instead of a subscription to a streaming service that’s turned into an ongoing competition to make the world’s worst movie. Running time: 96 minutes. Not rated.
20.05.2022 - 19:09 / variety.com
Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticElections, as everyone knows, are too important to be left up to chance, and so the world is constantly inventing ways to ensure their outcome in advance. In Egypt, when it comes to the choice of a new Grand Imam — a lifetime appointment, whose fatwas impact national law — the process doesn’t even pretend to be democratic: The successful candidate is selected from a small Supreme Council of Scholars, with considerations the outside world will never know.
But we can wonder, which is where Swedish-Egyptian filmmaker Tarik Saleh comes in, imagining the equivalent of a John Grisham thriller set inside Cairo’s world-famous Al-Azhar University.Banned from Egypt since 2017’s “The Nile Hilton Incident,” the director may well have nothing to lose by implicating the Egyptian government in a conspiracy to fill the country’s highest religious position with the candidate of the president’s choosing — the equivalent of suggesting the American CIA stuck its hand into the process to decide the last pope. In the film, no sooner has the last Grand Imam expired than the country’s top brass calls an emergency meeting.
“The land cannot support two pharaohs,” announces high-ranking General Al Sakran (Mohammad Bakri), ordering Colonel Ibrahim (Fares Fares) from State Security to see to it that their guy gets elected. Ibrahim has a well-placed ally inside Al-Azhar named Zizo (Mehdi Dehbi), but this mole is first compromised, then murdered.
He needs a new “angel,” which leads him to the film’s protagonist, fisherman Adam Tala (Tawfeek Barhom), who’s only just started his religious studies at the university. Saleh’s screenplay — which is dense and plot-driven, but rarely holds up to even basic questions of logic —
.instead of a subscription to a streaming service that’s turned into an ongoing competition to make the world’s worst movie. Running time: 96 minutes. Not rated.
Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWhile Americans’ attention is consumed with the issue of abortion, halfway across the world, director Kore-eda Hirokazu (“Shoplifters”) focuses on the alternative for mothers who carry their pregnancies to term, but can’t raise the children on their own. A warm and unexpectedly nonjudgmental look at the Korean gray market for adoption, “Broker” was inspired by the idea of “baby hatches” — essentially, a donation station for unwanted infants — and follows the director’s natural curiosity through to its most humanistic conclusion, as audiences unexpectedly come to empathize with practically everyone involved in the buying and selling of a little bundle of joy.What is Kore-eda, who is Japanese, doing making a film in South Korea, you might ask? It’s not his first time working abroad.
Don McLean has cancelled a scheduled performance at the National Rifle Association’s national convention this weekend following the mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas earlier this week.On Tuesday (May 24), an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School, which teaches children aged seven to 10. Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed that the suspect was later shot dead by responding law enforcement officials.As Consequence Of Sound reports, at least 19 children and two teachers were killed in the attack.McLean was set to appear at the NRA convention this weekend in Houston, Texas which is approximately 250 miles from Uvalde.
South Korea may have made big inroads on American TV recently with “Squid Game” and “Pachinko,” and the country’s intriguing film and television industry also has a stronger-than-usual presence at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae’s political thriller “Hunt” premiered as a midnight screening early in the festival; Davy Chou’s “Return to Seoul” landed a pre-Cannes deal with Sony Pictures Classics and is one of the hits of the Un Certain Regard sidebar; and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda is in the main competition with “Broker,” his first film shot in South Korea in the Korean language.
document, published by official authorities on Saturday, was accompanied by a statement from the ministry saying the reason behind the list was “anti-Russian sanctions” and is likely directed at people who have spoken out against the country in the past. Rep.
In 2017, Swedish-Egyptian director Tarek Saleh’s breakthrough film “The Nile Hilton Incident” was the subject of much controversy and was ultimately banned in Egypt due to its in-depth portrayal of police corruption in modern-day Egypt. Five years later, Saleh is back with “Boy From Heaven” (“Walad Min Al Janna“), a transfixing feature tackling the harsh realities that occur in the country, this time exploring the complicated and corrupt relationship between religion and politics.
It’s early days at the Cannes Film Festival, so awards prognostication might seem a little premature, but still, it’s hard to imagine that the phenomenal performance given by Swedish-Lebanese actor Fares Fares in Tarik Saleh’s searing political thriller Boy from Heaven will go entirely unnoticed by this year’s jury. Topping the work he did in Saleh’s 2017 Sundance hit The Nile Hilton Incident, Fares commands the screen from the moment he arrives, playing a character whose disheveled appearance conceals a ruthless efficiency, a laser-focused mind and an entirely pragmatic concept of morality.
Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSwedish/Egyptian director Tarik Saleh is in competition in Cannes with “Boy From Heaven” his second film to delve into the underbelly of modern Egypt — and the Arab world at large — following his 2017 political thriller “The Nile Hilton Incident,” which depicted political power abuse and police corruption. “Nile Hilton” won the grand jury prize at Sundance and was banned in Egypt.In Saleh’s new potentially explosive pic, the young protagonist Adam, who is the son of a small-town Egyptian fisherman, is offered the privilege of studying at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, which is the epicenter of power of Sunni Islam.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefEpic Pictures Releasing has licensed North American rights to Korean action film “Hot Blooded,” from leading Seoul-based film sales agency Finecut. The deal is one of several struck by the agency ahead of Cannes, where it is also launching sales on Critics’ Week title “Next Sohee.”Starring Bae Doona and Kim Si-eun, “Next Sohee” is directed by Jung July, whose acclaimed “A Girl at My Door” played in Un Certain regard in 2014.
Post Malone was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live last night (May 14) and was joined by Fleet Foxes and Roddy Ricch – watch the performances below.During the Selena Gomez-hosted episode, the rapper performed recent Ricch collaboration ‘Cooped Up’ and unreleased song ‘Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol’, both taken from upcoming album ‘Twelve Carat Toothache’.For ‘Cooped Up’, Ricch joined Posty on a stage backed by candlelight, while on ‘Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol’, the members of Fleet Foxes formed a semi-circle around the rapper and provided choral backing vocals.Post Malone is a longtime fan of the band, and ‘Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol was recently teased by the rapper as featuring Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold. “He’s the most beautiful fucking vocalist, the most epic fucking guy,” Post said.
Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAlexander Skarsgard will star in “The Tiger” as the leader of a group of men tasked with protecting the endangered cats from poachers and loggers.The actor recently headlined the blood-drenched viking epic “The Northman,” receiving a great deal of attention for his physical transformation into a chiseled Norse avenger. He will team here with Ukrainian filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, who wrote and will direct “The Tiger” based on the book by John Vaillant.
Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticThe world is not the same place it was in 1986, when “Top Gun” ruled the box office. In Ronald Reagan, America had a movie star for a president, and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson as its honorary ministers of propaganda.
World-famous songstress Adele has posted some loved-up snaps with her American sports agent boyfriend Rich Paul to Instagram. Whilst 34 year old Adele is usually pretty tight-lipped and private with her relationship, the pics allowed her 49.9million Instagram followers to get some insight into the couples relationship.The post was captioned: “Time flies” and in the first snap, Adele and 40 year old Rich could be seen smiling as they posed on the lawn outside a huge house. In another, Adele stood behind the counter of a burger chain with Rich on the other side.