John Michael's ambitious and gripping new film (a 'noir in the desert'), based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne, was filmed in Morocco and severely held up by Covid. It seems to have a lot to say about the people of the two different cultures - English and Moroccan, secular vs. religious, faithless vs. Muslim, tourist vs. native. There's certainly some humour particularly in some of the Moroccan expressions ('Piece by piece the camel enters the couscous') and ironies abound, but it's not as funny as some of his earlier films.
Interesting cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Abbey Lee, Alex Jennings, Christopher Abbott, Marie-Josee Croze, Said Tagmaoui, Ismael Kanater (the father, good), Mourad Zaoui.
Music by Lorne Balfe, who's getting around nicely, photographed by frequent collaborator Larry Smith, edited by Elizabeth Eves and Chris Gill.
John doesn't really like referencing other film makers but did mention one of his favourites, Antonioni's The Passenger, in connection with this. He thinks it's the best film he's done.
No comments:
Post a Comment