The Mother of All Lies review – pursuing the truth of Morocco’s brutal dictatorship years

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Asmae El Moudir employs a delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony to brilliantly evoke personal and collective trauma Between those who refuse to remember and those who struggle to forget, a tumultuous clash of minds occupies the centre of Asmae El Moudir’s inventive documentary, a prize-winner at last year’s Cannes film festival. Through a constellation of clay figurines and dollhouse-style miniature sets, most of which were constructed by El Moudir’s father, the director recreates her oppressive childhood in the Sebata district of Casablanca. Under the watchful eyes of her domineering grandmother Zahra, all personal photos are banished from the house, save for a picture of King Hassan II. The delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony brilliantly evokes the personal and collective trauma that stem from Morocco’s “Years of Lead” – a period of state brutality under Hassan II’s dictatorial rule. Lingering on the nimble fingers of El Moudir’s father as he puts t
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Sleepless in Seattle at 30: Nora Ephrons romcom still worth falling for

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Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan exude timeless star power as a couple kept apart for almost the entirety of the 1993 classic

Sleepless in Seattle – the film, the phrase – conjures the kind of quixotic romance that already seems long lost to us, on screen and elsewhere.

Nora Ephron specialized in whimsical courtships – majestic grand gestures, emotionally lofty stakes, couples too perfect for each other for lightning ever to strike so precisely again. As her sophomore directorial venture approaches its 30th year, Sleepless in Seattle remains famously unrivaled in the sheer brilliance of its feat: a love story in which the lovers share roughly 2 minutes of screen time. Ephron’s bold tribute to the cinematic romances of her youth is one deviously elaborate, protracted journey to the “meet-cute”. Fitting then, that our lovers’ tale begins on the road.

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