Genenet al asmak (2008)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

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

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.