CAIRO TIME

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Patricia Clarkson: Juliette Grant, a journalist with the magazine Vous
Alexander Siddig: Tareq, a retired policeman
Amina Annabi: his long time friend Yasmeen
Tom McCamus: Juliette’s husband Mark, a United Nations aid worker

REVIEW
The simplest of story lines, about a budding relationship in Cairo, has several subplots that serve only to confuse things. Probably these tangential loose ends are meant to add a little more screen time as the runtime is very short, only 88 minutes. On the other hand, we are left guessing about the purpose of Juliette’s bus trip and what transpired when it gets stopped. This is an important part of the story yet it gets short shrift.

The acting is fine and the cinemaphotography well done.

CLASSIFICATION


FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• Tareq tells Juliette “you can see the pyramids from anywhere in the city”. From personal experience I can tell you this is not true. The pyramids are 20 kilometres from the city center with many buildings blocking the view.
• It is early afternoon after a stroll about the city when Juliette and Tareq return to her hotel. She invites him to have a tea on the hotel terrace. When they are seated the sun has set and it is now dark with the city lights in the background.
• The sun is setting when Juliette and Tareq are walking towards the pyramids. When they get there, the bright sunlight would indicate it’s around noon.