Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces
(Al Ma' wal Khodra wal Wajh al Hassan)

The films of Yousry Nasrallah follow in succession and no two are alike. One film after the other, the path is altered, redrawn and rebellious. Yet, one is dearly tempted to look for some underlying family likeness, to keep an eye out for the moment that they give us a covert wink, let slip a knowing smile, or reveal a thigh or the badboy scar. Because what Nasrallah does best is “rob” cinema. Why? Because his is a territory balanced on the world’s narrow edge, from which he works to multiply the distances from reality (documentary, melodramatic, soap-like), as if to dupe it. Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces is a cookery recipe (popular, sensual, political?) whose secret the filmmaker withholds – helped by the family of caterers who form the film’s centrepiece – in order to better share the flavours with all the characters peopling the film. Neither urban nor truly rural, these Egyptians are all dreamed up as the spectators of a film. They go to the colourful and flashy wedding as if they were off to the theatre, eager to play their role of modest, yet-to-be-discovered, tragic hero, without knowing what hunger has in store for them. Here as elsewhere, we find nouveaux riches, generals, politicians or simple suitors – each has his or her own reasons, but will these be enough to give the game a rule that all can agree on? JB