of its actors, was to see what Nasrallah had to offer after the fantastic "Bab el-shams", and also to see if he had changed his old ways of weirdness and incomprehensible "artistic views". Also I wanted to see what Abdel-Rahmane is made of after watching his previous works, Chahine's mediocre "Heya fawda" and Khaled's dreadfully terrible "Heena maysara", knowing how these directors slaughter his scripts, I was trying to locate his true identity among the three movies, and I think I found a little glimpse of his potential among them that could blossom if he were to stop being bullied by the directors and made them stick to his original script.

This movie takes a stab at realism with some elements of expressionism, with long useless scenes and silences with some "artistic views" and hidden messages within the details, a blend that quite frankly, didn't work out quite well...

This movie is not for everyone, it will definitely flop at the box office for 2 reasons, one is the cast of the film, non of them appeals to the public, non of them would make you leave the comfort of your couch to go watch it at the theaters, the second reason being the film's quality itself, I doubt anyone who'd watch this movie would go out and recommend it to others, after all, Nasrallah himself said, and I'm quoting, that this film was not made to be comprehended in this lifetime, it'll be appreciated 20 year from now...

The only good thing about this film was the cinematography, which wasn't exactly mind blowing, but it was decent, plus the effort put into trying something new gives it some extra points for the adventurous spirit of the film's crew, and for the obvious skills of Nasrallah as a director.