This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

With my family being away for most of bank holiday Monday,I started searching round for a film I could watch during the day. Hearing about Egyptian cinema from other ICM users during the Musical Challenge,I was thrilled to stumble on an Egyptian Musical,which led to me walking like an Egyptian.The plot:Desiring the hand of marriage from his love Aleya, Operetta writer Asfour finds his hand to be pushed aside by Aleya and her dad,due to Asfour being a rough round the edges working class fellow,who does not have the elite friends that Aleya and her family spend time with. Blindly loving Aleya, Asfour and his friend Bou'ou try to find ways to get enough cash so that they can join the elite. Believing that they have no luck,Asfour finds a lamp containing genie Kahramana,who says she will grant all his wishes. As Asfour orders wishes for Aleya's love, Kahramana finds Asfour to remind her of a long lost love.View on the film:Appearing from a puff of smoke, Samia Gamal gives a magical performance as Kahramana and lookalike Semsema. Giving the genie a very modern sensibility, Gamal shoves the "Yes master" traditions aside to grant Asfour's wishes with a gleeful sass,with Gamal being very funny when Kahramana disapproves of the request. Longing for her love, Gamal strikes transfixing poses in the belly dancing sequences, and expressively shows what Asfour is missing right in front of his eyes. Performing his own songs with a dash of classic movie star glamour, Farid Al Atrache gives a wonderful performance as Asfour,whose love for Aleya springs out with mad-cap energy. Humble before the genie is out of the bottle, Atrache gets Asfour lapping up his new luxuries,whilst prominently keeping all that he is losing in view.Running for an hour and 52 minutes instead of the run time IMDb give, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Abu Seoud El-Ibiary) director Henry Barakat cross sweet Fantasy with smooth Musical,lightly comedic Melodrama. Keeping the genie off screen for the first 30 mins,the writers brilliantly build the friendship between Asfour and Bou'ou, (hilariously played by Ismail Yasseen ) with their humble work life just about keeping Asfour's love for Aleya somewhat grounded. Bringing magic into their lives, the writers do very well at blending Fantasy and Melodrama, via the wishes Kahramana grants, making her love for Asfour more noticeable,and also showing how no matter how many wishes Asfour wants, none of them will grant true love.Giving the dance numbers some Arabian Night riches, director Barakat opens the tale with lavish tracking shots stylishly gathering up all that Asfour has wished. Along with Gamal looking very sexy,Barakat superbly makes each Musical number match Asfour's move from the working class to the elite. Putting on a show for the final, Barakat weaves spells with gliding shots across Asfour's new mansion and fade in/fade outs fading in on Kahramana's disapproval of Asfour's Arabian tale.

Farid Al Atrache stars as Asfour, a very, very, VERY dumb man. He's infatuated with the boss' daughter, Aleya (Lola Sedki)--even though she's never really reciprocated and she's totally self-absorbed. Despite this, he holds on to this insane notion throughout most of the film that he wants to marry her. It's even more insane because a beautiful female genie, Kahramana (Samia Gamal), adores him and will do anything to have him as her lover. After finding her magic lamp and freeing her, she helps him in so many ways and is very hot (walking about with far less clothes than I'd expected in an Egyptian film) and willing...yet Asfour keeps talking about Aleya almost non- stop. So, this leads to Kahramana playing a variety of tricks on him to derail this relationship with Aleya until, ultimately, she just gives up and disappears. What's next? See the film.Like Major Nelson on "I Dream of Jeanie", Asfour is a total moron. He has an incredibly pretty and devoted genie that can and will do anything for him...and he is blind to all her many, many charms. And, like dopey Anthony, he eventually does realize what he's got...but perhaps it's too late.The film is pretty cute and I was ready to give is an 8. However, the end is just too bizarre and has a song and dance number in Hell....yes, Hell, that makes no sense whatsoever. But overall, still worth seeing.

That was the golden age in Egyptian cinema where the best musicals were produced in the 40's and 50's. Farid and Samia were the Middle Eastern version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who entertained audiences over the years and were the perfect couple before their separation; Samia married an American businessman and traveled to the US to amaze people with her first class belly dancing while Farid continued singing and acting in movies with dramatic and sad themes until his death. Afrita Hanem is a masterpiece in Egyptian cinema and it's a shame you'll never find this quality of movies in our present days due to cultural and social changes.

"Lady Genie", before anything else, is a fun movie. It's sort of a cross between Gene Kelly and Bollywood. The acting is good, and the singing and dancing are excellent. The plot is very silly indeed, and I found it extremely diverting, despite the flaws which I shall now list.The first is not a flaw so much as a disclaimer: those not familiar with the Arabic culture may be baffled for most of the duration. This is an Arabic movie made for an Arab audience, and there are no explanations for outsiders.Second: I have compared "Lady Genie" to a Gene Kelly movie, and the similarities are in that the music numbers are long and don't further the plot. Especially the finale with the demons and the girls in the cages -- long and random.Finally: it's old, and cheap. The film quality in particular suffers from this.But, as I said in the beginning, it's a wild romp, quite funny and featuring some world-class belly-dancing.