Jay Weissberg - The Film Verdict

The Family

Posted by Jay Weissberg | Nov 24, 2022 | Cairo, CAIRO 2022, Festivals |

The toxic privilege of Algeria’s ministerial elite is the target of Merzak Allouache’s fitfully successful mix of class satire and political thriller.

Far from the Nile

Posted by Jay Weissberg | Nov 23, 2022 | Cairo, CAIRO 2022, Festivals |

Cairo awarded its best documentary prize to this broadly appealing fly-on-the-wall documentary about a group of musicians from countries bordering the Nile who go on a demanding hundred-day-tour of the U.S.

Alam

Posted by Jay Weissberg | Nov 22, 2022 | Cairo, CAIRO 2022, Festivals, Spotlight |

Writer-director Firas Khoury refreshingly normalizes the lives of a group of Palestinian teens in Israel and then adds a political overlay in this notable debut that deserves more attention than accorded in Toronto.

19B

Posted by Jay Weissberg | Nov 18, 2022 | CAIRO 2022, Festivals |

Ahmad Abdalla’s latest is a handsomely produced, effective drama about a redundant Cairene house guard, the sole resident of a dilapidated mansion, trying to stave off the encroaching collapse of his world.

Blonde

Posted by Jay Weissberg | Sep 8, 2022 | Featured, Festivals, VENICE 2022 |

Pre-release hype will be the biggest friend to this mess of a pseudo-biopic that reduces Marilyn Monroe to a disturbed child-woman with Daddy issues, never offering a glimpse of the screen magic notwithstanding Ana de Armas’ impressive recreation.

Author: Jay Weissberg

The Family

Far from the Nile

Alam

19B

Blonde