Do You Love Me (2025) NDNF 2026

Portrait of Lebanon the place and the people as seen in narrative and documentary footage

Unconvenrtional and not possessing a narrative story  the film is more interested in putting us in a mental and emotional space so that we understand this place called Lebanon. Seeming random images  and sounds slowly form  an cinematic sense of place. Its a place of war and humor and life and destruction and ultimately humanity. No matter what we see we are never not aware of the people on the screen of just off of it.

I got to this film late in regard to New Directors New Films. The write up made it sound like another film I saw within the last year so I thought I had seen it but had not reviewed it. When I was sent the film I took a look so that I could write it up for the festival. I was shocked because I realized I had not seen it.

More experiemental in approach than what most people are used to, DO YOU LOVE ME is not going to work for everyone. Some people need hand holding and so direction to enjoy a film. This is a film that throws a lot of things at us and asks us to assemble them. Some connections are obvious, some are not. The result is a film that you will want to see with friends before dinner so that you can get a bite to eat and discuss it.

There is much to discuss here.

One of the best films at this year's New Directors New Films, it's one of the few films I think will have a long life after the festival (beyond it having an American release). This will be a film people discuss for years.

Liz Whittemore on Arze (2024) Tribeca 2024

This originally appeared at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Director Mira Shaib brings a story of perseverance to Tribeca 2024 audiences with ARZÉ. A single mother living with her sister and teenage son makes pies to support the family. Delivering them on foot loses them potential clients. Arzé secretly pawns a piece of her sister’s jewelry to put a down payment on a scooter, but when it’s stolen, she and Kinan embark on a wild goose chase through the streets of Beruit in a race against time.

Mother and son hit the ground running, quite literally, in a manic search for the stolen scooter. Arzé tries every trick in the book. Her negotiations for information include swapping whichever religious icon will get her to the next clue, though her delightful pies become the slyest currency.

Betty Taoutel gives agoraphobic Layla a delusional sense of hope that her estranged husband will return. She is a wonderfully character-driven foil for Kinan and Arzé. Her mental health and emotional trauma hide her deep love for her nephew and sister. It’s a lovely turn.

Bilal Al Hamwi plays Kinan with ferocious energy. His head is in the clouds. A push and pull between childhood and adulthood, Kinan longs to escape Beruit but feels tethered to his girlfriend and the mother he thinks holds him back.

As the titular Arzé, Diamond Abou Abboud shines with a palpable determination. Her relentless pursuit to make things right will capture your heart. She is abundantly charming. Abou Abboud delivers a shockingly powerhouse performance that sneaks up on you.

The cinematography is beautiful in the ever-changing natural light of Beirut. The script is a thoughtful mix of sadness, desperation, and hope. The score is almost comically upbeat but perfectly suits the surprising highs and lows in all the shenanigans.

Screenwriters Louay Khraish and Faissal Sam Shaib offer moments of levity amidst the seriousness of Arzé’s plight. It is also an interesting commentary on blame, the dangers of stereotyping, and tribalism. They give our leading lady a level of observant intelligence that reigns supreme.

ARZÉ is a delightful and entirely unexpected film in Tribeca 2024’s lineup, but undeniably one of the best.

ARZE (2024) Tribeca 2024

ARZE is the story of a family struggling to get by. Two sisters make pies which they deliver across the city. Because they don’t have a means of transport beyond their feet they are limited in what they can do.  Needing a motor scooter, Arze steals her sister’s jewelry in order to pay for it. Things go sideways when the scooter is stolen. This sends Arze and her brother on a mad dash across the city.

This is a really good  film that over comes it’s echoes of THE BICYCLE THIEVES by giving us great characters, an unfamiliar location and shadings not in the original. It’s so good on its own terms that I hated to even mention it  except that I and everyone else I know  covering Tribeca thought of the film as the riff on the earlier classic.  By the time the film ends you will feel kind of dumb for making the connection.

What makes this film work is are the characters.  We fall in with them at the start and we are willing to go anywhere with them. And we do go, across the city and into the lives f a family struggling to get by and find love. Because we care for them he are on the edge of out seats- waiting and hoping that everything turns out okay for them.

I’m going to be completely honest and other than the fact it was playing at Tribeca I didn’t have the film high on my dance card. If I missed it I wasn’t going to be too disappointed. Then a slot opened and I went into the film with plans on just filling time. And then the film started and I met the characters and I was carried away and into their lives. I wanted to see how things came out.  The film became the best sort of Tribeca film – one I had no expectations for and one I can happily recommend to my friends who want to see a really good movie.

ARZE shines- recommended.

A pointer to the Cinequest film Valley of Exile (2023) Cinequest

 

This is a pointer toward VALLEY OF EXILE.

I was sent a copy of the film and asked to review it. The trouble is that the film arrived at the wrong time and while I was able to watch the film, it is the sort of film I really needed to see a second time in order to really write on the film with the care that the film deserves.

The film is the story of two sisters who flee from Syria during the early day of the conflict. One sister is pregnant, the other isn’t. They fall into a make shift refugee camp where they ponder their future, bith long term and short.

Not looking or behaving like most other films about refugees, the film is dealing with the early days of people’s migration, the film shows us a side to things that we don’t normally see. This is a look that will open your eyes.

While I can’t do a longer piece right now, don’t let that stop you from seeing this film when it plays at Cinequest

Q (2023) Tribeca 2023

Filmmaker Jude Chehub returns to Lebanon and looks into the religious sect that her mother belongs to. It is a group related to Islam and the Koran. As Chehub probes the beliefs complications arise.

This is a very good meditative slice of life. A look at both believers and an outsider who wants to know more the film transcends many similar films by casting a wide net that forces us to engage with the film from several different angles. This is not a film where you can sit idly by and not engage. In order to fully understand what the film is exploring you have to take time and ponder what it is showing us. Honestly I am very glad that I was allowed to screen film outside of the   typical crush of Tribeca. The fact that I could see the film and then sit with it and my thoughts have added a great deal to my appreciation of the film.

I’m going to be honest and say I’m not certain how to write up this film. A very personal look at faith I found that I was reacting to the film in relation  to my own personal journey. What I was experiencing was tied to my journey to this time and place. It was a reaction that was mentioned by another writer with whom I was comparing notes about what we had seen for the festival.

If you want to ponder your own notion of faith and belief I highly recommend Q.

Costa Brava, Lebanon (2022)

 

Family moves from Beirut to the country to get away from the pollution and corruption of the big city, only to find the government has decided the plot next to theirs is the perfect place for a garbage dump for all pf Beirut's garbage.

A good family drama about trying to flee  our troubles is overwhelmed by the need to fashion a tale that drives home the point a literally. I really liked the cast and the central premise but as soon as the garbage started coming in the family drama began to wobble with things that just took away from the subtlety. While it doesn't kill the film it hurts it since odds are anyone who is going to see this isn't going to need all the less subtle themes spelled out.

Despite being a disappointment the film is worth a look since hidden in the refuse is a solid drama worth taking time for. 

Sirens (2022) Sundance (2022)

SIRENS is the story of Lilas and her her band mates in the band Slaves To Sirens,  an all girl thrash metal band from Lebanon. After a trip to Glastonberry doesn't send them into the stratosphere the girls have figure out what to do, especially since their country descends into turmoil.

This is a good portrait of a young woman trying to come to terms with her life in a world on fire.  While the film would seem to be about the msic, the reality is this is about the young woman, Lilas in particular, who are living though extraordinary circumstances.

This is definitely worth a look, especlly if you want something you haven't seen  before.

President's Visit (2018)

Wickedly funny comedy has a down on his luck soap maker getting a call from the President that he will be arriving to get his best soap to use as part of his "clean up" campaign for the country. However he is not to tell anyone. Word leaks out and chaos and mayhem ensue.

Low key humor becomes laugh out loud belly laughs as the situation goes more and more off the rails. Our hero just can't catch a break and while our hearts break at his plight we can't help but roar with laughter at the insanity of it all.

This is a sweet little film that you need to track down as it makes its way across the globe in various film festivals.

In Brief: Soufra (2017) DOC NYC 2017

Portrait of Miriam Shaar and Soufra, the company she started to provide women living in the refugee camp where she lives a better way of live. The film follows Miriam as she attempts to build the company via the purchase of food truck.

Good film about a great bunch of ladies follows the typical feel good arc. While you can kind of sort how how this is going to go you really don't mind because these are such great people that you truly love to spend tie with them...

...And say what you will about the film in the end you will get misty and feel good which is all that matters.

Recommended
SOUFRA opens in select theaters tomorrow

Waves 98 (2015) Sundance 2016

"I am tired of all of the depressing stories"

Winner of the Short Film Palme D’Or at Cannes last year WAVES 98 is a mix of animation and live action that sets a definite mood and a feeling of isolation. Its a wonderful little film that really should be seen on the big screen.

The plot of the film follows Omar as he travels from the outskirts of Beirut into the city where he connects with several people but still finds himself oddly isolated.

The first thing you need to know is that the the film's official description adds all sorts of details that are not in the film. What the film is isn't quite what it's advertised to be. That isn't a bad thing since the film stands up on it's own nicely.

What sells the film are the visuals. There are numerous sequences that are just stunning.  I loved the image manipulation as things freeze- or not in frame - during Omar's scooter ride. Also some of the later pieces involving the golden elephant are just awesome to see.

This is a stunning film and definitely worth searching out-especially if you are Sundance.

Public Screening #1: Saturday, January 23, 12:00PM – (Temple Theatre, Park City)

Public Screening #2: Sunday, January 24, 12:00PM – (Redstone Cinema 7, Park City)

Public Screening #3: Tuesday, January 26, 3:00PM – (Broadway Centre Cinema 6, Salt Lake City)

Public Screening #4: Saturday, January 30, 8:30PM – (Holiday Village Cinema 1, Park City)

For tickets go here.

Speed Sisters (2015) DOC NYC 2015

My thought while watching Amber Fares' Speed Sisters was, somewhat ridiculously, "This would make a great movie."

After all, it has all the elements you need -- women who represent several archetypes, from the sweet tomboy to the wild child to the glamour girl -- as well as rivalries from within the group and from the outside. You have women trying to prove themselves in a male-dominated sport while dealing with the conflicts in the country they live in. Like all good sports movies, it builds to a final showdown.

But of course we already have this movie. It's called Speed Sisters. It's the exact one I was watching. There's no reason to make a fictionalized version of it when the truth is this great.

Following the first all-woman street racing team in the Middle East, the Palestinian Speed Sisters were (at the making of the movie), Marah (the tomboy), Noor (the wild one), Betty (the glamour girl) and the elder Mona (who we don't see that much of in the movie, honestly). They're led by their steely and smart manager Maysoon.

The documentary is divided nicely between the racing action and the interpersonal (and, well, international) drama. Marah has the full support of her family and it's wonderful, but she begins to butt heads with Betty, whose blonde hair and good looks makes her the group's sex symbol. Noor is more interested in learning drifting than she is in racing (and often screws up on the track).

Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not ignored (the women have to deal with checkpoints and bombings while trying to find places to practice), it's not anything the movie dwells on. It's just something these women and their families deal with every day of their lives. Quieter moments showing Marah and Noor celebrating Maysoon's upcoming marriage give an insight into just how close these women are.

The rivalry between Marah and Betty may be played up on the screen (while they're on the same team, they're competing for title Fastest Women Driver), but Betty is never painted as the enemy. Both she and Marah are forced to navigate rules that are constantly changing and judgments that can't be questioned. Still, the movie is pretty clear about who it's rooting for and who we should be too.

Speed Sisters is thoughtful and fun. I adored the time I spent with these women and I loved getting to know them. Watch this before the inevitable Hollywood remake happens. I can't imagine it could be improved upon.

Speed Sisters has one screening at DOC NYC on Saturday the 14th . For tickets and more information go here.

Scheherazade's Diary (2013) Human Rights Watch 2014

This is a deeply moving film about a group of women in prison over a ten month period who come together to put together a theatrical presentation based on their lives called Scheherazade in Baabda. The program was put together by the director of the film. Over the course of the film we watch as the women tell their stories, rehearse the play and perform it.

Yes I know what you're thinking, you've seen similar films before. I know you're thinking it because that's what I was thinking. But you know what this time is different. This time there is a reason to tell this story. Sure we may have heard similar stories but we haven't heard this one. There really is a reason that this film has won numerous awards.

The reason that this film works is simply that the women we meet are so damn compelling. They are wonderful people that remind me of a good number of the women in my life. I see my mom, my ex-girlfriends, my friends, aunts and cousins in many of them. I just wanted to reach out and hug them.

I suppose that on some level I should be talking about their life in prison and the society that sent them there and is keeping some there without trial. I should probably be talking about the pain and suffering that they have suffered over the course of their lives, but all I can really say is that you have to meet these ladies. Meet these ladies and let them grow on you and you'll see all of the important questions for yourself. Once you see them you'll find yourself asking all of the right questions without any help from me.

I loved this film. On some level this may very well be my favorite film playing at Human Rights Watch. Go see it.