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Sukkar banat (2007) More at IMDbPro »

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Sweetness, 15 January 2009
Author: ruiresende84 (ruiresende84@gmail.com) from Porto, Portugal

This is as seductive as the women it depicts. Women directing is a field i haven't explored so much for now, and i think it can be really rewarding, taking the samples i've had so far.

This was, as well known, a Lebanese film, directed by a woman, depicting free-thinking women. This is enough trivia to make it worth watching, and a landmark for a country which, not being as immersed in fundamentalism as other Islamic countries is still quite overshadowed by them. So, there is a line of commentary about this that goes on that. I skip it.

What interested me here was the sweetness of everything. Sweet as caramel? Sure, but more. There are true urges, true fundamental issues debated here, without being mentioned directly, so they have to be told visually, and that's the sweet spot i deeply appreciate.

There are no depressive pseudo intellectual babbling here, only true needs by these women, with truer existential concerns, that go way beyond fundamentalism, women's oppression or "feelings". What women fight for is a way to be, a way to live, they look for their own mood; that mood the film itself has (beautiful cinematography). Each of these women go around adversities (the fake virgin, the lesbians) or face them directly and move on (the older lady, the protagonist). So in a way, the stories we watch is probably the very story of the making of this film. Though this has french support, i'm guessing that Labaki went around and faced directly similar existential concerns while making this. Well, she got out nicely, to my eyes.

It's nice to have women filmed, maybe cinema can become the best way to watch women through women's eyes, literally. From my short viewings of women's films, it's a much less erotic look but a much greater insight into their soul. I can live with that.

My opinion: 4/5

http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

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