TIFF14 REVIEW: October Gale [2015]

“Sorry. I have to put my gum in your belly button for a second.” After enjoying Ruba Nadda‘s Inescapable and hearing a ton of praise for Cairo Time, I went into her latest effort October Gale with high expectations. Whether this fact tainted my experience or not, those hopes were not met. For whatever reason Nadda doesn’t seem quite certain about what she wants from her plot. Is it a Nicholas Sparks love triangle for the middle-aged between a still grieving widow (Patricia Clarkson‘s Helen), the memory of her husband…

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REVIEW: Inescapable [2012]

“I need to see her eyes” Acclaimed Arab-Canadian filmmaker Ruba Nadda follows her festival winning romantic drama Cairo Time with the mystery thriller Inescapable. It’s new territory for the writer/director in that its love story has already occurred, been thwarted, and had its central pairing move on. Whereas one could see Nadda weaving the tapestry of Adib Abdel Kareem’s (Alexander Siddig) early years in Damascus with his love Fatima (Marisa Tomei) amidst the war-torn city’s police occupation’s paranoia, this chapter in her lead’s life is a different beast altogether. A…

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