TRIBECA REVIEW: ‘Café Regular, Cairo’

Café Regular, Cairo is a perfect short film. It features a conversation at a coffee spot in Egypt’s capital. A man (Alaa Mosbah) and woman (Mai Abozeed) obviously love each other, but they face a pre-marital crisis. The woman wants to consummate their relationship before marriage, an untraditional custom that could have bad consequences for her down the road. If the couple splits up, she would no longer be a virgin, which could upset any potential husband candidates. Interestingly, the movie flips the usual sexual paradigm (at least when it comes to movies), making the woman the aggressor and the man the more passive one.

Writer-director Ritesh Batra stages the entire 11-minute film in an outside cafe. There’s not much action, except a waiter stopping by to take an order and passersby on the street. The focus is simply on Alaa and Mai and their conversation. Because so little happens on the screen, there’s a greater emphasis on Batra’s words, which are beautifully written. The conversation feels organic and true, as if this were a real couple with real problems. It’s great to see intelligent, thoughtful people involved in deep, interesting chatting.

Café Regular, Cairo will not change the world or shake up society. But in its own small way, the movie is quite powerful. The short is part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Status Update series.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Click here for more information.