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An intriguing comedy drama about a film-maker who falls foul of a taxi driver and a sex worker is atmospheric but muddled

Independent Egyptian director Ahmad Abdalla, whose previous dramatic features found favour on the festival circuit, takes a swerve into comic territory with this compact, bumpy picaresque set over 12 hours or so in Cairo. Although the dialogue touches occasionally on politics and the repressive authoritarian regime currently in power, the narrative engine is driven largely by a more universally relatable subject: the exposure of a smug member of the elite to the cruelties and petty grifts of the underclass. Think After Hours, but in Arabic, and with more police brutality.

Film director Moe (Karim Kassem) is first met having a tough day at work shooting a commercial for money; he is also being guilt tripped by a photographer friend (Donia Maher) who wants him to help champion the cause...

Titled Coming Forth By Day from director Hala Lotfy (an S&A filmmaker to watch in 2014 and beyond), the film’s first half is entirely set in the suffocating apartment of an old Egyptian man (Ahmed Lutfi), who needs the help of his wife (Salma Al-Najjar) and his daughter, Soad (Donia Maher), for even the most basic tasks, since he can’t even eat by himself or walk. The mother also works at a hospital and has just changed her working hours and now needs to work nights, which means that during the day, she sleeps and the care for the man of the house falls entirely on Soad. Scenes of feeding the father, taking care of his bed sores or changing his bedding are set in the...

Titled Coming Forth By Day from director Hala Lotfy, here's some background information courtesy of EuroMed: The film’s first half is entirely set in the suffocating apartment of an old Egyptian man (Ahmed Lutfi), who needs the help of his wife (Salma Al-Najjar) and his daughter, Soad (Donia Maher), for even the most basic tasks, since he can’t even eat by himself or walk. The mother also works at a hospital and has just changed her working hours and now needs to work nights, which means that during the day, she sleeps and the care for the man of the house falls entirely on Soad. Scenes of feeding the father, taking care of his bed sores or changing his bedding...