From A to B

I will definitely say that it was a nice try to change the type of Arabic movies, but I just couldn't feel it. I was excited at the beginning because it was recommended to me by friends, but I was disappointed. The only good thing in the movie is the acting, music and the directing. The story and the script didn't add anything new to the cinema industry. The script contains a lot of Western type of lines and cliché, the Arabic references were good but not enough tho. I liked the cursing, the drinking and the sexual content, but it did not fill the gaps in the story really well to make it feel more middle eastern, basically it didn't reflect the reality of the middle east in a very accurate way, but I still believe that Arabic movies should add them in today's movies. In conclusion, as long as Hollywood is still producing movies, the Arabic movies industry should not worry about the Arabic audience, and they should take their time to produce a film that can reach an international level with more realistic expectations.

We had last night been at the Advanced Screening of Ali F. Mostafa's Movie From A to B at the Vox Cinemas at the Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi. It was the first time for me to be at the Vox Cinemas in the Yas Mall and man was it an experience.

The Movie itself is playing in the year 2011 when Omar finds himself still racked with the guilt over the death of his best friend Hady 5 years ago and whose girl he married which was the reason for the the stress they had.

Just days away from the birth of his first child, he decides to take the road trip they never got to take and reaches out to his estranged high school friends Jay (Albutairi) and Ramy (Alfons) who have lost touch since Hady's death to take the road trip in his memory., much to the dismay of his pregnant wife.

Jay, now a playboy / wannabe DJ, and Ramy, an #activist (with 737 twitter followers!), take some convincing, but finally agree to the trip. The boys decide to drive from Abu Dhabi – via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria to arrive in Beirut, on what would have been Hady's twenty-fifth birthday.

Their journey is interesting and you will see quite some places you are familiar with in this flick which is pretty awesome. As well the scenery is partially amazing, specially Jordan. It made me feel during the movie already like "I wanna go there".

The story is told interesting and despite the movie being mainly in Arabic I followed the subtitles well enough to get everything. The movie did not bore me for even a minute.

As a classic Roadtrip Movie with Arabic charm of course things have to go wrong during the trip and they do. A camel gets hit, they get arrested by the Police and so on. I don't want to take away to much of the story here but having as well some political influences about the war in Syria and the difficulties in Lebanon itself at that time is enriching the movie very well and I walked out of the Movie still thinking how horrible the situation in Syria must be.

The Actors had been quite good and specially Fahad who plays Jay/Yousef was brilliant in my opinion and very entertaining. Overall it is an entertaining flick which is giving you a good time in the cinema. It is certainly worth watching and having a good time even if you do not speak native Arabic like me.

Don't let the rating fool you, this is sold work with great Charachter development. It's real, gutsy, and original work. This tells a tale of everyday people of the current generation, much more real than 90% of the typical Arab movies. Will make you laugh, and tear up. I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it for what it is. Let's encourage more of this work.

Bravo team.

Cinematography wise for an Arabic movie, which I found the greatest factor in the movie, it was made by a professional, Michel Dierickx did an excellent job. The story seems to be genuine from a Middle Eastern point of view, although the dialog wasn't its great factor, which I feel in fact affected the acting roles, Ramy (Shadi Alfons) was maybe the best in acting, his script was fit his role and his character. Youssef or J (Fahad Albutairi) he maintained his amazing humor, his character was a stereotypical rich spoiled Saudi "outside the border", did a fine job in the face expressionism, as of Omar (Fadi Rifaai) I'm sadly disappointed in his acting in general, specially too much drama and sensitivity, However he did pull few time a great job of showing love.

Ali F. Mostafa is never the less is a great director, he worked on many projects including the firs Emirati film City of Life, his choices like appearances of cameo and a real American actress Madeline Zima as Samantha.

The movie had too much Hollywood inputs and technique of humor and fast paste editing, not to say it as negative, but not original. The English language in the script is a factor which i don't like in general, BUT i feel that it was actually a smart decision for two reasons. One, it will be more cheesy and lame if it were to be told in Arabic, the second and i think its the main reason, lot of sexual and inside joke that will sound very offensive, which is not in the English literature.

in conclusion, the movie point out lots of social issue and tried to express it in different point of view. lots of liberal moment and reactions. The movie showed lots of smart subtext in the story and commercially too.

The film uses a well worn theme of a group of friends making a road trip but who are challenged by a few common "Middle Eastern" problems along the way. It is not well done. The script is poorly written and very superficial, and the acting is at the level of a high school drama production. While this may be some attempt to show "modernization" of privileged youth in the Emirates, it is not a representation of actual life there. Hopefully, there will be better productions from this part of the world in the future!