Abdelkrim Bahloul Movies
- 2003
Algerian filmmaker Abdelkrim Bahloul writes and directs the drama The Assassinated Sun, based on actual events in the newly independent Algeria of the 1970s. Following the country's liberation in 1962, the police didn't take kindly to gay poet Jean Senac (Charles Berling). Nevertheless, he was appreciated by a large liberal audience. The police also don't approve of writing student Hamid (Mehdi Dehbi) who writes and stars in a French-language play during a national theater competition. Senac, however, enjoys the play and proceeds to develop a friendship with Hamid. Even though the two were never publicly declared lovers, Hamid becomes the main suspect when Senac is found murdered. The Assassinated Sun won awards at the 2003 San Sebastián International Film Festival and the 2003 Montréal World Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Berling, Mehdi Dehbi, (more)
- 2001
In this powerful drama, Yasmine (Marie Brahimi) is a woman of Algerian descent living in France whose husband Rachid (Nazim Boudjenah) is a soldier in the French army. French forces are sent into Algeria, and when Rachid is declared missing, Yasmine travels to her homeland in hopes of finding him. Islamic fundamentalism has swept the country, and Yasmine finds herself caught somewhere between her open-minded attitudes as a modern French woman and the Algerian Muslim traditions with which she was raised; as one cynical friend explains to her, "You can do anything you want, as long as it's not in public." Eventually Yasmine finds Rachid, but not before getting an eye-opening glimpse of the current state of Algerian culture. L'Autre Monde received its North American premier at the 2001 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Brahimi, Karim Bouaiche, (more)
- 1999
- NR
A conflict of cultures adds an unusual twist to La Nuit du Destin/Night Of Destiny, a suspense thriller from France. Mr. Slimami (Gamil Ratib) is an Algerian retiree living in Paris who witnesses a murder while taking a walk one evening. He's spotted by the assailant, but Slimami manages to slip away before being caught. The victim turned out to be a prominent businessman, and police are soon searching for the witness as well as the killers. Slimami does not want to step forward, both as a matter of personal safety and because he prefers to let the French police handle their own affairs. His son Alilou (Boris Terral), a budding journalist, openly decries the failure of the witness to come forward as a black mark on the Muslim community in Paris, unaware that the man in question is his father. La Nuit du Destin/Night Of Destiny received its American premiere at the 1999 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Volter, Boris Terral, (more)
- 1996
At long last, the two Hamlet sisters are allowed to go to Paris by themselves, and the discotheque they have heard about beckons. When the driver for their ride home becomes too drunk to drive, they cannot reach their mother by phone, and it is too late to take the last train back to where they live, they are stranded in town. The girls, who are themselves partly of Algerian descent, are accosted by a disreputable looking older Algerian immigrant, who tries to give them cash so that they can take a taxi back to their homes. They are afraid of him and try to get away from him. He apparently accepts this, but trails them without calling attention to himself. It is good that he does, for they soon run into real trouble, and then they find out that despite his frightening appearance, he means them well. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Is Nosfer Arbi a vampire? Or is he just a very emaciated, very strange and possibly quite lonely young man from an Arabic country with an obsession with death? On the other hand, why is the previously cheery Parisian teenager Nathalie Belfond throwing fits and speaking in Arabic? Her strange behavior began with the appearance of a caped and cadaverous man outside her window. Mr. & Mrs. Belfond have their hands full trying to sort this mess out, in this extremely unusual and award-winning comedy which puts a new wrinkle on the vampire mythos. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Cremer, Brigitte Fossey, (more)
- 1984
A young Algerian in Paris has not been as successful as he claims in letters home, and when his mother unexpectedly arrives for a visit of several months, he is hard put to hide his circumstances -- and the fact that he has resorted to small-time criminal activity to support himself. His mother disembarks in her traditional attire, a warm-hearted woman who does not have a clue as to how this foreign society functions but also has absolutely no inhibitions about finding out, if the need arises. As the story progresses, the mother catches on to her son's circumstances though the two are still not able to confront the deception and right it. Even with a low budget, this first-time feature-length story by Bahloul Bahloul combines satire, comedy, and pathos to bring home a relationship between mother and son that transcends life's many obstacles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Abdel Kechiche, Chafia Boudra, (more)
