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The Yacoubian Building
2006
Meditations on corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, homosexuality, and drugs in central Cairo. Read more
| Starring | Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif, Youssra, Essad Youniss |
|---|---|
| Director | Marwan Hamed |
| Genres | Drama, Gay/Lesbian, World Cinema |
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The Yacoubian Building
Meditations on corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, homosexuality, and drugs in central Cairo.
| Starring | Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif, Youssra, Essad Youniss, Ahmed Bedir, Hend Sabri, Khaled El Sawy, Khaled Saleh |
|---|---|
| Director | Marwan Hamed |
| Studio | ICA |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 41 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, Gay/Lesbian, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: Arabic |
| Released | DVD: 24 Mar 2008 Production year: 2006 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews
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Marwan Hameds epic star-spangled social fresco, adapted from Alaa Al Aswanys spectacularly popular 1990-set... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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19 out of 19 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Sprawling, messy ... and occasionally great
Despite a virtual roll-call of bleak current-affairs concerns (fundamentalism, prostitution, sexual harassment, adultery, homosexuality, domestic violence, political corruption, drug-dealing, torture, you name it...), THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING is actually like nothing so much as an Arab version of those hysterically overblown Latin American soap 'novelas' which go on for ever. Even Brookside was never like this...
It's not particularly visually ravishing, and it certainly isn't a model of how to structure or edit a film - like the Cairo in which it's set, this movie sprawls all over the place and has long stretches where nothing valuable seems to happen at all. But (again like Cairo) it's stuffed with gems: some wonderful performances, especially from Adel Imam as the world-weary rake and roue 'Pasha' and Khaled Saleh as a wonderfully roguish and sinister State Security man, an astonishingly frank head-on approach to some of its 'big issues', and an overall sense that it's a love letter to an impossible city.
THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING - both the film and the novel it's based on - caused a huge stink (and a huge splash) in Egypt for being so frank in confronting many 'taboo' subjects, like state oppression, what motivates the young to go in for fundamentalism, the decline of the country's hopes over the past few decades. There are certainly moments when it feels a little clunky, a bit too much of an 'issue' film at the expense of real drama or characterisation. But to a non Arab audience maybe what comes across most strongly is the intense atmosphere of envy and barely-suppressed class hatred and violence. Everyone's jockeying for a better future, and ready to sacrifice any 'finer' feelings they might have for a good swindle. The rich sneer and exploit, while the poor scheme to bring them down. It's an overwhelmingly claustrophobic and decadent milieu (especially as the film mostly sticks to interiors), and really not a barrel of laughs.
But despite that, and some frankly clumsy direction at some points, you should see this film: because it's a miracle it exists at all, because it truly does give a window into a part of the world all too infrequently seen on film, especially in the West, and because of its deeply humane, elegaic and often comic view of its setting. (Almost) all human life is here. Give it a go! -
Most recent members' review
View all -
19 out of 19 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Sprawling, messy ... and occasionally great
Despite a virtual roll-call of bleak current-affairs concerns (fundamentalism, prostitution, sexual harassment, adultery, homosexuality, domestic violence, political corruption, drug-dealing, torture, you name it...), THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING is actually like nothing so much as an Arab version of those hysterically overblown Latin American soap 'novelas' which go on for ever. Even Brookside was never like this...
It's not particularly visually ravishing, and it certainly isn't a model of how to structure or edit a film - like the Cairo in which it's set, this movie sprawls all over the place and has long stretches where nothing valuable seems to happen at all. But (again like Cairo) it's stuffed with gems: some wonderful performances, especially from Adel Imam as the world-weary rake and roue 'Pasha' and Khaled Saleh as a wonderfully roguish and sinister State Security man, an astonishingly frank head-on approach to some of its 'big issues', and an overall sense that it's a love letter to an impossible city.
THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING - both the film and the novel it's based on - caused a huge stink (and a huge splash) in Egypt for being so frank in confronting many 'taboo' subjects, like state oppression, what motivates the young to go in for fundamentalism, the decline of the country's hopes over the past few decades. There are certainly moments when it feels a little clunky, a bit too much of an 'issue' film at the expense of real drama or characterisation. But to a non Arab audience maybe what comes across most strongly is the intense atmosphere of envy and barely-suppressed class hatred and violence. Everyone's jockeying for a better future, and ready to sacrifice any 'finer' feelings they might have for a good swindle. The rich sneer and exploit, while the poor scheme to bring them down. It's an overwhelmingly claustrophobic and decadent milieu (especially as the film mostly sticks to interiors), and really not a barrel of laughs.
But despite that, and some frankly clumsy direction at some points, you should see this film: because it's a miracle it exists at all, because it truly does give a window into a part of the world all too infrequently seen on film, especially in the West, and because of its deeply humane, elegaic and often comic view of its setting. (Almost) all human life is here. Give it a go! -
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