Emmanuel Agneray Movies

This French-German-Israeli co-production helmed by director Keren Yedaya observes the heartbreaking tragedy that erupts from an affair between a young Jewish woman and an Arab mechanic. Mali Wolf (Dana Ivgy) is the daughter of garage proprietor Reuven (Moni Moshonov) and his wife Osnat (Ronit Elkabetz); Reuven employs two Arabs, father and son Hassan (Hussein Yassin Mahajneh) and Tawfik (Mahmoud Shalaby) at his shop. He shows them basic respect, though an undercurrent of racial hostility bubbles beneath the surface among all concerned. Meanwhile, Mali and Tawfik nurture a discreet relationship -- so discreet that no one else realizes what is happening -- and in seemingly no time, Mali realizes that she is pregnant with Tawfik's daughter, but deliberately avoids telling him. Things come to a head at the shop when Tawfik gets into a brawl with Mali's hotheaded brother Meir (Roy Assaf), ends up killing the young man, and gets shuttled off to prison. Mali breaks up with Tawfik, but decides to have the baby and lies to her parents, informing them that the father is a married man and will remain out of the picture. All bodes well with the child and the family for nine years, until Tawfik gets out of prison, still unaware of the presence of his daughter Shiran (Lili Ivgy). For a stylistic model, Yedaya emulates the approach of slick Egyptian melodramas. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A one hit wonder and a woman who lives for his lone hit song meet three decades after he dropped off the hit parade in this comedy drama. Bruno Caprice (Patrick Chesnais) had a brief fling with fame in the Seventies; he was a singer whose lone hit single "Quand tu t'en vas" hit the top of the charts across Europe. But after a couple years, Bruno's career dried up and today he's all but forgotten, working as a clerk at a hotel in Paris. But Bruno has at least one loyal fan left -- Randa Hafouche (Julia Kassar), who grew up in Lebanon while the nation was being torn apart by civil war. Bruno played a concert in Beirut which is one of the few joyous memories of Randa's youth, and now that she's married to a man who has made a fortune in the coffee trade, Randa still can't get "Quand tu t'en vas" out of her head. When her husband plans a lavish party for Randa's birthday, she makes a special request -- invite Bruno to perform at the affair. Bruno, in need of an ego boost, is more than happy to accept the gig, but while Randa is clearly drawn to the one-time star and shares with him the story of the concert that changed her life, he can't recall ever playing a show in Lebanon. Une chanson dans la tete (aka Melodrama Habibi) is the first feature film from writer and director Hany Tamba. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi