In the Last Days of the City
Source: alarab.co.uk
A city requiem rather than a city symphony, Tamer El Said's film offers a plangent, multi-layered dirge to the sensory overload of Cairo and the way it has irrevocably changed. As the title suggests, In the Last Days of the City is an elegy, a melancholic love-hate poem to Cairo and the role of filmmakers in any city in pain. A long-gestating project that was initially shot in 2009, the film represents a self-reflexive expression, by debuting features helmer Tamer El Said, of profound weight and intricate sadness, grappling with loss in myriad forms through separation, death, politics and ineluctable decay. Largely fiction with nonfiction elements, Last Days benefits from time: Most instant responses to the Revolution now seem hopelessly dated, but Saids work, lensed before the uprising, takes full, intelligent advantage of hindsight. Its a natural fest item, with chances for targeted arthouse play.
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