Caramel
Directed by Nadine Labaki
at Angelika Film Center & Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
If the gently amusing Lebanese romcom Caramel primarily intends to neutralize the mass media perception of its home country, then the deed is done. Considering that Lebanon has been represented at the movies in recent years with deleteriously suggestive titles like In the Battlefields and Under the Bombs, the effervescent aura of Nadine Labaki’s debut feature suggests an alternative perception of Middle Eastern life. In this light ensemble piece, it looks like anywhere else. Almost.
Set in a Beirut beauty salon, Caramel focuses on five women with disparate romantic interests and fleeting personal goals. For large portions of the story, it’s like Sex in the City with prettier scenery. That’s not a detriment to Labaki’s intentions: She slightly alters a familiar genre to take into account the local setting, but these abnormalities quickly retreat behind the shield of homely conventions. For example, a heartless cop arrests salon owner Layale (Labaki) for sitting quietly in a car with her male companion in a harmless situation. Their presumed indecency tells you something about the nation’s brutal social standards, but the real purpose of the twist—Layale is rescued from prison by a debonair officer who just might become her paramour—brings us back to familiar territory.
In America, it’s easy to worship the glimmering cultural ingredients peppered throughout Caramel with superficial tourist envy, but Labaki works against that tendency with the simple, universal humanism of her plot. One girl struggles against her lesbian tendencies; another worries that her religious fiancé will grow enraged when he discovers that she’s no longer a virgin. Nothing groundbreaking takes place in Caramel, which makes for an easy, unobtrusive ride. If nothing else, Labaki suggests a calm alternative to the ugly pronouncements of Middle East disasters broadcast on CNN: the modern chick flick.
Directed by Nadine Labaki
at Angelika Film Center & Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
If the gently amusing Lebanese romcom Caramel primarily intends to neutralize the mass media perception of its home country, then the deed is done. Considering that Lebanon has been represented at the movies in recent years with deleteriously suggestive titles like In the Battlefields and Under the Bombs, the effervescent aura of Nadine Labaki’s debut feature suggests an alternative perception of Middle Eastern life. In this light ensemble piece, it looks like anywhere else. Almost.
Set in a Beirut beauty salon, Caramel focuses on five women with disparate romantic interests and fleeting personal goals. For large portions of the story, it’s like Sex in the City with prettier scenery. That’s not a detriment to Labaki’s intentions: She slightly alters a familiar genre to take into account the local setting, but these abnormalities quickly retreat behind the shield of homely conventions. For example, a heartless cop arrests salon owner Layale (Labaki) for sitting quietly in a car with her male companion in a harmless situation. Their presumed indecency tells you something about the nation’s brutal social standards, but the real purpose of the twist—Layale is rescued from prison by a debonair officer who just might become her paramour—brings us back to familiar territory.
In America, it’s easy to worship the glimmering cultural ingredients peppered throughout Caramel with superficial tourist envy, but Labaki works against that tendency with the simple, universal humanism of her plot. One girl struggles against her lesbian tendencies; another worries that her religious fiancé will grow enraged when he discovers that she’s no longer a virgin. Nothing groundbreaking takes place in Caramel, which makes for an easy, unobtrusive ride. If nothing else, Labaki suggests a calm alternative to the ugly pronouncements of Middle East disasters broadcast on CNN: the modern chick flick.
