Cairo Time is a beautiful film long on scenery but short on story and--sorry, news buffs--politics. Juliette (played by Patricia Clarkson of Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Good Night, and Good Luck) is a pampered American who travels to Cairo to meet up with her husband, a UN official who has been delayed by unrest in Gaza. In the meantime, she is entertained by the winning Tareq (Alexander Siddig of Syriana and Miral), her husband’s friend. They tour about the teeming, majestic city, which is exquisitely captured here. She fawns at the Pyramids of Giza, drinks a great deal of coffee, attracts much male attention, and smokes copious amounts of hookah. Unfortunately, Juliette is a bit of bore, and much of the dialogue and character interactions are stilted and odd. Some kind of a thing heats up with Tareq, but Juliette turns him down, then gives him longing looks.
The film is practically apolitical, except for the mysterious and disregarded hijacking of a tour bus by the Egyptian military. I'm not sure if the director (Ruba Nadda) was trying to capture Juliette’s myopic mentality, or if she just wanted to create a fantasy for the Ann Taylor crowd; but the result is that Cairo Time is nothing but a pretty, messy trifle.
-Megan
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