The Imperialists Are Still Alive!

Oh my god, I truly hope this thing was not paid for by tax payers, namely the National Endowment for the Arts.

When independent filmmakers go out of there way to make a non-Hollywood movie, they wind up making a disaster. This is a disaster.

I saw this mess on the Sundance channel presented by Robert Redford. Apparently, old man Redford thought this movie was good enough to present himself. Poor misbegotten soul.

They describe this movie as a: "Manhattan artist Asya (Elodie Bouchez) suspects that her friend has been abducted by the CIA in this compelling drama detailing the effects of the war on terror on the lives of average Americans. Meanwhile, her new beau dismisses her fears as paranoia."

Not at all. There is no compelling drama, No war on terror, No CIA, No abduction. The only paranoia I can see in this movie is the investors who paid for it. This movie has the same importance as the controversial "Piss Christ." No merit of art can be seen anywhere in this movie.

Characters meander around for 90 minutes doing absolutely nothing to involve the audience. You will not care what happens to the characters. Because the director gives the audience nothing to care about. An ingrown toe nail is more compelling than this.

I will recommend this movie only so you can see why movies like these should never see the silver screen.

Excellent film. I saw it twice on the festival circuit and it made me laugh. It's beautifully made and touches upon things that nobody else bothers to deal with. Elodie Bouchez is phenomenal in it. A totally new perspective that's well done.

Although its milieu is privileged it's remarkably self-aware and hilarious in its exploration of class divisions and the various ethnicities in NYC. It's more than just the usual indie story of trying to find their way, much more assured, witty and political. An interesting feminist perspective, great shot structure and a sweet love story to boot.

Go see this film!

This is not a good movie.

The script and direction are terrible and its supposed use of New York locations was pretty much a waste. It looks like the whole thing was shot within a limited set of blocks in the East Village and rarely ventured elsewhere. They pretty much could have shot this entire film in a warehouse in Toronto, saved themselves a bunch of money and been no worse off for it.

The acting of the male roles was fair, but all the woman's roles were both written and acted terribly, leading me to believe that the director doesn't know how to direct or cast women.

I gave this movie one star at Sundance.

Summary: not good, skip it.

I saw this film at the opening night of the Williamsburg Film Festival on Kent Ave at South 2nd street. It is a great portrayal of a life in NYC. I have lived in NYC for 17 yrs and could relate to the characters and scenes, even though I am 1/2 Swedish and 1/2 Jewish. The movie is unbelievably funny... I laughed and laughed. It is not a serious film, but it is not meant to be serious... it is a window into the world of this artist that touches on political issues... as I think for many of us living in the States experience global issues... horrors go on across the world and we still go to parties and benefits. The dichotomy between silly and serious, paranoid and real, superficial and important are acutely captured in a way that is representative of young culture today... At the same time, it is a charming love story. The directing is fantastic - I was really amazed at the complexity of the shots... the Chinatown scenes, the cars, the parties... so many people and elements in so many of the scenes for such a young director. Enjoyable on so many levels - to be seen!!

Enough films have been made where the Middle-Eastern characters are portrayed either as sinister maniacs or down right primitives hell bent on disrupting the ways of the West. Forget the fact that they were very insulting- you'd hope most people watching them have enough intelligence to realise this. Worse was how lazy these films were. And indeed are! Which is just one of the reasons why Zeina Durra's film shines so brightly. I saw this film over a year ago at Sundance. Not only was it the strongest thing I saw at the festival, it was one of the most original films to come out of independent cinema in the US for a while. It focuses primarily on characters from the Middle-East but not like the ones we've previously had the misfortune of seeing on our cinema screens. These characters live, party, dream, worry and embarrass themselves just like the rest of us. Durra shows us their interactions with great poise and knowledge. The result being a very funny and intelligent film. The casting in a film such as this is crucial and the director has got it pretty much spot on. An important note- this is Durra's debut feature film and in my humble opinion signals the start of a promising and original career.