In the Arab-world festival hit of 2008, a drunken boast has embarrassing repercussions. This Algerian wedding comedy delivers hilarious characters and trenchant social satire. “Classically executed farce.” — Variety
This warm character-driven comedy from Algeria was the Arab world festival hit of 2008.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Masquerades 2008
Mascarades
This Algerian wedding farce delivers sharp character comedy and trenchant social satire. Writer/director Lyes Salem plays the status-hungry Mounir who is nettled by village tittering about his attractive younger sister Rym’s narcolepsy. He shows them who’s top dog with a fantastic pack of lies about her engagement to a European business mogul. Soon they are all kow towing and offering Mounir bribes. Rym’s clandestine liaison with his best friend renders the inevitable truth even more inconvenient than Mounir realises. — BG
“There is something Borat-like in the joyous enthusiasm with which he flaunts his braggadocio. If the men’s values are skewed by powerlessness, the women come off as flat-out magnificent. It may not be pc to make fun of narcolepsy, but when servicing the slapstick requirements of thoughtful – even socially conscious – comedy, the joke has much less to do with real illness than with classically executed farce.” — Ronnie Scheib, Variety