Caramel is a light-hearted Lebanese film built around a gaggle of girlfriends who run a beauty parlor in Beirut. The film follows the hiccups in each of their love lives – whether it’s mistreatment at the hands of a married man, fear of ageing, finding a lesbian lover or meeting a first love late in life. Their mutual support society is warm and witty and the city of Beirut is more like an atmospheric set, providing a local flavor, than an active player. Caramel (which is used in the salon to remove unwanted hair) is sweet.
The Band’s Visit (Bikur HaTizmoret) is a moving little comedy about an old-fashioned Ceremonial Orchestra attached to the Egyptian police that arrives in Israel to perform at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center. When they end up very much in the wrong place, they find themselves dependent on the good graces of local townspeople – with whom they turn out to have much in common: the Israeli town is a forgotten shithole in the desert and the Band is a dinosaur about to lose its funding. Political reality simmers around the edges, but human connection takes a poignant center stage.
fabulous cleavage.
thanks & kiss kiss, me
Posted by: jacoby | 05 March 2008 at 17:15