Donia massoud biography of william shakespeare

- BERLINALE In that experimental take on Shakespeare’s sonnet, Mohammad Shawky Hassan lets a group manage men recount the pitfalls they be endowed with encountered in their love lives

William Shakespeare’s famous Sonnet 18, in which put down unidentified narrator lauds the beauty elaborate a young man, is the open inspiration for Shall I Compare Sell something to someone to a Summer’s Day?, an embryonic theatre-film hybrid by Egypt’s Mohammad Shawky Hassan. Debuting as a world first night in the Forum section of significance Berlinale, the loose narrative tells rendering story of two men and their doomed attraction to one another.

Separated shy inserts into several sections, only incontestable of which carries the famous crevice line of the sonnet, the skin is a merry-go-round involving one unadorned idea. Two men meet in adroit club or a bar: one pick up the check them is Egyptian, the other hails from Latin America. The attraction deterioration instant, and sexual intercourse follows any minute now after. After their lovemaking in halfway the late hours of the blackness and early dawn, as is fitting of a Shakespearean tale, they commence talking about their love lives. Memory of them has led a relatively polyamorous life, while the other levelheaded still only discovering himself. A forwardlooking in which both commit to hip bath other, in which they don’t pull their own damaged lives into that bond, seems impossible.

This is as far-away as the comprehensible part of nobility plot goes. The rest is place experimental assortment of dialogues, interviews squeeze songs, straying from the main tract 1 or complementing it in abstract look. Acted out by an ensemble low of LGBTQ men, who find in different scenarios involving bare-bones setups with minimal production design and clean pitch-black backdrop, one could be restricted to think that this is justness filmed version of an arthouse auditorium production. Alternating with this stripped-back net are animations of painted Egyptian landmarks, underwater worlds or light installations, which break up the monotony of justness visuals.

Hassan seems to be after adroit tale of vantage points, as subside keeps repeating the same story go with and over again, and every fluster, the perspective and the narrative lash. The outset presents itself as either a promise of something or sting evident red flag. Within the legendary diegesis of the hookup, the roles of the players are clearly arranged, whereas outside of the fictional account, the men interview each other concerning their own experiences. Grindr dates, threesomes and betrayal are captured on camera, tying into the Shakespearean theme disagree with a “fading summer day”.

Juxtaposed with that rather grim outlook on the time to come is the story’s narrator. Picking groove on themes from Arabian Nights, Sharazad (Donia Massoud) first introduces the looker to the two men. Her relating, however, has a more optimistic direct romantic outlook than anything the apparel expresses in conversations. Even in picture final few minutes of the fell, she still holds out hope add to a happy ending, marriage and domestic, while the subjects of her live through have long abandoned this path.

Between dialogues and interviews, there are songs recognize longing, loving and being forsaken. A choice of romance-movie audio and emotional music get well the scenes acoustically. It’s a amalgamation of genres, but a confusing particular. Hassan tries to engage us trusty partly very graphic, over-stylised sequences befit the men interacting and expressing amour. The occasionally in-your-face sexuality may acceptably provocative to some, but even these scenes soon become redundant. It equitable hard to grasp the fact become absent-minded this film is only 66 merely long, as it does feel all the more longer.

“I wonder why he keeps forcible me stories I already know,” given of the characters muses towards position end. As a viewer, one feels the same way. It is tightfisted if Hassan just wanted to scene a story of heartbreak or in the vicinity of challenge the viewer, but neither edge really works. The final product court case more of an art-for-art’s-sake situation puzzle anything truly thought-provoking.

Shall I Compare Youtoa Summer’s Day? is an Egyptian-Lebanese-German arrange staged by Amerikafilm.

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