mariannakasimakis Reviews

Layla (I) (2024)

Personal, unique and colourful

[9/10 · 10 April 2024]

Layla was our absolute favourite film of the Sundance film festival.

The film tenderly and honestly portrays the intercultural experience of queer people of the Middle Eastern diaspora. Seeing as the family dynamics and gender binary expectations are very similar to the Greek ones, I felt like I was seeing a part of my story being told on the screen. There is a profound identity dilemma that stems from wanting to connect with your culture - which feels inherent to you - while at the same time struggling to feel free within it and your family because of your queerness. As you get older, you begin to understand the reason why you've distanced yourself from your family: fear. It is a specific type of fear, which terrifies you at the idea of being completely pushed away from your family and your culture that you admire and/or feel within, therefore you distance yourself from it all to prevent any harm, which can cause in the end just that.

It's overall a thrilling and colourful story, painted by the musicality and richness of tradition, proving audiences that more intercultural and intersectional stories are needed to keep cinema alive.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

6.5 with an extra 0.5 for the cinematography

[7/10 · 7 April 2024]

The film is beautiful, dare I say epic (more so seen as an epic tale rather than epic as in cool). I would have loved for it to be longer. Unfortunately, a little bit after being past the middle of the film, it already felt like it was a little rushed.

Just like in Part One, the cinematography sets a fantastical setting that pierces through the screen and into the room, but I still have the same issue I had with the first film (which is more of a Hollywood issue than a Dune issue): the invisibilisation of Arabs and MENA cultures and the lack of representation (not diversification, I see you extras) in the cast. The story itself, from the Fremen dialect to the faith to the costuming and "spice", there is only visible whiteness taking and erasing the Arab roots of it all.

Again, I enjoyed the film but had these recurring thoughts through it all about Dune's exoticism and the power that one has to have in order to be seen. Having read multiple reviews from Arab friends and journalists, the impact of erasure in media is more important than we can imagine, especially when an entire cinematic universe depends on the thematics of marginalised cultures for its success.

Perfect Days (2023)

One day at a time.

[10/10 · 31 March 2024]

Happy in the presence of others, loving shadows, reflections, the trees, those around us, the known and the unknown, feeling and loving every single moment deeply knowing every day, no matter the routine, is a new day. I rarely find the philosophy of life I've grown up with and continue to work to keep so wonderfully visualised.

There is such tenderness in seeing the beauty in the details of our surroundings, in consuming the freshness of the air at dawn as it inspires warmth for the soul, and thus helps us share it with the world. We ultimately find peace in letting go, letting be, as well as taking the time to simply see, feel, think, learn, share and live, one day at a time.