Purely Joyful Movie!

An action-packed slog

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Arab Spring drew attention to Egypt's autocratic government under Hosni Mubarak. Therefore, Marwan Hamed's "Omaret Yakobean" ("The Yacoubian Building" in English) turns out to be even more important. The movie depicts 21st-century Egyptian society as morally bankrupt, while also looking at topics that are usually taboo in Muslim societies (e.g., homosexuality).I view the movie as sort of an Egyptian version of movies like "Amores Perros" and "Y Tu Mamá También", both of which show the degeneracy of Mexican society by looking at the different aspects of society. Here we see just about every problem that infects Egyptian society. Although the movie is a scathing indictment of what the most populous Arab country had become under Mubarak, it poses the question of whether this is a matter of governance or something else. We saw how the corruption and autocracy continued under Mohamed Morsi, and has gone supernova since the military coup led by Fatah al-Sisi. Indeed, the nationalist and independence movements often betrayed their own ideals, as political parties either became entrenched like in Algeria, or strongmen took over, like Idi Amin in Uganda. Is it doomed to always be like this?! All in all, a very good movie.

Imagine when the bestselling novel(Alaa el Aswany's Yacoubian Building) in the middle east is made into a movieWith an adaptation made by "Wahid Hamed"(the best screen writer in Egypt), and starring actors like :Adel Imam, Nour el Sheriff, Yousra...etc. , And the rising director and highly recommended "Marwan Hamed" which was his first movie. And let us not forget the huge budget that was set for the movie(about 22 million Egyptian pounds). All those elements were gathered to present a movie that was supposed to be a worldwide award winning movie or let us say a highly artistic movie. Unfortunately that wasn't enough!, all what I've seen in this movie wasn't so special, nothing spectacular, although the issues this film dealt with were hot and controversial for the Arab world I felt nothing.The movie talks about Egypt in the 1990's through yacoubian building which was supposed to be luxurious building in the past and still until now but not as much as in the past where some characters whom you can really see in our society, like Zaki el Desouky who's a 60 year old playboy who lives in yacoubian building with his sister in the same apartment and they are always fighting and yelling each other, Zaki also misses how this country was clean and beautiful even more than European countries he is also astonished about what's going on in the society when El Haj Azzam who used to polish his shoes one day owns half of the stores in his neighborhood now and lives in the same building with him, and is a part of the Egyptian parliament!! While el Haj Azzam takes advantage of the economical situation of a young widow whom her husband died in Iraq and marries her secretly because of some sexual need, he also enters the parliament to protect his dirty business.We also see the homosexual editor in chief of a french newspaper in Egypt "Hatem Rashid" who seduces a villager soldier, we see how this guy lives secretly in a society that cannot bear such a direction and how he reacts towards teasing from others about his homosexuality and the huge guilt the villager soldier "Abd Rabbo" feels due to his religious beliefs.There's also "bousaina" who loves "Hassan" her neighbor and they cannot afford to get married, after the dreams of "Hassan" of becoming a Police officer were gone because of his social level, they separate and select different paths in life; he becomes a religious extremist and she uses her body to get what she needs in life. This is a brief summary of the movie which dealt with a lot of characters without you being really sympathized with them!, despite the good acting the movie needed better adaptation, you feel like it's talking about a lot of things but they don't really touch you, most people in Egypt were impressed by the sparkling names of actors and the controversial issue the movie failed to discuss, I think this movie was a heavy load for "Marwan Hamed" as his first experience he didn't show much of a special vision and couldn't manage the script his father wrote,other big names could have done this project and make a huge difference. watching this movie isn't a 100% bad idea it's a chance for those who don't know much about Egypt to take a look about what's happening in there but it will not satisfy them as a film.

I did not read the book before watching he movie, nor did I not know what the movie is about, but I heard from several people and friends that it is the greatest Egyptian movie of all time. After watching the movie I was a bit disappointed, I thought the movie was good, but I expected more. Marwan Hamed (director) did a great job, since it is only his first movie, but the movie could have been directed much better than this. The movie talks about the 3 major taboos in the Egyptian literature: Politics, Sex and Religion, it's not the first movie to appoint these issues, but its definitely the bravest... too brave I should say. Since when we talked about sex or homosexuality freely and with open minded? since when did a man discuss how many times he sleeps with his wife with one another? The movie was showing too much carelessly and regardless of our typical Egyptian culture.The director concentrated so much on the Sexual issues (especially the homosexuality), yet Religion and Politics ware not given their fair piece of the cake. Why didn't the movie discuss racism between Moslims and Christians for example? I know the book might have not talked about it, but the director still added scenes that were useless.I would recommend you watch the movie, it is still a great movie, although you might have different opinion.

This movie has definitely changed the map of the Egyptian movie making industry.Meaning, future makings should at least level up to half of what Marwan Hamed the promising director has produced. I will not repeat words like "Masterpiece" or " an Oscar winning Movie", but I fear that Marwan has produced a piece of work that should make him produce more of the same level. And that is the real challenge.I also feel that this daring story has opened the way or paved it for more creativity without the need to worry about censorship or limiting expressions. I am so happy to have seen so many taboos on the screen in order for the people to discuss and find solutions. Therefore, to share the problems of the Egyptians with the public through movies is also another challenge that the movie industry has to work on. I hope we see other competing directors who will force the audience to be totally engrossed in whatever they are watching.Eman Al Masri