Cairo Time (2009)

"Cairo Time" is inept and inert, a criminal waste of talent and material. Alexander Siddig is handsome and charismatic as Tareq, an Egyptian café owner who shepherds a married American tourist, Juliette, (Patricia Clarkson) around Cairo. Patricia Clarkson is beautiful and wears her many dresses well.

The film's publicity compares it to "Brief Encounter." Not a chance. There is no chemistry between Tareq and Juliette. This is the fault of Ruba Nadda's lifeless script and direction so inert you wonder if she has fallen asleep behind the camera and the actors are too polite to wake her.

There are shots of the pyramids. There are scenes where characters stroll through an exotic bazaar, smoke hookahs, and dance at a wedding. There is a scene where men harass Juliette on the street. Juliette almost seems to like it; this takes on an ugly tone in the wake of the notorious Tahrir Square assault on Lara Logan. There is an entirely gratuitous scene that depicts Israelis in a negative way. Remarkable, because the film has no plot to speak of, but the director managed to work in her prejudices. These scenes ramble without reaching any point. There is zero dramatic tension. You don't wonder what's going to happen next – you pretty much know that *nothing* is going to happen next.

"Cairo Time" is an extraordinary waste of talent and material. Alexander Siddig is a charismatic star. I wish he had been given something, anything, to do. There is so much potential in the material. Say something about a potential romance between a Muslim man and an American woman. Say something about the potential of extramarital love. Say something at all! The film never does.

Fmovies: About two scenes worth of plot and dialog function as an excuse to string together a couple of hours of beautiful footage of Cairo. Our heroine is placed in an impossible situation, met at the airport by an attractive, exotic swarthy debonair 'Middle Eastern' guy when she is expecting her husband. Alone in Cairo pursued by lecherous, uncivilized types whenever she leaves her hotel room. Virtuous super hero husband interminably delayed saving free world in nearby Gaza refugee camp - impossible to resent neglectful spouse, even as he stands her up for days and days. What's a hard working, repressed, glamorous, New York, magazine writer to do? Coy titillation ensues as relationship with brainy Egyptian hunk with car and time on his hands slowly develops. Though 'develops' definitely overstates what occurs. Perhaps most distressing is the dialog. No one says anything that is not banal, the one Arabic word she learns early on is endlessly repeated. Put on some appropriate music, turn off the sound, and display as background to conversation. What a waste of a good actress.

Juliette Grant (Patricia Clarkson) travels from America to Cairo to meet her husband Mark (Tom McCamus), who belongs to the high echelon of UN and is settling refugees in Gaza. On the arrival, Juliette is welcomed by Tareq Khalifa (Alexander Siddig), an Egyptian that had worked with Mark and now is retired.

Mark has a problem in Gaza and can not come to Cairo, and the gentle Tareq invites Juliette to sail in the Nile and visit the pyramids. Juliette learns that she can not walk alone on the streets of Cairo since she is offensively harassed by the male locals, and she sightsees the city with Tareq. The proximity with her husband's friend and his attention to her make Juliette too attracted for Tareq. Will they have a love affair?

"Cairo Time" is a delicate and sensitive romance about companionship evolving to romance for mature audiences. Immediately after watching this pleasant film, I said to myself: this is certainly a film directed by a womanÂ… and I was right. The sensitiveness of the director and author Ruba Nadda is impressive.

"Cairo Time" has magnificent cinematography and locations and the underrated Patricia Clarkson is excellent and with a perfect chemistry with Alexander Siddig. The music score is very beautiful and the conclusion of the affair of Juliette and Tareq is stunning. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Meus Dias no Cairo" ("My Days in Cairo")

Cairo Time fmovies. This has to be one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. The acting was superb. Patricia Clarkson finally gets a moment to be in every single frame and she is divine. The ridiculously good looking Alexander Siddig matches her to perfection. The subtlety and courage it took to make this movie shines every step of the way. It's a love story set in contemporary Egypt but it feels more as a throw back to an older more classic style, something out of a Kathryn Hepburn movie. The last indie film I saw that was this good and left you with such a good feeling when you walked out of the theatre was Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor. Cairo Time was heartbreaking, yet completely satisfying. Must see.

Québécois writer and director Ruba Nadda favors stories that deal with love between Muslim and non-Muslim and her latest film CAIRO TIME follows that path - to an extent. According to Nadda she views this film as a 'luscious, serene, languid romance', a story that crosses two unlikely and emotionally unavailable people who approach momentary bliss in the beauty of Cairo. It is a slow film, the type of movie that encourages the viewer to sit back and enjoy an adult romance.

Juliette Grant (Patricia Clarkson) arrives in Cairo for a vacation with her UN employee husband Mark (Tom McCamus) only to discover that Mark is in Gaza on 'business': she discovers the information from a retired ex-assistant to Mark, Tareq Khalifa (Alexander Siddig), who offers her honest companionship until Mark returns. Tareq now owns a coffee house and spends his days playing chess. Juliette meets Kathryn (Elena Anaya), another associate of Mark, who offers her company, but Juliette prefers to be alone. The magic of Cairo - the smells, the muezzin calls to worship, the street shops, the sunsets - all begin to work on Juliette's lonely mood and she wanders into the city, fends off young men's attentions, and encounters Tareq in his coffee house (a men only club). Tareq offers to show her Cairo, especially the pyramids, but Juliette says she promised Mark to share those with him. A trip down the Nile and walks in the fascinating city draw Juliette and Tareq together, and when the two encounter Yasmeen (Amina Annabi), a friend and ex-lover of Tareq, the two are invited to Yasmeen's daughter's wedding in Alexandria. Telephone calls from and to Mark reveal that Mark will be delayed in Gaza, and after Juliette makes an attempt to travel to Gaza to see Mark and is prevented by the military she returns to Cairo, determined to make the best of her extended stay there. She goes to Alexandria with Tareq, they enjoy the wedding, and when they return to Cairo they mutually decide to visit the pyramids. The magic is there and the longing between them is palpable, but as soon as they return, Mark appears at the hotel. The Cairo time is over and the viewer is left guessing how the emotions generated by the time and place will play out.

Among the many lovely details of this film are views about the gender barriers in the Middle East and the customs of a city that, while modern, is still a culture of men. As Juliette and Tareq wander the streets of Cairo we recognize subtleties that exist, subtleties that director Nadda never forces. The gorgeous cinematography is by Luc Montpellier and the musical score is by Niall Byrne. This film is more a poem than a story, a welcome change from the usual youngster-oriented love stories and more of a mature episode of ageless flirtation. Grady Harp, August 10

Very well-cast crew. Incredibly perceptive and observant director. Took me back to Cairo. Alexander Siddiq is so cute in this movie. Its good to see a movie that does not follow the typical Hollywood American action crap with a climax and a happy ending.

This movie in my opinion was not a typical movie with a plot but more like a trip to Cairo. A sweet memorable trip very identical to my trip and experience there last year, minus the lovely Alexander..

Well done Rubba. Keep them coming... wouldn't mind watching a Granada time or Barcelona time..Beirut time or Istanbul or Kathmandu time...if u can do the same thing with those cities, u'r my hero...