Rock the Casbah
Director: Lafla Marrakchi
Cast: Morjana Alaoui, Nadine Labaki, Lubna Azabal, Hiam Abbass, Omar Sharif, Fatima Harrandi
Rating: (M)
One and a half stars (out of five)
As the patriarch of a wealthy Moroccan dynasty, Moulay Hassan (Sharif) has just died and his family has gathered.
Narrating from beyond the grave in a pair of casual loafers and a summer suit borrowed from Miami Vice, Hassan casts his eye over his grieving wife Aicha (Hiam Abbass) and three daughters.
With nothing remotely revelatory about the plot or set-up, which revolves around Sofia (Morjana Alaoui), an actress who returns from her American life where she is invariably cast as a terrorist, you can only hope that the sumptuous Moroccan scenery and witty off-the-cuff observations are enough to sustain 98 minutes.
While there is a smattering of amusing interludes between sisters Sofia, Miriam (Nadine Labaki) and Kenza (Lubna Azabal), as they poke fun at each other's dysfunctional lives, the skeletons in the closet rarely hit the mark.
Clunky exposition and dull cinematography make Rock the Casbah feel like a television soap, in which even the normally exceptional Hiam Abbass (The Visitor) struggles to make headway with a script that feels forced and a directorial style that rigidly adheres to a film-making 101 guide.
Rock the Casbah might have just as well been filmed on a sound stage due to the noticeable exclusion of Tangiers lurking outside the walled enclave.
- Mark Orton
