I Watched An Emirati Movie: Sea Shadow

The blurb about the film:

Set in a small seaside neighbourhood in the United Arab Emirates, 'Sea Shadow' follows two teenagers Mansoor and Kaltham as they struggle with tradition and convention in their journey towards adulthood. Bound by family and deeply rooted values, the pair must find the courage to forge their own paths.

'Sea Shadow' held its World Premier at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in October 2011 and was released in theatres throughout the Gulf Arab States in November 2011. It premiered in the United States at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2012 and went on to be officially selected in over twenty international film festivals.

What I thought:

'Sea Shadow' is an intimate, up close and personal portrayal of everyday life in a small Emirati town by the sea. Teenagers Mansoor (played by Omar Al-Mulla) and Kaltham (played by Neven Madi) belong to two Emirati families that struggle with life on a daily basis. Mansoor's mum is bread winner of her family since his dad is confined to a wheelchair unable to work, and Kaltham's dad although physically capable has become emotionally paralysed after the death of his wife. Depressed and emotionally clogged he has turned sour, bitter and nonchalant towards his three children. With his eldest son living in Abu Dhabi, married to Jane, Kaltham's father is unaware of her beauty and the danger it brings with it for Kaltham and the family.

The movie sheds light on a segment of Emirati society that is rarely known to the world about the UAE. These are not affluent stereotypical jet-setting Emiratis with their flashy cars, palatial mansions and army of servants. These are struggling Emiratis with financial woes trying to keep up with modern life as best they can. The movie seems to suggest that because life in that seaside town is more genuine, not yet fully tainted by modernity, then ultimately emotions and reactions will be coarse, rough even basic. At least that is how I felt towards certain scenes in the film.

Talking of scenes, my best by far were those of Mansoor and his best friend Sultan (played by Arbar Al-Hamad). They are excellent actors and those two, in my opinion, are the ones who hold the movie together. There are briefly dull scenes in the film, but Mansoor and Sultan are the breeze that this vessel needs to continue its journey. 

I enjoyed the film and thought it a beautiful story about the innocence of young love in a country that strives to re-conciliate between its proud traditions and values and its global modern image. Yes, it was slow in places but the beautiful scenes in the film more than make up for the monotony.

Director: Nawaf Al-Janahi
Writer: Mohammed Hasan Ahmed
Stars: Omar Al-Mulla, Neven Madi, Abrar Al-Hamad, Aisha Abdul Rahman and Bilal Abdullah
Duration: 98 mins

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You!

'Land of No Rain' by Amjad Nasser (author) & Jonathan Wright (translator)

(Release Date: April 24)

The novel takes place in Hamiya, a fictional Arab country run by military commanders who treat power as a personal possession to be handed down from one generation to the next. 

The main character was forced into exile from Hamiya twenty years earlier for taking part in a failed assassination attempt on the military ruler known as the Grandson. On his return to his homeland, he encounters family, childhood friends, former comrades and his first love, but most importantly he grapples with his own self, the person he left behind.

'Land of No Rain' is a complex and mysterious story of the hardship of exile and the difficulty of return.

The Mosaic Rooms, in London, are hosting an evening with the London-based author for the launch of the novel with a Q&A to follow. Amjad Nasser is a Jordanian poet and 'Land of No Rain' is his first novel. The evening takes place on April 30, 2014. For more on this event click HERE.

'The Vagenda: A Zero Tolerance Guide to the Media' by Holly Baxter & Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

(Release Date:  May 1)

As students, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett and Holly Baxter spent a lot of time laughing at magazine pieces entitled things like '50 Sex Tips to Please Your Man' (particularly the ones that encouraged bringing baked goods into the bedroom). They laughed at the ridiculous 'circles of shame' detailing minor weight fluctuations of female celebs, or the shocking presence of armpit hair. And at the articles telling you how to remove cellulite from your arse using coffee granules. But when they stopped laughing, they started to feel a bit uneasy. Was this relentless hum about vajazzles and fat removal just daft - at worst a bit patronising - or was something more disturbing going on?

Was it time to say NO? They thought so.

So they launched The Vagenda blog in 2012 (although they are working on a proper website to be launched soon), and now they have written this laugh-out-loud book.

It is a brilliantly bolshy rallying call to girls and women of all ages: Caitlin Moran asked 'How to be a Woman'. The Vagenda asks real women everywhere to demand a media that reflects who we actually are.

My London's Book Club Reunion: The Titles We Recommend For Easter Break

JO's Choice:

'Stoner' by John Williams

William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death his colleagues remember him rarely.

Yet with truthfulness, compassion and intense power, this novel uncovers a story of universal value. Stoner tells of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history, and reclaims the significance of an individual life. A reading experience like no other, itself a paean to the power of literature, it is a novel to be savoured.

JULIE'S Choice:

'Apple Tree Yard' by Louise Doughty

Yvonne Carmichael has worked hard to achieve the life she always wanted: a high-flying career in genetics, a beautiful home, a good relationship with her husband and their two grown-up children.

Then one day she meets a stranger at the Houses of Parliament and, on impulse, begins a passionate affair with him - a decision that will put everything she values at risk.

At first she believes she can keep the relationship separate from the rest of her life, but she can't control what happens next. All of her careful plans spiral into greater deceit and, eventually, a life-changing act of violence.

Apple Tree Yard is a psychological thriller about one woman's adultery and an insightful examination of the values we live by and the choices we make, from an acclaimed writer at the height of her powers.

ELLEN'S Choice:

'The Husband's Secret' by Liane Moriarty

Mother of three and wife of John-Paul, Cecilia discovers an old envelope in the attic. Written in her husband's hand, it says: to be opened only in the event of my death. Curious, she opens it - and time stops.

John-Paul's letter confesses to a terrible mistake which, if revealed, would wreck their family as well as the lives of others.

Cecilia - betrayed, angry and distraught - wants to do the right thing, but right for who? If she protects her family by staying silent, the truth will worm through her heart. But if she reveals her husband's secret, she will hurt those she loves most . . .

Read the BookFabulous review HERE.

RIANKA'S Choice:

'Mutton' by India Knight

Clara Hutt is forty-six years old, and in pretty good nick, considering. She has kick-ass underwear, a large and loving family, and a healthy sense of what matters in life. Until Gaby moves in.

Gaby's an old school friend of Clara's who has just returned from LA. She may be a yoga mogul who lives off kale, and speaks a made-up fantasy novel language, but Gaby's no stranger to cosmetic surgery: she's almost fifty, but looks thirty-six at most.

What with Gaby, and Clara's son's leggy girlfriend, Sky, wafting around the house in her stripy pants, Clara starts to wonder if a little Botox, a little filler, a nip and a tuck, would be so very wrong. Should she ignore the fear? Or is there another way to grow old gracefully - and how far is she prepared to go to find out?

My Choice:

'The House of Silk' by Anthony Horrowitz

It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks.

Intrigued, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston and the mysterious 'House of Silk' . . .

What We're Reading For Next Time:

'And the Mountains Echoed' by Khaled Hosseini

Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Abdullah, Pari - as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named - is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us.