I first watched this when I was like 13 or 14, had no clue what was going on, but I remember loving how Cairo looked in it. It wasn’t the loud, hectic, overwhelming city everyone made it out to be, it felt quiet, kind of sad, kind of beautiful. And something about that stuck with me for years.
Rewatched it now at 27 because I thought “maybe I’ll actually like it this time”, turns out, I didn’t just like it. I loved it. It’s probably one of my favorite movies ever now.
It’s such a simple film on paper: a girl comes to Cairo looking for her old music teacher, meets a guy by chance, and both of them kind of realize their lives aren’t what they wanted them to be. But it’s so much more than that. It’s about timing, loneliness, nostalgia, and how cities hold your memories whether you want them to or not. The way it captures Cairo is so different from what we usually get in Egyptian movies. The quiet streets, old buildings, the random encounters at night, I swear it made me wanna go to Cairo even more than I already did.
The music is amazing too. It is so soft and melancholic and fits the whole vibe perfectly. And the old songs sprinkled throughout just hit different, especially if you grew up around that kind of music.
Also, Ghada Adel is so good in this. Her performance is all in the eyes and those little moments when she almost says something but doesn’t. And Khaled Abol Naga was made for these kinds of sad, tired guy roles.
It’s one of those films where not much happens on the surface but by the end you’re just sitting there like damn. Wish I had appreciated it sooner, but I guess I had to grow into it.
Highly recommend it if you like movies about cities, missed connections, or just wanna feel something on a quiet night.
I first watched this when I was like 13 or 14, had no clue what was going on, but I remember loving how Cairo looked in it. It wasn’t the loud, hectic, overwhelming city everyone made it out to be, it felt quiet, kind of sad, kind of beautiful. And something about that stuck with me for years.
Rewatched it now at 27 because I thought “maybe I’ll actually like it this time”, turns out, I didn’t just like it. I loved it. It’s probably one of my favorite movies ever now.
It’s such a simple film on paper: a girl comes to Cairo looking for her old music teacher, meets a guy by chance, and both of them kind of realize their lives aren’t what they wanted them to be. But it’s so much more than that. It’s about timing, loneliness, nostalgia, and how cities hold your memories whether you want them to or not. The way it captures Cairo is so different from what we usually get in Egyptian movies. The quiet streets, old buildings, the random encounters at night, I swear it made me wanna go to Cairo even more than I already did.
The music is amazing too. It is so soft and melancholic and fits the whole vibe perfectly. And the old songs sprinkled throughout just hit different, especially if you grew up around that kind of music.
Also, Ghada Adel is so good in this. Her performance is all in the eyes and those little moments when she almost says something but doesn’t. And Khaled Abol Naga was made for these kinds of sad, tired guy roles.
It’s one of those films where not much happens on the surface but by the end you’re just sitting there like damn. Wish I had appreciated it sooner, but I guess I had to grow into it.
Highly recommend it if you like movies about cities, missed connections, or just wanna feel something on a quiet night.
