City of Life (2009)

A privileged young male Arab at odds with his cultural identity and his less fortunate street smart friend; a disillusioned Indian taxi driver who bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous ... See full summary »

Director:

Ali F. Mostafa

Writers:

Jonny Brown (screenplay), Ali F. Mostafa (story),

Stars:

Alexandra Maria Lara, Sonu Sood, Saoud Al Kaabi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Natalia Moldovan
Sonu Sood	...	Basu / Peter Patel
Saoud Al Kaabi	...	Faisal
Jason Flemyng	...	Guy Berger
Natalie Dormer	...	Olga
The Narcicyst	...	Khalfan (as Yassin 'The Narcisyst' Alsalman)
Ahmed Ahmed	...	Nasser
Javed Jaffrey	...	Mr. Khan (as Jaaved Jaaferi)
Susan George	...	Constance
Habib Ghuloom	...	Faisal's Father
Ahmed Abdullah	...	Rashid
Saleh Al Dhahiri	...	Abdul
Har Taimor	...	Abdul's Brother
Nitin Mirani	...	Kashmiri Cabbie
Ahmed Alkhoori	...	Rich Friend 1 (as Ahmed Khoori)

Storyline

A privileged young male Arab at odds with his cultural identity and his less fortunate street smart friend; a disillusioned Indian taxi driver who bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous Bollywood star; and a former Romanian ballet dancer now working as a flight attendant and searching for love and companionship ... these individuals all live in Dubai and their lives are about to collide for better or for worse in a city where ambition, growth and opportunity are encouraged and dreams can still manifest. "City of Life" is an urban drama that tracks the various intersections of a multi-ethnic cast, examining how random interactions and their consequences can irrevocably impact another's life. As the name suggests, City of Life's inordinately humane kaleidoscope of converging experiences introduces a city that is in itself a living pulsating character. "City of Life" ultimately reveals how unexpected tragedy and loss can lead to hope and profound transformation as it explores and ...

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Plot Keywords:

arab | dubai | taxi driver | united arab emirates | arabian world | 

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Taglines:

Every day you can change another persons life without ever knowing it.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

United Arab Emirates

Language:

Arabic English Hindi

Release Date:

23 September 2010 (Kuwait)

Also Known As:

Dubai álmok

Filming Locations:

Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Company Credits

Production Co:

Afmfilms, FilmWorks

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Natalia is from Bucharest. Alexandra Maria Lara, who plays Natalia, was born in Bucharest.

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Connections

References Khoya Khoya Chand (2007)

User Reviews

Promising debut from a talented Emirati director

I've convinced my movie-addict French neighbor to come discovering the first Emirati movie with me last night and we've both been thrilled by this experience! We've both been living in Dubai for a few years and everything in this movie was talking to us: the character, the story, the atmosphere and the sets of course. Debuting director Ali F. Mostafa has done an excellent work in depicting these different lives and their destiny in this cosmopolitan city, capturing smartly the essence of the Dubai "cultural melting pot" without falling in the stereotype. Acting was good in general for the whole cast (special mention to Yassin Alsalman aka Khalfan and Sonu Sood aka Basu), the photography was capturing Dubai atmosphere with just the right tone and the cool soundtrack was giving a arty note to the movie, reminding me a bit of what is being done in the US independent production the last years (Anderson or Reitman). City of Life is not free of defects though: the fighting scenes look a bit like cartoon (watch the local martial art in dish dash!), the social class rivalry between Emiratis would have benefited from further development and some elapse effect in the narration dilute the emotional impact of certain scenes (the scene with Natalia at the hospital), but these minor reproaches do not erode the pleasure you will feel watching City of Life and remember this is only the first movie of Ali F. Mostafa! Now would this movie talk to somebody not living in Dubai? I would say definitely yes as City of Life stands alone as a good piece of cinematography with a captivating story. I hope this movie will get the chance to have an international career and I wish foreign audience will witness the birth of a new talented Emirati director as we did yesterday. Spread the word!!!