High expectations unexpectedly dashed on the rock of mediocrity
Added 9/10/2009
The long awaited first feature film by a Lebanese director and actress Nadine Labaki was a great disappointment to me.
With so much talent and perfection displayed by Labaki in her other works; I expected an earth shaking topic and performance.
Films exploring virginity, homosexuality, the other woman and poverty are very well travelled roads and didn't need an extra repetetion. In her defense; perhaps Labaki wanted to distract the world from the all-too-frequent subject of war and focus on the Lebanese as humans with everyday problems and feelings. I had, correctly or incorrectly, higher expectations for this movie.
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Sukkar Banat.
Added 5/23/2009
Wow what can I say, I was really impressed by this. Caramel has got to be one of the best and most well-done films that I've ever seen come out of Lebanon. It's was wonderfully shot using the best cinematography in an Arabic film, the colors were very vibrant which shows all the great sights of Beirut. Caramel a.k.a. Sukkar Banat is the directorial debut of the stunningly beautiful actress Nadine Labaki who also co-wrote the script with Rodney El Haddad and Jihad Hojeily, the film revolves around the lives of five women working in and around a beauty salon in Beirut. Layale played by Nadine is caught up in an affair with a married man and obsessed with his unwitting wife, wanting to know what it is that always draws him back home.
And Nisrine (Yasmine Elmasri) is due to be married, but nervous about the potential consequences of her past indiscretions and also being Muslim causes alot more problems if her parents find out. Tomboyish Rima (Joanna Moukarzel), whose socially dangerous lesbian romance with a customer is portrayed entirely in metaphor - here are some of the great images and visuals of hairdressing you'll ever see. Jamale (Gisele Aouad) who is struggling to make a career as an actress and to convince everyone (including herself) that she's still young but is quite old and has two kids and one of them is a teenager, still has a few issues to deal with. And Rose, an aging seamstress whose devotion to her senile old sister has left her life pass her by and a chance to be with someone who she seems to be in love with.
Each character was interesting and unique in their own way, some Western viewers might not get some of the humor unless you know some Arabic culture but I definitely think that this film would appeal to a large audience, it doesn't matter where you come from cause it's definitely a very enjoyable film and it has universal themes of love, struggle and the mixing of modern society with older tradition and values and the acting was fantastic from all of the cast, some of whom weren't even professional actors. I really liked the characters especially Jamale who provided most of the humor as the aging wanna be actress. The film also reminded me of a time when I was a kid growing up in Jordan, Lebanon is kind of similar cause it has a large Christian population so you would see every passing store with pictures of the virgin Mary (That was before me and my family moved to Kuwait), it has to do with the Catholic imagery in the film, not everyone we follow in turn follows the same religion.
This film really brought back alot of memories from my youth, with the old apartment buildings and narrow streets which was kind of neat you can also see an obvious mixture of both cultures and religions in Lebanon, this film however stays away from most of the politics of the region and just focuses on the story. Anyway I'm not really a big fan of Romantic comedies or art house films and yet I must say I was quite impressed by this brilliant film, and it seemed to have more depth and meaning than your average romantic drama and comedy flick. I highly recommend this and two thumbs up.
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Dark Beauty
Added 5/13/2009
Cast in the hauntingly beautiful golden glow of a setting sun is the true Beirut that Caramel has captured, a movie dedicated "to my Beirut." This aurous atmosphere that lingers over the warmth and unique beauty of the city Beirut is one of the many high points of this film, as it captures so many insightful details about life and about humanity that the eye of a true artist should never miss. While many movies staged in the Middle East, or the politically turbulent country of Lebanon center around politics or the tribulations of war and poverty this film draws away from that to show Beirut as those that live and breathe that city each day see it, free of the stereotypes and of political conflict (that is not constant) but for what it really is, a city where people carry out their lives, a warm metro that displays almost forsaken beauty, a ghostly and romantic shadow of elegance that shines through the scars the past has inflicted. This movie IS about struggle, but you'll find that it is ultimately about people.
I would venture to say it is largely the struggles of Lebanese women, and this film carried many messages to them, messages of new beginnings and inspiration to press on through troubles they all endure as a society. The setting, a parlor is an excellent setting where the female characters interact and reveal their personal struggles. This movie goes further to show that although each character is of different age groups, of different (religious) backgrounds and show ultimately different (yet in ways similar) challenges, they each remain friends, bonded and supportive, defying any expected barriers as a result of differing backgrounds. Caramel touches on each obstacle that meets with all sorts of Lebanese women this way, from choosing the love of your family over love for yourself and for others( as demonstrated by the noble Rose) to loving yourself enough to respect your destiny (as demonstrated by the main character). Many themes are explored and my personal favorite was Jamale (a character who reminded me of someone I know) who to the very end remained the most tragic figure of them all due to her unwillingness to accept her age, opposing it to the extent of living a sorrowful lie, a life she knows is a lie and whose truth plagues her with fear of exposure and with deep resentment. She never learned to embrace change and allowed change to alter who she was. If only Jamale learned to embrace who she had become and to love herself despite the demands of a biased society, she would live in truth and the heartache of dreams that don't belong to her would not have been among her list of plagues. She shares this theme with another character, the theme of lying to either yourself or to someone dear to you. In the end, a false life only tastes sweet as long as you hold your nose to mask the bitter flavor of the reality you've created for yourself.
And so golden sunset light was suitable for a bittersweet film such as this. That the despair of a setting sun may be true but the promise of a new day are a night away. The messages are all themes of learning to better love, whether it be love for yourself, the truth, or another. And to live free with an open mind, and heart.
Highly recommended and highly deserving film.
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Very cute movie about women of different ages struggling
Added 4/30/2009
with tradition and "modern thinking". Most of it takes place in a beauty salon. I enjoyed the closeness of the woman, they didn't judge each other too harshly, but tried to give good advice without being heavey. I really wanted the policeman to ask out the woman he kept giving parking tickets to, even though she really didn't notice him because her mind was on her married lover. And the other woman that was engaged to be married but wasen't a virgin so she went to the virgin repair doctor. That must be a neat trick. Anyway, this movie wasen't anything you haven't seen before but it had a nice slower pace and a sweetness to it and a message that most personal problems are universal anyway.
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An epic struggle between tradition and modernity
Added 4/19/2009
The more appreciative of an artist's work a reviewer becomes, the more meaning he sees in the work that perhaps the writer/director didn't consciously intend. Such is the case with Caramel, the lovely social, and cultural send up from Beirut, Lebanon.
From 1975 onward, Beirut became a metaphor for hell on earth, especially in the US. "Don't go there!" was the State Department's advice, and most westerners, not only never went but didn't take the time to learn anything about Lebanese society or the culture that surrounds it. The expertly written, acted, and directed film Caramel gives viewers a glimpse of what Lebanese women endure in a culture that, on the surface at least is surprisingly westernized, and at the same time struggling with the transition from time-honored traditions to a state of modernity more recognizable to Americans.
The setting is the seedy Si Belle beauty shop, with the letter B upside down on its sign-- emblematic of the upside down secret lives of its dwellers. The shop is where a coterie of women, both stylists and customers have coincidently gathered and formed a support group to help each other cope with the strictures of Lebanese society. The beauty shop is an excellent vehicle for the story line because it is a place where women literally and figuratively let their hair down. The cultural taboos, real or imagined, of ageing, virginity, adultery, being single, and homosexuality, are all examined through the lives of the script's characters. Viewers can't help but become sympathetic to, if not empathetic with, the plight of each of the players.
Nadine Labaki is not only the shining star Layale, but also co-screenwriter and director of Caramel. She is joined with a sterling cast of actors who glide effortlessly from scene to scene. The directorial pacing is superb, as the camera never lingers needlessly along the journey to emancipation--or resignation--of each of the characters. The symbolism embodied in the pain of seeking physical beauty by ripping out unwanted body hair by the roots seems to also represent the painful journey from tradition to modernity. In one scene, even the policeman Youssef, after being treated to a depilation by the ladies of the salon, walks out with a goofy smile, liberated by the experience.
The shop owner Layale is smitten with a married man and runs to him whenever he calls or condescendingly honks his horn. The forbidden love, which is winked at for men in this patrimonial culture, must be hidden by women from family and society. Our heroine is at once rebellious and conforming--she consents to an affair but doesn't want her parents to hear the surreptitious phone calls that she always initiates, and parks with her paramour in forbidden places.
Although the women are rebellious and wish to adopt western mores, they continually lapse into roles that society has typecast for them. For example they tell Rose the seamstress that they need to find a husband for her. They even chide the obviously masculine Rima that she should wear skirts and put her legs through a waxing ordeal. So, for all their yearning for freedom from the reactionary elements of their culture, they have become its prisoners.
There was a great deal of symbolism in many of the scenes. When seamstress Rose is fitting her customer Charles, he seems to be performing a dance for her with his arms needlessly raised in a sign of surrender. When Layale passes the cop who has been giving her tickets, she sticks her tongue out at him in a rebellious gesture. She refuses to wear the seatbelt because it "suffocates" her, an obvious parallel with the suffocating rules of society. And when she poses as a prostitute, the ultimate debasement for a woman, to get a hotel room for an assignation, she reaches bottom in the relationship and proceeds to scrub the room from top to bottom as if to cleanse her soul. Finally, when her lover doesn't show, she breaks the celebratory balloons, seemingly signaling the end of the romance.
The above-mentioned taboos were adroitly examined and a resolution of sorts for each character, except Jamale and Rose, culminates in the wedding scene. Sadly, the ageing actress continues the charade of pre-menopausal youth, and Rose resigns herself to taking care of her sister Lili instead of pursuing a last-chance affair with Charles. The old Lebanese tradition of hanging out the bloody wedding bed sheets was alluded to with the suggestion to the non-virginal Nisrene that she substitute the blood of two mourning doves. When the "restored" bride, tosses her wedding bouquet, a dove passes overhead and drops dung on Layale's forehead, signaling a baptism of sorts so the born-again woman can now pursue true romance.
This film deserves five stars and is recommended for audiences who wish to be entertained while learning about a culture that they have ignored or been woefully misinformed about.
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