Review: CAIRO TIME

There are plenty of gloriously beautiful Egyptian landscapes in the new drama CAIRO TIME, but very little happens plotwise. Ostensibly a finding-love-in-an-exotic-land romance, the film is not about much more than sightseeing. CAIRO TIME is a glorified travelogue, lifeless and shallow, and watching it is akin to being trapped inside a travel magazine spread for a long ninety minutes. But did I mention the gloriously beautiful Egyptian landscapes?

CAIRO TIME stars Patricia Clarkson as Juliette, the busy editor of a glossy fashion magazine called Vous (why is every woman in this type of film a writer, editor or publisher?). She’s traveled to Cairo to see her husband Mark (Tom McCamus), a U.N. official working in Gaza. When he is unavoidably delayed by a crisis there, Mark calls on his close friend and former security officer Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to greet Juliette at the airport and help get her settled into her hotel. Since she must wait several days for Mark to arrive, the handsome and available Tareq escorts Juliette around the city and becomes her personal guide. The cultural differences between the two dissolve, the attraction between them grows, and soon they’re gazing longingly into each other’s eyes.

CAIRO TIME follows Juliette and Tareq as they wander along Cairo’s streets and see some sights while they get to know each other a bit and wait for her husband to arrive. That’s it. Viewers seeking a love story with actual romance in it should probably look elsewhere. The picturesque foreign scenery (there’s a lot of it) can’t compensate for the complete lack of  drama in this snoozer, lent a pinch of charisma by Clarkson, who wanders around Egypt looking fashionably bored. Clarkson’s a fine actress and it’s good to see her in a lead role, but she’s not given much to do even though she’s constantly on-screen. There’s not much chemistry between the two leads, their interactions aren’t particularly interesting, and this is the kind of movie where you want to shout at the actors, ‘Get out of the way, I can’t see the scenery!’ I’m sure there’s an audience for this type of film. Middle-aged women bored with life may find this ‘I wish I was her’ tale appealing, but everyone else not booking a summer holiday to Egypt should steer far clear of CAIRO TIME.

1 of 5 Stars