Birthday Party
Sarah Goher
2025, 95 mins.
Definitely a party of one
Set in present-day Cairo, Goher (who co-wrote the film with Mohamed Diab), has fashioned a cautionary tale for all classes in any country. Anchoring the production in every way is eight-year-old Toha (Doha Ramadan, readily soaring above all other cast members as she morphs from fun-loving pal to wiser-than-her-years young woman). She’s a “light work only” maid in a household that is currently falling apart via divorce. Mom Laila (Kelly Narim vacillating between stoicism and hope), is dutifully packing up the formerly happy house ready to move on to a new world of uncertainty; Grandma (game for anything but trying to make one last push for reconciliation is Hanan Houssef), while absent dad (Sherif Salama) needs a good deal of familial persuasion to revisit the nearly empty family roost for his daughter’s singular day.
As the drama begins, it’s the estranged couple’s only offspring Nelly’s (Kadija Amed) ninth birthday. Against all odds (and evaporating household resources), Toha and Grandma combine forces to convince Laila to max out her credit card, shove away the packing boxes and put on a birthday party fit for a princess (and, perhaps, entice Dad to not only attend but reconsider ending the marriage…ahh, hope springs eternal).
The only fly in this narrative ointment is the insistence of Toha’s mother and older sister that she return to their home and help out with the family fishing business.
As bizarre as this may sound, the film manages to address many universal issues such as child labour exploitation (no matter what the class), sibling rivalries, the aftermath of marital breakdowns (either through death or lost flames of love) and interfering relatives.
It’s worth a look on many planes, but when all is said, done and candles are blown out, do revel in the notion that she who eats the last cake may learn from the experience and even go on to discover just when her own birthday actually is. JWR
Birthright
Zoe Pepper
2025, 98 mins.
And baby makes we
Every once in a while, a film comes along that starts with an interesting premise (in this case: down-on-their-luck couple forced to move in with rich, uncaring parents even as their first baby is imminently expected), only to lose its narrative footing in pathetic scenes (Really? Digging up the family pool? Garden shears as patricidal weapon?). In a real—even floundering—household, the imminent baby should trump everything.
The clincher for me (as with other films exploiting our masters—cross-reference below), is employing Mozart’s “Lacrimosa” and Faure’s Requiem in death sequences that feel more cheered than mourned.
‘Nuff said. JWR
Outrageous
Creator-Writer Sarah Williams
2025, 110 mins.
Smitten by the fascists
Several episodes bound together as a made-for-TV series (Season 1), here’s a tale of the real-life Mitford sisters coming of age, awareness or stark reality in the aristocratic British circles during the 1930s.
Hardly the stuff for a film festival, viewers, nonetheless, may connect with today’s U.S. slipping into fascism while beginning to understand just how “simple” the demise from vibrant democracy to authoritarianism can be.
Narrator/eldest sister Nancy (Bessie Carter stoically moves from potential spinster to third-time lucky, if jaundiced, bride) binds this fanciful tale of a more-money-than-brains family together. Thanks goodness those days are over…
All that was missing was footage of Hitler’s military parade to celebrate the birth of evil incarnate, even as Trump’s drew more scowls (even from Himself) than adulation. JWR