By Lee Pfeiffer
As I've often said, there are some excellent films being made nowadays - but most of them don't involve invading aliens, serial murderers or tortured teenagers. The independent film market is booming and there are some real gems currently in release- though you may have to have the skills of Sherlock Holmes to track them down. One such film is Cairo Time, a charming and intriguing love story that finds Patricia Clarkson as Juliette Grant, the middle-aged wife of a United Nations diplomat who flies to Cairo to meet him for what should be an enjoyable business conference at a swank hotel. When she gets there, she learns he has been indefinitely delayed due to a crisis in Gaza. He asks his old friend and colleague Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to show her the local sites and try to entertain her. Initially, Juliet feels awkward and attempts to go it alone - only to find herself the unwanted center of advances from the male locals. Over the course of several days, she and Tareq form a bond that is becoming uncomfortably close to crossing the line into romance.
There are elements of The Bridges of Madison County and Lost in Translation in Cairo Time. Both films set the standards for exploring potential love affairs that would seem to be inherently doomed. Like the female protagonists in those films, Juliette is comfortable and happy with her spouse, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to another man. Clarkson is excellent, keeping a low-key composure and saying little, even as the viewer realizes the internal struggle she is going through. Siddig is a real find- as charismatic of a leading man as I've seen in recent years and the two stars have genuine on-screen chemistry. If there is a flaw with the film it's that the story moves at a glacial pace and director Rubba Nada seems intent on avoiding the cliche of showing Egypt's natural wonders. Yet, having recently returned from there myself, I felt somewhat cheated that these impressive sites are used so minimally in the film. Nada does convey the constant chaos of Cairo along with the fact that the locals are generally among the friendliest people on earth. However, the film could have benefited from some additionally exploration of the magnificent sites that were on the doorstep of the production team.
Cairo Time is not a great film, but it is an engrossing and intelligent one. In the era of Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean, that's enough to make anyone who values those qualities in movies to seek it out.
(Cairo Time is now playing in select theaters and can be ordered on Pay-Per-View on the Independent Film Channel)