Casanegra (2008)

Two childhood friends, Karim and Adil, prowl the streets of Casablanca, their native city. They do not do much, in fact they hustle rather than work. They are also unashamed dreamers, Karim... See full summary »

Director:

Nour Eddine Lakhmari

Writers:

Youssef Fade, Haitham Idrissi,

Stars:

Anas El Baz, Omar Lotfi, Mohamed Benbrahim

10 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anas El Baz	...	Karim (as Anas Elbaz)
Omar Lotfi	...	Adil
Mohamed Benbrahim	...	Zrirek
Ghita Tazi	...	Nabila
Driss Roukhe	...	Adil's stepfather
Raouia	...	Adil's Mother (as Fatima Harrandi)
Zakaria Atifi	...	Taxi Driver
Boughara Mohamed	...	Karim's Father
Haitham Idrissi	...	Haitham la tortue
Michel Botbol	...	Ramil
Touria El Hajjaji	...	Karim's Mother
Hassan Essakali	...	El Hajj (as Hassan Skalli)
Chegra Abdellatif	...	The first scrap dealer
Abdellah Chakiri	...	The second scrap dealer
Kenza Felali	...	Karim's Sister

Storyline

Two childhood friends, Karim and Adil, prowl the streets of Casablanca, their native city. They do not do much, in fact they hustle rather than work. They are also unashamed dreamers, Karim believing in his "love story" with Nabila, a rich girl, and Adil contemplating emigrating to Sweden but never taking action. One day, the two friends go onto top gear by getting themselves into a big caper...

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Plot Keywords:

color in title | one word title

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Morocco

Language:

Arabic

Release Date:

21 May 2009 (Netherlands)

Filming Locations:

Casablanca, Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

€1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Global Media, Sigma Technologies, Soread-2M

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Westrex Recording System) Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Morocco's official submission to 82nd Academy Award's Foreign Language in 2010.

User Reviews

Refreshing specimen of Moroccan cinema

Seen on 20090103 at the beautiful Cinémathèque de Tanger, Morocco.

I loved this movie and I hope that European audiences have the possibility to see it in their countries. It is a sad comedy about two boys from Casablanca, Morocco, struggling to be great mobsters and at the same time dealing with everyday problems, namely violent fathers and love deceptions.

The movie is very stylish. The credit sequence, showing different corners of the streets of Casablanca, is amazing, and made me feel like visiting that city, which I skipped during my travel through Morocco.

The two main characters are portrayed by two excellent actors that I believe have a bright future in Moroccan cinema. I do not know if they are proficient in French and/or English, but I hope so, because they deserve a big European production to show their value. I think their look, not to mention their acting quality, should help them make it into some sets in France, for instance. Their outfit in this movie should help as well. I particularly liked the tie and suit of the guy with the hair locks (inspired by Reservoir Dogs? Who knows?).

Also, many characters in Casanegra are particularly good. I will only mention the small kid-crooks selling cigarettes and the turtle guy (great!). The bearded mobster is great as well, but after a while I grew tired of his way of speaking and overacting.

All in all this is a great movie, but I have to complain at least about its length, which is exaggerate. After such a lengthy movie (the second half is especially cumbersome and full of useless scenes and dialog), one would expect a flamboyant finale, but the conclusion is not. It is in fact completely acceptable, but one would expect more.